OT-Appleseed Project guns

[Larkbill]

My bothers and I are thinking of shooting an Appleseed event this fall and plan on using .22's the first day as they recommend, but not sure I want to shoot big bore on Sunday. One bro has an AR and the other a Ranch Rifle but I would be using a Swedish Mauser or one of two .30-30's, a 94 or a Remington 788. I have tons of .30-30 brass due to being a former IHMSA shooter and a large supply of .30 cast boolits. One of those would definitely be the cheapest to shoot. Has anyone here shot the course with a levergun? That's my first choice, but the 788 is a real shooter, especially with the cast.

[wecsoger]

The course of fire is *not* levergun friendly. It can be done but (personal, cheap opinion) you'll get more out of the course first time by not doing so.

First day is a lot of basics, sling *heavily* emphasized. Course of fire is several basic exercises, very NRA high power related. One in particular emphasizes mag changes, fire two, change, fire eight.

If you were firing a Garand you would fit right in.

Best first time and first day Appleseed rifle is a Ruger 10/22, maybe the rubber extender stock pad if you're a knuckedragger like me, *two* reliable mags, installed 1 1/4" sling swivels, old school canvas rifleman's sling and Tech sights. As far as the sights, look them up on the web and Brownells has them.

For the first day, I was close to rifleman and even got a couple headshots on the redcoats target but I just had the regular Ruger sights, so that's my excuse. And we were on an open range and shooting into the sun in the afternoon/evening.

Second day my son and I shot AR-15's, He had my Bushmaster with the custom trigger and I had a Colt import kit parts gun. Both ran 100% with the Silver Bear ammo. I got a case, second day we together shot about 700 rounds total.

You can bring a high class shooter's mat, or we both had some of the new, industrial rubber floor rugs that worked perfectly.

We had several other 5.56 shooters but no big bores. Still sounded glorious when we all opened up on the exercises.

My son shot to my left, so when we went prone he was always dropping brass into the small of my back. But when we both started firing together in rifleman's cadence, and adding together the other 5.56 shooters it was awesome to hear.

[Larkbill]

Thanks for all the info.

Would love to show up with "ideal" equipment, but the economic reality is I'll have to go with what's at hand. That's going to be a Remington 511X bolt .22 I've owned since I was 15, it has the old style leather military sling with all the holes and claw adjusters popular back then and I'm used to using it as a shooting aid. I can't even guess how many thousand of rounds I've put through it.

I checked my supplies and have plenty of Reloder 7 and jacketed bullets to recreate my silhouette loads which I know also shoot well in the 788. At least I'll get plenty of bolt practice. Wish I had a second magazine for the 788 but .30-30 mags for those guns are almost impossible to find, and ridiculously expensive when found. Just don't have enough supplies to come up with enough ammo for the Swede, stripper clips would make it a better choice for rapid fire.

Who was it who said "You go to war with the army you have, not the one you would like to have"?

[AJMD429]

Never been to an 'Appleseed' event, but it sounds really cool. DEFINITELY material for a range-report. Sounds like a 'practical' type shooting event.

I'd think that if you have a spare magazine for the 788, and it's the gun you find yourself hitting best with, it might be the one to take.

[rimrock]

I did an Appleseed shoot in Aug 2010 with my Ruger 10/22 and a Truglo red dot. The Truglo didn't make through both days as the threads on the base stripped out. I was doing fair with the red dot, but mostly poor with the Ruger stock rear Marble's sight. I would put a peep site on my 10/22 if I were to go to another one.

I was next to a guy shooting his relaods out of his m-14-- about 192/200 consistently IIRC. He re-qualifed as rifleman. Another guy used his AK with mediocre success.

2 DPMS panther .223's also made rifleman that day.

Good training even if there too much history talk.

rimrock