RIFLE SHOOTING.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 364, 4 March 1932, Page 10

RIFLE SHOOTING.

Championship Matches Begin at Trentham. ASHBURTON SUCCESSES. Per Press Association. TRENTHAM, March 3. Service matches were fired to-day by the marksmen competing at the annual meeting of the National Rifle Association at Trentham. These matches are compulsory and competitors with the forty highest aggregate scores are eligible to participate in the final match for the service championship to be fired on Saturday. J. E. Farley (Wanganui) is at the top of the service forty and his two club mates, N. F. Luxford and F. J. Soler, are In second and fourth positions respectively. Third place is filled by H. AV. Feast (Greytown). The civilian marksmen show little enthusiasm for service shooting and firing against the clock at disappearing targets does not appeal to them. There were several competitions of this charjacter, all of them designed to reproduce

conditions likely to be met with on active service. The riflemen prefer the more tractable type of target and shooting under conditions that permit of the use of slings, aperture sights and other aids.

The No. 1 Service Match, consisting of seven rounds of application, ten rounds rapid and ten rounds snapshooting, all at 300 yards, was won by Farley, who made 123 out of a possible 135. Second prize money was collected by R. F. AVakefleld (North Auckland) with 108. W. N. Masefield (Blenheim) was third with 106. The No. 2 Service Match, comprising a tile competition and a moving target competition of eleven rounds at 200 yards, was won by T. Orr (Greytown), with 41 out of a possible 55. Close at his heels was F. J. Soler (Wanganui) with 40.

Concurrently with the service shooting the Champion Service Teams match, open to teams of four, was decided. This event was won by Wanganui by a comfortable margin.

A start, with the series of matches that count for the Championship Rifle Belt was made in the afternoon and the first of these, the Canterbury Match, was disposed of. This match called for ten rounds at 300 and 600 yards. First and second places in the A grade prizelist, were filled by two Ashburton marksmen. C. Glassey and H. Crommle, with scores of 97 and 96 respectively. P. B. Goldfinch (Karori) was third with 96. R. H. Nicholl (Petone) also finished with 96, but on the count back Goldfinch took precedence. The winner in the B grade of the Canterbury Match was G. R. Smith (Kaponga) with 94; and in the tyro grade first place was filled by N. Kummer (Opaki) with 88. Daylight saving time was used to advantage and shooting was continued until a late hour. Though fine in the accepted sense, conditions for shooting were not altogether good; and this was reflected in the scores, which were lower than those registered over the same ranges In the B series of matches on Wednesday. A right fish-tail wind swung in and out down the range and practically every shot necessitated a change in elevation.

Green Wizardry. Lindrum, the Australian billiards marvel, has been at it again (writes the “Star’s” London correspondent). I am disposed less to wonder at his skill in compiling a 4000 break, however, than to puzzle why he ever stops scoring at all. Yesterday, I saw Lindrum, who is a most engaging and modest fellow with a real Anzac sense of fun, give a display after lunch at the London Press Club. On a table that is none too perfect, he did som« beautiful juggling with the balls, making them appear to be glued together, against a very hot amateur who is a Fleet Street journalist. After this little game, however, Lindrym showed us a few trick shots. Only John Roberts at his best ever had such a wizard’s command over the balls. Lindrum made a masse shot in which his ball travelled right round tha snooker pool wooden triangle to make a cannon. He also only just failed by a postage stamp to make a marvellous nine-cushion cannon all round the table. And finally he put the red ball on the floor, and cannoned from the white, placed properly on the table, right on to it.