The Daisy 499B competition air rifle has a special price of $135 for posts.
Neal Warnken has been looking for a way to help American Legion posts start a Junior Shooting Sports Program that’s financially feasible and one that will sustain. That opportunity for posts was presented during the Combined Americanism Conference Sept. 27 in Indianapolis when a Crosman representative showcased the Daisy 499B, a 5-meter competition BB gun, at a discounted price for posts.
“When I saw this air rifle and I made the connection, I'm like, ‘This is perfect. This is how we're going to build, how we need to build, a program’,” said Warnken, a past Sons of The American Legion national commander and the Legion’s Junior 3-Position Air Rifle National Championship assistant match director and competition chairman. “We've got to start here to work to where we want to be.”
Special pricing for American Legion posts on the Daisy 499B is $135. The air rifle costs around $200. To purchase the Daisy 499B at the discounted price, posts can call 479-621-4317, ask for Beth or Sheila, and provide Legion post tax ID number.
It is a precision air rifle that athletes can shoot in standing, kneeling and prone position.
“I’m guessing we had over 350 conversations at the national convention (in Tampa, Fla.) simply about how to start a program. And this is where we directed them,” Warnken said. “The biggest question I got was the expense. Can you do $135 I would ask, and I didn't get a single no. So let’s build a program. Let's do it this way.”
The Daisy 499B is a single shot, muzzle-loading air gun. For youth not old enough to load the air rifle, a range officer or parent must stand next to them on the firing line with BBs in their pocket to reload the air rifle, prepare for shooting and hand off to the athlete.
“The only time they're going to handle a loaded gun is after I drop a single BB down the barrel,” said Randy Holmes, special products manager for Crosman, an air gun company that has been leading the next generation of shooting sports since 19223. “Then I hand it to the shooter. Their job is to sight, execute the shot. Then I'm going to take the gun back, and the whole cycle starts again.”
For the younger shooters using this air rifle, like 8, 9, 10-year-olds, Holmes said he sees mom, dad or grandparents being the one standing alongside them as the coach. He showed photos on his phone of the Daisy Nationals where 60 targets lined a convention hall of youth competitors shooting the Daisy 499B and their mom or dad standing next to them to help load and prepare the air rifle.
“You just created parent on parent relationship through youth shooting,” Holmes said. “And Daisy is like The American Legion … they’re all about family, all about community. And they push for parent involvement.”
Holmes said that with the Daisy 499B, there is no maintenance required. “You don’t have to do anything but shoot it, and they are 100 percent rebuildable. I can rebuild one in about 10 minutes. They have an average of 10-year shooting lifespan and that's not 10 years sitting on a shelf; that's 10 years of somebody shooting it.
“This gun takes all excuses out of why somebody can't start a shooting program,” Holmes added. “It takes all your excuses away. I could literally run four or five kids off one gun. Inconvenient? Yeah, but you're just running relays.”
Warnken agreed that while it would be great for a post to purchase a few of the Daisy 449B to start a program, with one air rifle relays are possible where one competitor shoots 10 shots and then the next competitor shoots 10, etc.
“Ideally, we would love to put an air gun in every kid's hand, but we've got to break this down to the post level to make this simplified, and this is the way to do it,” he said. “We're going to start those kids at five or six years old, and we're going to build that program all the way up until they're 15, 16, when they start shooting the (Crosman) Challenger rifle.”
Additional resources on how to start an American Legion Junior Shooting Sports Club are online here.
“This is a great way to build your program from the bottom up,” said Past National Commander Paul Dillard and the match director for the Legion’s Junior 3-Position Air Rifle National Championship. “It’s a great way to get gun safety into the hands of youth and build confidence. If these kids stay with it, that’s your program later in sporter and precision down the road. This can grow the program.”
“This is how we grow,” Warnken added. “You got to get to the kids when they’re younger. (Crosman and Daisy) we’re aligned because we’re both trying to do the same thing. We’re trying to grow The American Legion (Junior Shooting Sports) Program, and they’re trying to grow shooting. It’s a perfect match.”
- Dispatch