The Guns of Appleseed
Do you shoot? Do you know how to shoot accurately? Are you a rifleman or just a plinker? Are you a legend in your own mind or can you really shoot? Have you ever had any rifle training? Perhaps you have never even touched a firearm and are looking for someplace to try it.
Are You One?
I just spent two days at an Appleseed training program. If you’ve never heard of it, the Appleseed Project is an activity of The Revolutionary War Veterans Association, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, dedicated to teaching every American our shared heritage and history as well as traditional rifle marksmanship skills. It teaches fundamental rifle shooting using three positions, standing, sitting/kneeling and prone. They also teach the hasty sling and loop sling method of shooting.
Use of the sling enhances accuracy
Is there an Agenda?
An interesting aspect of Appleseed is that it mixes history with rifle training. Specifically the history lesson is about April 19,1775 the day our forefathers met the British at Lexington and Concord and fired “the shot heard ’round the world” . It is an intriguing lesson of the courage of our founding families. So if they are teaching revolutionary war history and rifle shooing, they must have an agenda right? I surmised that there really is no agenda other than wanting people not to take for granted the sacrifices our founding fathers made. They gave us a precious gift, we need to get off our lazy butts and become part of the system they created.
Come One, Come All
Appleseed welcomes non-shooters, new shooters experienced shooters. They encourage women and kids to participate by offering free or near free training. Kids under 21 are free and women are $5 or $10 for the weekend. Active duty military, disabled vets, police officers and elected officials also shoot free. Others are $70 plus range fees, which is pretty reasonable for two days of intensive and fun training.
On the line
While the cost for the training is low, you must supply your own guns and ammo. Appleseed encourages one to bring what you have in terms of rifles. I’ve seen AR15s, AKs, SKS, even 9mm carbines out on the line. However, a semi auto .22s with 10 shot detachable magazine is the best choice. Bolt actions work, as well as tube fed semis but you are at a disadvantage due to mag changes and timed fire. The guy next to me qualified with a bolt action. Ruger 10/22s are perfect as are Marlin 795s which are very inexpensive. Good iron sights are encouraged but scopes are allowed. My daughter and I both used 10/22s with scopes as did most of the other shooters.
Since they teach the use of a sling, they encourage you to bring a military type web sling as used on the M1 Garand and M14. This means you need 1.25″ sling swivels on your rifle. There were a few people there with AR15 type 22s, which are becoming popular in some circles. It is a good training option if you have an AR.
Two Day Course
Appleseed is generally a two day course, though you can register for either of the days.
Learning Natural Point of Aim (NPOA)
The first day is primarily learning to shoot. The instructors take you piece by piece, bit by bit through the sequence of firing a rifle. You learn it, then you practice it. They also mix up the day with stories about April 19 1775 during the much needed breaks. But it is not all work and no play. They throw in some fun targets, a little team competition and a lot of personal attention. It is a lot of fun.
Day Two is a refresher of the safety rules and fundamentals you learned the day before. Then they run through the course of fire and then you pretty much shoot the course of fire the rest of the day. Of course you go get breaks, some more history, some more team competition and a whole lot more fun.
Heritage and Shooting Skills are Important
The course itself is based on the old Army Qualification Test (AQT) for M1 Garand rifles which is why the semi has an advantage. If you shoot 210 or more out of a possible 250 points you earn the Rifleman patch. The good news is they shoot the course at 25 meters. The bad news is the targets are scaled down to represent 100, 200, 300 and 400 yards. It is a challenge, and you may not be able to qualify the first time but you get lots of opportunities and lots of help. It is a good measure of what you learned and how well you shoot.
Sitting position instruction
I took my 20 year old daughter who drove home from college to attend. We shot outside and it was in single digits temperatures in the morning. A little nippy but we had a great time nonetheless.
Course of Fire
The course of fire is four stages worth 250 points. A score of 210 and above earns the patch
Stage 1. Standing-One mag 10 rounds in 2 minutes on the 100 yard target. Scoring is 5, 4 or 3 points. 50 pts total.
Course of fire
Stage 2. Two mags, loaded 2 in one, 8 in the other. There are two 200 yard targets. Starting from a standing position you go to a sitting position, load the 2 round mag, shoot the first target with 2 rounds, reload, shoot the first target with 3 more rounds and then put 5 rounds in the second target in 55 seconds. 50 points
Stage 3. Two mags, 2 and 8 as noted above. Three 300 yard targets. Starting from standing you go to prone, load and then shoot the first target twice, reload, shot one more round on the first target, three in the second and 4 in the third in 65 seconds. 50 points
Stage 4. One mag, ten rounds on four 400 yard targets. 2 shots on the first, 2 shots on the second, 3 and 3 on the third and fourth targets. You have 5 minutes and each shot is 10 points. Total of 100 points.
My Appleseed Guns
Top is my Liberty Training Rifle, 20″ bbl 10/22 rifle with Tech Sights, extended mag release, modified bolt release and flash hider. The flash hider is worthless but it does protect the crown and muzzle if you happen to dip it during prone firing. I shot it the second day. (Note: I have since shoot Rifleman with this rifle, yeah!)
Liberty Training Rifles.
Middle is the one I shot my rifleman score. It is a 1990′s era, no longer made AMT Hunter 10/22 clone. It is all stainless w/ a 22″ tapered barrel. It came with a factory extend mag release and auto bolt release. The stock is OEM and was made by Choate. Scope is an 25+ year old 4X Tasco.
Bottom is a 10/22 with a 16″ youth barrel and a shortened cut down stock I made for my daughter. Scope is a 30 year old 1.4-4X Bushnell. I added an extended mag release and modified the bolt release.
Note the cheek pads on the bottom two. You really need a good cheek weld if you are going to use a scope.
Winterseed Patch
I almost forgot to mention the patch! The one shown is given for severe weather i.e., winter condition matches. They call that Winterseed. You have your choice of that or the regular OD patch if you earn it during the winter. They also have a Tan patch.
Nylon Rifles at Appleseed?
Can you use a Nylon 66 or other nylon rifle to shoot an Appleseed? Appleseed will accommodate tube fed rifles, but they are at a disadvantage from a reloading standpoint . Once you get the hang of it however a 66 would probably work. The Nylon 77, 10C and Apache 77 might be a better choice because of their 10 shot magazines. Slings are a concern. The concern being whether you can shoot it using a tight web sling without changing the point of impact. The other concern is the sights. Typical sights are not very good for this type of shooting. Most people change out the sights for a military type peep sight. You
Detachable Mag Fed Nylons
might be able to mount a peep sight on the receive cover. I’ve seen picture of such a thing. You may be able to adapt Tech Sights (after market military sights for Rugers and Marlins). Scopes are allowed at Appleseed so you could mount a scope.
I do plan on rigging up either a 10C or an Apache 77 for shooting at Appleseed. Hey, this is nylonrifles.com right? I gotta practice what I preach. Haven’t decided whether I should change the sights or just use a scope. I will also have to mount sling swivels. Sounds like another fun project.
Regardless of what rifle you shoot, here is a good reason to get out and use it. If you are interested, go to their website at www.appleseedinfo.org and read about it. Then go to their links and follow it to the schedule page and see if there is one in your state this year. It is well worth the time.
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