Rifle Shooting

[Fat Old Guy]

This might belong under advancement but I'm putting it here.

 

I recently came across a "Rifle and Shotgun" merit badge from the 70s. I was amazed at the difference in the rifle shooting part. Boy, has it been watered down.

 

The old badge required shooting from the three standard positions of rifle marksmanship: standing, kneeling and prone, all without support. Now everthing is prone or seated at a bench with a sandbag rest for the barrel.

 

Who says that the program isn't getting easier?

[EagleInKY]

When I was a scout, Rifle & Shotgun was a terribly hard Merit Badge. I never had good eyesight, so it was impossible for me to pursue it. Scouts who worked on it almost had to focus exclusively on it at camp. I would guess that a rather small percentage of scouts who started it actually completed it (at least compared to other MBs).

 

Now, nearly all scouts who take it can complete it. In fact, this year at our week of camp, 100% of the scouts who took Rifle MB & Shotgum MB completed it.

[BPwannabe@137]

Rife and Shotgun shooting was one of those really hard badges to earn and those that did wore it as a badge of pride. I really sucked at archery but was one of two scouts in my troop who earned rifle and shotgun in about five years of summer camp seasons. It was also the only badge I earned during the first week of camp (my troop spent two weeks a year in summer camp). We also earned the same week our NRA marksman medals which we all proudly wore on our scout uniforms (still have it and sometimes wear it, though I am not too sure if this is "legal", but looks really cool under my knots on the OD uniform.)

 

I like the idea that they seperated the badges into two seperate ones, although I agree they watered down the requirements. I don;t think it should be so hard to get that almost no one earns it, but it should not be a give away either. No bench rest for sure.

 

To go a step further, I would like to see a seperate air rifle merit badge and a seperate blackpowder shooting merit badge. I am a blackpowder small arms (and artillery) instructor and could easily see this as merit badge on its own (minus the artillery of course). Air rifles are no joke (they are an Olymipic Sport) and deserve their own merit badge too.

 

 

[scoutingagain]

Yes this was not an easy badge to get. As I recall the prone and kneeling positions were not too bad, but the standing position was the tough one. It was also expensive, as we had to pay for the rounds we used in practice and the rounds we used to shoot for completion of the badge. When I took this badge at summer camp I can recall spending most of the week at the rifle range.

 

I did not know the requirements had changed that much. I tend to agree with FOG that overall there has been a deterioration in the level of expectations for some badges and requirements for advancement.

 

SA

 

 

 

 

[scoutldr]

Marksmanship MB, 1967. The rifle range was run by a Marine Corporal, who might as well have been a General in our eyes. Shooting was done on mattresses from all positions...no resting allowed. We were allowed to bring our own rifles and ammo. Spent the first day or two "sighting in"...then we learned how to shoot from an expert. By the end of the week, we could shoot the left wing off a fly at 50 meters. Still my favorite MB. We also qualified for the NRA Safe Hunter patch at the same time.

[desertrat77]

I too remember how hard it was in the '70s. Took me three attempts over 2 years before I finally earned it. I'd finish all of the other requirements and then shoot for qualification. Didn't shoot a score high enough the first two times...partial would expire, then I'd start the whole badge all over again.

 

The only MB I remember being tougher to earn was Lifesaving.

 

 

 

[Fat Old Guy]

".partial would expire, then I'd start the whole badge all over again."

 

Alas, if only you'd know that partials never expire.

[packsaddle]

Marksmanship '63. We had real target rifles, a real indoor range, and a strict but friendly rangemaster. Ammunition was free. I loved it so much I pretty much stayed with it every minute I could while at camp. Lots of NRA medals, 5 positions as I remember. I can still bark a squirrel.

My old camp no longer exists, but the ranges I have seen lately hardly compare. The merit badge, as FOG says, is a shadow of its former self. I suppose this could be just a case of 'the good ole days syndrome' though.(This message has been edited by packsaddle)

[Fat Old Guy]

" I suppose this could be just a case of 'the good ole days syndrome' though."

