This past weekend, Wizard, Linoge, Linoge’s wife, and I went down to Manchester for a Project Appleseed rifle clinic. First, a couple bullet points:
I witnessed Linoge getting into Wizard’s pants.
I’m not a bad shot, but still have room for improvement… like making sure I’m hitting the right target.
Concrete is hard.
Yes, you really should clean your .22 rifles (who knew?).
40-something degrees + light rain + wind is cold.
Saturday morning, I got up and left the hotel for the range at the Arnold Engineering Development Center somewhere between Manchester and Tellahoma. They have multiple ranges (including a 1000 yard range that they have to close off the access road to use), and we were using the 25 yard range. I was not the only one that showed up with only a light jacket, as the weatherman told us it was supposed to be in the 50’s or 60’s that day and made no mention of wind. The weather man is a dirty liar. It was in the 40’s, lightly raining, and with a rather bitter wind. Everyone quickly went to their cars to see if they had sweat shirts, extra jackets, and in the case of Linoge, who was wearing his new 5.11 kilt, pants. Fortunately, we all either had extra gear with us or someone was willing to lend something (Wizard randomly had extra pants in his car, which Linoge changed into). I was happy that I had left a second light jacket in my trunk, and the layers worked out well. I know 40-something doesn’t sound bad, but when I told MrsWizardPC later that *I* was cold, her response was “but you never get cold.”
The First order of the day was a quick introduction to the staff, and what they expected the weekend to look like. After that, they gave the first of four speeches about the Revolutionary War. The three they give on Saturday are refered to as the “three strikes of the match” and are about the events at the beginning of the war. After that, we went over the four safety rules, which are different from the four rules I’m used to, but are good ones to follow at a range. They are: always keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction, do not load your rifle until instructed by the line boss, keep your finger off the trigger until the sights are lined up with the target, and make sure that the people next to you are following the rules. Like I said, different than the NRA 4 rules, but they work in a range situation.
After that, we went down to the firing line to prep our rifles and get down to work. I will have to say this is one of the only times I can think of for being chastised at a range. Apparently their range policy is that the rifles should be pointed up or down range at all times. This includes when they are in a case. I found this out while carrying my rifle case by its handle. It’s not a big deal, and I appreciate the concern of safety, but worrying about the direction a cased rifle is pointing is a bit overkill in my book. It’s straying a bit too far into the realm of “gun is dangerous. Might jump out and start shooting people on its own” in my book. Of course, this being their range and their rules, I did what I always do when confronted with something that really doesn’t inconvenience me. I asked for clarification (“even when it’s in a case?”), shrugged my shoulders, and complied.
For the rest of the day, we shot one of three types of targets. The “Red Coat” target has silhouettes of a man’s head and shoulders shrunk down to simulate 100, 200, 300, and 400 yards, plus a rectangle to simulate a head shot at 250 yards. These were primarily used to see where you were in your shooting ability, and check on progress. We used a quarter inch grid target for most of Saturday. The grid really helps you understand how close/far you were from what you were aiming at or how tight your groups were. The last was the AQT. This is the Army Qualification Test, and is the target used to score whether you’ve made rifleman or not. It’s not easy, but it’s definitely possible.
One thing that they tell you is recommended, but to required that should be is a shooting mat. You’re going to be spending a lot of time in the prone and sitting/kneeling positions. You’ll also be doing a lot of drills dropping into the positions. This means your knees, elbows, and ribs are going to be meeting the concrete a good bit. I only had a fairly thick fleece blanket with me, and, while it did protect my from the cold of the concrete, I have a few bruises from those drills.
The next thing that really needs to be emphasized is that you should not only bring a sling, but the right sling. They really push the “loop sling” method of shooting, which pretty much requires the old M1 Garand GI style sling. The “hasty sling” is another method that they teach, which is also the method that I’m more familiar with. Most two or three point slings can be used for the hasty sling, but you need to make sure that the sling won’t loosen over time like mine did.
One thing that I can’t stress enough is make sure you go with a clean gun! I failed to do this, and it hurt me. My Marlin 795 started to fail to strip rounds off of the magazines and had a couple failures to extract. Both of these I attribute to it being dirty, since a hit of CLP got it working. I did bring *some* cleaning suplies with me (a can of CLP, a bore snake, and some patches), and did some cleaning in the hotel room, but it really needing scrubbing. To quote Linoge after he looked at my chamber Sunday morning “Oh! there’s metal under there! I was thinking it was entirely held together by fouling!”
Sunday was pretty much entirely an AQT grind. The stated goal was to run through the AQT over and over until either everyone qualified rifleman, we ran out of ammo, or we ran out of daylight. Predictably, we ran out of daylight. We had a lot of folks that did, in fact, get their rifleman’s badge this weekend, including Linoge and his wife. Sadly, Wizard and I were not in the ranks. I don’t know exactly what he scored, but I know I scored pretty high in the “sharpshooter” range a few times, including the last time when the rear Tech Sight on my Marlin slid off the rifle (note to self: put some Lock-Tite on that thing). I did try Linoge’s rifle for the last Red Coat target, and I’m pretty sure if I had been using it instead of my mostly stock Marlin, I would have made it. That thing is nice. I think I might have made it just by using a scope instead of iron sights.
