Boy/Girl Scouts and Shooting

[content]

Hello friends and neighbors // Just wondering how many of us had the Scouting experience of shooting and the "always be prepared" mindset.

My first exposure to firearms was from family but Scout Camp was most memorable to me because of the Archery and Rifle shooting. (I don't remember Shotgun being offered in 1971) but it might have been.

I credit Scouting for getting me started with a serious can do mentality, the working knowledge of firearms, safe shooting/hunting/camping/first-aid
practices and many other tidbits that I continue to use daily.

I wish there was a picture with my two friends at the range holding our .22 bolt action rifles (no idea of maker or model) it was an exciting, serious, wided eyed day ending in complete satisfaction. Even the quite Scouts were full of chatter that evening, quite the bonding moment for us all.

***anyone know what type of .22 bolt action rifles where used at Camp Horseshoe in Pennsylvania in 1971?***

I should mention my Dad picked up a few shooting tips there as a kid during his Scouting days too.

 

[Cougfan2]

I got my start shooting from my Dad, but I remember going to the Boy Scout Camp Naish in Bonner Springs, KS back in the late 60's when I was in Scouts and they had a Moskeet range. They would throw little clay "birds" and we would shoot them with smoothbore .22LR bolt action rifles and .22LR shotshell loads. It was a blast.

 

[Curator]

Boy Scouts is still providing boys access to firearms training: BB guns for Cub Scouts, ,22 rifle, Muzzle loading rifle, Shotgun/Muzzle loading shotgun for Scouts, and all these plus handgun/muzzle loading handgun shooting for Venture/Explorer Scouts (14 to 21 & co-ed)

Unfortunately not all Councils have access to a dedicated corps of volunteer instructors. BSA requires that all shooting be suppervised by a BSA trained Shooting Sports Director or an NRA Certified Instructor in the discipline being taught. Some councils only offer shooting at their summer camps others year round for troops that are interested. Much depends on the quality and interests of the folks that serve on the various committees. In NY the gals that dominated the camping committee were concerned about safety, comfort, bird watching, and basket weaving.

The council I left in upstate N.Y. had an obstreperous curmudgeon in charge of the camp range and he wouldn't let anyone else help. Only he was allowed to run shooting activities. Needless to say not much happened. The council I am in now (Southwest Florida) has about 30 trainend instructors and the camps' ranges have shooting activities going on almost every weekend. We raised money from NRA grants and fund raising BBQs to buy quality equipment which is well cared for by trained people. Most of the guys who help are giving back some of what they got from being a Scout many years ago, like you.

 

[content]

Cougfan2// I've heard of the clay birds before but we did not have them, that would have been a hoot.

Curator // That is a big turn around in Council priorities, I'm glad you found a friendly place to teach the young ones in Fla. Sounds like you have a lot of support there.
I'm sure the Scouts will remember it for a lifetime.

I don't remember BB gun training in my Cub Scout Troop but most of us had one.

 

[FatPants]

Eagle Scout here.

Shooting .22's at scout camp was definitely a great time.
I attended Camp Greilick in Northern MI.

Scenic Trails Council/Indian Drum 152

 

[TNboy]

Picked up a lot in my 13 years of scouting. Carry every day now, it's part of being prepared.

 

[Robert]

Eagle Scout here as well.
In Scouting I shot everything from archery to black powder rifles. Scouting was where I first met the 10ga shotgun, man that was fun. I learned to shoot from my father, but Scouting made a very positive impression on my early shooting years.

 

[content]

I never made it to Eagle we moved south and my whole life changed..congrats.

The "prepared" aspect is a common quality easily noticed. If you know someone who always has a pocket knife, hanky and a band-aid they are a good canidate to be carrying a firearm as well. A good strong can do mindset is a good thing to "pick up" from Scouting...me too.

 

[loadedround]

Content: First of all please notice my location and secondly and I was a Camp Horseshoe as a Shooting Sports Director around that time and I believe we were using old Winchester Model 69's at that time. The Shotgun Merit Badge didn't come out to around the mid 80's if my memory serves me correctly.

 

[BlisteringSilence]

The Shotgun Merit Badge didn't come out to around the mid 80's if my memory serves me correctly.

