Carmi Rifle Club Youth Shooting Camp

A group of dedicated volunteers got together at Carmi, Illinois on June 6 for the annual Youth Shoot. The group was split for the morning activities, with half blasting clay pigeons outdoors, and half learning how to handle pistols and revolvers at the indoor range. The groups swapped places mid-morning. I was indoors and managed to get a couple photos. Kids generally love shooting pistols, and after the initial single shot exercises they really burned the ammo.

Safety was the number one concern all day, and the kids were good students. The only unfortunate incident was one little girl that was hit in the side of the face with a .22 hull. She left the line, but soon came back to have another go at it. Then she got burned by a powder particle in the same spot. She stayed at the range with her father the rest of the day, but she was done shooting.  We all hope she eventually gets over it. We old-timers need to be mindful of the sensitivities of beginners, and talk about  these difficulties before they happen. We should have moved her to the left end of the line before she shot again, but who would expect the same kid to have something like this to happen twice?

Here's Valinda Rowe explaining to the kids how to score a bulleseye target

Some of the kids were pretty darn amazing. Click this photo to have a good look at the target!

After lunch the kids shot pistols (Both rimfire and centerfire), rimfire rifles, and centerfire carbines at paper, steel, clay pigeons, and Tannerite. The 10/22's with drop reticles were well liked by kids who figured out they could hit clay pigeons on the 100 yard berm. It was amazing to watch kids figure that out and make the shots.  The volunteers stayed and cleaned the range of equipment and trash after the kids were done. It was a great day for the shooters, parents, and the volunteers.