RIFLE SHOOTING

Dominion, Volume 16, Issue 154, 17 March 1923, Page 17

RIFLE SHOOTING

NEWS FROM THE MOUNDS.

(By

“Aperture.”)

The first prize meeting held under the newly constituted National Rille Association of New Zealand has come and gone, and by those who have the welfare of the sport at heart*there are many lessons to bo learned. First and foremost is the paramount fact that if the Ballinger Belt is to continue to be the champion slajKting prize of the Dominion. riflemen, and rifle clubs must do considerably bettor work in organising and increasing membership of ths new body. Rifle shooting, and by that I mean aperture and long rifle shooting as conducted by the rifle clubs of the country, has undoubtedly arrived at a point whence it will either recede in favour or go forward to better things. Whatever it does, it will, bo upon the shoulders of its own devotees.

Tha.Government has been blamed for its lack of support in the matter of railway passes, but to all reasonable persons it is evident that the Government gave very much greater assistance than could have been expected. Club shooting in New Zealand is conducted upon lines that do not meet with the approval of the military experts. Strictly speaking, it is not shooting under service conditions, although it is undoubtedly of great value for teaching young how to handle a rifle and to become familiar with its use.\ Primarily, however, it is a sport, particularly the Jpng-range shooting, which can be with_ iustice set aside as of no practical military value when indulged in individually. Consequently those who would blame the Government for non-support should realise that they are asking for a subsidy to a sport, and that in granting the concessions it did, the Government comes «ut of it very well, particularly when the financial position of the country is taken into consideration. , President Marshall put this very clearly before the annual meeting <rf riflemen that was held during the course of the recent meeting, and it is just a? well that riflemen all over the country should know it. Mr. Marshall went further, and showed unmistakably tha* rifle clubs and riflemen, ajmost universally, had been extremely lacking in that push and energy which should have resulted in a much larger membership for the new association and attendance at Trentham. Only 19 clubs had made any eftort at obtaining member?. Some had sent back the membership books untouched, and others had mad? ’no acknowledgment whatever. Takun altogether, it was a very poor effort that was disclosed to those assembled at the first annual meeting .of tha N.R.A. The future of the association is entirely in the hands of the clubs. If they work hard and increase the membership better times are ahead Next year the Government may see its way to increase its support, buv riflemen should realise that the association is going to flourish mainly by their own. efforts. The Government is already committed to its own Army meeting. It is possible that wise generalship dur ing the coming year may result in sonfa arrangement whereby the two meetings can be held jointly, but in asking for this it should be realised that the cap-in-hand attitude must not result in a. relaxation of the personal effort’ of all riflemen to obtain members for the association.

A fair amount of criticism was directed at the executive account of the expenditure. B. J- King (Opaki) was particularly outspoken with regard to the staffing, which ho held was overdone. He also pointed out that for every pound the competitors paid in entry fees th§y received only 12s. 6d. back in prize money. He contended that tliis proportion was a long way below what the association should do if success in the future was to be attain-, qd. In his reply the president showed that the expenditure was incurred by basing the meeting on 400 entries, and .that when only 250 odd turned up it was not possible to reduce the estimated outgo by any appreciable amount..

W. N. Masefield (Sounds)' put forward an interesting suggestion in order to deal with the complaint that not enough encouragement was being given to the young shots. It was that for future meetings there should be three classifications. A class to consist of.all those who had at one time or another been in the King’s fifty; B class to be composed of all those outside the fifty qualification who had won a prize of £2 or over at any association meeting, and the balance to be C class. This received favourable consideration, and wqnt forward as a recommendation to the executive. In spite of all the encouragement that can he given in this manner I am convinced that only a material reduction in the expense of following the snort, and attending the meetings, will bo conducive to participation by tyros and beginners. The old cry of “pot-hunter” is just about played out. It is to tihe so-called pot-hunter that associations have had to look for support during the last year or two, tyros having formed a very minor proportion of the entries, but even the cracks are getting tired of following a sport that is getting so costly. So far as actual shooting goes, results were a long way below- the usual standard. An average of 42 won the Belt, and only one possible (by Butler, of Karori, at 800 yards) was obtained during tlhe meeting, if we except the 35, at GOO yards, by Barkle (Petone) obtained in the inter-island teams’ match under a coach. The weather conditions wore splendid for out-doors, and proportionately adverse to. good shooting. This is characteristic of Trentham. The finer the day the worse the scores. It was a southeasterly wind, the worst wind of all at Trentham, and when the sun came out blazing hot the targets danced merrily in the mirage. For the final of the Belt the condition was as bad as possible. The wind boxed the compass and alternate bright light and heavy shadow sent elevations to glory. There was much comment on’the ammunition. Nickelling was a positive nightmare to many competitors, but far worse was the proportion of dropping shots. Ono bullet fired by V. Donald, I think it was, failfed to reach the target at tho short ranges. On another occasion a marker liad tho experience of a bullet hitting his target, and, failing to penetrate, dropping at his feet. It is possible that another marker was having a little joke, but the officer in charge of the butts says no. Gauging bullets was a favourite method with the majority. Whether there is in reality any benefit to bo derived from this would be difficult to say. No doubt it has a psychological effect upon tho firer, and anything that will give him confidence is worth while, but a little experience during the meeting is worth relating. During tho process of gauging, which I may say for tho benefit of th o uninitiated consists of measuring the length and diameter of that part of the bullet protruding from the cartridge, a marksman came upon a small bullet and a large one. At the suggestion of a few friends the bullets wore extracted from the cartridges and weighed. And behold! The smaller bullet was appreciably heavier than the larger. How’s that for tho bulletgauging theory? And also, what happens to the firer who uses them as they come? .It is hardly possible that both bullets would have tho same flight, particularly at the long ranges, and there aro many who shot at Trentham recently who will now have a perfectly new and good Mxcuso for their bad scores.