Project Appleseed 25M Rifle Clinic Course Review

Project Appleseed 25M Rifle
Project Appleseed 25M Rifle

U.S.A.-(AmmoLand.com)- As I’ve grown older, my love for rifles has waned as shotguns and handguns have won bigger places in my heart. Having earned a few Expert Marksman ribbons in my day, and making it to one rifle training course a year, I feel confident enough in my skills. I won’t be winning Camp Perry or 3 Gun Nationals any time soon, but the rifle is a lower priority for me than my conceal carry or home defense selections. That being said, I’m always happy to learn something new.

For the past several years, I’ve been trying to jump into a 25M rifle clinic from Project Appleseed, but conflicting schedules and cancellations have prevented this from materializing. Luckily, one popped up just a few minutes from my home with solid enrollment. Seeing my chance, I jumped in on short notice. How did my weekend of training turn out?

Location of Appleseed 25M Rifle Clinic

Desert Sportsman’s Rifle Club, Las Vegas, Nevada

Weather

Day one was pleasantly cool, with temperatures hanging out in the mid 50’s with plenty of sunlight. Day two was plagued with rain, and temperatures in the high 30’s, making for an uncomfortable, though educational, experience.

Equipment

Everyone in class opted to shoot rifles chambered for 22LR, though centerfire ammunition is welcome at these events. Our top shot used a Ruger American Rimfire, with one student using a Henry Golden Boy, and another with an older and unidentified tube-fed automatic. Three students chose to use iron sights, with the rest of the class using magnified optics from various manufacturers.

My Gear

Walking into Appleseed, I knew my rifle wasn’t in an optimal configuration, but I wasn’t willing to spend money to change things. This ended up biting me, but it also provided some great learning about my chosen equipment. My rifle is a Ruger Collector’s Series Second Edition 10/22, though you might not know it at first glance. A younger version of myself slapped the Ruger action into a cheap Tapco stock for its adjustable length of pull, allowing a shorter girlfriend to plink from time to time.

Project Appleseed 25M Rifle
One of our instructors explained the standing position. Safety Notice: Note the use of a bare stock with tape on end. No real guns were used in position demonstrations.

A Holosun 507C red dot sight from my spare parts bin sits atop the receiver, making me the only RDS user in class. While not a trigger snob, I opted to swap the crunchy factory trigger for the Ruger BX-Trigger to clean up the press, hoping to improve my chances of earning a Rifleman patch. Finishing things off is a cotton GI sling as prescribed in the gear list for all Appleseed events.

Personnel

There are 13 students in class, including one child roughly 10 years old attending with his recently immigrated father, and three women ranging from early 20s to mid-60s are here with their husbands. A few of us are veterans of various branches, but most students are regular people here to learn the way of the rifle.

There are three instructors for us throughout the weekend, each taking turns teaching different blocks. Our lead instructor goes by Dan, who we’ll speak more to later in this piece.

Day One of Appleseed 25M Rifle Clinic

Our day starts with gear prep, waivers, and introductions. From here, our instructors provide us with the background of Appleseed, the roots of the American Rifleman, along with our safety briefing. The first shots of the day are on the Appleseed Red Coat target, firing 13 rounds for the 13 colonies. These first shots work as a progress check, seeing where we are before any instruction or gear changes can be made. From here, we zero our rifles and get our first bit of lecture on the fundamentals of marksmanship in the prone position. This leads directly into using the web sling for stability, which is a massive focus throughout the weekend.

Project Appleseed 25M Rifle
Instructors demonstrating the prone position. Safety Notice: Note the use of a bare stock with tape on end. No real guns were used in position demonstrations.

Mid-day is marked with a working lunch. Students rest, refuel, and relieve themselves while lead instructor Dan tells us the story of Lexington and Concorde, or “The Shot Heard ‘Round The World,” for you Schoolhouse Rock types. These words reinforce the importance of marksmanship used by the colonials against the aggressing Red Coats, leading to success in the face of a global superpower.

Wrapping Up The Day

After lunch, we return to the range, transitioning to seated and kneeling positions with academics and practice for each. Toward the end of the day, each student gets the chance to shoot a Rifleman’s Qualification for practice. Two shooters earn their patch, one scoring a 211 with his Ruger 10/22, and the other a 231 with his American Rimfire. My rifle is plagued with stoppages, along with serious parallax issues with my Holosun 507C.

Project Appleseed 25M Rifle
Chasing a proper zero thanks to parallax issues with my optic

These factors combine for a low score, with a patch nowhere near my grasp. We wrap up the day with a final Red Coat target to see how far we’ve come since this morning. A few words are spoken by the cadre, who then present our youngest shooter with the Luther Blanchardt patch for his performance throughout the day.

Day Two of Appleseed 25M Rifle Clinic

Training day two featured the notable absence of a handful of shooters from the start, including the father and son duo. The day’s weather took a turn for the worse, diving into the high 30s with strong wind. Around 10 AM, it began to rain, which persisted throughout the day, oftentimes coming directly into our faces on the firing line.

