Appleseed, day one (Updated)

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Survived the first day of Appleseed.
Shot a lot.
Tired.
No blog for you. You come back later. I'm going to just lay here on the floor.


(Update: The next morning (day 2), getting ready to do it again.....

After a long hot shower, a good meal, a glass of spirits, and a solid nights sleep.... The Fat Old Man is still tired and hurting. Nothing in Appleseed is difficult on it's own, but pile them all on and do it a few hundred times... and now it gets interesting.

Some thoughts on Appleseed, Day One:

• There are 18 shooters at this event, and four volunteers from Appleseed doing the grunt work. About a third of the shooters are young folks, with their parents and grand parents there to guide them. This is a wonderful sight, and is a fine testament to the future. The Appleseed volunteers are people of the finest caliber, spending hour upon hour poking, prodding, and most of all... teaching... people in the art of accurately shooting a rifle.
• All the folks who gave 'Ol Carteach advice.... you were right, each and every one of you. Every single thing I was advised to take along, I needed, and I quickly discovered everything I forgot to bring.... especially as I could hear those voices 'tutting' their disappointment in my head: "We TOLD you to take a chair! We TOLD you to take sun screen. We TOLD you..... lunkhead".
• I suspected the M&P 15-22 would not take well to being fired with a sling, and I was right. I discovered how to free float the barrel simply by removing one piece, and that helped... but not enough. It will still spread groups hard at the slightest change in sling pressure. I shot better groups without a sling, on that rifle.
• I also suspected my old bi-focaled eyes would be a problem, and I was right on that as well. Last night I mounted the Eotech back on the M&P 15-22, in an effort to better hit my target. By days end the 400 yard targets simply faded to a washed out haze in front of my sights, which were themselves a haze. Today I may do better.
• One thing these old eyes did see.... and a glad sight it was.... young folks learning the way of the rifle, being tutored by parent, grandparent, and teacher. A wonderful, wonderful thing... and shows what Appleseed is all about.