Juinor

Juniors

The 2010-2011 season is over and Juniors are on Summer Brake. Resumption of activities will be in September 2011.

21 February , 2009, Big Timber

.A couple more images from Big Timber

20 January , 2009, White Sulphur Springs. Below are a couple of photos of the newly re-stocked CZ's used by the junor marksmen.

10 December , 2008, White Sulphur Springs. The second year of Junior Marksman is off to a bit of a late start and with a few delays involving the acquisition of new stocks, jackets and associated gear we are now approaching the first of the postal matches just a little behind where we had hoped the skill level to be. Never-the-less ALL shooters have shown remarkable improvement and it is hoped that now all the adjustments have been made it will be full speed ahead. Below are a set of photos taken by John Lopp at one of the recent practices.

All the shooters at the line durning the three minute preperation period, prior to shooting in the prone postiton. Dan Rader checking the adjustment of Kelsey's rifle stock.	Below Kelsey with one of the new aluminum stocks just purchased for the Junior shooters. The stocks have adjustable cheek plate and butt stock so that each gun can be customed to the different sized shooter for optiumum comfort.

Kelsey and Sierra shooting off hand to see if the last stock adjustments were to their liking. In the photo to the right Chris has his eyes closed in preperation of checking his natural point of aim.
Tanner shooting one of the Kimbers off hand.
Will and Tanner shooting off hand back to back.

Finally the shooters get to go to the line and check their targets

23 February, 2008, Big Timber. The first away match:

The two participants Tanner Blair(L) and Will Rader pose for a group photo in the image to the right. They sport shooting jackets and straps and Tanner has on a glove, equipment supplied by the Association. Below are two shots of the competitors during the preparation period just before shooting the prone(L) and kneeling positions. Tanner,in the photo to the right, who presently has a problem with a knee strain, gets to shoot from the standing position, while Will sets up for kneeling. A third competitor can be seen in the photo on the right also, a gentlemen from the expert class.

		In the photo on the left Levi Duncan is giving Will a tip on technique while LC Sheline and Arnold Blair listen in. Levi is the gentlemen who came to White Sulphur to give a workshop to the youth about shooting in the three position discipline, you can see an article below on what transpired here in WSS back in January.
	There were a goodly number of spectators to support the shooters from White Sulphur. On the right Tanner is explaining to the crowd how easy it is to shoot all ten's.

26 January 2008. Marksmanship workshop held.

	On Saturday a workshop was put on by Levy Duncan for the Meagher County Sportsmen's Junior Smallbore Rifle Team. Levy, who began shooting at age eight, has shot competitively throughout his life and has been to the Olympic Village in Colorado Springs five times. Levi says, "I missed being on the All Star's Team by a very disappointing one point." Levi worked one on one with each of the juniors in the prone, kneeling, and offhand positions. Many pointer toward relaxation in position and execution were offered, plus competitive experiences that will help each of the juniors with their shooting skills. Below are several photos of the workshop showing Levi at work.

19 January 2008, Postal Match. Sorry I didn't remember to bring the camera.

19 October 2007. Shooting has moved indoors. The early evenings and cooler weather have influenced the decision toward more comfort and continued participation. Below are some pictures of the indoor operations. With moving indoors the emphasis is on honing shooting skills taught in the first couple months of the program. During each session the youth get to shoot a complete course of fire of 5 sighting shots and ten shots for score in the three positions, prone, kneeling and standing or offhand. Each position has a time limit of 10 minutes for prone, 15 minutes for kneeling, and 20 minutes for standing when shooting for score. Slings are allowed for the first two positions and, as can be seen in the photos below, not in offhand. The course of fire is under the auspices of rules established by the NRA. In the coming months the youth will be shooting in what are known as "Postal" matches where they will shoot at the home range and then targets will be sent to NRA where they will be scored and the results, compared with all others who participate, will be returned giving shooters a ranking. In the early part of 2008 the shooters will have an opportunity to go to Big Timber and participate in local matches.


The shooters pictured are Will Raider, Kelsey Manger, and David Lewis. Please note, Kelsey is shooting with a handicap and not in the best of standing positions.

15 August 2007. This is the second month of the Youth Marksmanship program. The numbers of participants have held steady after the first official meeting and class. There are four in this first program. In the last several meetings the instruction has been on safety, the rules of the road, and shooting principles of sight alignment, sight picture, sight point, breathing technique, proper rifle holding, relaxation, safety, and a realization of timing structure. Instruction on the firing line also included establishing a routine in which the NRA/CMP matches will be held to include: commands, with order of actions, safety and most important the fun of shooting. Did I mention safety.

	The club provides the equipment necessary for the shooters to be able to perform at the best level possible. In the photo to the left the members are getting final adjustments to the equipment. Jackets, gloves, eye and ear protection and slings are being wrestled into position prior to getting into shooting position. Dave(on left) is putting on the glove, Tanner and Kelsey are adjusting slings under the observation of LC who instructs and coaches the shooters.
After everything is in place and comfortable the shooters assume the prone position and shoot a five round set, then the Stop and Ground weapons is called, Line Cleared and shooters are allowed to go and look at the targets. They return to the firing line and on command retake the prone position to repeat the exercise.
After the initial round of shots the sights are adjusted prior to shooting an official target for un-official score. (In the background are President George Kirkwood, Aaron Blair and Dan Raider who help coach the youth.
	After shooting in the prone position the group got to stand and stretch a bit, and while they were up, why not shoot from the standing position just to see which is more stable to stand or to lie...

Below is the full shot from the Main page. Shooting from the prone position. But you already knew that.

15 June 2007. The Junior Marksmanship Program is underway. After a couple of months of planning, the gathering of information, brochures, targets and journals the Association held a preliminary meeting to see just how many youth were interested. In the initial meeting nine potential shooters and their parents showed up. After a follow up letter and a bit more planning the first official meeting was held on 14 June. Three youth showed. Some called in sick and one had not got the message of the meeting. One called and opted out of the program.

In the mean time the Association had ordered three single shot rifles from the Civilian Marksmanship Program. The rifles arrived the day after the first meeting. Three Kinber Model 82's. With second hand reports that the Kimber had difficulties we must be quite lucky for members of the club took the rifles to the range and after a cleaning and assembly of the sights on the guns found that they all are excellent shooters.

In addition to the three Kimbers the club has acquired Williams peep sights to put on a pair of CZ's the Association already owned (two of the Kimbers and the CZ's [on the right] are shown in the photo above.). These five guns along with four others donated by President George Kirkwood will be the base for the program. In addition to the rifles, George Kirkwood as additionally purchased and donated to the club three sets of shooting jackets, gloves and ear protection as seen in the photo at the right.

With this modest start we see a good future in Youth Marksmanship shooting here in the Association.