RIFLE AND RANGE

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16985, 8 March 1923, Page 2

RIFLE AND RANGE

With the '303 —By “ Trigger ”

NEW ZEALAND’S BISLEY. On Thursday last the first annual championship meeting of the National Rifle Association was opened ax Tr«ratluim in fine, weather. This championship gathering, with only eight exceptions. four of these during the war period, has been an outstanding annual event to all shooting men since 1361 a record which has been excelled in very few- forms of sport in the Dominion’s history. Now that the National Rifle Association is a body of rifle enthusiasts, and is on its way to become the parent body of rifle shooting. it is hoped that all riflemen will do their best to encourage young men to Join the sport and thereby help those who are endeavouring to put it on a strong basis. - The entry for the meeting was approximately 300. and owing to the programme being based on 400 entries the executive was forced to cut down the prize list, the King’s Prize being made £3O instead of £SO and others reduced proportionately, but the relative chances of the competitors remained about the same. The entries showed n, considerable decline in comparison with the la-st meeting, when the total was 419. The billeting and rationing arrangements were specially good. The men lived in the huts, and the eaterring left nothing to be desired, and praise is due to those responsible, for attending to this important matter. The meeting was carried out in a very efficient manner, and the arrafigements were in the hands of very capable officers. Colonel R. Hughes, of Wanganui, was the chief executive officer, and was assisted by Lieut.Colonel Oresswell, Alajor Ai’Naught, Afajoc Barltrop. Alajor Cade. Alajor V. Dunne. Captain R- Rankin, Lieut. Barcham and Lieutenant Davis. The statistical staff was under Captain G. Felton, and the entertainment of the men was catered for by Alajor Alabin. Every assistance was lent by the camp staff.

The Y.M.C.A. were very generous in allowing the riflemen the use of their rooms for billiards, games and letter-writing; all this was much appreciated by the visitors. The programme of the meeting was opened at 8.30 a.m.. .when the president of the association, Colonel R. J. Collins, addressed the riflemen at their squadding posts, and welcomed them to their “ native heath ” before they marched off to the mounds. In his remarks he commented upon the noticeable absence of young men, and expressed the hope that they would come forward in larger numbers to compete at future meetings. Members, lie said, should encourage more young men to join the association, for they wanted young blood, and the greater the membership the smaller would the expenses of the meetings he. The sport was worth while, for it was clean, apart from its value from the defence point of view. He hoped they would spread the gospel of rifle-shoot-ing. Referring to the past history of the sport. Colonel Collins said' it would have been a great disaster if the annual championships had been allowed to lapse. The association was nowstarting on new lines, similar to those under which the meetings in Great Britain. Canada and Australia were conducted, but those who wished to indulge in the sport were obliged, for the present at all events—to put their hands deeper into their pockets. He hoped the time would soon come when fhe association would he able to assist competitors to a much gerater extent than at present. The Government' had approved ’of the formation ol the association, and was rendering assistance in many ways. He assured

them the association was working most harmoniously with the Defence Department. The Government had been unable to give a monetary grant towards the expenses of the meeting, but had given ammunition and certain railvay concessions. and had placed at the association’s disposal the rifle range t lat had been used for years past. He spoke also of the assistance that was being rendered by the camp staff. liT conclusion, the president introduced Air R. Coomhes. of the Sydney Fiflo Club, “one of the keenest rifl* shots and one of the greatest sportsmen ” who had come across from Australia to compete against them. Mr Coombee expressed th~ appreciation of the New South Wales Association at being invited to be represented s.t the meeting. They felt great real et that they could not send over a team. Unfortunately the date of the. tournament clashed with that of tlio Victorian Association at AV illiamstow-n. Thcv wished the N B A. success at its initial meeting. He did his host to bring a team with him, but fortune was against him. He closed with a refer enee to the meeting of the National Rifle Association of New South M ales in October next. The prize money

