From the Workbench of Kali

The Appleseed Project is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting Marksmanship and American History (specifically that of the Revolutionary War) in order to build a Nation of Riflemen.

The Event they are known for is The Traditional Appleseed Rifle Marksmanship Event, it’s a 25yd Rimfire class that takes place across two days. The only requirement beyond Registration fee ($70 for the two day event) and Range fee which varies but is usually posted when you register for an event is a Rimfire rifle and 2 to 4 10 round magazines. The preferred Rifle is definitely the Ruger 1022, but really any Semiautomatic .22lr can be used (we saw some one using a savage a22, and the Marlin 795 is also on the recommended list), your rifle needs sling swivels, and a USGI style sling. The event is Optic and Iron Sight friendly, however Tech-Sights are definitely preferred if you are running irons as Most 22 iron sights are garbage, especially on the 10/22.

Our Event was held about 3 hours away from my house, not exactly an easy same day commute. My Father in Law, a lifelong road tripper, owns a Beautiful 1977 GMC Motorhome. Rolling out in comfort and style we made our way to a place near the event to set up shop for the night, get a meal and relax beforehand. My Brother In Law To Be is a fairly new shooter, so we went over the basic operation of the 1022, how to read his scope and other miscellaneous shooting basics. After getting breakfast on the first day we set out to the range.

What I really liked about the set us was how organized Project Appleseed was. They had a little pop tent with their liability waivers and cash collection for range fees. There were plenty of targets available, supplied with your registration, and our event had 3 instructors, one senior, and two instructors in training. They asked us to keep our rifles stowed, and if we had a carry gun on to remove and stow it in our vehicle given the type of shooting we were planning on doing. After disarming, and roll call they started instruction immediately describing the safety rules, safe rifle, and Ammunition Malfunctions. We were each issued a Guidebook to Rifle Marksmanship “the Distilled essence of Fred’s shooting wisdom” emblazoned with the Red and Black Minute Men Logo of Project Appleseed. This Booklet is only 14 pages but dense with the information you will need to navigate the various course of fire.

This course was heavily focused on using the sling as an aiming device so the very first thing they teach you is how to tie the sling to your arm, and how to safely move into your prone firing position and the components of your body and what they need to do in order to shoot from this position. Now I’ve shot from prone before, but ive never shot with consistent accuracy until i learned how to use the sling. Linking concepts like Natural Point of Aim, Sight Alignment vs Sight Picture, and Respiratory Pause to their Physical practice is all covered, and the best part is that all of the documentation you need to fall back on regarding these concepts is in that little Booklet they issued! They cover Basic Shot group Analysis, and what your grouping can tell you regarding your shooting! I went from Small shotgunning, to diagonal stringing to finally resting on Horizontal Stringing and how to fix it. Inches – Minutes – Clicks and how to go about Correcting it.

After filling your head, teaching you how to breathe, repeating the 6 steps of Firing the Shot like a prayer we would break for lunch, but to call it a break isn’t being entirely honest. The topic of Lunch was the Battle of Lexington and Concord, or “The Shot Heard ’round the World,” and the Training of the British vs The Colonials, and how so few men could push the shit into the “Greatest Military Force” of the era through practice, discipline, and engagement at ranges greater than 100 yards. They regaled us with tales of Revere’s Ride, and Dangerous Old Men like Samuel Whittmore who took up arms at the ripe old age of 78 yeeting 2 men, mortally wounding a third, getting Run through with Bayonets and left for dead only to be found later reloading his musket ready to get back into the fight, this man would die in 1792 at the age of 98. The sort of stories that you simply do not hear about in your “American History” classes in highschool. The sort of stories that get your blood running hot, and ones that rekindle that Fire and Spirit of the American Revolution in the heart of every red blooded Man Woman and Child of our Country in Crisis. Stories that have compelled me into buying a few books from the Project Appleseed online store out of a desire to learn more and reconnect with my history.

After our lunch we went right back into practice, but by this time we transitioned into working the AQT. The Appleseed Qualification test is really just a repurposed Army Qualification Test. 10 rounds at 100y, 2 and 8 rounds at 200y on two targets kneeling or sitting with a reload, 2 and 8 rounds at 300 across 3 targets prone, and finally 10 rounds 4 targets at 400 yards. You might be asking, “Kali, you said this was 25yard rimfire class, no way you hit that range,” True, the targets are scaled, but the principles remain the same, and the targets get smaller and smaller. What Kille Our objective was to score a 210 to qualify for our Rifleman Patch. You would start standing, in the 200 and 300 yard course and have to drop into your seated or prone shooting position, using your hips to adjust for the number of targets you would have to hit. Creating your nest, counting your shots so you didn’t foul your reload during the 55second and 65 second timed sections, and Finally Slowing yourself down for that final 5 minutes you had for your 400 yard shoot all became major factors as you grappled with the problem of the AQT.

My very first AQT was a dismal 115. I was excited, my fire wasn’t in sync with my breathing, i couldn’t get my elbow into the proper postion in the prone sections, I couldn’t find a seated or kneeling position I liked so any plan I had went out the window, my 100 yard standing section was literally done in less than 20 seconds, in a spray and pray style of shooting that I couldn’t resist. I was a mess, and I wish that I could say I got my shit together. But Im not going to lie to you guys, My best score was 168 and I scored that near the end of day two. But Failure is the only way you are going to get better. With Each AQT i started seeing what my shortcommings were. I could Identify what was happening, why, and most importantly what I needed to do in order to fix it. While I was unable to get it together at this event, I will by the next, or even my third Appleseed.

Day Two started the same as Day One. Recap of the Safety Directions, recap of the instruction from the day before, then the addition of Range Estimation, Height over Bore of your sighting system, to even a brief on managing for wind. This is also where they would spend time suring up our shooting, for our class (for me especially) it was the tendency to switch targets with our hands, instead of our body. They would also present us with an alternate Quicky AQT which was done in 4 minutes at our own speed. While I liked this style of running the AQT, I wanted to focus on getting everything in the curriculum down in my shooting.

My favorite shooting section of the class was what is called The Red Coat Target. Its a simple Hits Count course of fire: 13 rounds (one bullet for each colony), 3 in each of the range scaled targets, and one in a rrectangle target called Morgans Shingle, which was supposed to replicate shooting at a 7″ cedar shingle at 250y all prone. For me this was the biggest indicator of where I improved. My first Time through I had a max range of 100y cold, but by the end of day 2 I hit everything but the Shingle, in fact the morning of day two my first Red Coat indicated 300y with a cold barrel was my effective range.

Without a question, I will do this event again. I want that Rifleman Patch, I want to earn the privalege to call myself a rifleman. But Most importantly I want to achieve mastery of my rifle, and be able to extend that into other weapons in my arsenal. Remember these skills apply across all rifles. Project Appleseed also runs a Pistol Course that sounds like a great weekend of training. While Project Appleseed is the event I participated there are others that seem to use the same foundation, Revere’s Riders is another Organization and by all accounts I can find, you are going to get the same quality of training, and I’d definitely be interested in participating in one of their events provided I could find one in an area I would be willing to travel to.

If you want to learn more please go straight to the source. https://appleseedinfo.org/ They have a Forum but its not very Gun Culture 2.0 friendly so please keep that in mind.