1988, to be specific. The requirements were last updated in 2007, and I maintain that it is one of the hardest merit badges to earn, from a skillset perspective. I love teaching it, but it's not uncommon for a scout to need 3 - 6 months to acquire the discipline and skills needed.

When they did the revision in 2007, it because much easier, as they changed the requirements to specify either station 7 on a skeet field, low house only, or station 3 on a trap field, with the trap in fixed position throwing straight away.

Our camp, despite having a great facility, sorely needs to replace its .22 rifles. They're old, rusty, poorly kept, and inaccurate.

I'd love to get the funds to replace them with Savage Cub-T's with the peep sight. That's much closer to what I had when I was a scout.

 

[content]

Hello -- loadedround -- thanks for the great info (now I need to find a Win. 69) and glad to know you (perhaps again).

Camp Horseshoe is still going strong. I've still got the belt my dad made and the bow string I made so I'm glad it is still there.

I see the VF location, I was born in the Vet. Hospital there while my Dad was in Korea. Still a great area to hike thru our history.

 

[content]

BlisteringSilence // Does your name mean cease fire?

Nice to have two Scout shooting instructors here.
I'm glad they started Shotgunning and Muzzleloading this probably depends a lot on location. The BB gun in Cub Scouts was new to me too, I love that.

I hope you can get a few upgraded .22 rifles they are great starter firearms.
Makes me want to check on the local Scouts firearms and get a few of the guys together.

 

[loadedround]

Blistering Silence: I just did a Shotgun Merit Badge for a scout last Sunday at my club. He passed on the first try; however he's been shooting trap since spring. He did need his 50th shot to break his minimum amount of targets. In most cases, shotgun shooting at summer camp is just a money maker for shooting sports...too expensive for a boy to earn a merit badge in a week.

 

[shotgunjoel]

It was in scouts that I shot a firearm for the first time. In cub scout day camp I shot bb guns and bows. At scout camp I shot 22s and bigger bows. I also shot muzzle loading rifles and pistols with the OA. My dad never owned guns (but his father did, I have grandpa's 22 from Sears) and without scouts I probably never would have gotten into shooting. Thanks BSA!

 

[loadedround]

Content: I assume Camp Horseshoe is still in existence and going strong. I've been out of scouting for some time and just do the shooting merit badges as an NRA Instructor. The V.F. Army Hospital has been closed for over 20 years or more. It is a site of some christian college and not sure what else. Haven't been up that way for a while even though it's only a couple of miles away.

 

[BlisteringSilence]

BlisteringSilence // Does your name mean cease fire?

Nice to have two Scout shooting instructors here.
I'm glad they started Shotgunning and Muzzleloading this probably depends a lot on location. The BB gun in Cub Scouts was new to me too, I love that.

I hope you can get a few upgraded .22 rifles they are great starter firearms.
Makes me want to check on the local Scouts firearms and get a few of the guys together.

So as to the name, not really. I just like the dichotomy of it.

As best I remember, the muzzle loading component of the rifle merit badge has been there for a long time, most likely from the beginning. It's been a while since I sat through BSA RSO school....

But I agree. About the only time I do black powder for the scouts is when we're doing a Mountain Man event, or something along that line. I'm mainly there for show, as we have a group who comes up and does the teaching with flintlocks, and all I have is a .50 inline for deer .

I'm planning on making the rounds of Friends of the NRA banquets in central Arkansas this winter to come up with some new rifles and shotguns for the kids. Ironically, I have 6 youth model 870's, but the only gun I have with a teen/adult sized stock is a wingmaster that someone donated about 10 years ago. It's got a 30" full choke barrel, and the stock is almost too long for me, and I'm a big guy.

Blistering Silence: I just did a Shotgun Merit Badge for a scout last Sunday at my club. He passed on the first try; however he's been shooting trap since spring. He did need his 50th shot to break his minimum amount of targets. In most cases, shotgun shooting at summer camp is just a money maker for shooting sports...too expensive for a boy to earn a merit badge in a week.

Congrats to your scout! That's great news. But as you can attest, it's no easy chore, especially for the gung-ho 13 year old who's never really shot clays (or a shotgun!) before.


