Project Appleseed

Project Appleseed is a nonprofit educational foundation that teaches two things:  The traditional skills of the American Rifleman, and the true history of the founding of the country on April 19, 1775, and why marksmanship was essential that day.

Project Appleseed hosts a variety of shooting programs designed to turn you into a Rifleman – the program’s title for any man or woman of any age who can score 210 or better out of 250 on the program’s AQT or Appleseed Qualification Test.  Few folks who attend an Appleseed shoot a rifleman’s score first time out.  It takes patience and persistence.  Have you got what it takes?

At PMRPC, we have had shooters as young as 10 and as old as 92 shoot score, although the program makes accommodations for those who can’t physically get into the standard positions.

Project Appleseed runs weekend-long boot camps at PMRPC each year, staffed by instructors from the local area, many of whom are PMRPC members.  The program has one of the highest standards in the country for certifying its instructors – all of whom are volunteers.

To become an Appleseed instructor you first have to show that you have mastered the principles of field marksmanship by repeatedly shooting a rifleman’s score. Then you embark on a yearlong journey to learn the instructional program and memorize the history taught during breaks in the shooting.  It takes an average of 160 hours of hands-on training to earn the red hat of an Appleseed Instructor.

The program of instruction adapts principles of marksmanship that have been evolving for more than 200 years.  When you come to come to an Appleseed, you will learn:

the use of the hasty sling and loop sling to steady your rifle and increase your accuracy

the six steps of firing the shot

how to use natural point of aim

the standing, seated and prone positions

steady hold factors for each position

how to properly sight-in your rifle

the fundamentals of shooting at longer distances – target identification, target ranging and making the shot

But the program wants you to emulate our founders in more ways than just marksmanship. While it’s entirely apolitical, Appleseed stresses self-reliance, community involvement and respect for Constitutional rights.  Few people on either side of the political spectrum think the country is heading in the right direction.  Project Appleseed believes that the only way to fix that is for good people to get involved in their communities.