Just trying to keep their hands steady, but for every breath, there is another movement. Every shot has to be perfect. No change no falter. Click, Click, Click; did it work?
Created exclusively for students in JROTC, SFC James Watkins and Major Sean Johnson started an Air Rifling team to give their cadets the chance to be an athlete and compete on a worldwide level through the Civilian Marksmanship program, a national “warehouse” for all civilian air rifle marksmanship teams.
“This is pure marksmanship, precision accuracy when shooting a paper target,” Major Johnson said. “This is not what airsoft, simulating combat or tactics or shooting another individual. This is target shooting for precision and competition.”
The club is the first Air Rifling team in the district. In the works for years now and the team has finally received the funds to be a reality. Junior Trinity Hanson, captain, takes great pride in setting an example other schools in the district can follow.“Everything is brand new,” Hanson said. “[Being the first air rifling team in the district] makes me feel kind of special.”
The air rifle doesn’t use gunpowder. Instead, the gun fires using mechanically compressed air to propel the 177-caliber lead pellet forward. Sophomore Samuel Rameris shoots guns and adjusts to the difference. The cadets learned how to keep steady and fire with great accuracy.
“Sighting it was hard, it’s not rifled the same as an AR, and the bullets itself is different. I just like shooting,” Rameris said. “It’s thematic. It’s not the actual powder so it’s an art of sighting because you don’t have actual powder.”
The advisors have safety procedures to protect the students. All marksmen have passed a safety test with 100% accuracy. The rifle pellets will not go faster than 580 ft/s. During practice, people guard all entrances and exits to make sure no one enters or exits the room while firing.
“A purpose of the club is to foster and instill attention to detail, precision and concentration because you need all these skills in order to be a successful air rifle marksman competitor,” Major Johnson said. “It also teaches proper safety and respect for firearms handling even though it’s not a firearm.”
The team will begin competition soon, but with the club not being part of UIL, the competitions work differently. There are two types of competition, postal and in-person. Postal consists of two teams shooting at their home range and mailing the results by mail, to the other team. In-person consists of two teams firing shoulder to shoulder, the paper targets are then scanned and recorded.
“We have some good people on the team and I want to go to competition soon,” Hansen said.
The team only has 10 members and they would be open to more people joining JROTC.
“If you’re interested in it, give JROTC a shot you have to be willing to learn and willing to follow the protocol and procedures. You will have fun in it, and if you want to try for the air rifle marksmanship team, you will be joining the Core of Cadets,” Major Johnson said.
