Southwest Gun Club, Inc. and
The Mississippi State Firearm Owners Association
Present
NRA Youth Hunter Education Challenge
 
When: Saturday May 22nd, 2010 Signup starts at 8:30 AM. 

Where: Southwest Mississippi Gun Club’s Range, McComb, MS
Exit 15A on Interstate 55 and head East on Highway 98; look for the large sign for Homestead. The range road is 2 miles East of the Homestead turnoff, on the left side of Highway 98. You will have to go past the road to the next U turn around and come back. Coming from Tylertown, go past the Bogue Chitto Water Park and look for a convenience store on the right. The range road is 2.2 miles on the right. The name of the range road is Edna Drive. Drive to the back of the property.

What: A competition to allow the Youth of our area to demonstrate the skills they have acquired in Hunter Safety Classes and their own experience in the field. There will be 4 events.

Eligibility:

All participants have to have completed a Hunter Safety Course in North America. 

Divisions:
Junior Division is for participants 14 years old and under on or before August 1st.
Senior Division is for participants 15-18 years old on or before August 1st.
Coach Division: We will shoot a Coach .22 rf match, if there are enough coaches that want to participate and time permits. 

Teams are Junior and Senior Division. The same criteria as used in the divisions will be used to separate the Team Divisions. If a team cannot field the proper number of shooters, a Junior shooter may shoot on a Senior team but Seniors can’t participate on a Junior Team. 

Teams will consist of 5 members in the same division (except as noted above) and from the same club. Teams must be selected and named in the YHEC Event Application. If a team member is not able to compete, an alternate can be named before the events begin. All team members will compete in all events possible and their scores will be combined into a Team Grand Aggregate. If some team members cannot compete in one event, their combined scores may be used for the Team event.

Maximum number of teams allowed is 8 teams. Individuals will be allowed to participate without team membership.

FEES AND ENTRIES:

The fee for the event will be $10.00 per Participant, No extra fee for team entry. Entry deadline is May 19th, 2010. Late entries will be allowed if range space is available.

Entries must be sent to:
Southwest Gun Club
Po Box 1061
McComb, MS 39649
601-249-3315
douglasmbowser@yahoo.com

NOTE: Cancellations made after May 20, 2010 will not be refunded.

AWARDS: Will be given to the following winners, combining aggregate scores for all 4 events:

Girls Grand Aggregate
Grand Aggregate 1st, 2nd & 3rd
Junior Team Aggregate 1st Place – 5 medals
Senior Team Aggregate 1st Place – 5 medals
Individual M/L Rifle 1st Place
Individual Hunter Shotgun 1st Place
Individual Light Hunting Rifle Challenge 1st Place
Individual Hunter Exam 1st Place
Good Sportsman’s Award

Hunting Muzzle Loading Challenge: No Smoking allowed near the Muzzle Loading firing line or ready line!!!

The shooter will engage targets at 3 distances and fire 4 shots in a 15-minute time limit for each distance. Each shot will score 25 points for shots touching the line or inside the vital area. No points are scored for hits outside the vital area. The Maximum total score for the shooting portion of the event is 300 points. Targets will be scored on the frames, with the supervision of the range officer.

No sighting shots in this match. 

Position 1: Short Range, the squirrel target will be at 30 yards from the shooter firing in the standing position. No props permitted.

Position 2: Medium Range, the woodchuck target will be at 50 yards from the shooter firing in any position, except prone. No props permitted.

Position 3: Long Range, the deer target will be at 75 yards from the shooter firing in any position. Props are permitted. Props will be furnished and designed by the sponsor.

Achievement Levels:

Hunting Muzzleloader Achiever: 5 to 6 shots in vital area with a minimum score of 125 points.
Hunting Muzzleloader Sharpshooter: 7 to 8 shots in vital area with a minimum score of 175 points.
Hunting Muzzleloader Expert: 9 to10 shots in vital area with a minimum score of 225 points.
Hunting Muzzleloader Master: 11 to 12 shots in vital area with a minimum score of 275 points.

Total score for M/L Rifle event; 300 points

Equipment: 

Rifles: Any Muzzle-loading Rifle with Flintlock, disk, percussion cap, musket cap or 209 primer. Rifles must be .54 or smaller. Open iron sights only. Participants shall furnish equipment  (balls, powder, etc) for their own muzzleloaders. All participant supplied equipment must be inspected. All caps on the line will be in a capper. Coaches will have control of all powder and balls at all times, except when shooter is loading, then the Coach will have to be present for supervision.  Caps will be in a capper, primers and priming powder will be controlled by the Coach. Priming or capping the rifles will be done at the firing line by the Coach. Participants requiring the loan of Muzzle Loading rifles should notify the Sponsor in advance. Sponsor will provide equipment for furnished muzzleloaders. Only one muzzle-loading rifle may be used in the entire event; except when a muzzle-loading rifle is disabled. No extra sighting in time is allowed when a rifle is replaced.

