AS IN WAR.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 450, 8 March 1909, Page 6

AS IN WAR.

BULL'S-EYE SHOOTING: ITS LIMITATIONS. Regarded as ono of tho national sports, bull's-oyo shooting may bo considered to bo the be-all nnd end-all of the followers of the game. It is a splendid sport, enforcing upon its devotees a clean and healthy system of living, and oftering as a return an attractive pastime, a healthy body, steady nerves, and improved eyesight—there is positively no doubt that shooting is a splendid exercise for strengthening the vision. In bull's-eye shooting there is afforded an opportunity for acquiring a sound knowledge of tho rifle, of studying varied conditions of light and wind, .and of becoming versed 'in the principles which govern the adjustment of elevation and deflection. Bull'seye shooting, generally speaking, may be regarded as an essential part of the training of a marksman, wherein the raw recruit acquires confidence in himself and his rifle. This is the most that bull's-eye shooting can accomplish. What more, it will be asked, would one have? Nothing more from a sport. But rifles are manufactured for a sterner business;' they have a deadlier function—the annihilation of the enemy in war. To this aspect of tho art of musketry everyone who takes up a rifle should have regard. There is a vast difference between a dead shot in tho field of war and the dead shot on the mounds of the rifle range, if one considers the comparison as between tho man who can shoot straight, locate the position. and movements of the enemy -accurately, and judge unknown distances with effective certainty, and the man who can shoot straight at fixed targets.over known ranges. The rifleman who can bring down a stag is a better man than the one who can fire ten shots into the bull's-eye at 1000 yards.

All this has a bearing on what took place at Trentham on Saturday. For that day bull'seyo shooting gave place to what wero described on the programme of events for the New Zealand' Rifle Championship Meeting at "service matches.". Of these there were four—"Snapshooting," at 200 yards; "Rapid-firing," at 500 yards; "Attack" Match. (attack and observation. of fire), at 200, 300, and 400; yards; and "Cover" Match, at 200 yards—all at- knownranges. In the first, service conditions were complied with in two respects, viz., the targets: were of the "head-and-shoulders" type, and they wero exposed, at irregular intervals, for a space of three seconds. In the second, the targets, "head and shoulders," painted khaki on a parti-coloured brown and green ground, wero exposed for 45 seconds, in which space of time competitors were allowed up to ten shots, rapid In the"Attack" Match competitors wore required to run from 500 yards distance to 400 yards, and fire three rounds, all in the space of 45 seconds; then, 15 seconds later, run ,tj the 300 yards range and firo three more' rounds, repeating a similar manoeuvre at tho 200 yards ■ distance the operation of running from one range to the next and firing threo rounds was to be carried ou in 45 seconds. In the ''Cover" Match the competitors were required to emerge from cover, firo, and retire behind cover within the space of fonr seconds. THE "RUNNING MAN." A DIFFICULT SORT OF FUGITIVE. The "running man"—the khaki-coloured fugitive, who flits from cover to cover, fitted with an invisible bull's-eye—seems to gain in favour amongst riflemen and volunteers. In previous years it has been noticed that marksmen were not keen on shooting at him, possibly because they were afraiu of failure. It has been found, however, that the fugitive is not by any means invulnerable, and that he can be hit easily, although his bull's-eye is not to easily attainable. At the present meeting, this running individual has developed mechanical vagaries which are a further test of the skill of those who are trying to slay him, For instance, he will first leave cover at a fast sprint, then he will suddenly halt and .stagger as if he wero hit, and then, hastily, he wiil fly for cover faster than ever. His best speed, hoivover, is developed on the return journey, principally because he is going down hill. All this time the marksman will bo steadily potting, changing his windage from two to five d»grees, according to the rate of speed. The shootists on Saturday were very successful in riddling this Will-o'-the-wisp, notwithstanding his evasiveness, and his further exploitation was regarded with extreme favour. The only persons who were not altogether pleased were the two individuals who worked the running mans mechanism. They found the labour extremely ardous, and, at six o'clock on Saturday evening, signalled desperately for a rest. It is very likely that had there been no protest, marksmen would have continued to pump lead into the flitting streak of dun-coloured material till dusk had fallen, but a halt was j 8 . 1 ? promising ther victim a very liot time this week. The most successful shots on Saturday were Sergt. Yeo, Auckland, I te. Turner, ellington, and Rifleman Rabe, ICarori, each of whom recorded seven hits, including one bull's-eye.

THE GALLOPING NINE HUNDRED. A PHYSICAL TRIAL. I'' l ™ l a physical point of view, the "Attack" Match, which was fired on Saturday, was tliG most arduous one of the meeting. The conditions aro as if the target figure were an imapnary enemy, and the competitors advance at lum at a run at the three distances of 100, 300, aud 200 yards. . Some of tho marksmen have nicknamed tho match "The Galloping Nino Hundred," and in the almost tropical heat which prevailed on Saturday, it is not surprising that they arrived over very rough ground at their destination—tho 200 yds. range, in a more or less distressed condition—the greatest shock in the circumstances was possibly experienced by numbers of crack shots, riflemen, who aro used to shoot in a sort of tho luxurious caso which allows, a rug to lio upon, and orthoptics and other extraordinary, lint mora or less useful paraphernalia. Thero were some riflemen, and volunteers also, who stated that they woro unable to fulfil the conditions of the shooting in any satisfactory way, but the reputation of tho riflemen was worthily uphold by \V. J. lleury (eight hits) and A. J. Cameron, of the Opaki Rillo Club (seven hits),out of an allowance of nine shots. In tho volunteer section, l'to. Peak, of tho Waikalo Mounted Rifles, and Corp. Eden, of the Waimea Rifles, each notched the possible nino hits, while Capt. Pnnkhnrst, of Colao Bay, was snocuessftil wilh seven hits. Perhaps tho finest physical feat of Iho match by tho competitors was that of Corp. Annitnge, of tho Taranaki Rilles, a sixty-year-old veteran, who ran and fired during tho whole nine hundred yards in a manner which makes some of the younger men think n bit. The range officers, however, had even a moro arduous struggle than tho competitors. as they had to sprint, hard and often, all tho aflernoon. To some, who wero used to an athletic and an open-door life, and who had moreover gone through active war service and Easter encampments, this was merely an exorcise, but to others, whoso seden-

lory fto'bits of lifo had led to falling nf tho chest with increased girth measurement, ilia trial Was one of vicarious endurance. Tho distances covered by these officers during tho day was about 9000 yards, and all announced themselves as satisfied when "Tho Galloping Nino Hundred" was finished. THE FATHER OF THE MEETING. WILL VISIT TRENTHAM . In tho recollections of the veterans, and indeed among tho younger shots, ono hears frequont mention mado of Colonel Sommerville's name, and just as frequently one hears the recurrent expression of a wish that tho colonel should pay a visit to tho range this year. This visit will probably tako place. The colonel's son, Captain Charles L. Sommerville, responding to the wish of many friends, telegraphed his father on the subject, and has received the following reply:— Please thank ;all my old friends for kind inquiries, especially thanking Colonel Collins for kind remembrances, and inform him that'l hopo to get down to seo tho championship fired. If, when the colonel does come down, he could be prevailed upon to give a few reminiscences at some camp function it would indeed bo an interesting story. Tho range of to-day is a very different thing from the wild expanse of scrub and swamp that Colonel and Captain Sommerville saw when they visited it for the first time just after the Napier meeting of 1891.