One of the great things about Project Appleseed is the standard they set for being a Rifleman. The Appleseed Qualification Target (AQT) is a set of 4 timed courses of fire, with transitions between positions, required reloads, and several shifts in Natural Point-Of-Aim (NPOA). The courses range from a mere 55 seconds (start standing, transition to sitting, 10 shots at simulated 100 yards, with reload) to a leisurely 5 minutes (prone, 10 shots at simulated 400 yards, no reloads, points count double). The required score for Rifleman is 210 out of 250 possible points - with iron sights. There is no faking this kind of repeatable marksmanship under stress.

The first time I went to an Appleseed my intention was to improve my marksmanship for hunting. I was feeling pretty comfortable about that now, but I knew I could do better, and I wanted that Rifleman patch!

I convinced Tyson to come with me, partially because he had a new rifle he needed to practice with and partially because I knew he’d enjoy the history. I think I also selfishly wanted to see how much I had improved from when he out-shot me with my own rifle, but hopefully in a positive way that made us both better shooters. We signed up for the March 9/10th event in Redmond and showed up bright and early.

The shoot boss this time around was Griff, and I got to experience Appleseed in a different way. I felt like this event had more opportunities for students to diagnose their own issues. Instructors were there to help guide you towards a diagnosis by reminding you the questions you should be asking yourself when your groups aren’t where you want them. This was very much a ‘teach them to fish’ Appleseed.

This is a good time to mention that Project Appleseed is an all-volunteer organization. No one at Appleseed is getting paid for their time - and all of the instructors who work with students are Riflemen and Riflewomen in their own right. All of them bring their own experiences and flavor while teaching the same fundamentals and shooting the same courses of fire.

Neither Tyson ² or I made Rifleman, but it was another great Appleseed experience. Several of the instructors reached out to me during the class and asked if I would consider volunteering as an instructor once I earned my patch. I felt encouraged to keep trying.

I specifically remember bringing a different rifle to this event than I used in the last one. I believe I took an AR-15 so I was shooting next to Tyson ¹. I remember having all sorts of malfunctions with this rifle when it came time to do lots of AQTs in a row, and I just couldn’t get it to reliably cycle 10 rounds. This ended up being a theme…

Notes

¹ They usually put the centerfire shooters all on one side of the line to minimize how much rimfire shooters have to deal with the noise.

² Tyson might have made Rifleman, but he kept shooting my target instead of his on stages 2 and 3!