| "We're here to build kids, not tear them down." |  |
About Youth Shooting Sports |
| "We're here to build kids, not tear them down." | |
About Youth Shooting Sports |
In North America the major governing bodies that rule the youth shooting sports organizations are:
Jaycees and 4-H are the two prominent leaders in this area with 4-H being stronger in the South Eastern U.S. and the Jaycees being strong in the Northern States. The Sheriffs Association is new in competition and I have little information on them. R.O.T.C. leagues are generally bigger in the Western United States and tend to cater to older youth. I will concentrate in discussing the Jaycees and 4-H leagues. |
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Both the Jaycees and 4-H leagues shoot one particular gun. The Daisy 499 and 499-B. The "B" model is a newer (and less desirable version) of the gun that typically looks like a beefed up version of the famous Daisy "Red Ryder". This is a gun specifically made for the Shooting Sports Programs by Daisy and is not available to the general public. It is a muzzle loading gun and we require all of our shooters shoot this gun due to the fact that we have all the necessary parts to rebuild this gun and for safety reasons. The 499 has a muzzle velocity of about 250 f.p.s., which is slow in comparison to many of today's guns. Although speed is nice, being able to stop a bb in a room with 50 kids is much more important. So, other bb guns are not allowed into our practices. Daisy sells this gun, shipped and competition ready for about $70. |
| The children all use a peep sight. For those of you who don't know, a peep sight has a rear sight that is similar to a nickel with a tiny hole drilled through the center. The shooter looks through the pinhole and sees a circular front sight. The front sights are circular and interchangeable to different diameters. |  |
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This is an actual "sighting" bullseye from the AR4-10 target that is used in competition. The full target holds 10 "counting" bulls that are similar to this one in every way with the exception that a "counting bull" does not have the numbers printed on the bullseye. The kids shoot from a distance of 5 meters or 16 feet, 4 3/4 inches. I challenge you to back up 5 ½ paces and take a good long look at the 10 ring. We had a shooter to shoot a 98 while standing with 10 shots. |
If you would still like to learn more about youth shooting sports:
