TargetTalk

80 4H kids, and parents, in NRA BB Gun this fall? I am the youngster in the coaches group at 64. My 40 lane range is now a 16 lane range.

As with any activity, YOUR safety comes first. Wear a mask and keep your 6' distance. Have a volunteer check every person that enters the building for fever and symptoms. Shooters that are sharing equipment need to thoroughly clean it after each use or before lending to another. I would at least require they have their own PPE, mat, scope/binoculars, etc. Finally, take this opportunity to train a new batch of Level I Instructors.

We have similar restrictions and precautions at my home club. Masks and Gloves in the Club House and when within 6 fee of anyone. Every other booth on the pistol range and rifle ranges and we have plexiglass dividers. I was sick with Covid for 5 weeks and at 71 with my medical issues I was surprised I survived. I have the anti-bodies, but there is no guarantee that they do anything, so I am not taking any chances.

Bob

At our 24 lane indoor range where we host 2 high school rifle teams, we will only be using every other firing point making it a twelve lane facility. This is causing us to consider capping team participation.

Of course face coverings are required, but we need a solution to help keep the high school kids away from each other. The various equipment and rifles are stored in a vault the size of an average dining room or kitchen. Issuing club-owned equipment to parents/kids has been met with resistance. Ideas?

All this is also dependant on the local schools letting us gather as a school team. Might need to consider forming a private junior rifle team if we can make it a safe environment.

How do you sanitize a wooden stocked bolt-action target rifle between use by two kids? Don't want to ruin the finish. How do you clean all the nooks and crannies around the action and sights? This has to be able to be done pretty quickly during practice because we have a limited number of training rifles being shared by a large number of shooters waiting to shoot.

Paul,
As much as we would like to, I do not think you can.
Guns were just not made to be sterilized.

One bad suggestion is surgical gloves on the shooting hand.
- - Yes I do not like wearing them for long periods myself, as my hands SWEAT in those gloves.
The support hand is inside their own glove.
Mask on their face.
And do NOT touch their face. That moves any bugs from their fingers to their face = not good.

I have the same problem with the shared yearbook cameras.

For sanitizing, might a UV wand type light work. How would one know if it worked (don't want to just wait and see if someone gets sick)? What length of time of exposure would be necessary?

From my brief reading, UV light will work.
BUT, how to use it?
You don't want it shining in peoples eyes, and on their skin.

No idea how long it needs to be illuminating a surface to disinfect it.

PaulB wrote: ↑Mon Aug 17, 2020 8:38 pm How do you sanitize a wooden stocked bolt-action target rifle between use by two kids? Don't want to ruin the finish. How do you clean all the nooks and crannies around the action and sights? This has to be able to be done pretty quickly during practice because we have a limited number of training rifles being shared by a large number of shooters waiting to shoot.

The safety officer where I work is recommending a 70% isopropyl alcohol solution for cleaning just about everything. We are using it for cleaning copier touchscreens, copiers, printers, smartphones, surfaces, etc. I have seen the same solution recommended by several microscope companies (Zeiss, Olympus, etc.) and other scientific instrument companies, for disinfection between uses. The normal instructions are to spray the solution onto a wipe before use instead of spraying directly onto the instrument. The 70% solution is supposedly more effective at killing Covid than pure isopropanol (99%) and we make it in house with distilled water. I would feel pretty comfortable using it on a shiny wood finish (urethane/polyurethane), but maybe less comfortable on a hand-rubbed or satin finish (wood experts feel free to weigh-in)?

While cleaning surfaces is important, masks/separation/ventilation are the larger issues (not an expert-just repeating my safety training).

PaulB wrote: ↑Mon Aug 17, 2020 8:38 pm How do you sanitize a wooden stocked bolt-action target rifle between use by two kids? Don't want to ruin the finish. How do you clean all the nooks and crannies around the action and sights? This has to be able to be done pretty quickly during practice because we have a limited number of training rifles being shared by a large number of shooters waiting to shoot.

Paul,

Be careful when using alcohool based products on wooden stocks. It will destroy most oil finishes.
You can use non alchool based products (or detergent based products), like steri-7 https://www.steri-7.com/steri-7-xtra.html
Soak a microfiber cloth with it and wipe the guns between uses. Allow a 5 - 10 minute interval for the product to do it's thing.

Hope this helps

metalsmith wrote: ↑Fri Aug 14, 2020 6:41 pm 80 4H kids, and parents, in NRA BB Gun this fall? I am the youngster in the coaches group at 64. My 40 lane range is now a 16 lane range.

Have you confirmed with the 4H youth educator that this event can take place? What are the current 4H guidelines? We had so many restrictions here that I gave up on doing 4H Shooting Sports until I get an all clear. I can't even get parents to pick up the T-shirts and sweatshirts they paid for last Feb.

aggshooter wrote: ↑Wed Aug 19, 2020 10:22 am

metalsmith wrote: ↑Fri Aug 14, 2020 6:41 pm 80 4H kids, and parents, in NRA BB Gun this fall? I am the youngster in the coaches group at 64. My 40 lane range is now a 16 lane range.

Have you confirmed with the 4H youth educator that this event can take place? What are the current 4H guidelines? We had so many restrictions here that I gave up on doing 4H Shooting Sports until I get an all clear. I can't even get parents to pick up the T-shirts and sweatshirts they paid for last Feb.

Current guidelines are masks, social distance, no sharing equipment. Wash hands, Sanitize everything. We have enough BB guns that it can be one shooter per gun a night. Then we need to sanitize and put them away.

We typically put 5 bb’s in a baby food jar lid and the shooters take that back to the line. Their empty from last relay gets refilled. I think the shooters may need to bring their own bb’s this year.

Still going to be a challenge.