But I didn’t.

There, that was the whole plan above, in it’s briliant simplicity. I am probably the least “out there” person you will ever meet.

And the offer to pay your way at a shoot in Texas still stands.

If you’re trying to convince me to go to an Appleseed, talking about your plans to inspect other people’s naked bodies probably isn’t the way to go about it. Your other fellows come on a bit strong, but that’s…. out there dude. Sorry.

This country needs more men with strong, passionate, relevant opinions. That seems to be something we are short of these days, and one of the things Appleseed is trying to help remedy.

If you go to an Appleseed and have the same opinion of it afterwards, no problem. That, I can live with, though I will try to correct any problems in the program that we find are real afterwards.

We don’t have all the answers to getting folks to learn, sometimes we have to wing it or make things work in impromtu fashion. We need more guys with the desire to help America, with more ideas, to make a better shooting program. We never turn down good ideas.

If you are close to Texas, you are invited to be my guest at the Central Texas location here, and shoot on my dime, rifles, ammunition and meals included. The range is on my private property, 25 yard and 100-700 KD.

There is an APpleseed location in Throop NY, in Auburn, that should have a shoot coming up. Guy can let you know any info on it Orange. I was just there in July for an event with Nickle, then we both went to Vermont for an APpleseed shoot at the military base there. There was a whole carfull of New York,”City Yankees” that came to the Throop NY event.

They were recent legal immigrants from eastern block countries, Russia, Poland, Latvia. They were amazing. None had fired a rifle before, but they were filled with the desire to become proficient, and they did become proficient, including the young woman. Even though we had to shoot straight through weather that ranged from opressive sun and heat one day, to hours of torrential rain the next. No one complained or left.

But what amazed me most was how the story of Americas freedom and liberty resonated with them. They had experienced the other alternative and wanted to become “American” Patriots and ,make sure that they would never have to be under a repressive regime again.

As far as tin foil and black helicopters, I was working for this organization for a good while before I ever met anyone face to face. I finally went to an eight day instructors course. But all the while in the back of my head was the idea that they would probably turn out to be some type of undesirables or a cult. It was too good to be true. The people were too friendly.

I even had a plan to purposely inspect other people’s naked bodies in the shower,(which was ice cold water, on a wooden crate, outside, directly in the middle of a gravel road), because I told myself that if I saw even one Nazi Swastika, or “white power” tattoo hidden somewhere, the deal was over.

Thankfully no one had any and I have never looked back. The people I have met are the truest Americans I have ever desired to meet. I just wished I had met them earlier in my life, so I would not have wasted so much time, not working toward a better America, or with sorry friends.

I hope to see you soon, or read about your experience at some point. My offer stand until you get to an Appleseed.
Scout

…….. Mr. C.

I am also reachable at http://www.appleseedinfo.org/smf which is our forum. You may click on my member name and retreve it that way, or send me a pm.

Aw heck, spambots are computer anyway, and if I get a ton of spam, it is my own fault.

Let’s try it like this. Wanna play hangman? it is-f*rmb*y1536-y****.c*m

Eh?

Sebastian, it is in your info, right?

You asked for email contact, but you didn’t give your email. :)

All that said, though, I seem to live in a 5-hour bubble… meaning that no Appleseed event is taking place this year any closer to me than five hours. For a two day event, I surely am not springing for a hotel room that would probably cost more than the even itself…

As for newbies, yes, they can come, are welcome, and sometimes do much better than some of the experienced shooters. This is simply due to a complete lack of bad habits ingrained over the years to break. I have seen, and others have too, still new in box rifles show up with wet-behind-the-ears-born-that-morning shooters show up to learn.

Success is also not measured against the group. It is not a competition. The goal of hitting Rifleman (210 on the AQT) is just a number, proving that at least for one COF, you had the skills and brought it all together once.

Is it satisfying? Yep.

But it is only the begining.

There is so much more to being a Rifleman, as opposed to a rifleman. Participation in local politics, getting new shooters involved, being an Ambasador for the Second Amendment (which garanties the rest!) all the time.

The RWVA Appleseed Program has a slightly unofficial (at this time) motto. Shoot, Recruit, Communicate, Educate. The basis is simply this.

The other three can gaurantee the first.

Think about that.

Guy

btw, recruit has noting to do with military. Recruit means simply recruitment of new shoters into the Gun Culture.

Let me know about that ’seed. Looks like the best time for you will be in the spring. Nickle is a fine Instructor, and has one heck of a program up there. Check him out sometime.

A 2-day Appleseed with pre-reg is $70 in ‘08, I don’t know if prices will change for ‘09. Walk-on shooters are welcome, but it’s $80 instead.

As Nickle said, loaners can usually be arranged, and .22 ammo is dirt-cheap.

(The other big plus to the VanEtten shoot is that full-distance can be available, up to 300yd from the regular line.)

I live on Long Island. How far up are you guys from where I am? And what do you charge for participating in this shoot?

Yeah, Zercool and I work together sometimes.

We’ve got an Appleseed up in New Bremen, NY Sep 13/14 if that works.

Though, I really would recommend taking The Guy up on his offer. He does mean what he says.

I cover NY and New England, primarily, and would be glad to have you.

Folks, it’s takes a big man, with self confidence and not a frail ego to make the comments Sebastian has.

I’m glad to see people of his cut in the world.

The Appleseed Program states that they will take you from being a “rifle owner” to being a “rifleman”.

Before running across the program, I’d known for 20 years or more that there are a whole bunch of rifle owners who may occasionally shoot their rifles, but don’t really know HOW to shoot them.

I was one of them. Steps to firing a shot? Field positions? Mag changes, under a time limit? NPOA? MOA? Actually adjusting sights, not just moving them randomly until I hit what I happened to be shooting at that day at the distance I happened to be shooting at?

Two days at an Appleseed taught me all these things I had been missing.

Can I kick a door in and clear a building? No, Appleseed didn’t teach me that, and no one else has yet, either. I could afford the $70 for two days of Appleseed; I couldn’t afford the $1000 plus airfare for one of the big schools that would teach me to kick in a door.

After attending two as a student, I became an instructor in training.

My goal is to get all those people with a safe or closet full of guns they’ve put less than 100 rounds through in all the years they’ve owned them, get them out to the range, and teach them some of what they may have been missing. And it really is fun, too.

I’ll take any newbie I can get there, but this really is aimed at the rifle owner who does more couch sitting than shooting.

I don’t always phrase things as well as I could, and when it’s something I’m really into, yep, passionate is the right word.

Definitely fair enough.

(I think the “new shooter” bit is more along the lines of “we aren’t going to turn away a new shooter by any means”.)

I actually don’t know what corner of the country you call home – but we’d be happy to see you at any of the NY Appleseeds. Bring your .22 or your centerfire and plenty of ammo. :-)

Peace. (Through superior firepower.)

In addition, I was basing my assumption that they are going after newbie shooters based on things I had been hearing, rather than based on what the organization was saying themselves, which I agree, appears to target existing gun owners who want to obtain more skill with the rifle.