Some fine young men getting a little shooting in.

[Old Fart]

I thought I'd post a few photos of our recent shooting sports Camporee for the local Boy Scouts.

[tsalam]

And a fine looking group of lads they are. Bringing 'em up right.

[no guns here]

Ohhh geeze... I just gotta point this out.

NO hearing protection for everyone on the line (available but laying on the ground and useless)
NO eye protection for everyone on the line (shooter has protection but no every one)
Boy Scouts are limited to a .22 single shot rifle.

If you wish to be involved in BSA and shoot other firearms, you must wait until age 14 and join a Venture Crew.  There are no limitations on firearms, caliber, gauge or hunting in Venture Crew.  Venture Crew is a co-ed program ran by BSA for youth aged 14-20.  Ooops, a clarification the latest Guide to Safe Scouting bans the firing of fully automatic firearms.  This was not the case in past GSS.

Please read and adhere to the applicable rules and publications before taking your Scouts out for a day of shooting.
http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/HealthandSafety/GSS/gss07.aspx#b

Thanks,
NGH

[Old Fart]

I believe these were pellet guns. At least that's what I remember them saying they were.

[Old Fart]

Here's a few more pics of some of the other things going on.

[no guns here]

I've run literally dozens of scout ranges for Cubbies, Boy Scouts, Venture Scouts and Girl Scouts.  I was the shooting sports trainer for BSA Trans-Atlantic Council in Europe for three years.  The tarps on the ground are a familiar site for me.  The little guys and bb guns are great but it works better if you give them sand bags for a front rest.  A lot of them can't get into a good position AND hold the gun steady.  Reactive targets or shoot-n-c are great.  We would use that stuff for the first three days of camp and then on the last day use targets from the NSSF to enable us to give them a badge.  If they get five on  the target they get enough points to earn the free badge.  You can check that program out on the NSSF website.  What we have done in the past for boys that wanted to shoot "real" guns is to have the shooting program and then declare the scout event "finished".  I would then have them change out of their scout uniforms and have lunch.  After that we would get back on the range with "real" guns.  Last year at Heidelburg I let the ones that wanted to shoot my .376 Steyr, a .308 Tikka, my .357's, 12 gauge slugs, and a really accurate 10/22.  They LOVED that part of the day.  The best one was getting my Venture Crew on the range with some SF guys and their M4's.
Man did they love those bursts!



NGH

[Hodr]

I was working with an Explorer Post before I retired.  Went down to a local range and talked to the owner, a guy I went to high school with.  We cut a deal and I worked assistant range master on weekends and got the scouts in free under "my" direct  supervision without charge.  Well safety orientaion first, then I got out some bolt 22 rifles.  One kid got out a real beater 22 with a cracked stock and a metal screw for a front sight.  Several people on the line took note but the kids were well behaved and responded to criticisim and then wemt and thanked the range owner.  About three weeks later I got a call from an elderly gentelman who had been down on large bore section.  When I went to his house he gave me 8 target 22 rifles running from remington/winchester match, to an olympic grade Anschuz.  He also donated $500 cash for ammunition.  As I left he warned me that his gift was to be anonymous.  Eight years of teaching Explorer scouts to shoot.  Great

Hodr

ps Kid with the beater went Army, then deputy sheriff, still in uniform...still on the Job