Project Appleseed 25M Rifle
Nearly freezing and continuous rain makes for a rough second day on the range

Day two largely repeats day 1, reinforcing the techniques of the previous day. The stories are new, and often times the learning points are as well. As the weather continued to degrade throughout the day, more shooters fell out, seeking reprieve from the uncharacteristically cold, wet Las Vegas day. By the end of class, there were only three of us students and the three instructors remaining. With academics wrapped up, we proceeded to try our hands at several qualifications in pursuit of our Rifleman patches. One student received his second expert patch of the weekend using his Ruger American Rimfire, while myself and the other student impotently plinked away at our targets.

Changing Gears

After significant issues with my equipment, I borrowed a rifle from one of our instructors. This new rifle and a box of his ammunition verified my accuracy and reliability problems throughout the weekend were more on the arrow rather than the Indian. However, the combination of his incredibly light trigger and my reduced dexterity from the weather led to a few unintentional doubles on target.

Project Appleseed 25M Rifle
The loaner rifle I borrowed toward the end of class

Even with these rounds landing accurately on target, I opted to stop shooting early, unenthused by the thought of firing rounds without complete control of the rifle. Around this time, the two other shooters decide they’ve had enough, so we pack our gear and clean up the range before heading home.

Equipment Issues and Lessons Learned from Appleseed 25M Rifle Clinic

Throughout the class, I experienced significant problems with both my rifle and my optic selection. The Holosun 507C is a red dot that I’ve found to be sufficient for most pistol use but I was incapable of achieving the precision required for this course. While the reticle was bright enough for the Nevada sun and just smaller than our 2-inch zeroing squares, things still fell off the rails.

Project Appleseed 25M Rifle
Dan, the lead instructor, instructs on the sitting position. Safety Notice: Note the use of a bare stock with tape on end. No real guns were used in position demonstrations.

While many red dot sights (RDS) are considered “parallax free,” that simply isn’t the case. Both myself and the instructors noticed substantial parallax shift due to inconsistencies in the glass, causing great chagrin on my part. A higher quality dot from Aimpoint or Eotech or a good magnified optic is in this rifle’s future.

Budget Choices, Budget Results

Despite repeatedly cleaning and lubricating my rifle, I encountered at least one stoppage per magazine. These ranged from failures to feed, stuck cases, failures to eject, and more. While my 10/22 has never been particularly reliable, this weekend was especially challenging. While ammunition isn’t as hard to come by now as it was a few years ago, finding quantities of quality ammo in short order can be difficult. I recommend stocking up on the good stuff if you plan on coming to class. This is especially important here, as not all rifles are created equal.

Project Appleseed 25M Rifle
Spent brass, flipped backward and crushed around my extractor

To top things off, the Tapco stock was far from ideal. While I knew this ahead of time, it ended up being more problematic than I expected. The telescoping stock moves at an angle, which increases the difficulty of attaining a consistent cheek weld. Using a pseudo nose-to-charging handle method helps mitigate this, but not entirely. Next, the rear sling swivel rotates side to side, which can cause a sudden reduction in tension of the sling, hurting stability. This sling swivel also requires modification to fit the GI sling, needing mild sanding to remove material. A more traditional rifle stock and sling swivels are a more suitable choice for Appleseed.

Final Thoughts of Appleseed 25M Rifle Clinic

The material is presented in a logical crawl/walk/run manner, accessible to even the most inexperienced student on the line. Historical lectures are done well, offering pure history without embellishment or hinting at modern political leanings. Each story is kept short enough to ensure the students are engaged without being long-winded. Dan, the lead instructor, is fantastic at what he does both on and off the range. Across all of the training I’ve received thus far, he is one of the finest instructors I’ve seen to date. His ability to show and tell, then adapt to the abilities and limitations of his students, stands well above the vast majority of even the most well-known national level instructors.

Despite my equipment issues, I learned a great deal about marksmanship, our nation’s history, and my gear. I may have walked away with my tail between my legs, but I will soon return to try my hand once again. I have no hesitation in recommending Project Appleseed to anyone of any age or experience level. Check out their site and find an event near you, you won’t regret it.


About Dan Reedy

Dan is an Air Force veteran, avid shooter, and dog dad. With a passion for teaching, he holds instructor certifications from Rangemaster, Agile Training & Consulting, and the NRA. He has trained with Darryl Bolke, Mike Pannone, Craig Douglas, among several other instructors, amassing over 400 hours of professional instruction thus far. In his spare time you’ll find him teaching handgun, shotgun, and less lethal classes.

Dan’s work has been published by Primer Peak, and The Kommando Blog, and he has been featured as a guest on Primary & Secondary.Dan Reedy headshot

Dan Reedy
5 Comments
Most Voted
Newest Oldest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Tionico

It is sad that the weather that weekend ws so rotten. but we have a saying;; “a rifleman persists”. Glad you finally took advantage of our programme and training. I firmly believe it is the best basic marksmanship and rifle halding course availble. That is why I’ve been an instructor with the programme since 2009. I am an Instructore because I can honestly say that. We have gnerally found that red dots and similar are not very effecive sighting tools. Brely passable out to 25 meters, at 100 m the dot is so large it covers that one inch square… Read more »

JDL

Many of the photos showed people down range when a rifle was mounted. I would have thought that it would have been taught that everyone should be behind the 180 line before a rifle was brought to shooting position. Gives an amateurish impression of the training.

falcon69

Good initiative-keep up the good work. Might want to delete the picture where the guy in red is downrange of the “instructor” demonstrating the prone with his rifle pointed downrange. Even if it was optical only (no indication), still bad form to violate a basic safety rule.