would amount to £6-500. and he trusted to see New Zealand represented. After Colonel Hughes had addressed the competitors upon the rules of the camp and other routine matters, the order was given for teams to march or. to the range, and shooting commenced immediately. ‘Weather conditions were good when the first match began, the sun shining brightly, and a light south-easterly wind blowng up. Rain fell lightly about an hour later, but not sufficient- to effect shooting to any great extent. As detailed accounts of placing have already appeared in the “ T/vtteltou T’hues ” and Star.’* T null confine my notes principally to the doings of Canterbury men. FIRST DAY. THURSDAY. Shooting commenced at the Collins Range with the Anzac No. 1 Match, ten shots at 300 yards, open onlv to those who have never won a prize of more than IT at a rifle meeting. The match at 300 yards was won by D. E. Wilton (47), of Mauriceville, L. Webber (43) of Canterbury and P. S. Robertson (42) of Christchurch fini-hed fifth and tenth respectively. These were the only South Island men to get into the money with the exception of W F.. Jones (42) of Timam. who finished twelfth. Classification Practice Match No. 1, five shots prone, five shots kneeling (each 20sec) and ten shots rapid (in oOsec). all at- 200 yards, was won bv A. C. Crossan, of Liliton. with 03 out c*f a possible of 100. J. AT. Biyden, of Kaiapoi, was fourth with 91, Peter Jack being the only Christchurch man to get into the money with 84. W. E. Jones, of Timaru, was also in with 83. Classification Practice Match No. 2, five rounds snapshooting at figure target. prone at 200 yards, ssec per shot, end five rounds application at 300 yajrds,. possible 40. was won by R. Caughlev (Karori). who *put on 38. Nothing less than 34 was in the money, and no Canterbury men were in the prize list. EXTRA MATCHES A series of practice matches was held foi the benefit of those not engaged if- other matches. The 600 vards mate], resulted in a win for H. Remolds (Christchurch Rifle Club), with a score of 23 out of a possible 25. J. Feast, (Gieytown) and A. IT. Guy (Kaponiia) registered 23 also, but lofrt on the count back, their second last shots being inners. There were six prizes of £1 each, the winners being:— First Match—6oo vards. H. Reynolds (Christchurch) . . 2; J- Feast (Greytown) . * .>» A. If. Gay (Kapong-a) . .i, H. H. Mawley (Opaki) .... y> G. H. Taylor (New Plymouth) . 20 F. Needham (Linton) . . .22

Second Match —Boo yards H. Dockery (Christchurch W.M C ) •->» W. K. Williams (Ohura) . . ‘ 04 E. Caughlev (Karori) . . * 01 T. Orr (Greytown) ... 03 A. C. Crossan (Linton) .... "3 3. Mayhew (Linton) . . . 03 Counted out—G. St-axk (Kaiapoi) . 23 SECOND DAY FRIDAY. The meeting was continued in ideal weather. At the commencement the wind was to the left of the targets, but just befove lunch it changed to a rear fishtail with a great deal of mirage. The balance of the Service matches were concluded. The snapshooting, 300 yards, five rounds, twenty seconds’ exposure, was won by F. Tl. James,- of Napier, with 24. JO. Crrrmie (Ashburton) wa-s the only Canterbury man to finish in the money, and he was in twelfth place with 21. Nineteen was counted out. Rapid shooting of -500 yards, seven rounds, forty-five seconds, was next. T. W. Warburton (Petone) winning wilit 32, C. M. Moss (Dunedin) 31, being in second place, and W. Honey, of Kaiapoi, 31, in third place. The rest of the scores were poor. 2-3 getting into the prize money. SERVICE CHAMPIONSHIP. The urines of the leading men f**r the aggregate did not cause much surprise. for they were old hands, and consistent shots. There were only ten points between the highest scor.* (167) and the tenth highest. r. n is well-known shot, haiing won tilt- championship in 1313. and the Kings Prize at Risley ml- - leutenant Mnnro is another old hot who usually scores consistently. H T Boon "i”' th« crack shots of the Suburbs ('tub. Mho has recently jorne.} up with the Karon flub, lias «*»>- been well up in the aggregate. i - M Aloss i- another well-known shot. H V Croxton (Karori* won the chainpionship in laaQ-. apd has, been u consev«ral"years' r R. Caujthley (a brother of the Director of Education) is a m-v shot. Bolton has been "eh in rtfpicture for years. I .loiiTon.i Duncan (Westport) was champion ... 1909. but his shooting has tallen od

