AT SHORT RANGE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 10683, 1 February 1913, Page 6

AT SHORT RANGE.

4. NEWS FROM THE MOUNDS. (By APERTURE.) FIXTURES. February 22, .21 find 25 —South Island Championships (Canterbury District Rifle AtHRciation), Bcdcliffs.. February 24 and 25 "VVairarapa Rifle Association's Meeting, l-'apawai, Greytown, February 27 and following clays—Dominion Riflo Association'!) Championship Moating, Trentkam. The Christchurch Defence Rifle Clnb held its seventh competition, ten shots at SJOO yards and eleven shots at 1000 yards, last week. Considering the Uncertain strength of the wind, there was Some excellent shooting. Riflemen Sutherland and Ward, both handicap men, tied for first place with 92 each, but Sutherland won the trophy' by virtuo of his score at the longer range. Riflemen N. Wood 13 shooting in line form <it present. He has been third in the last two competitions, and his 90 on Saturday last was the best score off the rifle.

Preliminary arrangements are now in hand for the coming championship meeting of the Dominion Rifle Association, which opens at Trenthani on Thursday, February 27, and finishes in the following week, probably Friday, March 7, when 'the several championships will be determined. The rifle range is being put in order. New telephones aro to be installed, the grounds cleared of growth, and the firing mounds cleaned and made comfortable. Entries close on Thursday, February 13, alter which 10 per cont will be charged. This regulation will be enforced, -as it is important that squad lists should bo prepared and the order of firing fixed. The "first three days of the meeting will be devoted to service and teams matches, and the Belt series will follow as soon as the service matches arc disjjosed of. It is very necessary in the interests of the Association and rifle shooting generally that there should be a large entry for the service matches, 'as the defence authorities look to them for the military value of the meeting. Extra matches at the long ranges aro set down for Thursday, Friday and Saturday, so that competitors will have ample opportunities for practice. The 1 marking will be, as heretofore, carried out by the members of the New Zealand Permanent Force, and the catering will be in the hands of the Association. The usual concessions on steamer fares have been arranged for, and free railway passes to and from place of meeting will be granted to competitors. Entries for tho Canterbury Military District's (South Island Rifle Association) Championship Meeting, to be held at Reciclilfs 011 February 22, 24 and 25, will close this day fortnight, February 15, two clays after tho date of closiiig or Trentliam entries. 011 Saturday afternoon the Karon Club fired the third match of its second series competition for trophies donated by Messrs L. Blundell, Owen Daley, W.' J. Blundell, W. Judd and H. Colter. The match was fired over short -ranees—'ten shots at 300 and 500 yards. Rifleman F. "W. Ching again shot brilliantly, putting up the fine score of 94 out of the p-cyas&lo 100. ihe next highest score was a 92, registered by Rifleman J. C. Low, who finished strongly at the last range with a score 0 f 49—-one point short of the possible. Low's score gives him a. lead in the club's championship of two points from President Marshall. With only two more matches to be lired, the competition stands at a very interesting stage. The three leading scores are separated by a margin of only six points, and as the leading competitors are three of the most consistent shots of the club, the result is being watched with considerable interest. Leading scores in the club championshipJ. C. Low, 512; H. Marshall, 510; E. 0. Lower, 506; G. Tinney, 498; J. G. Fanlknor, 494; J. Burns, 484; H. V. Croxton, 4SI; It. Randell, 472; W. Chirnside, 471; D. Claridge, 461. ' The following are the individual scores of the Karori Olub No. 1 team, which won the championship shield at the Manawatu rifle meeting, held at Palmerston North on January 22. The shield —a very handsome one presented to the Association by Mr S. Greer, of Palmerston—has now been competed for on five occasions. In the first year of competition it was won by the Linton Rifle Club, which lost it in the fob lowing year to the redoubtable Opaki Club. 0 Dp till the recent meeting the latter club managed to defend its title successfully :■ — 300 500 600