 

Nah. We can be nostalgic for camping in canvas tents but when requirements are cut by two thirds, that's quite a bit of watering.

 

Let's say that next year the swimming merit badge reqirements were changed so the Scout only had to swim 25 yards. Would it be "good ol' days syndrome" to say that the old badge was more worthwhile.

 

There's too much "they need to feel good" stuff that prompts redcutions in requirements. Instead of having the Scout do things that will make him look back on it with pride, the requirements seem to be headed toward "getting the badge quickly."

 

Crappy projects are the standard at summer camp. The result is that the Scouts have no pride in them. They hurry through and then, since they don't like the end results, they throw them in the trash on Saturday morning.

[EagleInKY]

I agree FOG. I had a couple of boys take Lifesaving and Rifle this year at summer camp. I thought they'd have a tough time. They didn't. In fact, they said they were "easy". I think they were disappointed by that.

[scoutingagain]

In 20 - 30 years how will the scouts of today look back on their merit badges? We will hear the kind of nastalgic descriptions we see above or will they say it was easy?

 

SA

[Gags]

Adding my 2 cents...

 

I never attempted Rifle MB in the 80's b/c of both the cost and the difficulty. I didn't want to spend more than one session on a badge, nor pay the .05 per bullet, or whatever they were telling us it cost.

 

For Archery, I was lucky enough to know that the partial didn't expire (and lucky enough to be able to find that partially filled in blue card year after year). Still took me 3 or 4 years to earn it.

 

2 years ago, on my first trip to Goshen SR, (National Capital Area Council's camp outside Lexington, VA), I had 2 of my 13 year old scouts tell me they qualified for the shooting portion of Rifle on Tuesday afternoon. They showed me their targets - I was amazed at the accuracy. Then they told me they had scopes on the rifles. "Oh, you mean one of those tube and ball sights instead of the V-notches?" I asked. "No - we mean scopes with lenses and crosshairs."

 

Why does a .22 rifle need a scope? Why not just walk up to the target with a pencil and poke holes in it? You'd get the same accuracy.

 

This year @ Goshen, I finally got to use a rifle with a scope on it (they had taken them off previous years for the open shoots). During SM/SPL shooting competition, they gave us 7 shots, and counted the best 5. 6 out of 7 bulls-eyes later, I'm walking away with target in hand, wondering if it's even worth keeping the target. This struck me as odd - normally I'd want to frame something that good! (I only shoot once a year @ SC) But like a previous poster mentioned - it was almost too easy.

 

This may be blasphemous, but maybe the new requirements for Basketry make that badge harder to earn than Rifle?

 

--Gags

[Aardvark]

I think a lot of the "easier" requirements are due to the lack of exposure to firearms now a days.

 

Went I was a Scout, I'd bring my 22 to School with me on the bus and shoot after school. Try that today!

 

I taught Rilfe MB at camp this summer. 96 scouts, 89 qualified. Many never handled a gun before (made for an interesting first day!), couldn't hit the broad side of a barn from the inside, yet most showed great improvment by the end of the week.

 

Sad thing is, for a lot of these Scouts, this will be the last time they will have an oppurtunity to shoot...

[Fat Old Guy]

"I think a lot of the "easier" requirements are due to the lack of exposure to firearms now a days."

 

Most scouts have never had to save a swimmer in trouble before. Should the Lifesaving merit badge get easier.

 

Most Scouts have never seen a canoe. Has that merit badge gotten easier (I'll have to research that one)?

 

The same can be said for basketry, wood carving, plumbing, carpentry,etc.

 

 

[KoreaScouter]

Some say the glass is half full, some say the glass is half empty. I say, the glass is too darn big. Put another way, you can argue the MB requirements are easier, or more difficult than they used to be. Fact is, some are easier, and some are more difficult. Ultimately, it doesn't matter. One main purpose of the MB program is to give Scouts an exposure or introduction to hobbies, vocations, and topics they