... On the Trail to becoming a Riflemen

The trail begins one step at a time--each one finding surer footing through the confidence of mastering another marksmanship fundamental.  Finding the trail and following it through requires personal perseverance and the committed help of fellow riflemen.  It requires the kind of instruction and coaching offered by the Revolutionary War Veterans Association (RWVA).

The Revolutionary War Veterans Association started Project Appleseed to take you from being a simple rifle owner to a Rifleman.  An American tradition, the Rifleman has been defined as a marksman capable of hitting a man-sized target from 500 yards away--"the rifleman's quarter-mile".   A Rifleman also understands the heritage of our nation and honors those that sacrificed to found this country.

Project Appleseed was born four years ago to promote marksmanship skills and knowledge of the Revolutionary War to modern Americans. It is named after an American folk hero, Johnny Appleseed, who traveled the land planting apple seeds - not for himself, but so future generations of Americans could enjoy apples.  Project Appleseed is similarly committed to providing instruction to all ages so that today’s youth will gain and pass on the skills and knowledge once common in earlier generations.

Massad Ayoob, nationally known firearms instructor and writer, reflects in his blog: “we old rifle shooters can learn (or re-learn) things at an Appleseed, even though the program has its most dramatic effect on new shooters”.  Observing youth attendance, he writes: “I was most pleased to see how many young people were there, boys and girls alike: as simplistic as it sounds, the fact really is: ‘The children are the future.’”.  In recent years, RWVA’s clinics have seen an upward trend in family attendance—occasionally spanning multiple generations.

RWVA instructors volunteer their time to travel the country and teach not only traditional rifle shooting skills, but the history and heritage that lies behind those skills.  Instructors begin as students who qualify as Riflemen and possess a steadfast resolve to pass on our national tradition in marksmanship and history to others.  As instructors-in-training, a multi-step curriculum and formal evaluation process is followed to assure continued quality within the instructor corps.   The curriculum mixes classroom instruction, mentored field training and demonstrated performance to develop the instructor-in-training.

In 2006, just 18 events marked the beginning of the program.  It expanded to 47 events in 2007; 154 in 2008 and 466 events last year; and 2010’s goal of 1000 events nationwide. It is the nation's fastest growing history-teaching and rifle marksmanship program and due in large part to grass roots promotion by word of mouth.  This year, the 20,000th "Appleseeder" will attend an Appleseed. RWVA instructors expect to teach the 100,000th Appleseeder in 2012.

During these nationwide weekend clinics held throughout the year, students learn, develop and hone traditional rifleman skills. In a recent Washington Post article, staff writer Dan Zak, observed: “Aims improve. Each time the line walks to retrieve targets, the bullet-hole groupings are tighter and more centered. It's addictive, this collective pursuit of precision.”  The course of instruction begins with safety and marksmanship fundamentals that apply regardless of student skill.  As the clinic progresses, instruction builds upon each layer of fundamental skills—requiring mastery in their combined application.  The second day of the weekend clinic is spent applying skills toward a multi-stage, timed evaluation known as the Army Qualification Test.  Frequent one-on-one coaching helps students resolve deficiencies with technique so that they progress toward achieving marksmanship proficiency.  Determination and concentration characterize the traits of the Riflemen and are reinforced through practice and instruction.  Students often find that repeated attendance is needed to sufficiently hone their skills to achieve the high scores that will earn the coveted Rifleman patch.

While weekend clinics dominate the Project Appleseed schedule, RWVA hosts specialized events to support unique needs.  The Rifleman Boot Camp is a week-long clinic that provides additional marksmanship instruction including full distance shooting.  In addition, some states have started women-only weekend clinics to widen the appeal to the shooting community’s fastest growing population.  RWVA has also provided specialized training to improve the marksmanship of deploying soldiers through a partnership with the United States Army.  These instructional partnerships are multi-day and tailored to the Army’s unique needs.  Soldiers from the 2nd Engineer Battalion are shown in their field gear with RWVA instructors offering guidance.

This past April 17th and 18th, the RWVA conducted 100 simultaneous Project Appleseed rifle marksmanship and American heritage clinics across the country--providing a total of three and half miles of firing line to nearly three thousand attendees.  It was the biggest and most wide-spread event to mark the history and heritage of rifle marksmanship and the role it played in our country's history--starting with the events of April 19th, 1775, the day "when Marksmanship met History, and Liberty was born..."

