Who first fired a rifle at summer camp?

I fall in this catagory. I did have a BB gun, but shot a .22 at summer camp for the first time. In fact, coming from a non-gun owning family, I think that the occasions to shoot at summer camp were my only exposure to cartridge firearms before I turned 18 and was able to take up shooting as a hobby on my own. You could shoot a 12 guage at clays too, but I always stuck with the 22 (leaving enough tickets for fun dip or whatever).

Wish I knew the make of the single shot bolt actions that summer camp had, I would definitely find one. I would guess it was a Winchester of some sort. Fun memory.

First firearm I ever fired was a 22 single shot bolt action at Boy Scout camp. I don't recall the model but in my memory it looks like a an '03 Springfield. At any rate, it wasn't a small gallery gun. This was circa 1961. My marksmanship was nothing special but I fell in love with that aroma of fired 22lr and gun solvent. The memory of that scent and the fun of target shooting has never dimmed.

Jeff

My first rifle experience was at my uncle's farm and I was about 8yo. Rifle was a Remington 522. My dad recently gave that rifle to my nephew.

A word here about Scout camps. I shoot black powder competition and we were having a discussion about how to get youth involved in shooting in general to counter the lib dumpster fire. We found that Scout camps and other youth orgs have a severe shortage of certified muzzleloading/black powder instructors and of those who are qualified, many aren't active bp/muzzleloading guys and only had the certification for the program. We also found that the NRA Muzzleloading Instructor cert is fairly rare and rarer still is a person with it who is also a muzzleloading competitor. So we got certified and worked at a local Scout camp one day a week for the entire last summer teaching kids safety and marksmanship with muzzleloading guns. Since we compete with Civil War era guns, we had a stock of rifle muskets for the kids to shoot. They had a ball and found out just how accurate a musket can be. Of the 80+ kids I worked with last summer, all but 3 got to the point where they could shoot and hit offhand a Ritz cracker hanging on a string at 25yd with a Civil War musket.

dave951, great job and thanks for your time to promote the sport.

Early 1980's at Camp Pioneer in NW Ohio. Single shot .22 rifles, don't remember the make.

I do remember that when it was your turn to shoot (prone only), you were given a small wooden block that held five rounds. You had to return the block with five empty brass casings before you could leave.

I still have the "First Place Rifle" trophy I earned one summer. Good times!

Funny thing about scout camp. My troop went to Ten Mile River scout camp in Narrowsburg NY in the Catskills, beautiful place, with good fishing.

Before the first time we went, the scoutmaster handed out a sheet of things we should bring, and a list of things that were forbidden, including BB guns and fireworks.

No sooner had we arrived than the only kid to take out a BB gun was... the scoutmasters son. I was pissed, I had a BB gun at home! We were all NYC kids and mostly never had a chance to fire them outdoors, BB guns being illegal in NYC.

He would only let us use his gun if we had our own BB's, so we were reduced to hunting for already shot BB's on the ground. Pathetic! lol

He was also a jerk, having one kid pull the trigger on his rifle while the lever was still open, resulting in lots of pain as the lever snapped back on his fingers.

By next summer's camp we were having BB gun fights, rule was no shots above the waist. We were all using low powered Daisy's so, thankfully, I don't recall anyone being injured.

For a city kid the camp was a great experience, got to be certified to take a canoe out by myself and picked up a few merit badges.

Speedo66 said:

Funny thing about scout camp. My troop went to Ten Mile River scout camp in Narrowsburg NY in the Catskills, beautiful place, with good fishing.

Before the first time we went, the scoutmaster handed out a sheet of things we should bring, and a list of things that were forbidden, including BB guns and fireworks.

No sooner had we arrived than the only kid to take out a BB gun was... the scoutmasters son. I was pissed, I had a BB gun at home! We were all NYC kids and mostly never had a chance to fire them outdoors, BB guns being illegal in NYC.

He would only let us use his gun if we had our own BB's, so we were reduced to hunting for already shot BB's on the ground. Pathetic! lol

He was also a jerk, having one kid pull the trigger on his rifle while the lever was still open, resulting in lots of pain as the lever snapped back on his fingers.

By next summer's camp we were having BB gun fights, rule was no shots above the waist. We were all using low powered Daisy's so, thankfully, I don't recall anyone being injured.