One other thing that I did about 2 years ago was I went to the state and got my hunter's education instructor card. Every spring, I have a class for all scouts (and dads) that are interested. We go over all the requirements for hunters safety, and all the requirements for rifle shooting merit badge, and then do 3 saturdays in a row out at the range. The kids love it, the dads really appreciate it, and I feel like I get to give back some of what the Boy Scouts have provided me.

(aside: Eagle Scout here, and every manager that has hired me has commented that the fact that I have Eagle on my CV has been one of the factors that put me ahead of the rest of the applicants.)

 

[LHRGunslinger]

The BSA is where I first fell in love with shooting sports. I'm 21 now and I started 13 or so years ago and I left after I hit Life. I remember shooting Daisys in the cubbies and when I got into the Boy Scouts I shot my first .22LR. I think I set the record for getting Rifle Shooting Merit Badge at Ressica Falls in Pennsylvania. I showed up Wendsday afternoon because the Friday before I broke my hand and needed it put in a cast. Luckily at Ressica they let you cherry pick your groups. I was HORRIFIED when I found out they only cleaned the guns once a week.

But the BSA has had alot of funding issues after the United Way pulled their moneys from the pool after the whole gay scouting issue.

EDIT: After I get a bit of experience under my belt I hope to get back into scouting and become a shooting sports instructor

 

[chicharrones]

Although I had some BB and rimfire experience prior to Scouts, I did get some shooting time with the Boy Scouts for a few years in the late '70s. Our troop would get together at the local range every few months, plus summer camp at El Rancho Cima had a small range that we did a lot of prone shooting with single shot .22s.

 

[Dirty Dawg]

My grandfather taught me how to shoot when I was a tyke but I have great memories of my time on the range while a Scout. Speaking of memories, my son, who just got home from Philmont, can't suppress a smile when he tells his tales of his time on their black powder range. God bless the BSA.

 

[bigalexe]

Another Eagle Scout here that got their intro to firearms via BSA.

Upon re-reading the rules about Boy Scouts and guns it kinda of bugged me that the rules are so strict regarding rifles for Boy Scouts (not Venture Scouts). For those that don't know:

Boy Scouts are limited to
-Single Shot Rimfire .22lr Only
-.50 or smaller Muzzle-Loaders

Personally it bugs me because that is such a small segment of the firearms out there. IMO that is not enough knowledge to be thrown into the modern world of guns.

 

[Dave A]

The Denver Area Council offered a course called RAMS which stands for Rifle,Archery, Muzzleloading,and Shotgun. It is a one week temporary troop assembled for the purpose of providing opportunities for earning the shooting sports merit badges. All instructers are NRA or NAA certified. It is open to all scouts aged 14 to 21 which includes regular scouts plus Ventureing and interested girls are welcome. The course is conducted the week followin the 4th of July. Check with the Council to see if it is still being run. I taught the muzzleloading part and it was great fun!

 

[loadedround]

I'm a proud father of two Eagle Scouts who had over 90 merit badges between them. I never made it that far...discovered football and GIRLS.

 

[rm86]

I'm an Eagle Scout as well. I got the award for best marksman for both .22 rifle and archery while getting my merit badges at summer camp. Those were good times. Never knew they had shotgun and muzzleloading though. Those were never available at our camp.

 

[jeepguy]

grew up shooting bb guns. first time i shot a rimfire rifle was boy scout camp & i loved it. then went to the usaf & shot my first centerfire rifle & liked it even more. i was only in scouts 2yrs. but i really enjoyed it. in my jeep i keep a small first aid kit,swiss army knife,multi-purpose tool,truck gun(cz 82) & spare mag for my carry gun(1911). yes that be prepared motto kinda stuck with me too.

 

[shotgun-2]

I was lucky to belong to a troop (#128 in Seattle) with a bunch of great leaders. This was in the mid 1950's to early 60's. We had a shooting group that shot every week except xmas at a Navy indoor range with the support of the NRA. We also had some big bore range sesions at some local outdoor ranges ever so offen.

I shot for about 5 years (scouts & then explorers) without missing a single event if I remember right. It was a great time and taught me a great deal.

Joined the Navy Seabees and suprised a few rangemasters in Boot Camp and during Marine Corp combat ranges. Not many recruites had formal range experence back then.

BSA is a great organization and helps create good citizens.