The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13. RIFLE SHOOTING.
'fiiie New Zealand Kille Champion- - 1 amp meeting held last week should v l.e a matter of thought to every c.ti-" zen. It is not at all clear whether t k me average per.-nn regards ehis yearly ,1 meeting as a conte-4 showing the skill . : of New Zealand rille-slmis as dufend- i ers. or as men who are out .simply to win cups ami pri/.e money. It is at least trim that the present champion has shot mostly at, a target, a ail Ihat the oilier champions lor many years have been target shots, anil have carricl on the game of rillc-shooting as an excellent aniusenieiil. It is not known whether these shots ever think of a rillc as be ng useful for any other purpose than to tlirow a billet at a target, and the fact that there are . lif.v men ill -New Zealand who have shot well enough to lire for the championship is no criterion of the shooting abilities of the average citizen or even the average volunteer. For one thing Jie crack'shot is quite at a loss under any other conditions than those of a proper rifle range, lie knows nil the distances, he has heaps of tools and i scientific instruments. He knows the target won't move. He knows by the lings which way the wind is. lie has heaps of time lo get his shots oil', he can assume the best positions, lie is , not being fed under service conditions, nor is he camping under severe restrictions or marching daily. The man 1 who can put on five consecutive bulls- ' eyes over a measured thousand yards, with the wind guaged, the sights b'.ack--1 ened and lined, is not as good a man ;is the other sort who discovers his target suddenly at a dUtance. lie has to judge and who hits that llarget. The sportng shot is the better man every time, and it is not at all usual for a range marksman fo be a sporting shot. Sporting is too difficult—too much fag. Uille-slmufing lags behind while artillery work in New Zealand goes ahead. ' The field, artillery now make splendid practice at hidden targets at ranges that have to be worked ~ out rapidly by the gun-team. lOverythiug is done for the pot-hunt-ing rifleman, and he k comparatively speaking, a perfectly useless development. "The one simple fact that the ■ enemy will never telegraph his distance, and will not stay in an exposed posllion slock-still is the reason why target praetiee as carried out ill New Zealand an.l most other place-; to-day is as useless in training men to stop an enemy as teaching them to keep oil" the hordes of Asia with catapults and pebbles. __
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Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 57, 13 March 1907, Page 2
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459The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13. RIFLE SHOOTING. Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 57, 13 March 1907, Page 2
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