Suspended Until Further Notice

As of September 2011, Venture Crew & 4H shooting at Sanner's Lake Sportsman Club is temporarily suspended.

Erosive damage to the Rifle Range berms, combined with other issues potentially affecting the Club's future safety, have driven a temporary Safety Stand-Down for the rifle and pistol ranges.

The Shotgun Range is in operation as normal. Archery Range and swimming/fishing ponds will reopen shortly.

Tragic News -- A Lesson For Us All

Waycross boy dies after being shot with pellet gun

Ware County sheriff's detectives investigating Friday night shooting

• By Teresa Stepzinski
• Story updated at 12:28 PM on Sunday, Nov. 22, 2009

An 11-year-old Waycross boy died after being shot in the chest with a pellet gun while with a group of friends Friday night, authorities said.

Mitchell "D.J." Maxwell Jr., was shot about 8:30 p.m. at an Albany Avenue home, and died about an hour later at Satilla Regional Medical Center, Ware County Coroner Atha Lucas said this morning.

The shooting apparently occurred while D.J. was attending a "sleep-over type" gathering at the home, she said.

An autopsy will be performed Monday morning at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation crime laboratory in Savannah, Lucas said.

The boy was a student at Ware Magnet School, and a player on a county all-star youth football team, authorities said.

Ware County Sheriff Randy Royal declined to release any information about the shooting, which remains under investigation.

Royal, however, is expected to consult with District Attorney Rick Currie on Monday at which point he may issue a statement about the case, deputies said.

For more information, check Jacksonville.com and tomorrow's Times-Union.

teresa.stepzinski@jacksonville.com, (912) 264-0405

A horrible story of what can happen if the basic rules of gun safety are ignored. Even if the gun is "JUST" a pellet-gun:

Original story is here.

2nd Batch of Avanti Rifles have Arrived!

The second batch of surplus Avantis came-in late yesterday from the CMP.

If anything, they are in nicer shape than the first batch. A couple are marked "U.S. PROP" on the stocks -- much like the surplus Garands, Carbines, and Springfields that can be had from the CMP.

Nice guns -- great for training young shooters. Perfect for practice for adults and even for competitive 10-Meter shooting.


------- Some of our Most-Recent Shipment of Rifles -------

Manual for Daisy Air-Rifles

Here's the manual for the CMP-surplus rifles.


Here's the standard 10-meter target that this rifle is used with:

Advanced Shooter's Journal Available On-Line

CMP's advanced journal is now available in soft-copy.



It is a great resource -- and, best of all, the soft-copy is free compared with the hard-copy price of $2 each (plus shipping).

I suggest that anyone who is serious about developing their shooting skills download and print-out a copy (or two).

Avanti M853 Rifles Have Finally Arrived

The Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP) Avanti M853 surplus air-rifles from the Camp Perry Nationals arrived today.

So far, I opened one of the multiple-gun boxes to remove a single rifle -- they look practically new. Brand-new sights, sight-inserts, butt-stock spacers/extensions and slings were included.
Unsurprisingly for range guns, they had been given "arsenal numbers" -- which were afffixed to masking-tape on the buttstocks. This left varying amounts of tape-residue and goo on the buttstocks but I suspect that will come-off easily enough with acetone or "Goo-gone" (but be careful of getting either of these chemicals onto plastic/polymer parts).

I talked to the CMP and they still have some of these rifles left. If anybody still wants to buy one, get a check for $89.95 to me at 23202 Pembrook Drive, Hollywood, MD 20636. If anyone is interested, I'll place one last order NLT 15NOV2009. I hope that this will ensure a Christmas delivery (fingers-crossed).


Meredith with a couple of the M853 rifles
(Note masking tape on buttstock of r/h gun)

Shooting -- 30 August 2009

We finished an NRA Basic Rifle Class on 30 August. All the kids did GREAT!
At the same time we held practice for Venture Crew / 4H shooters.

Shooting the Savage CMP Mk II-FVT:


Shooting a Ruger Stainless Target-Grade 10/22 (foreground):

All-girl firing-line:


"Alright ladies -- volley-fire!!!!!":