So, your hero tactical “instructor” is a hard core military type with deployments overseas, huh? Well, isn’t that cute. I wonder how his shooting skill would stack up against a teenage girl.
Too many gun owners interested in tactical shooting – military, law enforcement and civilian alike – wrongly assume skill based on reputation rather than demonstrated, measurable skill. Thankfully, a few folks are big enough to recognize the folly of this and openly admit it when reality steps in. Here’s two examples.
Tactical Intelligence had this write up:
http://www.tacticalintelligence.net/blog/the-appleseed-project-a-review.htm
After lunch we fired course after course of the AQT. As mentioned earlier, those who score a 210 or higher on the course earn the Rifleman badge. Out of all of us, only one of our group earned this award. Surprisingly it wasn’t any of the adult guys (one of them being active military). It was a 12-year old girl! What a humbling experience that was! It made me feel a little bit better when I found out she was a competitive shooter. But hey, that’s what makes this event so great, it’s open to all, young and old, male and female.
Funny how so many people will claim competitive shooting is useless, possibly detrimental, until they shoot a scored course of fire with one. Then a competitive shooting background suddenly becomes a big, even unfair, advantage!
Huey’s Gunsight added this:
http://hueysgunsight.blogspot.com/2009/10/im-going-to-appleseed-shoot.html
“Dinky Dau” (a “red hat” instructing one of the students) is a woman. Gentlemen please check your egos upon registration.
Want another reason to check your ego, the young (I do mean young!) lady in the orange instructor’s cap in the background is only 13! She obviously can out shoot me because part of wearing that cap is scoring a 210 on their AQT qualifications, which I did not.
Firearm User Network 
CathiBray@RoundsandRoses
Feb 01, 2012 @ 08:26:28
Reblogged this on Rounds and Roses and commented:
I look for every chance I can get to promote Project Appleseed, and this post – by a military marksman – is a good example of what you might find at a shoot. Check out this program – there is none like it!
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Ryan Miller (@dieselgeek)
Feb 01, 2012 @ 10:42:54
Tactical Shooters Get Schooled by Teenage Girls ????
So 1 active military member gets beat by 1 girl and now “tactical shooters” get beat by teenage girls?
How do you think she’d do at a Tactical match? I wonder how well she’d fair lugging around a 16 lb rifle running and gunning at a long range match?
Not to say that younger people or girls are not great shooters. Hell Patrick Morris is 19 and sponsored by Surgeon. He’s a hell of a shooter.
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John M. Buol Jr.
Feb 01, 2012 @ 12:33:18
>> So 1 active military member gets beat by 1 girl and now “tactical shooters” get beat by teenage girls?
While not necessarily a common occurrence, these are not isolated incidents. I’m just sharing articles I recently found written by others.
The real message is that without experience at higher level organized shooting events no gun person, especially military or law enforcement personnel, can take their marksmanship for granted. That girl on the line with a pink stocked rifle and Hello Kitty sticker just might be your better.
If you don’t believe that’s possible, attend Camp Perry this summer and shoot next to a good Junior team.
>> Not to say that younger people or girls are not great shooters. Hell Patrick Morris is 19 and sponsored by Surgeon. He’s a hell of a shooter.
My point exactly. Anyone can develop skill. Merely wearing a uniform or returning from an overseas deployment doesn’t automatically make one an expert shot.
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hubie townsend
Feb 02, 2012 @ 09:27:49
No suprise here. I routinely asked the females in my rifle classes why I expected, all things being equal, for them to outshoot the males with a weapon system where physical strength wasn’t an issue. The correct answer is lower center of gravity and better fine motor control (trigger control) Their usual answer was “Because we listen better?” So true. Too many guys out there that knew far more than I ever would after 30 years of competitive shooting and the best coaching in the world. Too many guys need to check their egos at the door to improve.
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John M. Buol Jr.
Feb 02, 2012 @ 17:05:28
The best shooters will always be those with an active interest in seeking out means to test their skills and able to set ego aside to learn from the experience. A willingness to enter organized shooting events is probably the best indicator of this as you’re forced to let others watch you shoot and score your result.
A lack of competitive experience almost always indicates these traits aren’t there. There are exceptions, true, but they are exceptions. The gun doesn’t know if it’s being pointed at paper, steel or bad guys and doesn’t know if it’s a husky spec ops trooper or a teenage girl pulling the trigger. Bullets go where and when they’re directed.
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Colorado Pete
Mar 23, 2012 @ 02:49:40
Well Ryan here’s two more “tactical shooters” beat by a teenage girl….
Late October 2010, I attended an Appleseed shoot (as an instructor) at which four men from the 4th Infantry Division participated at my invitation. The battalion XO and three non-coms, two of whom were marksmanship instructors and one of which was supposedly the battalion top sniper. They brought their issue M4’s and an EBR.
Also attending was a friend and his son and teenage (13) year old daughter, firing .22 rimfire bolt-action rifles. The daughter had earned an Appleseed patch the month previous (her father was a high master in NRA highpower rifle bullseye and had taught her well).
As it happened, the batt XO and one of his instructors earned a patch that day, but the other instructor and the sniper did not – and my friend’s daughter outshot them both with a bolt gun. Talking to the sniper later, he told me that the Army simply did not teach much position and GI loop sling use, even in sniper training.
Look at how many ‘tactical shooters’ rely on a bipod for so much of their shooting. Take away their bipod and how many have no real idea how to be good position shooters, or know how to use a GI/Ching loop sling, or even what one is? Not to knock a bipod, but it should not be a crutch to make up for lack of skill. We ought to be able to do very well without one, if necessary.
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John M. Buol Jr.
Mar 23, 2012 @ 08:20:08
Military sniper training typically lasts six weeks or so, but only a few days of it is actual shooting instruction and practice. Snipers are also intelligence assets and perform a variety of tasks. Shooting is just part of the job, despite the Hollywood fantasies.
One of the USAR Service Rifle Team members taught at the US Army Sniper School in Ft. Benning and reports that in his three years there not a single student failed the marksmanship portion of sniper school.
So a person starting with very little long range/precision rifle shooting experience can practice for a few days and then pass the sniper shooting qualification.
Snipers are good soldiers but they aren’t usually the shooting experts everyone assumes they are.
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