{"id":814,"date":"2026-09-05T16:58:30","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T16:58:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wprc-inc.ca\/?page_id=814"},"modified":"2026-09-05T17:00:33","modified_gmt":"2026-09-05T17:00:33","slug":"project-mapleseed","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/wprc-inc.ca\/?page_id=814","title":{"rendered":"Project Mapleseed"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A full day that will change how you shoot a rifle<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Project Mapleseed is a rifle marksmanship program run across Canada by a non-profit, entirely volunteer organisation. A single event \u2014 called a “Mapleseed” \u2014 is one full day on the range, teaching traditional rifle marksmanship from the three field positions: prone, sitting or kneeling, and standing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is not a competition and it is not a test you can fail. It is instruction, and it is aimed squarely at making you a better shot with the rifle you already own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The organisation describes itself as apolitical. Its stated purpose is teaching marksmanship and safe firearm handling, alongside the place of the rifle in Canadian history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What makes it different<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Two things set a Mapleseed apart from most range instruction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No bipods, bags or rests.<\/strong> The only support you are permitted is a sling. That sounds harsh, and it is the entire point \u2014 with a bipod under the rifle, you never find out how much of your group size is you. Take the support away and every fault in your position becomes visible and fixable. Shooters who go back to a bipod afterwards almost always shoot better with it than they did before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everything happens at 25 metres.<\/strong> Mapleseed uses reduced-size scaled silhouette targets, so a target on a 25 metre line represents a full-size target out to 400 yards. You learn to read wind, position and trigger control at distances a club range can actually provide, and the skills transfer straight out to real distance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The instruction is built around the sling and a concept called natural point of aim<\/strong> \u2014 building a position that settles onto the target on its own, rather than one you have to muscle into place and hold there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The day itself<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

You will shoot a baseline target first thing, before any instruction, so you have an honest record of where you started. Then the six steps of firing a shot: sight alignment, sight picture, respiratory pause, focus, trigger squeeze and follow through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prone comes first \u2014 the most stable position, and the best place to learn how body position drives where the bullet goes. That session also covers sighting in a rifle properly, and how to translate what you see on paper into the adjustment you make on the sight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sitting, kneeling and standing follow in the afternoon, along with position changes and reloads under time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the end of the day you shoot the same baseline target again. Comparing the two is usually the moment the day’s value becomes obvious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Rifleman patch<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The standard Mapleseed teaches is 4 MOA<\/strong> \u2014 putting every shot into a 20 inch target at 500 yards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Qualification is a 40-shot course worth 250 points. Score 210 or better<\/strong> and you earn the Rifleman patch. That is roughly the standard of a Marksman qualification in the Canadian Armed Forces, and it is deliberately hard. Plenty of people do not get it on their first Mapleseed. Plenty come back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What to bring<\/h2>\n\n\n\n