PRIZE RIFLE SHOOTING.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume III, Issue 180, 24 June 1864, Page 3

PRIZE RIFLE SHOOTING.

Nelson. — Waimea South. —The shooting* by members of this Volunteer Company, the past which baa had to competepn this province for the prizes offered Jby the General Government, has proved remarkably good, the ;first twenty of the Company, inclusive of some who fired on a previous day, having averaged no loss .then* 27 k points each. It will somewhat surprise us if Mr. Tunnicliffe fails to take the first prize,;, and we certainly hope the Champion’s star will be awarded to him, as it will make the tliird consecutive time that Nelson has held the championship, and the second that it has been won by a member of the Wiymea-South Company. The score was as follows:—J. Tunnicliffe, 39 ; A. Baigent, 33 ; J. Rickets, 29 ; S. Hoult, 28; W. Lyne, 28; E. M’Gowan, 28; J. M’Go wan, 27 ; J. Price, 26 ; T. Price, 26; J. Baigent, 26 ; J. Price, 24 ; W. Norris, 24; G-. Coleman, 23 ; J. Gibbs, 22 ; T. Tunnicliffe, 21; S. Baigent, 19; H. Tunnicliffe,.l9; J. Bird, IS; J. Tunnicliffe, 17 ; B. Lines, [l7 ; G. Ratt, 11.— Examiner, Juno 9. WaJcapnaJca. —The Wakapuaka portion of No. 1 Company fired on Friday last, when the following were the scores obtained:—W. Wastnoy, 35; J. M’Lachlan, 31; E. Gill, 30; Ensign Slater, 27 ; G«Elliot, 27 ; J. Bungate, 26 ; W. Northam, 23 ; G. Blanchett. 19 ; D. Livingstone, 18 ; T. Hodson, 18 ; J, Wast-

ney, 1G ;W. Page, 12. On the follow ing day these scores wore added to the above, viz., Sharp 37 ; Connell, 20.— Colonist, June 7. Targets. —The following extract from the Globe will probably interest such of the members of the colonial forces as are competing for the Government prizes:—Two points were raised at the meeting of the Association on Saturday. One related to class-firing; the other to targets. Now, we strongly hold to the opinion that, while, in matters comparatively unessential, such as uniform and strict military order, some allowance may be made, because time is so valuable to the bulk of the, Volunteers, yet that class-firing should in essentials, be identically the same in every battalion or company. There can be no difficulty in making it the same. Every officer knows the rules. No officer should permit them to be infringed. For instance, no officer should allow disc-making. The process is so simple, the rule, is so clear, that we cannot imagine how any officer can find it difficult to obey the instructions. It may bo found necessary to frame a special code of rules, but if so we trust there will bo as little divergence from the army regulations as possible. With respect to targets it is to be hoped the Association will not be run away with by theories. We hold that General. Hay is perfectly right in the view he takes of targets presenting a series of cyncontric rings. Militaey targets twelve feet high are absurdities. Yet in order to get these perfect circles, this height is said to be required. The true principle which should govern the form of the target is the shape of a man or bodies of men and horses in the field. From this point of view we regard the Wimbledon targets as nearly perfect, because they are not too high, and because upon them the centre can be of a fixed height and an increasing or decreasing breadth. The test cf good shooting is elevation. The great difficulty is elevation. - We agree with General Hay that more shots go over the target than on this side or that, except at the short ranges. Military targets should approximate to the forms of objects in the field, and should therefore be oblongs, not circles. But the National Eifle Association, as the. patron of match-shooting, should very properly make experiments in these circular targets for the behoof of those gentlemen who carry on rille-shooting with something like fanaticism. The bulk of the targets, however, should bo military targets for military shooting, and that, keeping this steadily in view, the Associationjshould not allow even a suspicion that it was inclined to favor the fancy marksman at the expense of the soldier. There are no signs that it is so inclined stronger than this dallying with concentric rings founded on mathematical calculations.”