RIFLE AND RANGE

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18045, 4 January 1927, Page 12

RIFLE AND RANGE

WITH THE .303: BY

“TRIGGER.”

Canterbury Rifle Championship. The Canterbury Rifle Association was fortunate with the weather conditions, which were ideal, tor the fifth annual meeting. The competitors v\ere troubled with the erratic behaviour at times of the new mark VII. ammunition. and this, coupled with a very tricky wind, had most of the visitors thinking hard. The meeting was one of the most successful yet held, and as regards entries, was a big improvement on the past two years. With the South Island championship to be decided in Christchurch next year, riflemen can look forward to an interesting season in 1927. Visiting Riflemen. There was an absence of some of the old shots, but numerous newcomers were there making their debut at a rifle meeting. This was noticeable with respect to the Gebbies Valley dub. which had several very young members under 20 years of age, who proved that at times they could hold their own with the best, and the experience gained will make their journey worth while. There were several competitors from the Dunedin clubs, and Ashburton was strongly represented. Though North Canterbury was represented by the Rangiora and Kaiapoi Clubs, the representation was not as strong as at previous meetings. THE RANGE OFFICERS. A deal of the success of the meeting was due to the untiring efforts of the officers in charge of the mounds. Lieu-tenant-Colonel F. B. Creswcll, who is a well-known figure at Dominion rifle meetings, was chief range officer, and he was ablv assisted by Captain M. A. Stedman, of the Southern Command staff. THE MEN* AT*TIIE BUTTS. As in previous meetings at Redcliffs, the butts were again under the charge of Sergeant-Major W Bates, of the permanent staff. The telephones were operated by Sergeant-Major Vincent, the local instructor in field telephones. The smooth working throughout the day was highly spoken of by visiting riflemen. THE* OFFICIALS. The arrangements of the executive, of whom Major J. I*. Oakes is president, reflects great credit on their part. The aggregates and results were quickly announced. this department being in the capable hands of Mr A. C, ITullett. The secretarial duties were carried out by Mr R. 11. Neill. THE CANTERBURY MATCH. The opening match was the Canterbury, fired over the 300 yards range. Three excellent scores of 48 were registered. the winner being W. Barrett, of the Sydenham Defence Club, who defeated V. Tims (Railway) and R. Piper (Christchurch) on the count back. The respective cards read as follow: Barrett —4,5,5,5,5,5.5,4,5,5. Total 48. Tim 5—5,5,5,5,4,5,5.4,5,5. Total 48. Piper—5,4,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,4. Total 48. Then followed nine of 47 each, which showed the excellence of the shooting in this match. THE SERVICE MATCH. This match, which is always interesting. was fired under snapshooting conditions at 200 vards. The result was a tie between H Judkins and P Robertson, both of the Christchurch Defence Club, with a possible of seven hits each, making a total of 21 each. The next best was six hits each by H. Cromie (Ashburton, a previous winner), i J. Bills (Christchurch Club) and D. L. j Meliitcns- (Rangiora). J

TIIE SOUTH CANTERBURY MATCH. The winner lurned up in the popular secretary of the Sydenham Club, J. Clark, who put on the best score of the day with 19. one off the possible. His card read 555554555 5. The winner was closely followed by S. O. Hay, of the same club, whose score was 554545555 5. Then came five of 47, the best being F. Clark, ol Ashburton, whose card read 4 4 5 5 5 4 5 5 5 5. THE NORTH CAXTERBU RY MATCH. This match is fired at the 600 yards distance and scores fell away very badly indeed, the winner, W. Wilson, of the Sydenham Club, only having to put on 46 to annex first place. The second and third men put on the only fortyfives of the match. The respective scores read as follow: W. Wilson, 5554455445 46 S. Clark. 5445455454 45 J. S. Cook, 5555544552 45 Cook, who is from Rangiora, had v-cry bad luck in finishing with an outer, as this cost him the match. THE PENINSULA MATCH. This was also fired at 600 yards, but with seven shots, only and with the usual optional sighter. J. Buschl, of the local Railway Club, was the winner with 33, dropping two points. F. B. Chittock, of Timaru, was second with 32 and E. Truman, of Ashburton, third with 31. Taking the scoring collectivelv it was verv poor, as low as 29 out of the possible of 35 getting into the main prize list, while a tyro with " on a 1 r :•* S WEE PST AK E M ATCH. An innovation was a special sweepstake match at 700 yards with seven shots and optional sighter. A .splendid entry was received, and the shooting was much better than in the previous matches, taking the majority of scores. The winner was G. Cromie of Ashburton. with a score of 33, and A. Graham, Dunedin, 31. and J. Rryden. Kaiapoi, 31, filler! second and third place rcspecCIIAM PI ON AGGR EG ATE. The championship resulted in a tie between two members of the Christ- i church Railway Club, J. Buschl and V. Tims. The money portions of the prizes were decided on the usual count back, but the honour of holding the championship belt and medal was decided by shooting off, Tims winning by two points, the scores being 54344, total 20, and 5 4 2 4 3, total 18, respectively. CHAMPION TEAMS MATCH. This was won by the Sydenham Defence Club by a big margin after being a few points behind at the opening range. It was a good effort on the winners' part, the scores being as follow: SYDENHAM I>.R. CLUB. :U>o 500 600 Mis. yds. yds. Total S. O. Hay 44 4 8 4 4 336 .[. Clark 4 7 40 40 336 W. Wilson 4 6 4 3 4 6 135 W) Barrett 4 3 4 3 4 0 3.31 L. C. Pimm 4 0 47 43 130 223 230 233 66S ASHBURTON 33. R. CLUB. 300 300 600 yds. yds. yds. Total <; Cromie ’. * 45 4 4 4 4 133 T»; F. Keir 4G 46 40 132 .1. yeandle 44 4 4 30 127 F. - lark 40 47 39 126 Also competed: Christchurch l*.n Cluh No. 1, 6.-.0; Christchurch l'.R. Club No. 2, 636; and Timaru D.R. Club, 595. FOX*’CUP. The Fox Cup Aggregate is one that always shows the ability of a rifleman as it includes the whole of the matches

on the programme. This vear it was won bv a vuuthfnl shot in H Judkins, ..f the' Christchurch Defence flub. bv one point, from 11 Crornie. of Ashburton. The first, five finished as follows ; 11. Judkins ISI 11. Cromie Iso I. Bills I‘' J). I-'. Keir R. Piper I‘l