lately. J. Batham is a new man. mid i {. K. Hester is a- coming shot, "h<> has done well at recent meetings. .Included in the above were J. Bryden lo.'ii and tV. Hency (154), of the KniaP ni Club, these being the only Canterbury men to qualify in the fifty higiiest aggregates who fired off for the Service championship (five shots, •snap-shooting in attack at 200 yards j figure targets exposed four seconds) shots rapid at 500 yards in fifty rounds : five shots slow at 000 yards'; possible score, 05), on the third day. OPENING MATCH. 800yds. 500yds, 600yds. seven shots at each distance, not counting for Belt. In this match the winner, .T. C. < 'al ter (Petone) shot consistently—32, 34. 31. (i. S. Campbell improved at each stage (31. 32. 33), defeating D Boots for the tie in the counting back, and T. H. James meeting the same in to (35, 32, 29). At the last stage (OtlOyds), it looked like a pound to a go.»«c berry in favour of R. J. King, v. ho came down with 68 to his credit. He needed 30 out of a possible 35 to win, but failed. His sighter was a centre, which he discarded, and then lie repeated, following with 3,4, 3; then he got the bull, but a magpie spoilt his chance, although he conc bided with a bull—9s. J. C. Carter's aggregate of 97 was not equalled, F. 1 * James and CL 8. Campbell following with 96. F. J. Thompson, a tyro, put up the good score of 95, in which he was equalled by H. H. Mawley. Then came Leslie Loveday, H. V. Croxton, and H. Koppert (Oaruaru), with 94. Ha-rrv Harris, of the Christchurch Club, finished eighteenth with 93, 92 being counted out. G. W. Logau, of the same club, was in the tyro prizes with 87. as also Peter Robinson. of the. Christchurch Working Men’s Club. The scores of the Canterbury men were as follows:—H. Harris 93, .T. Bryden 92, Pimm 91, Nelson 91, Halinshaw 89. Ball 88, Logan 87. Jack 87. Keir 87. Dockery 86, Clark 86. Evans 86. Reynolds 85. G. Croniie 85, Piper 84. Heney 83, Ward 82, H. Cromie 79, Robertson 77, Timbrell 72. Stark 68. The Canterbury Match, the first match counting for the Bell, was fired over 600 yards,- with ten shots, and was won bv G. A. Gyles, of Napier, with 48, M. O’Connor (Okawa) also with 48, being second. P. Jack (Christchurch Working Men’s Club) 44. was the only local man to get into the prize list, 43 being counted out. lull v were: Bryden 43. Reynolds 43. Halinshaw 42. Pimm 42. Logan 42, Robertson 42, Clark 42. Piper 41. Ward _ll . H . Cromie 41. U. Cromie 41. Harris 4U. Stark 39. Dockery 38. Evans 38. v e i son 37, Keir 37, Ball 37, Timbrell 35, Heney 32t THIRD DAY, SATURDAY. The meeting was continued in mixed shooting weather. —almost perfect in the morning and variable in the afternoon. The meeting, so far, had been notable for the success of young shots. The winner of the Marlborough Match, counting for the Treuthnm Aggregate and the champion belt, is under 20 years of age. and has only shot at Trenthnin once before. The two runners up wore also tyros, the conditions on their range 'the Collins) seeming to ■puzzle the old hands. A capital performance was put up at 800 yards, an putting ori the possible. and the other five, only one less each. One of the former was amongst the leading men for the Trentham Aggregate. During the morning there was a slight mirage rising from the left, wild in the afxernoon the sky was overcast with a fairly strong breeze from lit© right, but puffy, and likely to give windage shots, but.the light was good for shooting. SERVICE CHAMPIONSHIP. The conditions for ■‘.lie Service Championship. which carries with it the Kynocli Cup. prescribed that the 30 » ligibles should tire three stages, viz: 200 yards., snap-shooting in attack. 560 yards rapid, and 600 yards slow. Moss (Dunedin) the winner, who went down fifth, with an aggregate of 161 (<i fewer than Boon, Karori), made the possible at- the first stage, and Boon, witli 165 in reserve, followed liis example, Hester (Huburbs), with 157, recording a ..miss. At the second stage Moss made 43, Boon 39. and Hester 45. In the last stage Hester scored 21. Moss ; 17. Boon 3.7, the 6 gained over Boon giving him the Service Championship, with 2 points over. Moss won the Service Championship in 2920. and is a consistent shot. James, who led by 2 in the aggregates i.nd scored well up to the final, went all to pieces, but had hard luck. His gun unaccountably altered tor the windage from right to left, when the wind was blowing from the light, and he seemed to do no good with it after the rapid stage. J. Bryden of Kaiapoi finished eighth. The Marlborough Match of 300 ami 509 yards with ten shots at each distance to count for the Beat was next. It is not often that the six leading competitors in a two-range match with a possible total of 160, score a. similar number o! points, but this was .he case ut this match on Saturday, won by I G. Ritchie (Ha were), each one having to be counted out for places. while Hood (Otaki>, Mawley tOtakij. and Yrale (Akarana), each scored 18 at one target and 47 at the other. There v. ns only one possible in the mulch (W. 11. Thomas, oft Linton, and one of the oldest veterans), who UteUt down to the 500 yards’ range with only 43, and then put on 50, alter getting an inner with his sighter shot. ( add Booker put up a good p.-rfornmiH •• \s it ii 49 ;.t ihc 509 vanls. will, a tin hat” ami

