Final Day of my First Appleseed (I'm shooting better!)
So after about 4 hours of history, review, and instruction. We got to shoot our first target of the day (in agreement with the local church, we couldn't shoot until noon, which I'm cool with.) I started off with MY .22, which went as I had expected. I made a few bad shots, and when I got my hands on a loaner, my groups started tightening up. I think I just naturally shoot better with Iron Sights and a GI Sling. So after one or two more painful hours using a scope, I switched back to a loaner I had used yesterday. My groups, again, started getting better as the day went on. I shot a few AQTs. Reasonable scores for someone new to appleseeds and field shooting techniques. One was a 146, I'll have to score the rest later. THEN. The fun started to increase, as I broke out my Mosin-Nagant (Earlier I had a wonderful conversation with a 1943 Tula owner, we both learned some new stuff from each other. His Mosin was in an Archangel stock and it looked pretty cool.) As I got it out, I sat on the firing line getting my zero, turns out it shoots better at 25 yards when the rear sights are set at 200 meters and the bedding is gone, and as I loaded the stripper clip, I got some looks from the other people that were funny, anyway. I fired my first round and from my left I hear "WHOA". Apparently my rifle was the loudest on the range (Who'da thought?). Anyway, after I fired about 25-30+ rounds. I went to go look at the target and it was so much better. They were started to group better. They weren't all over the paper, just in the middle lower half and a good amount were touching. Anyway, I tried vigorously for Rifleman for the next 2 hours. Sadly, to no avail. I learned a lot and had fun. Before I close. I would like to thank Lawrence, Josh, Tony, and all the other Ramseur Apple seed Instructors. Lawrence and Josh helped me immensely. A lot of personal help ( I guess they saw I was the weakest one out there.) Also, one instructor (can't remember his name) let me borrow his shooting glasses the first day, great Winchester safety glasses. Today he let me have them, out of nowhere. I refused at first but he said it was for a good cause. Anyway, so that's my weekend at the RWVA Ramseur Appleseed Shoot. I had a lot of fun and learned a lot. I'll try to upload a few pictures of my targets, but for now, I'm going to rest. I have second degree burns on both arms from ejected brass, my elbows feel like hamburger meat, and I'm tired. It was worth every minute though.
