Winter Shooting Sports Weekend
Community Rod & Gun Club
Bechtelsville, Berks County, Pennsylvania
13 - 15 January 2012
Troop 461 held its annual Winter Shooting Sports Weekend at the Community Rod & Gun Club of Bechtelsville, Berks County, Pennsylvania, during the weekend of 13 through 15 January 2012. The weekend was a popular weekend since we had 100% attendance from our Scouts along with nine (9) adults! The emphasis of the weekend was both Junior Leader Training and completion of the Rifle Shooting Merit Badge.
The Gun Club's cabin was used as our headquarters - mess hall - and bunkhouse for the weekend. Since the cabin is heated and has indoor plumbing with hot and cold running water, the weekend was not without its creature comforts. The photo below left shows the Scouts finishing up one of the meals. The photo below right depicts ASM Zachary Wile overseeing Sean van der Kleut and Jonathan Rhoads getting a feel for their .22 rifles before trying to qualify for the marksmanship portion of the Rifle Shooting merit badge.
The photos below show some of the goings on inside of the Gun Club's cabin while most of the Scouts were on the range shooting. It was nice having the cabin available as the cold January temperatures cut short a number of outdoor stays and having a place in which to sit and get warmed up was great! In the photo below left, Troop Committee Member Patti Guttenplan is shown attempting to jump start her morning with some coffee - but it doesn't appear to e working. Scout Matt Ranberg is in the background cooking breakfast. In the photo below right, Randy van der Kleut, ASM Ernie Gambone, and Troop Committee Member Fred Crouthamel take advantage of a few quiet moments while the Scouts were outside on the rifle range.
The Scouts shooting to qualify for the marksmanship portion of the Rifle Shooting badge were required to shoot a total of ten (10) qualifying targets. In five (5) of the qualifying targets, the Scout had to shot a group of three (3) shots that could be completely covered by a quarter-dollar coin. For the remaining five (5) targets, the Scout had to shoot five (5) shots per target and obtain a score of forty (40) or greater on the particular type of targets that were being used. The rifles that the Scouts used for their marksmanship qualification were bolt-action Mauser .22LR Sports Models from the 1930s. The Mausers were originally designed as training rifles and are fairly accurate. Two of our Scouts, Brandon Rhoads and Walter Coyne, easily qualified and proved themselves to be rather good shots. Three other Scouts, Aaron Guttenplan, Nick Brown, and Sean van der Kleut, also qualified for the shooting portion of the badge.
In addition to shooting .22LR calibre rifles for the merit badge, the Scouts were also treated to a showing of other, larger calibre weapons. In the photo below left, ASM Zachary Wile demonstrates his prowness with his AK-47 for the Scouts. Other larger calibre firearms brought along for demonstration were an M-16 assault rifle, an M-14 infantry rifle and World War II vintage M-1 Garand rifles. In the photo below right, Scouts shoot for score or fun at the 50 foot range with the Mauser .22LR bolt action rifles.
Saturday night saw the traditional Scout excursion to Zern's Farmer's Market in Gilbertsville when all of the Zern-O-holic Scouts and adults were able to fulfill their need for bargain candy and other vintage memorabilia. The Zern's field trip has become a tradition with the Troop during its Bechtelsville camps. While the Scouts and the select adults were off on their Zern's adventure, SM Tim Wile and ASM Anthony Rivellini remained behind at the cabin to begin the chore of cleaning rifles. When the Zern-O-holics returned from their field trip, those five Scouts who had otherwise finished their requirements for the Rifle Shooting badge were afforded the opportunity to finish the final requirement of identifying the equipment required to clean a rifle and demonstrate their knowledge of how to clean one.
This page last updated on 05 February 2012