A new initiative called “Adaptive Appleseed” was started to address the needs of impaired students.  Much of this initiative focused on refinements and adjustments to the program’s points of instruction and line operations to accommodate differing student needs and constraints.  This initiative is an important step toward achieving the overall goal of providing an education to all American citizens on rifle marksmanship and their heritage.

The Revolutionary War Veterans Association is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization headquartered in North Carolina.  Women, persons under 21 and active military/National Guard/Reserve attend clinics free.  For more information, please visit www.appleseedinfo.org.

Accurately Using A Double Action Trigger

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One thing I noticed at the 2010 SHOT show was the immense number of small pocket sized handguns. As concealed carry has grown in legality (and popularity) the demand for these little heaters has also increased dramatically. Smith & Wesson's Bodyguard line, Ruger's LCP and LCR, and Kel-Tec's popular P3AT line all have small pocket sized pistols, and all of these little numbers have triggers that are double action only.

This long heavy trigger is compact, simple and reliable, but it can be difficult for many people to operate accurately. The long pull and heavy trigger weight, relative to a single action trigger, makes negligent discharges less likely by users unfamiliar with the stress of a combat scenario and decreases the chance of an accidental discharge from a foreign object hanging on the trigger when the pistol is carried in a pocket or purse. But these same traits that make the action safe and reliable can make actually firing the handgun more difficult unless the user has practiced with the firearm extensively. The additional force required to pull the trigger can drop the nose of the pistol or otherwise cause the shooter to lose a proper sight picture.

To quickly and accurately use a double action trigger, you first need a proper grip on the handgun and the correct interaction between your finger and the trigger. Without getting into the specifics of a proper handgun grip, your trigger finger should rest on the trigger with only the pad of your fingertip touching the trigger.

Most people who have had at least a minimal amount of training in handgun use are familiar with the phrase "front sight, press." This of course refers to the action of acquiring a proper sight picture and then smoothly pressing (not pulling) the trigger to the rear. Rather than pulling the trigger with your first joint as one might do when gesturing "come here" with a single finger, with only the pad of your finger contacting the trigger press it straight back. As you press the trigger, focus on keeping a consistent force and speed throughout the press.

Some people say that the first joint of the finger should be used instead of the pad of the finger tip on a heavy double action trigger, but this can cause problems with accuracy. Because of the long arc of a double action trigger, your finger will slide down the trigger face as it is pulled. When using the finger pad, this is not a problem, but if you are using the first joint of the finger tip to press the trigger the motion needed to keep your finger joint in constant contact with the trigger face can cause the pistol to twist. This does not mean that it is wrong to use the first joint of the finger on a double action trigger- don't misunderstand. In general using the pad is much more accurate, faster and smoother. But heavy triggers and double action triggers with a long arc can be easier to operate using the finger joint. Using the first joint gives you additional leverage that helps operate heavy triggers without dropping the front sight. If you choose to use the first finger joint as opposed to the pad of your finger tip, take care not to "milk" the trigger. Milking or grasping the trigger occurs when using the joint of the finger causes the finger to contact the frame of the gun or allows the entire hand to curl with the trigger finger as part of the motion. For this reason, it is better to learn to use the pad of your finger and, if the trigger pull is too heavy, lighten the trigger or use a different pistol with better ergonomics or a lighter trigger pull.

Just as important as the trigger press is the trigger return and reset. Again, maintaining a smooth and consistent speed and pressure on the trigger is important. Think of the trigger return as your follow through. A good trigger return allows you to setup your next shot quickly and accurately.

Properly done, a double action trigger pull will not move the front sights at all. The best method I've found to practice using a double action trigger involves balancing a coin on the front sight while pulling the trigger. The goal is to be able to pull the trigger through the full range of motion until the hammer drops (or the pin fires) without dropping the coin. The larger the coin, the more difficult it is to balance it properly. With most front sights it's fairly easy to balance a dime or penny on the top. Nickels and quarters are more difficult, but as you get better with your double action trigger control you can move to a larger coin.

It doesn't take much practice to get smooth and consistent when using a double action trigger. If you are unable to work the trigger using the pad of your finger tip, you can use the first joint for better leverage, but be aware that this can have a detrimental effect on accuracy and can build bad habits.

Guest Post: Aiming or Point Shooting?

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Today our featured guest Blogger is Mr. Completely. He is an accomplished Steel Challenge competitor, and he recently wrote a very good piece discussing Aiming vs. Point shooting.

There has been some discussion over the last month about point shooting or using the sights when shooting a handgun. The discussion has been mostly along the lines of should you use one, or the other, or one method sometimes, and something different at other times. I should mention up front that I am not a highly trained and paid firearms instructor, and I have never been mistaken for Todd Jarrett, Max Michel, or Dave Sevigny at a match, nor is that likely ever to happen. I do shoot a lot though, and I've spent a lot of time over the last few years watching the pros shoot, trying to figure out what they do and how they manage to do it so quickly.

One of the first things I noticed is that most of the top shooters have excellent eye sight. There's not too much you can do about that if your eye sight sucks though, except correct things as best you can.

Another thing I've noticed is that the pros don't miss very often in matches, and when they do, their pickup shot is almost instantaneous. That tells me they are using their sights, since they can tell their misses, "Call their shots", at the time they pull the trigger, rather than waiting to hear or see the result of their shot. It's just about impossible to do that without some sort of a sight picture to go by.

But if they are using their sights, how do they manage to shoot so quickly? I don't know for sure, and I suspect some of them may not know for sure either, but here's what I think they are doing. It's actually fairly simple to describe, but actually doing it is another story entirely. To make it work, it takes tens of thousands of rounds of practice every season. First, they are ignoring the sights completely leading up to the shot, as they can get on, or very close to on target by point shooting, or more accurately, "Point Aiming".

Here's the part that separates the pros from the rest of us. Just before taking the shot, they verify their aim with an instantaneous sight picture to ascertain that they are where they think they are, and if they are not, adjust until the sight picture is proper, then fire the shot. Since tempo is a significant part of speed shooting, holding the shot for that fraction of a second is really hard. Your body says "Shoot Now!" and your instantaneous sight picture says "Don't Shoot Yet!". For most of us the "Shoot Now" usually wins, and we miss the shot! That's where practice comes in, and learning to look for that instantaneous "Sight Picture Verification", and more importantly, learning not to ignore it and shoot anyway.

One of the things I like about true Steel Challenge competition is that each stage, or target layout, has something in it that challenges one specific aspect of fast and accurate shooting. Smoke & Hope, specifically challenges you to not forget to use your sights for that sight picture verification. There are four large plates close in, two on the left and two on the right. The stop plate is much smaller, and much farther away. A good point shooter can hit the first four quickly, but will often miss the stop plate since he will fail to switch back to using the sights for the last shot. Shooting that way also requires two sighting techniques, and changing from one to the other after the fourth plate.

On the other hand, using the point aim/quick verify/shoot method allows you to use the same technique for all five shots. With practice, LOTS of practice, the instantaneous verification can be as fast as straight point shooting on a stage like Smoke & Hope, as all you are looking for is to see that there's some "White" on the other side of your sights!

As I've said in previous posts, though, 95% or more of successful handgun shooting boils down to trigger control. A While back I was watching a shooter shooting with a Crimson Trace laser sight. I could see the laser dot on the plate just before the shot was fired, but his shots would often miss the plate. In pulling the trigger he was pulling the gun off the target. Without good trigger control it doesn't matter what other techniques you use. The top shooters all have incredible trigger control, and winning or losing boils down to the remaining elements.

The next time you see one of the pros running Smoke & Hope in sub two seconds and making it look easy, remember you are watching someone who has practiced that specific stage thousands and thousands of times. Not just shot it thousands of times, but "Practiced" it thousands of times. There IS a difference between just shooting and practicing, and that's a good topic for some other time!

Mr. Completely makes his home on Whidbey Island in Northwest Washington with his wife and fellow blogger, KeeWee. He organizes the annual Gun Blogger Rendezvous in Reno, Nevada, and also runs regular e-postal matches coordinated with other bloggers.