ending with an inner. Unfortunately lie only put on 31 in the short stage. Two very old campaigners in \Y Handel! and J. Kyle (Hinton), put on a respectable score without getting in the money, namely 45, 45, and 45, 40 respectively. Haldane, i:he young Hawke’s Boy shot, at the 500 yards stage had hard luck. He. rang on ‘‘ hulls ” for nine shots, and then descended to a magpie, while Ritchie made exactly the same score, but wisely placed bis magpie in the centre, thus counting his tie out. Haldane has only fired previously in cadet niaiohes. Be,be Loveday only put up h/. and has not struck form yet. The winner put on a total of 95. there being no less than six with this score, nothing under 92 getting into the money. There were- four Canterbury men in the priv.o list. R. Piper (Christchurch) (94), ninth; D. F. Keir. Ashburton (.93); A. Halmshaw. Christchurch (93) ; 3. Bryden, Kaiapoi (92) ; In the tyros prize list: J. Blackwood, Tlrna.ru (88): F. Evans, Christchlrcll R.M.O. (88); and H. Robinson, Christchurch W.M.O. (85). also were included. The scores of the other Canterbury men were: Pimm 91; Ball 90: Reynolds 89; .lack 89; Clark 89: S?“ S ; Harris 86Dookerv 85; Ward 8o; C 4. Cromie SB; H. Cromie Tiibreli rk ß0 82: * ebm 82: 81 :

EXTRA MATCHES. 800 yards, five shots. Breen (Otova) . . y, 8. If Kay (Opaki) . J, P- Harris (Christohnrob) ! ’ J; W. H. West IBleuheim) ' <S- W, Logan (ChrtaXureJ,) ' % P. OUrte“S“bi^, ,OWM) : fs r fl n - T j (Karori) ! £ •N H. Heighway (Okawa) . o 4 was’’made T'’ “ remarkable record of h n eight competitors out five onhft , SCOre,! possib,es - the other ppfnrxz'ismSSSS Ma , ch?n‘e7„ d “p fourth in the Machine-gun Rescue.^* 0