Aggregates' . 217 232 220 - 669 Opaki were runners-up three points away. To those wjio have closely followed the developments that have taken place in the rifle-shooting world during tho last two or three years, the controversy that has been waged between the supporters of bull's-eye and. figure j targets is ancient history. Suffice it to say that as far as New Zealand is concerned a sort of compromise has been effected, the figure targets being used only at 300 and 500 yds. This is a more satisfactory arrangement than riflemen were' at one time led to expect, and nowadays, although the aversion to the coloured figure target refuses to be uprooted, tho change has become tolerated. ' But tho ban cast on the bull'seye by the authorities has evidently been met with much disfavour at Homo, and in consequence great interest was taken in the annual meeting of the North London Rifie Club on Wednesday, December 11, owing to the intimation that a proposal was to be made to shoot all competitions for the. coming year on tho " bull's-eye " • target. The North London Rifle Club is the most powerful organisation of Us kind in England, and its final decision, to revert to the bull's-eyes, will be of great interest to the shooting world. As was pointed out at the meeting, it is simply a private matter as regards the internal economy of'the club. The committee found that there was a grave fnlling-off of entries, mainly in the numbers of the third class, _ who compete for the spoon competitions. After ea reful consideration tho re-introduc-tion of the bull's-eye wa.s believed to be the best solution, as there is no question that the figure target is'more difficult to novices than to experienced men. 'Much interest will be taken in the experiment (says an English military journal), for we all regret the diminishing number of shooting men, and it has become a vital matter to discover any remedy for the decrease. The North London deserve the thanks of the .shooting world for their readiness iu altering their methods to seek success, il ha.plv they may find it. If it is not a, success the elub A .ln its present flourish-

ing condition, will not be too late to try again. Mr Maurice Blood, tho well-known English shot, has written for the " Stock Exchange Christmas Annual an article in which he discusses the working of the human vision in i elation to rifle shooting. Ihe uninstructed general public may believe that intenso and penetrating power of eyesight' is a prime qualification lor attaining a high position in riflo shooting. It may ho useful, but tho fadt that it is not essential is boldly stated in the following interesting and typical paragraph of a noteworthy article-Most people would be surprised if.they took a census of tho most prominent shots at a Bisloy meeting to find what a considerable proportion have poor or moderate sight, as commonly understood. A particularly striking example of this is Major Rankcji, probably tho finest nil-round shot in tho kingdom, as he is absolutely at the top of the tree in sporting rifle competitions, and in tho very first flight with both service and match riflo, while lie was formerly prominent with tho revolver. Even with tho help of spectacles Major Ranken's sight can only be called moderately good when tried by any ordinary test. This naturally suggests the question, " What miracles might he not perform if he were gifted with sight like that of, say, Sergeant Ommundsen." The writer then goes on to point out that it. would not benefit him much, since the room for improvement is naturally limited in 'the caso of tho best all-round shot in the country. Game shooting qualifications are not expressible by the aid of standard tests such as target shooting almost exclufiively consists of, but it has for years been said amongst Major Ranken's game shooting friends that his prowess with tho gun is of the highest order. The Sydney "Sun" waxes wroth:— "Riflemen had a particularly trying time of it at Randwick last Saturday week, as bullets were flying all over the i place. It is a pity that somo prominent officer of tho Defence Department was not present, as ho would have been able to see for himself the ridiculous farce enacted in compelling the. militia and compulsory trainees to go through the present musketry course. Fully nine-tenths of these men do not know how to handle a rifle—not because they won't learn, but because they have never had the chance—let alone a knowledge of how to hit the .target, and the result is that bullets are flying all over the mounds, and thousands' of rounds ammunition are wasted. Only a few months ago a marksman was ' down' on the 300 yards mound trying to find tho ' bull,' when a bullet actually struck tho barrel of his. rifle. Needless to say, he lost no time in getting out of the danger zone, and it was subsequently ascertained that the ' stray' came from a body of trainees going through their musketry course. "The Department does not appear to realise the fact that if a man is to become anything like a straight shot he should know how to handle his rifle. Riflo clubmen know it, and have volunteered to give the trainees the benefit of their knowledge under certain conditions, but up to the present tho Department has not availed itself of the offer. It is to be hoped that club members who had close shaves at Randwick yesterday week will acquaint their Associations with the fact, so that the particulars can be forwarded on to the Council of the Associations, which has the matter of making further representations to the Department in' hand. The argument used that clubmen 1 should keep away from the range when musketry is on does not lessen the danger, for those who are going through the course are also in danger of beinfe shot. Clubmen have pointed out over and over again that no person should be allowed on the range unless he knows how to handle a. rifle, and one of the strictest rules of the National Riflo Association of New South Wales is to the effect that no competitor shall be allowed to take part in the annual prize meeting unless he is efficient with the rifle—a precaution that is rendered absolutely necessary as has been shown by experience."

yds. vds. yds. Tl. J. C. Lot? • . 45 "46 44 — 135 J. Burns . . . 43 46 45 — 134 H. V. Croxton , . 44 43 13 — 134 J G. Ftuilknor . . 42 47 44 — 133 H. Marshall . . 43 4S 42 — 133