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!!!!!":

Rifle Class Deferred Until 30 AUG 2009 @ 0830

We're rained-out for tomorrow.



Let's plan for next Sunday, 30 AUG 2009, at 0830.

13 AUG Venture Crew Mtg

Shotgun Class -- July 2009

Scouts and Scouters from BSA Troop 420 had a great time:

Scoutmaster MikeB, Instructors DonH and JohnM,
Range-Officer DomS and the Scouts.



SteveB a.k.a. "Dusty" with Range Officer Dom



TylerS. with Range Officer Dominic

A few could not make the range-date. We'll schedule a
make-up date for some time in September.

CMP First-Shots Magazine -- JUL 09 Issue

Link to it HERE.

Kalashnikitty T-Shirts

No -- rumors to the contrary, these are NOT the new uniform for VC#1951.

However, for those of you interested in this extremely attractive Kalashnikitty fashion statement, here is the info on how to order. Supply is limited.

Awesome Deal from CMP -- Used/Refurbished M853 Air Rifle

As you Venturers know, we are affiliated with the Civilian Marksmanship Program.

One of the great benefits of this affiliation is the availability of new and surplus firearms and air-guns at significant discount. $75.00 plus shipping = <$90.00 each:


For those of you who might be tempted to ignore this opportunity thinking that this is a "cheapie" air-gun, check-out the current prices at PyramydAir.com, one of the leading retailers of air-guns. Retail price = $279. Marked-down from $432:


CMP has limited quantities of these refurbished rifles available as left-overs from recent national competitions. Seals have been replaced to reestablish "like new" ballistic performance. Of all the good deals that CMP has offered us over the years, this has gotta be one of the best. This is a great rifle for 10-Meter competition, practice, and just plain fun.

Given that these rifles are available in limited numbers, VC#1951 will be placing an order for these rifles on 15 August 2009. Rifles must be certified as to be used in Junior Shooter development -- if you are not currently affiliated with Venturing, BSA or 4H, you can join for $25 (cost includes NRA Basic Rifle Class). Please contact VC#1951 Advisor at mountjoyjw@yahoo.com if you are interested. Send checks for $90.00 to lock-in orders (any excess payment resulting from quantity shipping will be rebated).

Bench-Rest Accuracy Versus Off-Hand

A-32 Target at 50', fired with Mossberg 44(US) that had just had
a new front sight (globe-style) installed:


Bulls #1 - #4 were fired from Bench-Rest, #5 was fired
from the Standing position:

Sighter bull (top, middle) was used to adjust/zero the iron-sights
to account for the newly-installed front-sight.

Bench-rest = nice!


Off-hand = not so nice. <:-(

But still decent.

Note that the off-hand shots also took significantly longer to fire.

Lesson: When firing Standing/Off-Hand, take your
time and don't be disappointed if your scores inevitably
drop. Think of it as a new challenge.

C'mon Guys! Win one for the Team.

The 02 JUL Iron-Sights Only (ISO) match was a lot of fun, despite the fact that a number of the kids were forced-out of their scoped-rifle comfort-zone.

Of the six kids shooting (5 guys, 1 gal) -- the top shooter (by a single bullseye), was the girl.


History repeats itself:

Portable Shooting Bench Plans

Here's a set of plans to build a portable shooting bench.

Here's what it looks like:




Here's plans for a bench that's more stable, but not at all portable.

See it here:

Ducks-Unlimited Greenwing Event

This year's Greenwing was a great success. We donated an air-rifle to the raffle and coordinated a donation of CamelBak "Better Bottle" hydration systems for each of the ~80+ kids who attended the event. Thanks Camelbak!


Eric scores a bullseye!


Melinda nails a steel silhouette -- and with a pink gun!


Garrett is loading-up.


Chloe -- a little girl with a BIG rifle. She shot VERY well!

Final Shooting Scores for Last Year

It took a while for us-all to get together, but we did so on Sunday 21 JUN 2009.



We got our shooting-session shortened a bit by rain-squalls and were surprised by bad ammo, but the competition winners were as follows:

First Place: JC

2nd Place: Shelby (She says "Wait for the end of THIS Summer!")


3rd Place: Travis



All the kids did great.

Archery Class Photos

14 Scouts & 4Hers had a good time yesterday.

We started by cleaning-up the Sanners' Lake Archery Range @ 0800.

Thereafter we reviewed safety and shooting-technique, built arrows, and shot bows until 1600.


The Class


A Proud Archer


Another Proud Archer

Shooters/competitors won two bows -- the Bear "Scout" Compound Bow and the Martin "Titan" longbow.

Thanks to all who participated -- especially the Dads, Moms, and Grandmas who helped-out. Thanks also to SLSC for use of the range.

Shotgun Shoot on PAX-Base -- 04 April

Scout-Leaders, 4H Leaders, and Venturers --

We're getting back into things now that Winter is over. We are scheduling the Boy Scout /4H Troop Shoot & Shotgun Merit Badge Workshop for Saturday 4 APR. Our rain date is 11 APR.

We'll be offering the Shotgun Merit Badge again for the kids that shoot well-
enough to qualify and have accomplished the other criteria (see the
attached BSA MB Worksheet:
BSA Shotgun MB Requirements - Get more Business Documents ). We'll have some Blue Cards, but please try to come
with Blue Cards already filled-out, if possible. Note that our shooting qualification
criteria will be 12+ hits out of 25 targets

The day's activities will be planned the same way as in last Fall's event:
Working, cleaning & painting 0900-1200 *
Eating lunch 1200-1300
Shooting 1300 until we're all finished shooting

*As was done last year, kids who show-up by 0900 to help spiff-up the range will
get their lunch at no cost and will also be provided with 25 rounds of free ammo.
If kids cannot make the work-time, they can still show-up at 1300 to shoot, but must
provide their own target ammo (limited amounts of ammo will also be available for purchase).

-- Please note and comply with all regulations regarding taking firearms onto NAS
PAX River. Contact the Base Police if you have ANY questions in this regard.
-- We will at least have a 20ga semi-auto and 12ga pumps as loaner guns, if needed.

As this event will be held on-base at the NAS PAX River Trap & Skeet Range, we will need everyone coming onto the base for this event to sign-up via the attached sheet
PAX Skeet Range Base Access List - Get more Business Documents in order to gain base-access.
Even if you already have base access privelige, this form is still needed to identify how many
shooters/participants we should be expecting. We will need this completed form e-mailed to us at least a week ahead of the shoot-date.
-- Note that time- and space-constraints may limit the number of shooters/participants. If this
unlikely event occurs, space will be allocated on a first-come/first-served basis. If anyone is
deferred for this reason, we'll do our best to arrange a follow-up event to accommodate them.

If any questions arise, please contact either:
John Mountjoy, (240) 298-1050, mountjoyjw@yahoo.com
or
Dominic Scaduto, (301) 757-4347 Desk, (240) 577-3186 Cell