Whew, that’s enough politics for a while.

In 2018 I got the hunting bug again. I knew from my last hunting outing that I’d have to work on my rifle marksmanship before I felt like I was able to take ethical shots on animals at any distance. It was time to get some training, even if that meant skipping the season this year.

I don’t remember where I first heard about Project Appleseed. I think the most likely place would be the Art of the Rifle blog but it’s possible I heard about it on Reddit. All I knew about it at the time was that the events were CHEAP compared to most rifle training. An 1-day (8-hour) NRA Basic Rifle Shooting class costs $125, but a 2-day (16 hour) Appleseed event cost $60. I signed up for the event on Nov 17-18, 2018.

I got so much more out of this than I was expecting.

If you were to look at the earliest days of the NRA back when their only focus was on promoting rifle marksmanship I think you’d likely see a lot of similarities in how Project Appleseed approaches their mission. The goal of Project Appleseed is to create a nation of Riflemen - no politics1, no fear-mongering, just rifle marksmanship and a review of some basic facts of our nation’s founding.

Marksmanship

Appleseed events make use of scaled-down targets at scaled-down distances. Most events take place on a 25 yard range rather than a 100 or 300 yard range. The scaled-down targets simulate a 26-inch wide target at various distances. Here’s an example of a target scaled to fit on a standard 8.5” X 11” page, intended to be engaged at 15 yards:

Project Appleseed teaches positional shooting from 3 positions: Standing, Kneeling or Sitting, and Prone. None of the shooting at Project Appleseed is from a bench, and the only support you have for your rifle is your body and your rifle’s sling. Part of this course involves transitioning to a more stable position (e.g. from standing to prone) in order to engage targets that are further away. This is practical shooting for anywhere you have you have a safe backstop.

At the beginning of the weekend they have you shoot what they call a “Redcoat” target - one silhouette each at simulated distances of 100, 200, 300, and 400 yards, plus Morgan’s Shingle simulating a 7” X 10” roofing shingle at 250 yards. They evaluate how many attendees clear each distance (3 shots per silhouette, 1 for the shingle). I didn’t clear even the 100 yard target when I showed up on the first day. Some of that is because my rifle wasn’t properly sighted in yet but that’s hardly an excuse.

By the end of this very cold weekend I was consistently clearing the 200 yard target and the Shingle. One class had taken my effective range with a rifle from less than 100 yards to a repeatable 250 yards. I still wasn’t shooting well enough to clear the Appleseed Qualification Test (AQT) and shoot a Rifleman score, but this was a huge improvement! I was ready to go hunting next year.

April 19th, 1775

I expected to improve my shooting, but what I didn’t expect was a history lesson and a civics quiz. Here’s a fun exercise for you:

  1. Can you name the 5 freedoms protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution?

  2. Why was Paul Revere out for his famous midnight ride? What was his warning to the Massachusetts colonists?

  3. The Declaration of Independence listed a variety of reasons the United States dissolved their political connections with Great Britain. How many times does taxation show up in that list?

You probably knew all of these things at one point. Most of these are taught in schools. See how well you do cold, without looking these up. I didn’t do very well. I was able to name the first 5 freedoms protected by the First Amendment, but I wasn’t able to answer the other questions. Answers are here.

Project Appleseed is not just a rifle marksmanship organization. It’s a big part of their mission, but they’re pretty clear that they “use rifle marksmanship as a gateway to help bring our nation’s history to life”. Their 2-day events have built in breaks to talk about the events leading up to the American Revolution, and in particular the events of April 19th, 1775.

At first I was very skeptical of the way Project Appleseed presented the history of the Battles of Lexington and Concord. It honestly sounded too ridiculous to be true. “Here come the Regulars to take your gunpowder and leave you defenseless” sounds like reductionist history by an NRA talking head. I was pretty sure the Revolution had started over taxes and something about tea. Plus, in an oral presentation it’s pretty hard to show the sources you’re citing.

But here’s the thing - this isn’t revisionist or reductionist history. These were the actual events, presented clearly and succinctly. The instructors were able to back up their claims with contemporary sources from both sides of the conflict. Real, scholarly history supports their presentation. Go read Paul Revere's Ride by David Hackett Fischer - you’ll be amazed what you didn’t know.

The instructors are incredibly careful to steer away from modern politics. They do not draw parallels between the American Revolution and any specific modern events. They politely stopped several people who started to talk modern politics and reminded them that the only parties it was appropriate to talk about were Whigs and Tories. This is especially impressive given that I-1639 had just passed about 2 weeks beforehand so there were hot political topics that many attendees wanted to talk about.

I was impressed with this whole event. I knew I’d be back one day to earn a Rifleman patch.




Answers:

  1. The First Amendment protects the rights to: Freedom of Speech, Freedom of the Press, Freedom of Assembly, Freedom to Petition the Government, and Freedom of Religion. 2

  2. Paul Revere was alerting the colonists that the King’s troops were marching on Lexington and Concord. Revere thought their intent was to arrest Samuel Adams and John Hancock, but their goal was to “sieze and destroy […] all military stores” (i.e. gunpowder, cannon, and small arms) in Concord. Paul Revere did not shout “The British are coming!” but rather “The Regulars are coming out!”

  3. The Declaration of Independence mentions taxes only once: “For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent”. This is the 17th item in a list of 27 specific “injuries and usurpations” inflicted on the colonies by King George III.


Notes

1 No modern politics. It’s tough to talk about historical events, especially conflicts, without talking about the politics of the time.

2 Amy Coney Barrett, now a Supreme Court Justice, was unable to name all 5 freedoms in her confirmation hearing