BB Gun Shooting Competition

Phillip Gross wrote:Actually a sad case. No father. On meds in the morning to wake him up and other meds to make him calm. Then meds at night to make him go to sleep and a couple other pills too (that I don't know what for).

Don't want to stray too far from the thread topic, but as a teacher I hated seeing kids who were medicated to compensate for behavioral problems. At my second school, a mother came to me and said that she was being advised to put her son on meds to control his "active nature." I strongly recommended against it, saying that I could handle him for 8 hours a day if she could do his other 8 hours awake. We got through the year. Strangely enough, he was a well-behaved young man after that. I wonder how that happened?

Medication is prescribed too often when other means could be implemented. Bandaids... Honestly I fear it may be even more sinister than simple ignorance too (and this is where I bring it back, skillfully too if I may say so, to something related to firearms ) I think if things continue in the current direction with healthcare, people who are, or have taken mood altering drugs, will not be able to own a firearm in the coming years.

Hmmmm. In actuality, even non-drugs have the capability of altering your mood. Will my dependence on apple pie one day lead to gun confiscation? I may have to go underground and make them myself.

Just sign up for Apple pies anonymous. "Hi, my name is Joecool, and I'm addicted to apple pies"

Phillip Gross wrote:Just sign up for Apple pies anonymous. "Hi, my name is Joecool, and I'm addicted to apple pies"

My 12-step program:
Red delicious
Gala
Fuji
Jonathan
Rome
Cameo
Braeburn
Macintosh
Granny Smith
Golden delicious
Pink lady
Cortland

I'm not going to even call this one.

Well, it's Phil's thread......................

..................and he's jumping in the mud puddle with everyone else.

Claymore wrote:Well, it's Phil's thread......................

..................and he's jumping in the mud puddle with everyone else.

No disagreement there.

Big Awards Day at Church, Tomorrow.

In the Morning Service, Rangers are getting 15 Shooting Medals from National HQ, and 5 Plaques from the NRA.

Pastor is doing it right prior to the Offering.

Claymore wrote:I was thinking, you could even make a .177" "plug" by taking a round tooth-pick, cutting off part of the sharp end (making it flat), and epoxying a BB or .177 pellet to it.  

That would be a pretty handy length (about 2 1/2").

A pellet may not be as good as a BB, because the "skirt" may be over .177" in diameter.  

Any advice for figuring out their scores when they're putting a big hole in the target? Some of our boy's targets look like someone shot it one time with a 45.

Is there any backing that we could use behind the paper to help create a more precise hole?

That SHOULD be a sign of good shooting.

Also, they are only putting 5 rounds per target, correct?

You can minimize tearing of targets by insuring that there is some backing behind the paper target. I like to reface my BB-Traps with cereal boxes that I have opened up and stapled with the blank side facing the shooter. When they get chewed up, move placement of the bulls-eyes a couple of inches to put fresh "real estate" behind it.

NRA rules state that, if a shooter regularly fires such a tight group into a single target that it makes it difficult to score, then you may have him split his 5 shots between 2 targets.

They also make a plastic overlay that is the same dimensions as your target's scoring rings, so that you can put it over the target and the holes, and it will show where they were in relations to when the scoring rings were there.

or

You can go to Office Depot with a few blank targets, a sheet of photocopy transparency paper, and make your own.

(Now stop trying to play "Stump the Instructor"!)

It would be neat if there was some kind of paper that would allow holes but not tear. With a couple of these boys, I might need five sheets for five shots....

At the other end of the spectrum, our young boy with the med issues is improving. He put all five shots on the paper tonight! It's fun to see the dead ringers shoot, but just as fun to see the boys get it on the paper that couldn't before!

I wonder if pasting the cardboard from a cereal box to the target paper would work... Might have to experiment with that a bit.

Are you using "free hanging" targets, or are they stapled to a cardboard face.

I have two kinds of BB-Traps.  One is wooden framed, and the other is just a heavy cardboard box (about 24 x 24 inches).  In both of them, are suspended "curtains" generally a folded cotton towel or denim material hanging on a wooden rod.

Both types have a cardboard face which the targets are attached to by staples or tape (I find that tape doesn't jab your fingers as much), and I just use the cereal boxes (as described above) to reface the BB-Traps.

The wooden framed model is designed to have the cardboard face replaced.  On the cardboard boxes, when they get too chewed up, I just pull out the curtains and pace them into a fresh box.

We have free standing targets made out of PVC pipe with a high and low target square on each one. We have corrugated cardboard affixed within the target squares and then use tacks to affix the targets to the cardboard backing. We have four of these target stands and then hang a painters drop cloth behind the whole area as a catch. We were shooting inside of the sanctuary, but the girls needed the large space for a new merit they're starting, so I erected one of those 10x20 canvas carport deals with sidewalls, front and back as our range. Obviously after a 5m range, there's not much room left inside, so I'm going to get another one and set it up end to end with the first one to make a 10x40 area. That way if we have a rainy Sunday nobody will be standing around in the rain waiting to shoot.

It sounds like you are utilizing the Arnold Schwarzenegger Philosophy from the "First Strike" Mobile Game.

"Build Walls Twice as High as They Need to Be!"

How about taping your paper targets to the cardboard and suspending the cardboard from the PVC frames?

I'll snap a pic of our setup when I get a chance so you can see what we've got. The target stands are simple yet effective. I would like to build individual bullet catchers, but just haven't had time. I would like to have had a wider shooting area for the four lanes, but I already had the 10x20 soft shed at the house and just hadn't put it up yet, so I used it at the church. With a 16 1/2' range distance there's only about 3' remaining under cover for the boys. The additional soft shed will give ample room for the shooters and the rest of the group to be under cover. At least until we go to 10m competition...

Sounds like you're doing a good job.

First year is the worst: getting guns ready, mats, targets, scoring materials, safety glasses, etc.

It DOES get easier in the following years, even if you go up to Air Rifle, because you can use many of the same materials (however, I have found that layered newspaper works better to stop lead pellets).

Only problem now is.....................................listening to the Wife complain about all of the additional shooting junk in the basement.

[quote="Claymore"] Only problem now is listening to the Wife complain about all of the additional shooting junk in the basement. /quote]

My basement rooms are all taken up with the wife's quilting materials and preschool stuff. All I get is the garage, which isn't too enjoyable during the long winter months.