If you haven't heard about this program it's a great event which will teach you how to shoot a rifle out to 400 yards and at the same time, teach you revolutionary war history. There are many Appleseed events all around the country throughout the year and they are open to anybody and everybody. In fact, women and children can attend for free.
At our particular event we had about 40+ people attending from all walks of life. About 10% were women. The day starts out with a safety briefing and an introduction to appleseed. Throughout the weekend, they go over the significance of April 18 and 19th, 1775 (Paul Revere's midnight ride) and the days leading up to that event. They also go into detail about the riflemen who made up the colonial militia at the time and those who died on April 19, 1775.
Everything is shot at 25 meters with the targets shrinking in size to simulate a man sized target at ranges up to 400 yards. A lot of people choose to shoot a ruger 10/22 since ammo is cheap and it's a cheap gun.
The instructors teach you how to shoot from standing, sitting and prone, while properly using a sling. This is not "tactical" shooting at all, as the idea is to stop the redcoats well before they can get within range. Out of the 40 attendees, 3 of us qualified for "Rifleman", which meant we had to score higher than 210 out of 250 points.
The targets look like this:
The top one simulates a man sized target at 100 yards. You have 2 minutes to shoot 10 rounds while standing. In the second set of targets you start out standing, transition to sitting and shoot 10 rounds in 50 seconds with 1 mag change. This simulates a person at 200 yards. The third row is the same, except you transition to prone and you have 60 seconds. This simulates a person at 300 yards. The bottom row is done in the prone position and you have 5 minutes to shoot 10 rounds. This simulates 400 yards.
I was most impressed by how much a sling can improve one's steadiness. It's a world of difference. In the past, I've used a sling in a way called the Hasty Sling, but moving up to a Loop Sling is so much better. You're almost as steady using a loop sling as you are bench resting it.
I highly recommend this training class to anybody out there. You can shoot any rifle you want, scoped or iron sights. They take any age as long as the parent believes the child is mature enough to safely handle a firearm. In fact, the youngest instructor in the program is a 14 year old girl. There are a ton of these events in California and all across the US. Plus, this also qualifies you for one of those CMP Garands.
For more information:
Website: http://www.appleseedinfo.org/
Another website: http://appleseedshoot.blogspot.com/
Forums: http://appleseedinfo.org/smf/index.php