How to Boy Scouts Get Rifle Merit Badge?

[chucklenut]

I got mine and archery and shotgun at Bert Adams scout camp

is a week long camp for scouts and they offer a variety of merit badge courses you go to. its good stuff

 

[chucklenut]

It looks like Scouts do have the opportunity to get the merit badge easy enough, but want I want to see the Boy Scouts improve is to have more frequent outings where shooting is part of the activities that they do in the woods. Or, schedule a couple of range trips a year on private property, where the Scouts who ALREADY got their merit badge and practice some more, and get better. The scouts who DON'T have their badges can get a safety lesson, get taught the fundamentals, and try some shooting, so that they won't be totally unfamiliar with guns and aiming iron sights when they get their chance to earn the badge later at one of the summer camps that has a professional range.

that depends completely upon the scout master and the group make up

my scout master, mr. cox, was a big shotgun and black powder guy and would make it. point to secure a rifle range for us for a day in December. my dad had a bunch of .22s as did several other fathers so they would all come out as a group 1 time a year and shoot. the kids whose parents didn't come or didn't have guns used other peoples and that way they would get trained in safety and proper shooting

safety was the big focus to be honest

 

[GAgunLAWbooklet]

In the past I found a very long and detailed document outlining the range standards.
Here is a shorter version.
This isn't impossible to comply with IF you're building a shooting range, but it would be impossible to comply with just to shoot into the side of a steep hill on some farmland or timberland. The 20-foot tall back berm and 8-foot tall side berms represent a huge and expensive undertaking, as well as having the firing line built with a concrete or wood floor.

https://www.scouting.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/rangedesign.pdf

Here's an article by one longtime scout leader, regarding the convoluted rules and restrictions on shooting sports in Scouting:

https://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/f...ports-regulations-continue-to-be-a-nightmare/

HERE'S THE BOTTOM LINE:

I would like to see Boy Scouts (and Cub Scouts, and Girl Scouts) do more shooting.
If there isn't a suitable PRIVATE range within a 45 minute drive of every Scouting group in the suburbs or rural areas of Georgia, I'd like to see those Scout groups approach farmers, ranchers, nature conservation groups, cities and counties that own big plots of land that are yet undeveloped, perhaps off to one side of an already-existing park. Have the Scout leaders ask for permission to build a suitable range (for airguns, archery, and .22 rifles only), with the Scouts getting permission to use the bathroom facilities already on the property. Or the land owner agrees to run water and power to a certain location near where the shooting range will be and the Scouts will build a bathroom and equipment storage building there, just behind what will become the firing line.

I would help locate landowners and approach them with the idea, IF the Scouting organizations were interested, and if they saw a need for a local range that gets used more often than just one big annual event each year.

 

[GAgunLAWbooklet]

When I was a Boy Scout, 30+ years ago, our scoutmaster over our troop was a hunter and target shooter. He made shooting real guns, centerfire varmint rifles and such, and shotguns, a side trip that would use up a few hours of one day of several weekend camping trips.
He'd allow us to bring our own BB and pellet guns from home, and he'd supervise their use around the camp-- no actual "shooting range" needed. Just hang some targets from a string stretched between two tree trunks. Throw pine cones in the pond and plink at them. It's not littering-- they're pine cones! Blow up rubber balloons and tie them to that string that's spanning a 30-foot open area between two trees. Pop them from 25 yards, even with that cheap Daisy BB gun that's normally only shot at 10 meters. We had fun.

According to today's new Scouting rules, I don't know if Scouts can still do this kind of stuff, and even if they CAN, it seems the rules discourage it by being confusing, burdensome, and overly timid when it comes to safety and liability.

 

[stickbowman]

Both of my boys are eagle scouts and I was an assistant scout master for many years. For most scouts they get their shotgun and rifle merit badges at a week long BSA summer camp. Unfortunately after that most won't shoot again until the next year if they go to another summer camp. I tried to do some shooting events with our troop but they were never accepted as practical by the higher ups. Both of my boys also were part of the 4H county shotgun teams. Here we shot every week January - May. They also have pistol and rifle programs. They are much more pro shooting than BSA.

 

[Poppa Mike]

Both of my boys are eagle scouts and I was an assistant scout master for many years. For most scouts they get their shotgun and rifle merit badges at a week long BSA summer camp. Unfortunately after that most won't shoot again until the next year if they go to another summer camp. I tried to do some shooting events with our troop but they were never accepted as practical by the higher ups. Both of my boys also were part of the 4H county shotgun teams. Here we shot every week January - May. They also have pistol and rifle programs. They are much more pro shooting than BSA.

This!! GA 4-H has a great shooting sports program. It includes rifle (BB gun at 5 meters, air rifle at 10 meters, .22 rimfire at 25 &50), air pistol, shotgun, and archery. Check with your local county extension office for more info.

 

[BanjoJohn]

For those of you whose kids are in, or recently were into Scouting, how do the Boy Scouts get the training required from NRA-certified instructors, and what kind of facility hosts the shooting to actually put .22 bullets through paper? I was looking at this recently with the intention of maybe inviting a local Boy Scout troop to my hunting property to use my little deer rifle sight-in-range (I've got a great backstop; a 10-foot high wall of dirt, also 10 feet wide). But the Boy Scout's rules seem engineered to rule-out any private shooting areas that aren't full-time professionally staffed and managed ranges, complete with transgender bathrooms with running water. I'm surprised they don't mandate air conditioning and free WiFi, too.

Yet, it seems that every year some 40,000 Scouts get their rifle merit badges, and another 20,000 get one for shotgun shooting.

https://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2...veiled-these-were-the-most-and-least-popular/

So the Scouts ARE getting their training, and doing their shooting, somewhere. How are they accomplishing this?

FIFY

 

[Please Delete]

i got shotgun, rifle and archery at CRM int he 90's. i was up there this summer running a rescue boat with my dad for the kayak program...rifle range still looked nice.

 

[Grub Master]

Take the kids to an Appleseed event and they will ace their rifle merit badge.

 

[Ringleader]

When I was a Boy Scout, 30+ years ago, our scoutmaster over our troop was a hunter and target shooter. He made shooting real guns, centerfire varmint rifles and such, and shotguns, a side trip that would use up a few hours of one day of several weekend camping trips.
He'd allow us to bring our own BB and pellet guns from home, and he'd supervise their use around the camp-- no actual "shooting range" needed. Just hang some targets from a string stretched between two tree trunks. Throw pine cones in the pond and plink at them. It's not littering-- they're pine cones! Blow up rubber balloons and tie them to that string that's spanning a 30-foot open area between two trees. Pop them from 25 yards, even with that cheap Daisy BB gun that's normally only shot at 10 meters. We had fun.

According to today's new Scouting rules, I don't know if Scouts can still do this kind of stuff, and even if they CAN, it seems the rules discourage it by being confusing, burdensome, and overly timid when it comes to safety and liability.

So, what I do with my Troop is very similar. I'll take them to ODT shoots, friends or families farms and even the local range. We share handguns, rifles, BB guns (Gamo, not Red Ryder) and of course the 12 gauge. Most of the time the dads or moms will join us as a "family" event and help letting the boys - and girls - shoot. I just brought the family and a few additions to Canton for the ODT shoot and while we stayed on the .22 range, everyone (including the 8 yo twins) got to shoot as much as they wanted.