Anyone been to an Appleseed event?

[Jeff L]

What was your experience there? Seems like a worthwhile organization.

http://www.appleseedinfo.org/appleseed-mission.html

-Jeff L

[M1Riflenut]

There were a few locally, I wanted to go but work options forced me to to do otherwise. Been working near 7 days a week for so long now I've almost forgot what a weekend was. It's all voluntary but I'd be a fool not to take it when I can because it can end just as easy as it started. I would still like to attend one but its hard to pass up a fat paycheck when your a single parent on a single income. Even though my youngest is 20 now she is in college and still living at home and my oldest has a wedding coming up that dad needs to fund a big part of...............so off to work I go. Hopefully the Appleseeds will continue to grow in popularity and there will be more of them more often in more locations.

[Redleg13a]

Yup, I've been to a couple. Shot the first one with an M1 and missed Rifleman by a few points. Made it the second time with my AR. Course, it was shot at 25 yards on reduced course AQT's. The shooting is fun and educational as they teach you how to use a sling and different firing positions. However, I thought the best part was the history. They basically take Fischer's book, Paul Rever's Ride, and verbalize it. They tell you a lot of stuff about what lead up to April 19th, 1775 and then tell you about the day itself. Much of it most people have never heard. They call it the Three Strikes. Very good stuff, actually.

If you can make one, I'd recommend it.

[HoosierDaddy]

My son and I are going to one Saturday.

[hawkins]

Being a former Drill Sergeant I thought I know all about shooting but they break it down into easy to understand parts. And yes the history is the best part. http://video.foxnews.com/v/4314305/m...ory-with-guns/

[HoosierDaddy]

We had a ball. I've shot Hi Power some and got kids so quit. We were the only ones to shoot ARs in .223. Everybody else shot .22s most were Ruger 10/22s with scopes. It was hot in the upper 90's. Those ARs were smokin hot. I shot a 199 and missed the 210. It was hot and we just didn't get the job done this time. We had a good time and the history was good. We'll be back. I was proud of my son. At 11 he stood the line and gave it a good try with a man's rifle. He never gave up and had a smile on his face when we left. He proudly wore his shirt to school today. He ain't afraid to stand up for his beliefs.

[John Kepler]

I've observed 3 of them.....they were consistently inconsistent, with the quality of the experience appearing to be HIGHLY dependent on the knowledge of the Instructor crew you happen to get, and that "knowledge base" appears to define "variable". As a competition shooter, it appeared to be VERY basic introductory position shooter training....some of it wrong, interspersed with "moral rearmament training" (more like preaching to the pious in the choir!). As far as shooter training, it is FAR inferior to a basic CMP Highpower Clinic or a SAFS at the Nationals. But some of it's decent-enough shooter training and like chicken soup for a cold....it couldn't hurt, but advanced marksmanship training it ain't!

[HoosierDaddy]

True John.
Our instructors were pretty good. The nice thing is that it is available to many folks at reasonable prices. This past weekend was a family thing. One set of brothers, two young couples, father/mother son and my boy and I. Another guy brought his girlfriend. Those types of people won't take the time to go to more advanced courses unless they are comfortable doing some structured shooting. It may just introduce some new shooters to the sport. We had two high school freshmen. One made rifleman using a borrowed .22.

[John Kepler]

My High School-aged son and Junior Highpower competitor about had a conniption as he observed the Appleseed "Instructor" teaching his half-assed and basically wrong way to shoot Standing at the event held at our club (I didn't invite'um!). Endless repetition of "2+2=5" doesn't help you learn arithmetic, and will never get you to advanced algebra. I agree that some instruction, even if rather significant chunks of it are wrong, and the guy teaching it doesn't even have a "Marksman Card" (and probably would have a hard time getting one!) is better than no instruction at all....but why are so many so willing to invest so much in so little when you can get the "real deal" for no larger investment? Inquiring minds want to know! BTW, a couple of guys were schlepping the program at the Nationals this year (they weren't shooting at the "Big Dance" for some reason!)...not terribly well received.

[PhillipM]

My High School-aged son and Junior Highpower competitor about had a conniption as he observed the Appleseed "Instructor" teaching his half-assed and basically wrong way to shoot Standing at the event held at our club (I didn't invite'um!). Endless repetition of "2+2=5" doesn't help you learn arithmetic, and will never get you to advanced algebra. I agree that some instruction, even if rather significant chunks of it are wrong, and the guy teaching it doesn't even have a "Marksman Card" (and probably would have a hard time getting one!) is better than no instruction at all....but why are so many so willing to invest so much in so little when you can get the "real deal" for no larger investment? Inquiring minds want to know! BTW, a couple of guys were schlepping the program at the Nationals this year (they weren't shooting at the "Big Dance" for some reason!)...not terribly well received.

John, over the years I have seen your posts I can without reservation say they are, as a whole mostly abrasive. Additionally they are factual and spot on most of the time even though they are coarse. Thanks for your candor, lol!