We work with Scouts quite a bit. The key here is not to contact an individual troop but to work with the summer camp muzzleloading program. That means you need to get in touch with the local council headquarters and from there the Shooting Sports Committee and from there the local camp. As a result, you'll get kids that are already in the "Mountain Man" type of program and they already have an interest in muzzleloading. From that point, it's up to you to put together an interesting and fun program and course of fire. The issue with most summer camps, and this is exactly why you can make the most of your efforts there, is that they are strapped for funds and staff and that equals a need to be filled. First you MUST be a certified NRA Muzzleloading Instructor. Without that paper, you will not work in nearly any youth programs. Second, if you can wrangle donations of powder, caps, shot and maybe some guns, you're gold to the camp nearest you. We work with Camp Raven Knob in the Mountain Man program. We go up one day per week while camp is in session to run the actual live fire part of that program. To supplement the camp craptastic plastic guns, we bring a range of traditional black powder and muzzleloading guns for the Scouts to see, handle and (if ok in BSA policy) actually shoot. Our normal load out includes, Civil War arms, Hawkins, longrifles, various flintlocks, and some black powder cartridge guns, for example I bring an original 1869 Rolling Block. We have the kids shoot PRB, conicals and minies. Once they've tried each, then it's what does the kid want to shoot and let's work on marksmanship with that gun. You want the program to be fun, informative, and leave them wanting more.
We're currently working to get more instructors certified and will work with probably 3 camps this summer. I won't sugar coat this, it's work, but it's a very enjoyable type of work.
One of our instructors doing a brief history lesson just prior to the fun starting on the firing line.
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Once the kids understand the loading process, then start to refine sight picture, sight alignment and overall marksmanship.
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Yet another sight alignment/sight picture discussion.
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Part of my load out when going to a camp. L to R- 1842 Macon 69cal smoothbore, 1858 Smith 50cal, 1863 Sharps 54cal, and 1862 Colt Contract 58cal. Not pictured are the rest of the guns I carry with me- 3 "Zouaves" for the kids to shoot, a couple of traditional style 50cal roundball guns, and my original 1869 Roller. Make no mistake here, the kids love handling and hearing about these and it all goes into introducing a new black powder shooter to the sport.
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