Muzzle Loading Rifles may be used with a set trigger but the trigger must not be set until ready to fire. 
Non-adjustable thumbhole sporting stocks are allowed.
Slings may be used on the muzzleloaders but cannot be wider than 1-1/2”.
Muzzleloaders are to be loaded with a single lead patched ball or conical bullet.
Participants will have all equipment inspected at sign in.
Participants will furnish Black Powder, or Black Powder substitutes. 
No smokeless powders
No shooting mats or rugs
No optical devices on the firing line. No coaching by coaches, team members or Parents allowed.
No range finders
No open cans of powder are allowed on the line. All powder is to be loaded directly into the muzzle with a powder measure, not directly into the bore from a powder flask or can. Flasks or cans may be used to load the powder measures.
No kneeling rolls
No adjustable competition sling swivels
The shooter must shoot his entire 4 shots at each distance, in the position he started in.
No metal jacketed sabot bullets

Hunter Shotgun Challenge:

Due to range restraints, the shotgun challenge will be shot over an abbreviated course of fire. The participant will shoot 10 single straightaway targets. Then 5 pairs of stacked double targets.  Scoring is 15 points for hits and 0 points for misses. 300 points is the maximum score. Each target hit scores 15 points.

Achievement Levels:

Hunting Shotgun Achiever: Minimum score of 100 points
Hunting Shotgun Sharpshooter: Minimum score of 170 points
Hunting Shotgun Expert: Minimum score of 240 points
Hunting Shotgun Master: Minimum score of 280 points

Equipment:

Shotguns: 12 and 20 gauges are the normal gauges. Other gauges may be used with the permission of the Sponsor. The shotgun must be able to fire 2 shots quickly because there are doubles to be fired in this course of fire. A shooter in this event must use one shotgun; unless there is a gun malfunction. Nor can shot choke tubes or barrels be changed during the event. Adjustable buttplates and cheek pieces must not be adjusted during the event.

Shells:

Factory loaded shotgun shells will be furnished by the competitors. No shotgun shell loaded to high velocity or with large sized shot may be used. Maximum loads are 3 dram - 1-1/8 oz shot. Shot may not be larger than #7-1/2 or smaller than  #9. Coaches will have control of all ammunition at all times, except when the shooter is on the line, then the coach will supervise the shooter.

Not Permitted:

Release triggers are not allowed.
No vent rib allowed higher or wider than ½”.

General Rules:

The gun must be held at Ready Position before the target appears. Only when the target appears, is the shooter allowed to shoulder the gun. Ready position is with the butt stock below the shoulder level.

Re-fires on each target are allowed for gun malfunctions, ammunition failure and target failure only. Targets must be thrown within 5 seconds of the shooter’s call or it will be considered a malfunction of the target puller. Broken targets are considered alibis, a shooter does not have to shoot at a broken target but if he does the result will count for his/her score. No coaching allowed on the line.

Light Hunting Rifle Challenge:

This event will be fired 10 shots on each target on life sized animal targets at ranges of 30, 50 and 75 yards from three positions. Hits in the vital area will be scored 10 points. Hits outside the vital area will be scored misses. Maximum score in this event is 300 points. 

No sighting shots in this match.

Position one: (short range) shot at 30 yards on the squirrel target. Standing position no props or slings permitted.
Position two: (medium range) shot at 50 yards on the rabbit target. Any position except prone with one vertical prop allowed.
Position three: (long range) shot at 75 yards on the woodchuck target. Any shooting position using props made available by the sponsor only.

In any one stage of an event, the same position must be used throughout the stage.

10 shots will be fired from each distance and the time limit will be 7 minutes per target.

Achievement Levels:

Hunting Rifle Achiever: 10 to 16 shots in the vital area out of 30.
Hunting Rifle Sharpshooter: 17 to 24 shots in the vital area out of 30.
Hunting Rifle Expert: 24 to 29 shots in the vital area out of 30.
Hunting Rifle Master: 29 or 30 shots in the vital area out of 30.

Rifles and Equipment:

Shooter may use only one rifle in the event; except in case of rifle failure. No sighters will be allowed if a different rifle is used.