I know I’m missing a few things, but I’m still tired and bruised from jumping up and down on the concrete in the cold for an entire weekend. I know… I know… you guys with military backgrounds are probably reading this and thinking that I’m a weenie, but my usual day is sitting in front of a computer drink tea.
oh, and I already have a few things on order for the next event.
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Admonishment for how you carried your rifle in a rifle case.
I am giving my point of view as an Instructor in Training…thus I may have a bit too much of the Kool-Aid in my system.
Many of the Rules we have work well in our unique environment. A combination of very new shooters and shooters who think they know everything they are ever going to learn.
As well as some shooters who do know a great deal who we serve as nothing more than a different perspective on the Basics.
Our insurance also plays a role in some of our rules.
On the Parking lot aspect of things and taking your rifle to and from the car.
As a glorified Parking lot attendant I do not know how you packed your rifle.
Loaded, safety off and a pack of quarters inside the trigger guard is how I try to imagine everyone else packs theirs.
The reason for this is more of a lowest denominator (common excluded purposefully). My priority while volunteering at an Appleseed is that everyone goes home with the same number of holes they came to the event with.
For this reason we ask everyone keep their rifles pointed up in a rural environment, even when in their case, until on the Firing Line and at that point always Down Range.
I’m always up for safety, especially, as I stated, when that extra measure doesn’t really impact me in any way. I will have to say that this was the first time that I’ve ever heard of the rule of muzzle discipline extending to a closed case, and that has extended to the other shooters that I’ve mentioned this too. There does have to be some point where the gun is considered “safe,” be it in a closed case, locked in the trunk, or at home locked in a safe. Most ranges consider “in a closed case” to be that point.
This is by far not the worst strange rule I’ve come across. I’ve been to multiple (usually state run) ranges that state that you’re only allowed to load x number of rounds into the magazine at a time (some say 5, some say 3, some only allow 1!), and others that state that they only allow “aimed shots” where “aimed” is defined as no less than 10 to 20 seconds between shots.
I will say that, given your example of a cased gun “loaded, safety off, and a pack of quarters inst the trigger guard,” assuming that the gun didn’t go off in the guy’s car, I’d rather have him use the handle of the case instead of trying to carry it leaning against his shoulder in a vertical position. Beyond the fact that carrying it by the handle is using it as designed, holding it by the handle is a much more stable means of transport and greatly reduces the chances of the case toppling and striking the ground with force due to trip, stumble, or just plain bad balance. I would think that the case hitting the ground from that position would cause a much larger jostle on those quarters that while being carried by the handle.
Of course, when it comes down to it, it’s your range and your rules. My options where either shrug my shoulders and comply, or throw a fit, leave the range, and learn nothing. As previously stated, this was a rule that I could easily live with, but that doesn’t mean that I’m not going to scratch my head about it.
Oh, one last thing, and then I swear I’ll drop it. Has there been a documented case of a rifle going off while inside a closed case? I’ve never heard of such a thing, and my quick (although admittedly not thorough) Google searching has brought up nothing.
Actual instances of this happening would do a lot to bring validity to this rule. Otherwise, I can’t see this as anything other than guarding against something that just doesn’t happen.
That’s still a silly rule Paxx.
Many of my cases are square, and it’s not always known which way the rifle was packed into the case. Also, some of them are larger cases that hold two rifles pointed opposite directions. Finally, my takedown 10/22 (my preferred rifle for Appleseed) is not only cased but broken down: I fail to see how this is anything BUT safe when carried in this manner (even if the receiver is loaded!)
Point is, a cased gun is a safe gun.
Paxx,
So in taking the rifle out of a vehicle, it will probably sweep someone with the muzzle. Or what about traveling down the road? And most rifle cases are designed for the rifle case to be carried in a horizontal manner. I doubt most folks wish to spend $200.00 for a hard sided Pelican case.
Some of the rules that Appleseed uses make Fudds look like Threepers.
Truth in lending, I am an instructor with Appleseed. While the rifle is in your car, it is your responsibility. When it comes out of the car, it falls under the wing of whoever is running the range. Like you said, our range our rules.
Disclaimer – like Bill & Paxx I’m an Appleseed instructor. A “silly rule” yep! some what awkward to carry cased with muzzle up – Yep!
For an example of why (you wouldn’t believe what we see) I had a cased Mini-14 come to my line. When case was opened we had a round chambered, safety off. So yes, we may go a little “overboard” to the Old Heads, but even Old Heads can get complacent.
For us – everyone goes home with out extra holes.