National Postal Shooting Matches

HERE IS ONE OF THE BEST-KEPT SECRETS IN ROYAL RANGERS

The NRA and the Royal Rangers have a National Postal Match each year in the following categories:

BB-Gun
.177 Air Rifle.
.22 Rifle.
Black Powder.
Shotgun Trap

The competition is open to any chartered outpost, and it ends on October 31 of each year. The categories are also broken down (for Award Medals) from age 8 through 18 and Adult.

I just looked at the Match Results for 2013 at
http://compete.nra.org/documents/pdf/compete/postal_results/13-rr.pdf
and some of the categories didn’t even have enough boys shoot to award a medal (you need at least 2 boys shooting per category).

I am going to try to get my kids in. I have 1 boy who is a potential good shooter, and 2 that are kind-of “cannon fodder”, but what the heck? It will be good experience for them, and the more kids that participate, the more shooting medals are awarded (1 per up to 10 boys, then 1 additional per 10 boys: example: if 7 boys are competing in a category, first place will be awarded; if 12 boys are competing, there will be first & second place medals, etc)

Along with the fun, the boys can honestly say that they participated in a National Shooting Competition.

It is actually cheap. It costs $5.00 per boy in an individual event, and $15.00 per team of 4 or 5 boys (5 can participate, but only the scores of the top 4 count, so a 4-boy team can shoot, but would be at a slight disadvantage).

For the BB-Gun, Air Rifle, .22 Rifle, and Trap Events, the proper Firearms Safety Courses are Recommended, but not required. For the Black Powder Event, it is a requirement to have an NRA Black Powder or NMLRA Certification Card.

What you do is to register the boys/men for the match, get your packets for each competitor, shoot the course at your home range, then send the results in to the NRA.

Here are the general rules for the events:

BB-Gun
http://competitions.nra.org/documents/pdf/compete/Postals/RR-BBgun.pdf

Air Rifle
http://competitions.nra.org/documents/pdf/compete/Postals/RR-Sporter.pdf

.22 Rifle
http://competitions.nra.org/documents/pdf/compete/Postals/RR-Smallbore.pdf

Trap
http://www.competitions.nra.org/documents/pdf/compete/Postals/RR-Trap.pdf

Black Powder
http://www.competitions.nra.org/documents/pdf/compete/Postals/RR-BlackPowder.pdf

Sounds great! I've been wanting to get our boys into shooting, but need to find someone who can really "own" it and teach the boys what they need to know and follow through with it.

I'm going to take this information to my leaders and see if someone will step up.

We bought the Daisy competition BB guns and shoot regularly, but never past the outpost level. One of my leaders made some shorter stocks so the little guys can shoot, too.

We had a few Champions that came with the cheap 1-point peep sights. I replaced them with the better sights, but took the 1-point sights, placed them on Red Ryder and Buck BB Guns for the smaller kids, and sawed off the fixed rear sights.

My 8 year-old niece shot a 47 out of 50 using the Buck with peep sights. So on a good day, if everything is right, even the cheap guns can shoot good groups.

For the sake of fairness, the rules require that all participants shoot Champions in the Postal Matches, but they can use any model when going for their Ranger Awards or NRA Medals.

WE have 6 of these nice air riffles. Problem is we loan them out to the DR groups that bang them around and when it comes time for completion we have to resight them in from all the banging around.

Fun shooting them.

Mark Jones

joecool wrote:We bought the Daisy competition BB guns and shoot regularly, but never past the outpost level. One of my leaders made some shorter stocks so the little guys can shoot, too.

Mark Jones wrote: Problem is we loan them out to the DR groups that bang them around and when it comes time for completion we have to resight them in from all the banging around.


Mark Jones

We solved much of that problem by purchasing a few hard plastic 2-rifle cases. They would hold 2 Champions or 3 Buck or Red Ryder guns, plus cleaning supplies. Most of our abuse took place in transport.

I think that I got ours on sale from Midway USA. They were about $50.00 each, but shipping was about as much as the cost of the case. Since you live near the "Big City" you may find some in the local Sporting Goods Stores and save on the shipping costs.

If you can do the shooting at home, I may be in too

strods wrote:If you can do the shooting at home, I may be in too

Rules require 2 persons to score, but it doesn't say that you cannot shoot individually (Honor System).

I do require the boys to shoot their record scores with the Group (too much temptation, otherwise).

For the regular NRA Marksmanship Qualification Program, I issued each of the boys a length of twine on a stick that was measured at 5 meters long. I allowed them to shoot up to 50% of their targets at home under the supervision of their parents. That way, I will know something is aMISS (pun intended) if they are bringing in scores of 48/50, and can only shoot 27/50 in the Fellowship Hall.

I meant home outpost, as compared to 1 event some where like camporama

Oh Sorry.

But you can still shoot in your own back yard, if you have 16 1/2 feet and a safe backstop.

Mark Jones wrote:WE have 6 of these nice air riffles.  Problem is we loan them out to the DR groups that bang them around and when it comes time for completion we have to resight them in from all the banging around.  

Fun shooting them.

Mark Jones

joecool wrote:We bought the Daisy competition BB guns and shoot regularly, but never past the outpost level. One of my leaders made some shorter stocks so the little guys can shoot, too.

Mark, we have a solution to that problem. You can get 2-scoped-gun hard cases. Midway USA had some on sale for about $25.00. I thought "great" and ordered 2 for the Outpost. The shipping for the 2 cases was another $50.00; so $100.00 total for the 2 cases.

However, they can each fit 3 Champion BB-Guns (packed carefully), along with targets, scoring plugs, and a cleaning kit. So 6 guns stored for $100.00 comes to something like $17.00 per gun to safeguard them.

But, this week, I found a scoped-2-gun case at Wal-Mart (of course) for $22.00. Now we're talking $7.35 per gun to store & protect them.

We have those cases. It's when we loan out the bb guns to the Discovery Rangers is when they get banged around and the sights get out of adjustment. We have to site them in when competitions come back into play. GRIN!

We have spent an entire wed night sighting in the 6 guns we have. It makes for a fun break.

I try to shoot each of the Champions annually (from a sand-bagged bench rest at 5 meters) to insure the accuracy of the guns. We have each gun tagged & numbered, so I mark the target with the number of the gun, the date, and the ammunition used (it can make a difference).

I have found that, out of 6 Champions, 2 are not shooting up to par. Daisy sells a repair dvd for $5.00. You can replace most of the critical parts (seals and the inner-barrel) for about $20.00.

at "home" I just meant our outpost as compared to road tripping.
We let the Discovery / New Rangers prove themselves on the cheap Walmart guns first. When they show they can handle it, then I move them up to the 499's

Claymore wrote:Oh Sorry.

Yeah. I realized my mistake

strods wrote:
We let the Discovery / New Rangers prove themselves on the cheap Walmart guns first.  When they show they can handle it,  then I move them up to the 499's

You know, you can get the inexpensive metal 499 peep sights from Daisy for $5.00.  Just pull out the top stock screw, put a friction washer underneath, and you can have a Red Ryder or a Buck with an adjustable peep sight.

On the Buck, if you cut off the factory rear sight, just be careful to not trim it too low, as it also holds the mainspring in place.