When I was a pup back at Pascagoula High School in the early 1990s I was in NJROTC. We had an rack after rack of dewatted M1903 drill rifles, a couple of .38 Model 10s, and a locker full of Mossberg 42T and Remington Model 40 .22LR rimfires for use in marksmanship training.
Every Thursday we pulled the 1903’s, which had steel bars welded inside their barrels (it will make you cry) out for close order drill.
Every Friday we moved the chairs and tables against the wall then shot (with real bullets!) the Mossbergs and Remmys at a steel target trap on the other end of the drill hall about 25 feet away.
On campus.
I know, right? Yet I never saw or heard of any student ever getting winged and we had 150~ kids plinking away every Friday. Mmmm, I can still taste the lead in the air!
Now the news that a NJROTC unit in North Carolina has set up a pellet gun range (paid for by Pittman-Roberston funds from the NC Fish and Wildlife department and a grant from the National Shooting Sports Foundation) is a big deal: (Try not to drool over the M1s– I assure you, they have a steel bar welded inside them as well)
Good for them.
Hopefully more units will get similar ranges in the future. After all, in scholastic trap and clay teams are making a comeback in some areas so you never know.
Meanwhile, in Russia…