Rifles:

Shall be standard hunting rifles. Open iron sights, peep sights and telescopes variable or fixed with a power of 10X or less. Taping of variable scopes will not be allowed. All action types are permitted except full automatic. The rifle with sights but without the sling shall not weigh more than 8.8 pounds. The triggers may not weigh less than 2 pounds. We will be weighing rifles and triggers. Slings not more than 1–1/4” are allowed. Non-adjustable thumbhole stocks are permitted.

Ammunition:

All ammunition used in this event will be .22 Long Rifle. Participants shall furnish their own ammunition. Coaches will have control of all ammunition at all times, except when the shooter is on the line, then the coach will supervise the shooter. 

Scoring:

30 shots, 10 shots at each distance, each shot in the vital area scoring 10 points. A shot outside the vital area scores a zero. All shots breaking the vital area line scores as a hit. Participants must shoot each position in 7 minutes.

Equipment Prohibited:
Shooting coats or padded shirts or jackets.
No shooting mats or rugs.
Adjustable competitive sling swivels.
Kneeling rolls.
Competitive thumbhole stocks.
Palm rests or stocks exceeding 2-1/4” wide or 2-1/2” deep from the centerline of the bore.
Telescopes with the capability of power greater than 10X. No taping of variable scopes is allowed and the variable scope cannot be of a power more than 10X.
Range finders.
Peep rear sights with aperture under 2mm in size.
Binoculars, monocular and spotting scopes not allowed on the line.
Shooting sticks.

Hunter Responsibility Exam:

Participants will complete a Hunter’s Responsibility Exam.  Time limit is 60 minutes. Correct answers score 5 points each for a maximum score of 300. The reference for this test is the “NRA Hunter’s Guide”.

Achievement Levels:
Hunter Exam Achiever: 27 to 39 questions correct.
Hunter Exam Scout: 40 to 49 questions correct.
Hunter Exam Expert: 50 to 56 questions correct.
Hunter Exam Master: 57 to 60 questions correct.

Prohibited:

Books, manuals, written notes or any other material that would help the participant in the test.
No communication with anyone allowed by the participant during the test.

General Information:

Additional safety rules:

All firearms and muzzle loading equipment shall be checked in at the sign up desk.
All firearms must be cased when not in use.
All firearms must have an empty chamber indicator. Indicators will be provided at the sign in desk.
All .22rf rifles will be checked for overall weight and the weight of the trigger.
All ammunition, caps (in cappers) and gunpowder shall be in the control of the participant’s coach. No competitor shall be in the possession of these items without the coach’s supervision. The shooter may have these items on the firing line but the coach should be present to observe their use.
No spotting telescopes or binoculars allowed on the line. No coaching or target spotting will be allowed by  coaches, other team members or parents. 

Challenges, Protests and Alibis:

Since we are going to score all events on the target frames, scoring challenges must be made on the line. The Target Challenge fee is $1.00. Protests are to be made to the Match Sponsor within 30 minutes of the completion of the sub-event. There is no charge to file protests. Alibis will be allowed for ammunition malfunction, range and target malfunction.
To assure being able to participate in the event, pre-registration is advised. Pre–registration ends on May 20th, 2009. Participants can register at the range if there is range space available. 

Southwest Gun Club, Inc. and
The Mississippi State Firearm Owners Association
Present
NRA Youth Hunter Education Challenge

Application form

Participant’s Name___________________________________________   Age__________

Address____________________________________________________________________

City, State and Zip Code___________________________________________________________

Phone #______________________________       email address________________________

Team affiliated with___________________________________________________________

Coach’s Name________________________________________________________________

Size of tee shirt: Medium ____ Large____Extra Large____

Events participating in:

Hunter Rifle____
Muzzleloader____
Shotgun____
The Hunter Responsibility test is mandatory

Sharing equipment:

Hunter Rifle____
Muzzleloader____
Shotgun____

If a participant is sharing firearms or archery equipment, there will be the need of an extra coach to stay with the second shooter while the other shooter moves to another event.  This will be in effect, except at the shotgun event.

Entry fee is $10.00 per individual, no extra fee for team entry. Send entries to:

Southwest Gun Club, Inc.
Po Box 1061
McComb, MS 39649
601-249-3315

NOTE: These rules are only for use in the Mississippi match. Some of them have been changed by the Match Director to allow presently owned equipment to be used. I see no reason the force a Junior shooter to buy new equipment, if they are not going to attend the National YHEC Match. If you attend the National Match in this event, check the National rules for equipment eligibility. I will supply any coach with a list of the changed items.