FOURTH DAY, MONDAY, weather ° with ‘ft™™ Ind 'bL tTOm - O ' ol ,° ck tu 12 o-C lection fteiXtlv plvidT' 1 , 0 its diwaVfMH 5 ln tbe Auckland mart yards ft (Suburl •t'° 0d- Th , e winner 3. Smart otnor inner, and making no mistm-,, null the next nine. He finished with ■in lifinegnts of ,; a ollt of IV* <»}> .o' wto 'ibich read 0454516 P 3454. M ' l, Bry“e^ > inaclc a great show in the early sta.re o, the 000 .var.ds putting W E Bovs 8 I ¥ n , r f ""V ,, " K " ,th 43. B VS % of Temuka finished in eleven h re th' K L J ' a, ' !, ’" r " (Timaru) in eleventh, these being the only Canterbury men to finish in the monev. H t-.rsmio (Ashburton) 84 ami p (Chr,st ( .hurch W.il C.) S2. l,i weVe m the Tyro Prize list. Th e remaining scores of the* local men were. Pinor So. .Tac-lt 85, Henery 89. Stark «0 Harris ,9, Clark 79, Dockery 78. Nef. Sr' 8 u K "s ' B .' Pimiu 77 ■ Timbrell 77, Reynolds ,6, Ball 76, Halmshaw 74 Uard ,4. Logan 71, Robertson 70. In the above match at 600 yards “ Carunder the tricky crmdiVfp^s U-eir i ,rm *. °* , hoth «•»»*«“> of the. I\ eJIm K t<m Match was very much alike, although the competitors varied at the ranges. Of the 35 leading prizewioners not one. except T.eutfer (who bad put. on the possible at the first stage) laded to score 40 or over at bnn ranges. Ihe score of the winner H. ( Junes (Okawa) roar! 5355554555 a»:-d .055555543; the second Trotnmn (Greytown) 4555454000 and 4343545555 Hie two leading men and Feast (Grey town) put up the highest score (47) at the 500 yards range-, and Jones an i Swanson (Karori) topped the list m the 600 yards range with 46. Win's there were no abnormally high scores, the average wa s verv creditable under the conditions prevailing. Canterbury's competitors were in the money to the number of four, these heiugf ( Bla.kworl (Timaru) sth with 89. F. Clark (Ashburton) 7th RH. It. Piper (Chriitchurch D C'.) 26th score 86. S. F. Neb son (Christchurch D C.) was the lastman of the 35 to got. in. his score b®imr 84 L. Pimm was counted out. with 84. J Bryden (Kaiapoi) 83, O. Cromie (Ashburton) 82 were the next best. The Dominion Match was concluded the 600 yards having been fired on the third day when ‘ Frank ’ Ching the ex-champion put on 72 out of a possible 75. hut on firm<y at 900 va.rds lie orilv put on 29 for his 15 shots which put him from Icadine place to right out of the prize list. \V. K. Williams (Ohurn) had a similar experience, scoring 69 at 600 yards and only 9 at the long range. Tlii« izocs to show ho tithe leaders can easily lose their nlare on the long ranges. The winner H. T. Boon (Karori) deserved the match for from fiftieth position at the first stage he jumped to first in the total with a fine score of 71 out of 75 at 900 vnrd« His total being 133. S. F Nelson 124 A. Halmshaw 123. R Piper oil of tlia ClirlstchiTTch Defence Club to. ee-tlic" with J Brydeti (K.ai/moi> 326 were in The monev. The Dorrafi-km yr. 1 onening match did not count for th>3 Belt. TTc- Trentham f or th- lu-t M-r.ros it 300. 500 and 600 v-ird- was.

won by F. H. Jones of Napier, with 409. J. Bryden fJCampoi) finished, fourth with 401. Brydeii who dietfairly w-g.il rlghr thTon.gb the meeting, and F. Clarke (AM? bur ton) were the onlv ( anyevlmrv men to goc into the Kim-'- lift' . R. Pipor firii-hcil uimsV*'.!Uli..wj.vh .3.9'.) ill llie Tn-litliam Ac-

gregate ; he and Bryden being the only loc-M men to get. into the money. These rnurss will b«? contiptied. ne.x,t Thufsday evening, when tile cone In ding cu\~r= .shooting incLuding the King’s Prize ’’ sheet will he given, together with jottings of tlu week at Trout ham.