The April shoot will be my first Appleseed event.
Oh, I misread. I thought you said you had already been to a 'Seed. If so, you would have known about the three sling techniques I described above.
The instructors will show you the loop sling. Tell 'em expressly to show you how the loop sling is better from prone, with regard to canting the rifle.
Also, tell 'em expressly to show how the sling holds your whole body up in prone, and how you can just kind of "lay forward" with your buttstock shoulder and relax, and your whole position locks into place without any muscle use at all.
Your back aches because you are using muscles. If you use less muscle, your back will hurt less.
Key points: your forward support hand under the barrel should form a straight line back to your elbow, to your shoulder, down the side of your torso, and straight down your leg (left leg, if you are right-handed). This is one key to keeping your back relaxed.
The other one is relaxing FORWARD into the sling and using the loop sling so you avoid canting.
Keep those in mind, and go out of your way to ask for extra clarification on those issues, when you attend. If you master these concepts from prone, you'll do quite well.
As far as scopes: Appleseed LOVES any sighting apparatus that is scientifically adjustable. We love click-adjustable irons, we love red dots, we love scopes, we love aimpoints. We dislike sights you have to WHACK on (coughstockrugerandmarlinandsavageandremingtonsightscough) in order to adjust them... because it's sloppy guess and check technique. We'll teach you to convert the distance of your groups from target from inches to minutes, then minutes to "clicks" on your sighting device. We call this IMC. Can't do IMC with a sight you have to whack on.
As far as your .22: Buy an autoloader .22. Especially with your back concerns.
You'll be shooting from prone for probably 60% or more of the weekend. When working the bolt on the .22, the temptation will be there to remove the rifle from the pocket of your shoulder, roll your body sideways, run the bolt, then rotate back down into position. You'll do this subconsciously to a small degree, even if you don't do it to an exaggerated degree. This will wear out your lower back. With an autoloader .22, you don't have to run the bolt for each shot and you stick position for each string of fire.
Get one that uses the same magazines as your bolt action... I have a Savage 64F and a pair of Marlin 795's that I use as loaner rifles... each of these rifles use the same magazines as a bolt action model from their parent companies. Transfer your scope to it... the 3/8" rings tend to be pretty universal. Put some 1.25" sling swivels on it, run your Turner sling into it, and you're good to go, minimizing back ache and financial outlay, while maximizing your ability to learn for the weekend.
