User:Fmbernard71

Appleseed Project

The Appleseed (AS) Project teaches rifle marksmanship and awakens Americans to their history and heritage. In short, Appleseed is a program to help restore America to its foundational goodness through remembering about April 19, 1775 and fundamental marksmanship training. AS is staffed and organized by volunteers and members of the Revolutionary War Veterans Association (RWVA). AS weekend rifle marksmanship clinics are held all over the US, and cost participants from $45 to $80 plus range fees. Appleseed clinics are FREE to those under 21, the military (active, reserve, and guard), and to elected officials. Plus, Appleseed is free for women for the balance of 2008. To participate in an AS, you need to bring, rifle, sling, ground mat, shooting jacket or elbow pads, sack lunch, water, hat, sunscreen, plus bring your family and friends. Appleseed teaches people proper rifle shooting form and fundamental technique. Students learn how to shoot from the standing, sitting, and prone positions, plus how to use a US military loop sling to help build steady positions. Students learn how to achieve their natural point of aim (NPOA). Students learn the six steps of firing a shot, which are

1.  Sight alignment; align the front and rear sights

2.  Sight picture; place the target on top of the aligned sights

3.  Respiratory pause; exhale completely, don’t inhale

4a         Focus your eye on the front sight; the target should be blurry while the front sight should be sharply in focus.

4b         Focus your mind on keeping the aligned sights on target

5.         Squeeze the trigger; don’t jerk back fast, don’t “drag wood” (keep your finger off the stock while you squeeze)

6.         Follow through; trap the trigger back and call the shot.

Safety brief: Four safety rules are stressed at Appleseed clinics,

First, always keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction.

Second, never load the rifle until you receive the load command.

Third, keep your finger off the trigger until the sights are on the target.

Fourth, everybody is a Range Safety Officer.

Appleseed students learn how to adjust their rifle sights by the Inches-Minues-Clicks (IMC) method. IMC works as follows: A shooter wants to strike the center of their target. If the shooter is using proper technique, and a decent rifle, they will print a consistent, one-inch grouping at 25 meters. The shooter marks their group center on the target, and then measures the horizontal and vertical difference between the group center and the target center in inch units. Then, using a rule of thumb that one inch is one minute of angle at 100 meters, the shooter knows that 1/4 inch corresponds to 1 MOA at 25m. This derives from the law of similar triangles- if you have proportional right triangles which have common angles, then the base dimensions vary in direct proportion. A 1 MOA triangle 100m long has a 1 inch leg, a 1MOA triangle 300m long has a 3 inch leg, and a 1MOA triangle 25m long has a 1/4 inch leg. The exact mathematical values don't make such tidy integers, but for purposes of rapid mental calculation, the 1 MOA per 100m simplification is used in Appleseed. So, the shooter knows how many MOA horizontally and vertically they need to shift their sights to hit target center. The sights are moved the corresponding number of MOA to achieve the desired impact shift. The shooter must know how many MOA each sight click makes for their rifle. With American military pattern rifles, these are typically 1 MOA for M1 Garand or M14. Appleseed students learn how to confidently, precisely adjust sights to hit the target with the IMC method. Appleseed teaches students to fire at the Rifleman's cadence, that is, a well-aimed shot every three to four seconds, from any position.

Course of fire, derived from the 25m Army Qualification Test (AQT).

The Appleseed 25m AQT simulates a military D target shot in four stages, which are scaled to represent 100, 200, 300 and 400m firing distances. Stage 1, starting from standing, ten shots in two minutes, 100 yd simulated target. Stage 2, starting from standing, transition to sitting, ten shots in 50 seconds, 200 yd simulated target. Stage 3, starting from standing, transition to prone, ten shots in one minute, 300 yd simulated target. Stage 4, starting from prone, ten shots in five minutes, 400 yd simulated target. One inch squares are shot at 25 meters because a horizontal and vertcal shot displacement of one inch, in 25 meters, is close to four minutes of horizontal and vertical displacement. A four minute of angle or better rifle shooter is what Appleseed strives to produce. Rifleman Patches are presented to "Expert" ranked shooters who earn a numerical score of 210 or greater out of a possible 250 points on the AQT.

More information on how to prepare here: http://appleseedinfo.org/smf/index.php?topic=62.0 http://appleseedinfo.org/smf/index.php?topic=101.0

RWVA is a non-profit 501C-3 organization. RWVA is a Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP) affiliated club. (reference: http://clubs.odcmp.com/cgi-bin/clubInfo.cgi?clubID=1892) Participation in Appleseed fulfills one requirement for you to purchase M1 Garand rifles directly from CMP.

AS began in 2006 with an initial goal of 1000 participants that year, but with the determination to double participation each year. AS instructed 1000+ students in 2006, nearly 2000 in 2007, and plans to instruct 4000 in 2008 - and 8000 in 2009. By the year 2012, the 100,000th Appleseeder will pass thru the program. If you are interested in participating or observing an event, see http://appleseedinfo.org/smf/index.php?board=3.0 for dates and locations.

Para III. Relevant links: www.appleseedinfo.org

www.odcmp.org

http://appleseedshoot.blogspot.com/