LECTURE ON RIFLE-SHOOTING

Motueka Star, Volume III, Issue 123, 17 October 1902, Page 4

LECTURE ON RIFLE-SHOOTING

N.Z. Times. Lieutenant-Colonel Collins, V.D., of the Wellington Rifle Battalion, delivered a lecture on “Rifle Shooting” at the Non-commissioned Officers’ Club last week, There was a very large attendance of non-commissioned officers Sergeant-Major Oolclough presiding. Colonel Collins said that the importance of good rifle-shooting had been brought out more than ever by the recent Boer war, and it had been proved that the army of the future .which could shoot better than its opponents must obtain a decided advantage. Musketry was now the leading . feature of all military training. Our vbhinteers might be able to handle their rifles with considerable precision and exactitude, but very few knew of the true use of the'rifle as a shooting weapon. We could not shut our eyes to the fact that the average shootin°ability of our Volunteer force as a whole was very poor ; in fact, where our men ought to be the strongest, they are unquestionably the reverse. But it was not possible for any man to learn real proficiency with the rifle (or even to fully understand. what it meant) unless he had more practice. The authorities must recognise this,-and if thev wanted the shooting standard of our Volunteers to improve, they must make a larger grant of ammunition, give more facilities for practice, and make it easier for men to travel to and from the range before a propel standard of rifle skill could be attained. TLie lecturer went on to deal with what may be called J,hq . art of rifle-shooting,” giving his advice as to the correct position, how to aim, the use and reason of the sights, the effect of the wind and light on firing, how to treat a rifle mid the effect of the heat and cold on ammunition. He referred to the use of verniers and wind-gauges, but preferred as a principle that Volunteers should depend on. their own trained skill of hand and eye rather than on external appliances. Colonel Collins then spoke of the impor tance of rifleshooting from a national point of view, and quoted Lord Rober ts as his authority for saying “that men will be valueless as soldiers if they are not experts in the use of the rifle” ; and, again, “it is on skilful rifle-shooting that the. efficiency of our army absolutely depends.” He pointed out that one of the extraordinary features of the recent war was that so small an effect appears to have been produced in killed and wounded by the heavy guns—they did great service in defending the towns from capture, but rifle fire always appeared (in assault as in defence, and in the tale of killed and wounded) as the most effective destructor on both sides'.

Colonel Collins ridiculed the idea of making fighting men without training. Di ill and discipline must enter largely into the development of the intelligence of men, and the powers of their weapons. The vast improvement of the modern rifle as a shooting weapon has correspondingly enlarged the importance of skill in its use. What is desired is that rifle-shooting should become more a pastime or sport. To that end it should be made popular by official encouragement; and when all the youth of the nation could use the rifle, the strength and power of the British Empire would be invincible.