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Thread: Appleseed

  1. #1
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    Appleseed

    Anyone gone to an Appleseed class?

    I had the pleasure of recently meeting someone who ran Appleseed classes, and what I took away from the conversation is:
    Appleseed instructors are very condescending of anyone who hasn't been to an Appleseed class.
    They seem to think only they know how to shoot and they seem to think their course of fire is the most challenging course of fire in the world.

    I've met other Appleseed instructors before, and I got the same vibe, although not as much as this time.

    I was considering taking such a class before, but now I'm pretty sure I'm never going to take one of their classes. But just to be sure... is it worth a day or so and the minimal cost? I honestly don't care about the history or whatever part of their curriculum, I can do that on my own non-shooting time.
    Last edited by Koshinn; 03-22-16 at 12:46.
    "I never learned from a man who agreed with me." Robert A. Heinlein

  2. #2
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    I took my daughters to one at the Tri-County range in Norman, OK.

    I had intended to shoot along with them, but ended up just enjoying watching them shoot. I told them, 'yep, dad teaches police to shoot, they are gonna teach you to shoot, dad is going to watch you shoot.' It was very enjoyable for us all.

    I had them each set up with an Appleseed rifle - Marlin .22's with slings and sights - and they had a ball. The class was small, we got through the program in a day and a half instead of two days, the instructor said, hey, we will stay for the afternoon if anyone wants. Much to my chagrin, the girls both said we want to stay - we had a 4 hour drive home. They had a hoot.

    On to the program - our instructors were very sincere and enthusiastic. The whole background/purpose of the Appleseed is to prepare folks to defend their Country at long range. The stories they tell are to emphasize that point and much to my delight the girls enjoyed hearing the stories and talked about them in the truck.

    Ours weren't condescending, but I think we all can see examples of folks who think they are Patriots condescending to those who they don't think are as big a Patriot as they are.

    It is good old 3 position marksmanship training using hasty slings, and deliberate slings.

    Two of our three instructors were high-power competitors before they began teaching Appleseed and knew how to teach. Of course that is going to be a variable dependent on your location.

    We attended a 25 yard event, they also have KD events.

    We are going to another one this year.

    Your viewpoint and purpose for going may be different, I went for the kids and they had a good time.

  3. #3
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    I was the liaison between our IWLA club range and AS, and probably saw over two dozen instructors and three different Shoot Bosses over a period of 18 months. I never heard ANY complaints about any aspect of the AS program, even when we had shoots in heavy rain and freezing/snowy weather when I would have expected tempers to get short. These are very committed folks who believe strongly in the value of their program and deliver quality training - especially for beginners or shooters who have never had formal training in the past. Many are competition shooters with military team backgrounds. Sorry you had a bad experience.
    Last edited by Bruce in WV; 03-22-16 at 19:14.

  4. #4
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    I've thought about going to one but haven't had the chance yet. There aren't that many opportunities where I live as it's kind of the middle of nowhere. One of these days I'll take the time to do an AS event as I do like the historical side of it too.
    Quote Originally Posted by Fjallhrafn View Post
    If split crotch panties are what it takes to get your wife to exercise, wouldn't that be a good thing?

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by RazorBurn View Post
    I've thought about going to one but haven't had the chance yet. There aren't that many opportunities where I live as it's kind of the middle of nowhere. One of these days I'll take the time to do an AS event as I do like the historical side of it too.
    Are you close to Kearneysville WV?

    http://appleseedinfo.org/search-stat...est%20Virginia

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by 26 Inf View Post
    Basically a 5 hour drive one way so it's not close at all. I'm closer to Appleseed events in North Carolina and Virginia than Kearneysville. The one in Lynchburg, VA is 22LR only, and I really want to try my hand at longer range centerfire shooting which is offered at Ramseur, NC and both of those are basically 3 hours one way away.
    Quote Originally Posted by Fjallhrafn View Post
    If split crotch panties are what it takes to get your wife to exercise, wouldn't that be a good thing?

  7. #7
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    I'm the president of our local range and work directly with several Appleseed instructors. All of them are humble and genuinely motivated in getting people interested in rifle shooting AND teaching shooters the history of what happened on April 19, 1775. I find it to be fun and I've paid my own money to participate three times. I qualified for my Rifleman's patch with my AR and red dot the first time, then with a peep sight equipped 10/22 and then the most challenging was scoring high enough with my bolt 77/22 and stock sights. It's not a gimme' getting that patch... I found it very challenging. All of my kids have participated as well. It is one of my favorite shooting programs. It is really too bad your local instructors are d-bags.

    If you are not interested in the history, then this class may not be for you. It takes up quite a bit of time in the program.
    Last edited by AKDoug; 03-23-16 at 23:18.

  8. #8
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    AKDoug - You know, thinking about it, the history did take up more time than I realized, but our guys inter-spaced it throughout the course so it didn't seem to be overly long. One daughter missed rifleman by a hair, she is hot on it to get that patch next time.

  9. #9
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    Went to one a few years back and the instructors and family that owned the property we super nice. Made chili and cookies for lunch when the history lesson was held. Did all the 25yd stuff the first day and had the opportunity to shoot actual distances up to 400 the following day but it was just too cold for this sissy. I would do it again. Made rifleman first time out with a ruger 10-22

  10. #10
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    I'm an Appleseed Shoot Boss and State Coordinator here in Oklahoma... been with the program since '09. All the instructors I know are good dudes. However, I have seen some (particularly the young dudes) cop an attitude. Here's the deal... we are an all volunteer organization. Our instructors are all recruited from our student pool. If you shoot Expert on the AQT and come to at least 2 Appleseeds, you are qualified to be an Instructor in Training and start working your way up the ranks by proving you can effectively teach the material.

    So occasionally you get a young pup who hasn't had any training experience and hasn't really been exposed to other styles of shooting who has some skill and comes out and shoots Expert. Naturally getting that patch gives him a little bit of ego boost. Getting invited to be an instructor does too. So you have a guy who's only exposure to training is our method of teaching sling-supported positional shooting, who gets a little excited about being an Expert Rifleman and marksmanship instructor, and may have a notion that our way is the only way to shoot a rifle, and that anybody who does anything different is wrong. Though we don't really teach this, he may also have inflated notions of how effective he would be in a gunfight or whatnot with these techniques.

    We try to make sure all our guys check their egos and put a damper on these kind of attitudes on the part of our guys, but the nature of a volunteer org. is that sometimes they slip through.
    "This motto may adorn their tombs
    (Let tyrants come and view):
    We rather seek these silent rooms
    Than live as slaves to you."

    Lemuel Haynes, 1775

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