The Bus Man's Holiday... one of my mother's favorite stories...

So the Bus Man, drove the bus every day, and he was very professional, kind and timely and people thought he was great. Rain or shine the bus was clean and neat and on time. When they gave him a holiday, to enjoy, you know what he did? Well, he would ride the bus, greet the people, and help the driver that had replaced him on the run. A bus man's holiday.

So there was an Appleseed in Ariel, Washington this weekend, and I decided to attend as a shooter, to keep working on the interface between new rifle and old shooter. It is a compatibility issue isn't it? marksmanship and new equipment?  Kind of cold, a little damp. But there were two iron wood burning stoves to cut the chill.


The drive down was pleasant and I found a old time Country Western radio show out of Portland, imagine, songs I knew the words to and could sing along.

Nine shooters, four RWVA volunteers manning the line and the process. After introductions and briefings and bringing the cased rifles to the line.  Clear the line, post the Red Coat target and get to shooting thirteen rounds to see what your skill level is... I only got three in the 100 yard target, and missed the Headshot, when posting the sighting square target I wondered about why I had done so badly. Back on the line I found my rear sight loose, so I fixed that, but the truth was the shooter was still loose and needed to focus!  My sights got locked down, and adjusted for me and the day and the rifle, a couple clicks up and one to the center..

Five at a time and my groups were still loose, but on target. Six horizontal to be engaged with ten, 3,3,4. Lunch and two strikes of the match, my wife had made me a lot of lunch.  After lunch back to that last target, and then new positions, sitting in all its variations. I like kneeling because I can get into it quickly. But I need to practice them all to build muscle memory. We also do the ball and dummy drill, and then the standing position.  We are ready.

So right into the AQT, and my standing is my best position, 46 of 50 points. Next best is sitting, I did get all ten rounds off within the time of 55 seconds, No non scoring points, but the total was only 41 of 50. Should have taken a split second to get NPOA lock. Fives pay more than threes. Stage 3 again I get all ten rounds off on the three targets, changed the magazine quickly after the first two, but then dropped the round on zero points, shifted and shot two on target and one in the unknown, shifted again and fired four, all counters but by just barely.... total 33 of 50 - dropping 17 is not acceptable.  Last stage, lots of time, counts double and I shoot it calmly and shifting targets, but I am not locking myself deep enough to make it worthy, so I got only 31 of fifty, or 62 of a 100 and those thirty-eight points missed mean I only get 182 of 250 possible. Only a Sharpshooter, but the best I could do without more time and practice. I will work on it.

So time is up, and we post and shoot the last Redcoat target, I want to do very well on this, but I miss Daniel Morgan's shingle and one round on the 300 yd target so 11 of 13 possible hits and I have a new Avatar for my Facebook follies.