BISLEY ECHOES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 177, 31 August 1909, Page 4

BISLEY ECHOES.

IS BULL'S-EYE SHOOTING OF VALUE? London, July Hi. The absence of Australian and New Zealand teams from Bisley this year has deprived the' N.11.A. meeting 0 f most of its interest to Antipodean*. They may, however, find something to interest them in the heated controversy now raging over the question whether bull's-eye shooting is or is not of value to the man who may bo called upon to serve the Empire on the field of battle. Some critics go to the length of expressing emphatically the opinion that firing at known distances, at stationary targets, is' worthless as training for the real thing. Others hold the view that bull's-eye shooting is a very essential part of a soldier's tramin'g. Among these is Major P. W. Richardson, the shooting captain of the British team that visited Canada and Australia in 1!)(!". So certain is he that "bull's-eye" shots will come out well in competition ■with men trained to shoot purely under "service" conditions that he has issued a challenge to the anti-bull's-eye brigade to produce a team of "service" trained shots who can beat a team of Bisley marksmen selected by himself. His terms are that he is' to have the pick 'of all riflemen who have fired at a first-class match at bull's-eye targets; such matches arc the Eleho, Kolapore, 'M'Kinnon, and C'!: : n;.. Cup. His adversary may choose from all riflemen who have not fired in any of these matches. They are to arrange a venue for the contest and afterwards are to ask Lord Robert's or some other well-known military man who ha*' seen active service within the last ten years to lay down the conditions of firing, one month being given to the parties to get their teams together. 'the contest is to take place before October, and the prize is to be .£IOO, to be paid by the captain of the losing team to the members of tile winning team. Bisley marksmen are jumping over one another to secure a place in .Major Richardson's team, and apparently the opponents of the bull's-eye system of training are not over-anxious' to take up his gage -of defiance. To my mind the case in favor of bull's-eye shooting is unanswerable. In every walk of life you must crawl before you can run. Bull's-eye shooting is to the luarksmai as the five-linger exercises are to the budding Padcrewski. The anti-bull's-eye man apparently wants the pianoforte novice to commence his' studies with Chopin, without ever having the chance of mastering the elementary principles and the technique of his instrument. More than half the skill of marksmanship depends on the training men get in holding and pulling, and Kiat you cannot get except by firing at a fixed mark. And whilst recognising that the bull's-eye is only a means to an end, it is fairly safe to say that in the attainment of that end the man who Sins made himself a first-class bull's-eye shot will stand the best chance of proving himself the most use fill rifleman in actual warfare. Practice, under conditions ns nearly as possible akin to actual service conditions he undoubtedly should have, and must have, if his' full value as a lighting unit is to be realised, but to do away with bull's-eye shooting is to deprive a man of one of the readiest means he has of mastering the elementary lessons of shooting.