For a city kid the camp was a great experience, got to be certified to take a canoe out by myself and picked up a few merit badges.

Click to expand...

Lol. My Scoutmaster's son was about 4 years older than me and he was a terrorist a-hole to all not in his inner circle. No surprise he was in charge of snipe hunts. Makes me think of Neidermeyer from the old Animal House movie. Lololol.

Now, the Scoutmaster himself was a level headed equal opportunity man. Pull your own weight when you had to cook for the troop, or had KP, or whatever, and all was good. He'd usually make a mighty fine cobbler in his dutch oven when the troop was out camping.

Away from camp, our Scoutmaster would take us out shooting. Once he made sure we were set up and safe, he'd bring out his .44 mag revolver and wake up the firing line real good.

Yea, it was a .22 and summer camp was Great Lakes Naval Recruit Training Center....

Yep, Flaming Arrow scout camp in Fl. They had single shot 22's, and we got our marksmanship merit badge. I was 11 or 12. The funny thing was that at that point I had been bird hunting for a couple of years with a 410.

I'm not real sure what it was, but it was a single-shot .22 LR bolt gun, probably a Marlin. I remember it very well - I went to the same summer camp for probably four years starting when I was probably seven and always went back to the same rifle if I could. It was painted with a stock number of #17, and it was the only rifle that had an open bead front sight instead of a shrouded blade front sight. It shot high and left so consistently that after the first year or two I was shooting 15-20 points better than anyone else on the firing line with it. I loved that little gun! When you only got to shoot 50 rounds a year, you made them count!

Summer 1965 at Boy Scout camp, it was a Remington Targetmaster (Model 510). Marksmanship was one of my first merit badges.

"scout camp" for me was my grandfather's farm in the panhandle of Texas. I got dropped off there right after school let out, and I was basically an indentured servant for 3 months every summer. Chores started with gathering eggs at daylight and didn't stop until Grandpa went to town to play dominoes around 4. Every now and then, my grandmother would take pity on me and slip me a box of 50 .22 shells. I think they cost a buck. She told me to make sure that old bolt action .22 was back on the gun rack in the spare room before my grandpa noticed it was missing.

So yea, I learned to shoot at "scout camp"

ford8nr said:

Never was a scout or attend summer camp. 1960's six kids, family couldn't afford it. My son on the other hand is an Eagle Scout. His first shot was long before summer camp. I'm a NRA certified rifle instructor and have helped many kids fire their first shots. Just spent two nights at a pellet gun range helping kids and adults learn the basics of rifle shooting. Amazing how well they do when the listen. For first time shooters the young girls 7-12 yrs old seem to do the best.

Like was said before, if you don't like the lack of opportunities for kids today - VOLUNTEER.

Click to expand...

Amen.

Newtosavage said:

"scout camp" for me was my grandfather's farm in the panhandle of Texas. I got dropped off there right after school let out, and I was basically an indentured servant for 3 months every summer. Chores started with gathering eggs at daylight and didn't stop until Grandpa went to town to play dominoes around 4. Every now and then, my grandmother would take pity on me and slip me a box of 50 .22 shells. I think they cost a buck. She told me to make sure that old bolt action .22 was back on the gun rack in the spare room before my grandpa noticed it was missing.

So yea, I learned to shoot at "scout camp"

Click to expand...

Your "summer camp" was my summer life for about 5 years from the time I was 10 until I was 15. I went to stay at my uncle's who was a dairy farmer. I didn't do any shooting, mostly milking and shoveling cowsh!t. But, I learned to drive a tractor, so I graduated the shoveling to dragging it with a blade, plus I got to pull the tobacco sleds from the field to the tying shed (tobacco was his cash crop). it was hard work, but I look back on the days very fondly. Getting to leave the farm for the week to go to Scout camp was a vacation

bangswitch said:

Your "summer camp" was my summer life for about 5 years from the time I was 10 until I was 15. I went to stay at my uncle's who was a dairy farmer. I didn't do any shooting, mostly milking and shoveling cowsh!t. But, I learned to drive a tractor, so I graduated the shoveling to dragging it with a blade, plus I got to pull the tobacco sleds from the field to the tying shed (tobacco was his cash crop). it was hard work, but I look back on the days very fondly. Getting to leave the farm for the week to go to Scout camp was a vacation

Click to expand...

