THE Thames Advertiser. SATURDAY, NOV. 4, 1876.

Thames Advertiser, Volume IX, Issue 2462, 4 November 1876, Page 2

THE Thames Advertiser. SATURDAY, NOV. 4, 1876.

The Volunteer movement having the. strong support of the Government, we may be excused if we say that we suppose the great point in view is to increase, or at least to maintain, not only the number of Volunteers on the roll, but to keep those efficient, and make them good shots. These annual gatherings .will doubtless do much towards both the efficiency, the well being, and the encouragement of good shooting throughout the whole Volunteer force—to say nothing of the great good that such an interchange of people, though even for a short period, is capable of working. The operation of loading and firing a rifle is an exceedingly simp'e one, but to take a steady aim at a distant object, to fire, and find that the said object has been hit, and to repeat this operation nine times out of ten shots, is not so simple a task. The careful Volunteer will find that to make a bull's-eye he must aim anywhere but at that spot, and should he aim at the bull's-eye it would be impossible to hit it. A certain weight of a standard class of gunpowder will project a certain weight of ball from a rifle and make bull's-eye shooting at 500 yards, but it is not so if the powder is altered in quantity or quality, or the ball inferior in form, hoinogeneousness, or weight. In this particular the Volunteer has very poor redress, for he cannot make his own gunpowder and conical bullets; thus he finds himself quite at the mercy of the manufacturer. The production of the Government bullet from a solid rod of lead, from which it is cut and compressed into its ultimate form, does, to a very great extent, insure the correct weight, density and form. It is of the utmost importance that the bullets shall be of equal weight, and so is it important (inasmuch as the rifle is not a smooth bore, but a barrel with a rotating groove), that the ball shall be equally dense and truly circular. If the ball has become indented or damaged in form, or even abraided, it cannot, fly along its true course, and the longer the range the greater will be the error of its flight. The chemical compounds of which gunpowder is composed are of a perishable nature, and its condition in regard to rapidity of ignition and strength during explosion cannot be maintained at a standard for a number of years.' J?or the ordinary exigencies of war the difference would probably prove immaterial, but for rifle shooting, where keen competition is going on, it would be simple nonsense to use such powder. But all mechanical operations in which men are employed, particularly rifle shooting, depend as to excellence very much upon the eye, the nerve, and the muscle. It is not generally known that if 50 men are requested to sight a rifle on a sand bag at a bull's-eye, distant say 300 yards, no two of them have the same estimation as to the true position, . It is important to know of tins error, and to estimate it. Such are a few of the ups and downs attending excellence in rUlc shooting. We propose now to ask under what conditions in respect to

equality, fairness, and justice are these meetings governed—in regard to comparison with the firing of former years —in regard to the firing of the men themselves, and in regard to that fairplay which should exist in all bona fide competitions 1 Inasmuch as this is an annual firing carried on by Government, the Volunteers have a right to expect that they shall be served out with the best ammunition to be obtained, and that of a known standard, and without which all competition and comparison is at once set aside. These meetings have hitherto assumed . the phase of a gigantic pic-nic, in which the staff officers, no doubt, enjoyed themselves very much. Some ,£BOO is given away in prizes, for what 1 And some £1,000 is spent in the transport of the men, whohave left theirrespective homes on a galavanting pic-nic expedition. Many persons who have taken very considerable interest in Volunteer shooting matches, and who, on the last two occasions, compared the shooting with the shooting of previous years, found the bad shooting so glaring that they determined that' outside causes, other than the men themselves, must be looked to for an explanation* It was certainly rumoured that some of the ammunuition was bad, but was it possible that a'large official staff of well paid men, should be so far ignorant of the theory of projectiles as to permit bad or indifferent ammunition to be used, and this at any price; or that their hands and heads had,been.too full of work to have obtained a proper supply from London in time for the meeting. A very small investigation into the matter of the ammunition places any doubts on this head at rest. The ammunition served out to the men in 1874 was totally unfit for the purpose. Men,-with any pretensions to be rifle shots, missing the target at 400 yards at a match is simply absurd. But the ammunition was at fault! Hence we affirm that these meetings (other than being a pleasant social gathering) are, so far as the competitive character of the firing goes, a disgrace both to the Government and to the staff.