7000 Scouts and Guides try shotgun shooting at Jamboree

It’s proving a wonderful opportunity for potential Young Guns to experience the sport at first hand, safely and with top instruction.

Following an approach from the organisers of the Jamboree, the British Association for Shooting & Conservation (BASC) sent a team of coaches to run an ‘Introduction to Shotgun Shooting’ for the benefit of 7,200 Scouts and Guides who signed up.

Peter Marshall from BASC’s sporting services team said; “This event will help raise shooting’s profile not only within the Scouting movement but will also be a small but significant step towards normalising the sport to the general public.”

BASC has put on a shooting line four times the size of a typical coaching line at a large game fair. Eighteen shooting cages are in place, 24 traps, 30 coaches and staff and eight ‘crowd control’ co-ordinators.

Teaching basic shooting principles

Peter Marshall continues: “In order to tutor effectively such a large number of people within the six days, BASC coaches came up with a streamlined method of teaching basic shooting principles. This method was trialled on 150 students at a local school, and found to be extremely effective. We estimate BASC coaches will be able to tutor 200 young shooters an hour using it.”

Scouts were instructed by 30 coaches

Equipment has been provided by Browning, Eley and Promatic who have supplied guns, cartridges, clay pigeons and skeet vests.

The event has been a sellout and runs from 30 July to 4 August 2016.

Due to its success, BASC are offering further introductory courses with their shotgun coaches for Young Shots as well as Scouts.