Scout camp would have been a vacation.

And what I described to you as "scout camp" for me, was indeed, a vacation from my normal life as a child.

I could describe it, but then you probably wouldn't care, so I won't bother.

It would have been around 1967 or 68, yes, it was at summer camp, and yes it was a bolt action, but I have no idea what make or model the rifle was.
I do remember that it was the highlight of summer camp.

Newtosavage said:

Scout camp would have been a vacation.

And what I described to you as "scout camp" for me, was indeed, a vacation from my normal life as a child.

I could describe it, but then you probably wouldn't care, so I won't bother.

Click to expand...

I understand completely, same reason I spent summers milking cows. It was an improvement from "normal".

By the time I went to Scout camp I had a Winchester 67 I stored in my own room, all be it with the bolt out and in a drawer and the ammo in a box on my desk. I got my first BB gun at almost 6 and got to carry it on my own as soon as I memorized the Air Rifleman's Oath that was on the Daisy's butt plate.

My first year at Scout camp someone broke into the camp "armory' and made off with all the rifles the weekend before camper's arrived. So the Riflery Instructor bought out his own guns and some of his brothers and I was twice lucky. For one the instructor was John Malloy, now a well known firearms writer and historian and multiple winner of the John Amber writing award and for another my assigned rifle was his peep sighted Browning T bolt.

I seem to recall that the next year I got a Remington 510 with peeps and that wrapped it up for me at Camp Wallwood on Lake Talquin in North Florida.

I learned more at 14 when JROTC started in my school and I went through their Basic Rifle Marksmanship course four years though admittedly my Junior and Senior year as an assistant instructor.

I helped put together the Florida 4H Rifle Safety Course in the 1980's while on the staff at UF in the 4H and Other Youth Services and Rural Development Department in Ancient Rolf's Hall on main campus (forget parking!)

More recently my Church sponsored BSA troop did the Rifle Merit Badge "at home" rather than camp and I was the Instructor (NRA Rifle Instructor Ticket since 1989)

I think the "loss" of BB guns during youth is a major reason for the loss of gun rights today. How many kids do you see wandering about with a Daisy or Crossman today? … or even 20 years ago compared to say 60 years ago? Folks not raised with a Daisy clutched in their left hand are not likely to under stand your passion for an AR or Ruger PCC 9 or even you Winchester 94 or Sako bolt action.

Despite the fact that it was an odd boy that did not have a BB gun in my neck of the woods in the 1950's and 60's I can not recall anyone that shot their eye out or anyone else's. Being trusted and earning the trust to cart about a BB gun was an important part of growing up responsible.

our society is poorer because most current voters never had to consider where their BBs were going....

-kBob

Yup.

Not boy scout camp. YMCA camp. Late 1950s to early 1960s, for about 5 years. No idea what brand they were, but the camp owned about 5 bolt action 22 rifles. I seem to remember they were single shots, we had to reload for every shot. The range was probably about 50 feet, and there were mattresses on a raised, roofed platform to lay down on. I don't remember how much it cost, but for a few pennies we would get 5 22 short cartridges. I spent most of my time and most of my camp money there.

Church camp, upstate NY, 52 years ago; .22 bolt action

I shot my first firearm during summer vacation, but it was at my Grandpa Jake's farm in rural Nebraska, years before I was old enough for Scouts (maybe age six?). He had a Sears bolt action 22 of some flavor. I also frequented a few shooting galleries using semi-auto .22 Short rifles before I joined the BSA on my eleventh birthday.

I only went to summer camp (Camp Chawanakee, Shaver Lake, CA) once as a scout, in 1973, but a few years later I worked three summers there as an archery instructor. Back in the 1970s we used volunteer USMC gunnery sargents in a two-week rotation to supervise our range and teach the Rifle and Shotgun merit badge -- they were good recruitment ambassadors and free labor for the Council. One instructor told me it was a plumb job that was hotly competed over, and everyone loved those Marines who came and taught the kids there.

I was last at Chawanakee in 2007 for a staff reunion -- I took a few photos of the shooting facilities as they are today:

At YMCA day camp we shot bb guns, but I don't remember at all what they were. The next year at Sabattis Scout Reservation in the ADKs, we shot single shot .22s. I don't recall what they were. That would have been summer of 73 I am pretty sure.

Cub Scouts here.