Anybody Ever Been to a Appleseed Shoot??

[Joey]

Our oldest daughter is in JROTC and I've been playing with the idea of taking her to a appleseed shoot to ensure she knows the AR platform and is comfortable with it (she wants to go in the Army as a officer) but I am not convinced it's as good as I've read on the web site http://www.appleseedinfo.org/ and was wondering if anybody has ever been to one?

Nice thing is the price is cheap and easy to afford [Tooth] [Tooth]

[Justin]

I've never shot one, but if there's interest in shooting and learning the AR platform, there are tons of Service Rifle competitions in this state.

Buffalo Creek Gun Club, Pueblo, and Frontier all hold matches.

[cj]

I haven't been yet, but am planning on hitting the Canon City one coming up April 19th. I believe she'd actually get to shoot for free, but you'd need to check with them.

I've seen impressive reviews about their education for rifle marksmanship, but am leery about what other messages they'll try to push. Worst case, as you mentioned, it's cheap, and I can always leave without losing too much!

[Joey]

Yep, she would shoot for free, can't argue with that at all as long as she learns from it and they do not spout off with any political crap.

Where is Canon City? Was wondering if we might make it down for that one depending on where it is, the availability of places to stay and what we have going on when the shoot is taking place.

[cj]

Looks like Canon City is a little southwest of Colorado Springs. I'm with you on the political stuff too. I want to learn how to shoot, I don't need my mind altered!

[jvandenhaus]

I was all set to go to the Appleseed until I chatted up one of their reps.

The Colorado Appleseed shoots at a 25 metre range. Yup, you heard it, 25m with a rifle, whoopee. There is no consideration of windage or elevation. They simulate 500m ranges by shooting at smaller targets at 25m. So its pretty much like playing Call of Duty or any other first person shooter.

Myself, I'm going to save my $70 and spend it on ammo and go shoot my normal 100 yard range for free and get some real practise in. But by all means, please yourself.

[cj]

Well, I went (never been a rifle shooter) and learned a lot. Very few people shot worth anything on the first drill (the one where you show up, they don't tell you any technique and just let you shoot). Everyone got better and learned over the weekend, but still very few (maybe 7 out of 46?) were able to score high enough to get awarded their 'Rifleman' patch. Lots of egos deflated that day as a teeny teenage girl managed it with a plain 10/22 and they didn't with their spiffed up AR's and M1's.

Yes, it was 25 meters, and didn't need to take elevation or windage into account, but its intent seemed to focus on the core basics...if you couldn't hit the 1" square at 25 meters consistently, no amount of windage or elevation adjustments is going to help. I know they have some more advanced classes available occasionally, and I wonder if those topics might be covered there.

[AP-4Guy]

I went too, and took my 10-yr old son there as well. We had a good time and learned alot, but it was definitely a beginners course. As such, it was exactly what I was hoping for, for my son especially. And I probably suck, but even though windage etc is not really required at 25 yds, the targets still kept it challenging.

I think anyone who didn't go because they didn't want to hear political messages really missed out. The messages were of the heroics and sacrifices of the men who fought the Revolution, and those stories served as a reminder of why we have the 2nd Amendment. Are there shooters out there who can't take that?
John