God gives guns

Hi everyone, this is Lars

Mom forced me to write something for our family blog so I've chosen to tell you about the first new shooting sports 4H club that has been started in Saratoga County in twenty years. Martha and I are part of this new club and it's called the Saratoga Sentinels. There are about a dozen youth who are part of the club. The leader is a good friend of our family and a father of four. He shares the responsibility of leading the club with 2 junior instructors and some other teachers including my dad.

During the first two meetings we have gone over what we will be doing in the club and gun safety and club rules. We also elected officers. I am the treasurer.

There is also something very unique and interesting about this shooting sports club: it is one of the only clubs in the country that is teaching shooting sports and STEM together. STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. One example of this is using a chronograph which measures the speed of a bullet. Then we can calculate how much force the bullet has when it impacts the target. Another example of STEM is learning about how the gun powder is potential energy. The gun powder is turned into kinetic energy when the trigger of the gun is pulled and the firing pin strikes the primer of the cartridge which creates a spark and ignites the gun powder. The gun powder burns very fast creating lots of pressure which forces the bullet out the end of the cartridge and down the barrel and to the target.

This year we will be shooting mainly 22's and later on, once some of the leaders get qualified, we will be shooting air rifle, shotgun, muzzle loaders. Next time I will write about a wet telephone book.