I recently went to two Project Appleseed shooting events. I went to one with friends one by myself. One was in the south in the summer the other in the north in the winter. There was a lot the same at these two events and a decent amount was different. There was a more negative experience for the first one and a more positive in the second, though neither was entirely positive or negative.
How were these events different and why? Those are the questions I’m asking and answering here. I want to answer those questions both for the clinics themselves and for the subjective experiences. The quick answer for why there was minimal benefit for the first is down to experience and expectation. Although there were also issues with their liability insurance, growing pains in the organization, and some confusion about equipment requirements. I want to unpack that a bit and separate personal issues from organizational ones.
This is not the standard “Appleseed is amazing” type of review that I more commonly run into on the internet. I think it’s important to look at less glowing reviews because nothing is 100% and honestly Sturgeon’s Law (“90% of everything is crud”) is closer to the truth in my experience. There’s also a reality that different people sometimes need different answers and ought to take different paths. So the related question I want to answer is: Is there a better base option? The quick answer there is that for most people (like myself), who didn’t grow up in the shooting community, an Appleseed is still a good beginning option, possibly the best. But there might be a better option for you.
3 people, 3 reasons for disappointment
The three of us did not feel we benefitted much from the Appleseed I attended with friends but for entirely different reasons.
The Experienced One
Let’s pick on me first. I have competed in NRA precision smallbore. That means that I have spent hundreds of hours and thousands of rounds in a shooting jacket, cuff sling, using a (club-owned) very nice rifle. I was proficient in the type of shooting Appleseed had when I showed up. A cuff sling is nicer than a GI sling that they used and the targets we used were more punishing.
The money spent on Appleseed for me didn’t feel well spent training money because I had spent other time and money learning those same skills. That’s not a reflection on appleseed, just choices I had made as a younger man.
The Speedster
My friend who was there was disappointed (but polite) mainly because this was entirely not the type of shooting he wished to pursue. He pursues “raw nasty speed with good enough accuracy”. As soon as he has some more accuracy, he spends it on speed. That’s not a bad thing but it’s not what Appleseed teaches.
The time he spent on Appleseed didn’t feel well spent to him because he cares about protecting his home and loved ones. That context means he is mainly looking to solve a problem where he is forced into legally justified self-defense. Most of the time, that will mean closer targets that need to be engaged faster.
The Lightly-Prepared
This is the guy who didn’t show up completely prepared and expected there to be more flex in the program. He was disappointed because what he saw as a reasonable need for accommodation to get across the finish line wasn’t there. I can see both sides on that issue which isn’t worth exploring in specifics. That soured the experience for him and he lost his ability to benefit from it.
This is the most lamentable situation. It was avoidable and there was potential for learning and growth. Liability concerns, lax preparation, equipment miscommunication, and a bad attitude were ultimately too much.
Why go back?
“Cussedness” is probably the main reason. I didn’t score rifleman my first time because I miscounted my rounds and messed up the course of fire. I was off by a very small amount. If we had gone back the second day I would have scored rifleman but my two friends did not want to go back and the point of travelling a thousand miles was to spend time with them. Still, I wanted to get the Rifleman patch and I knew it was within my abilities. When I found out about a February Appleseed event, I thought: “I can test my cold weather set up and compare Appleseeds across states and seasons and get my rifleman patch” that was enough for me to spend again.
Another reason I wanted to go back was because I wanted to see if my first experience was normative. I didn’t want to badmouth an organization or program from a single experience. I wanted a better understanding of what the program was and what applications it has. I had been suggesting Appleseed to people who wanted to learn basic marksmanship but I saw enough yellow flags at the first Appleseed that I felt I needed another experience to take the measure better.
Yellow Flags
At the first Appleseed I went to there were a few yellow flags. The biggest was a gentleman who had a very nice rifle. There was at least a thousand dollars in that little .22 if there was a dime. And his targets were…not great. That’s no surprise, since you can’t buy skill. So I asked him if this was his first Appleseed shoot, and it wasn’t. I forget how many Appleseeds he had under his belt but it was several. That was concerning to me because each time he came back he should have been closer and with as nice a rifle as that was and multiple times through the curriculum, he should have hit 4 MOA standard easily. It’s still only a yellow flag because I don’t know how teachable he was. Still, with the number of Appleseeds he’d attended I felt he should have been shooting better.
Another large yellow flag was difficulty with the trainee trainers. I watched a trainer get completely lost in the middle of a presentation about sight adjustment and the shoot boss had to come in and take over. Her individual coaching was lacking as well. I understand, we all make mistakes while we’re doing something new. From Appleseed’s perspective I understand that if you’re too picky about volunteers you won’t have enough to run shoots. I also want to emphasize that for all I know that was a seminal learning experience for her and from that she’s become a highly competent shoot boss now. I don’t know. What I do know is that it was another yellow flag.
There were a couple other yellow flags I don’t want to get into as we’re approaching “naming and shaming” which isn’t my point here. Brutal honesty so you don’t waste your time and money? Absolutely. Dumping on a specific event or persons? No. That’s not useful. The first Appleseed I went two had several yellow flags and made me reconsider suggesting Appleseeds for a new shooter.
Two Appleseed Events, Side By Side
If you do two Appleseed events, you can see how strictly they follow their program. That is a normal byproduct of growth and success. That also means that some weaknesses are codified as well as strengths. I would describe their range rules as overly restrictive and interfering with their goal of instruction. I imagine that has to do with liability insurance and I don’t expect that to change. The progression of talking and shooting and range commands and requirements were practically identical.
Inside that sameness there was difference. Despite the exact same progression of targets the second Appleseed did a better job of using the square targets to zero the shooters. There was also more shooting in the second one, I used 210 rounds in the second one and probably about 100 in the first one, in both cases that’s over the course of one day.
What accounts for that difference? Better instructors in the second one. Better student to instructor ratio in the second one (not a whole lot of demand for cold-weather shooting clinics). The cold weather itself may have also been a factor, there’s less fooling around when you’re outside in the cold.
The history presentations were very similar but there were differences. Part of that is you learn different things the second time you hear the same thing. Another part of it was that different instructors have different pieces of history that jumped out at them and they are sharing with you. It’s obvious that all the instructors at both Appleseeds did research individually rather than simply follow a script. More surprising was how well that part was developed. Even a history buff like me has things to learn. They keep the bones the same but still allow some variation in presentation and that breathes life into it.
The Patch Means Something
Would you have read this semi-critical review if I hadn’t earned the patch? If you answer “no” then you agree that it means something. I don’t know anyone else with a similar thing. Possibly NRA competitor classifications but that is a very insular thing. I know that NRA shooters would say that they’re not but while I agree that shooters are generally very welcoming, the whole thing is intimidating and reasonably seen as exclusive by the average person. The NRA type competition is even more offputing to the neophyte than
USPSA Competition
The shooting sports in general feel either like a club you’re born into or something so professional that here’s no point in showing up unless you have well over a thousand dollars in equipment. And even then you’re just showing up to lose. You’ll always be an ‘also ran’. Yes, I agree an Anschutz doesn’t turn you into a shooter but this misses the point, which is that to newbies this seems impossibly exclusive. You don’t see many champions shooting a savage either.
Appleseed tries to be more accessible than traditional competition shooting programs and still have the patch mean something. For that alone, they deserve applause.
(To be concluded tomorrow, in Part 2.)
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