SHOOTING.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIV, Issue 9403, 25 March 1909, Page 2

SHOOTING.

THE TRENTHAM MEETING. RECORDS AND AMMUNITION. :i'Vt'.i' Rifleshots ami others interested in rifle shooting will not soon the brilliant records made at tne recent Trentbam Meeting. ine ; greatest credit must, of coarse , go to the euccessfnl marksmen; but we 'feel that some word of praise is ' equally dtie to the makers of the . ammunition by use of which, these record scores were made. The .more ! 1 especially is praise due in this re* card, because the ammunition used, 1 the whole of it, was a Dominion product, made by one firm, the Colonial Ammunition Company, Ltd., at its works in Auckland, This is a New Zealand industry of 1 the highest significance and value, and of importance easily underated bv the careless. New Zealand has reason to be proud of her marksmen; but a marksmen without ammunition is so much waste material, in time of actual war, time when the necessity for Home de ! e ?®® urgent, very grave crisis might easily arise if New Zealand had to depend ’ on the importers for her ammunition. There is, therefore, added i cause for congratulation that the Colonial Ammunition- Cora - nany, manned entirely by New Zealanders, would be able to supply ammunition to any extent continuously if war arose. These recent Trentham records are really of tne first significance, When and where, before this, have 245 possibles, two •world’s records, and one New Zealand record been beaten with ammunition made to oomplv with the Imperial Service Specification for . 303 Mark VI. ? At Bisley the Palma .303 cartridge, with patent , sharp-pointed ballet and heavy ’ charge, was credited with giving wonderful scores; but the Palnaa cartridge was afterwards disqualified owing to the weight of bullet being greater than that permitted by the existing rules at Bisley and elsewhere. The service ammunition used at our S«)W Zealand Bisley equalled in result, and (sometimes beat the wonderful records made with the sharp-pointed Palma cartridge in England. Let it clearly he understood how very remarkable \ these recent scores at Trentham were. The scores of. 49 by Sergeant McElfoy, 48 by Sergeant Anderson, and 48 by Private Murphy, each out of a possible 50 at the 1000 yards ranee, make a record for the world. Such shooting at that distance does the greatest credit alike to our New Zealand marksmen and our New Zealand ammunition. Rifleman • MoLearv’s ten bulls at_ 500 yards, fired from loophole within timeallowance of one minute, is also, we believe, a world’s record. Lieutenant Masefield put in seven bulls at 200 yards, seven bulls at 500 yards, and six bulls and one inner at 600 yards, or 104 out of a possible 105; this also making what seems to be a world’s record for these ranges. The aggregate score for the belt won by Lieutenants Duncan and Millerton, with a total score of 491, is certainly a New Zealand record, and quite probably a world’s record j for the ranges fired at. Nor is this all. The Opaki team of five men, shooting at-200, 500, and 600 yards, seven at each range, made the wonderful aggregate of 285. In regard to all these figures, it must be remembered that atounition tells. Inferior ammunition is almost tho worst possiblo handicap of a marksman, because it is the most \erratio —it cannot be overcome hy calculation. When the ( rifleshots of the American Fleet competed at Sydney .with the Australian marksmen, the Australians attributed the Americans,’ win to the very superior quality of the specially prepared Match American cartridges; but as the American Fleet riflemen were beaten hy New Zealanders in Auckland under the same conditions, using the same rifles • and ammunition recently used at Trentham, we can safely conclude that New Zealand has better marksmen and better ammunition than America. In short, the occasion is one that calls for general congratulation. _lt mast have been extremely satisfactory to the marksmen concerned to note hoV promptly and pleasantly the Executive paid out the large amount of prize-money that bad been bo brilliantly earned. So that thanks is due to the Exoutive for the great encouragement given to the tyro at rifle-shooting. Public money so epenc is public money nobly spent. It is a sowing of seed that will ripen to a manifold harvest in the encouragement of a true sport—a sport that gives the steadiness of nerve that results from the clean and severely disciplined life of the aspirant for the marksman’s hononrs —a sport that in the end will place the sons of this Dominion in prominent place on that list of greater hononrs which shall arise when the Empire is again forced to do battle for her honour and integrity and the safety of her citizens.