The Sun.
London, England, 1864-09-10 00:00:00

THE VOLUNTEERS.

The " amended rules" issued by the National Rifle Asso-
ciation for competitive trial of rifles for 1865 are as follows :
—l. The annual competitive trial of rifles shall take place at
Woolwich, commencing at 11 o'clock a.m., on the 22d of
November next. 2. Each competitor shall furnish six com-
plete rifles of precisely similar description. 3. The condi-
tions as to bore, weight, pull of trigger, stocks, sights, shall
be as follows :—A. Bore. Minimum, 451. B. Weight.
Maximum, 101 b. The barrele and stocks not to be weighed
separately. C. Length of barrel, 33 inches, D. Pull of
trigger. Minimum, 61b. E. stocks.; Half stocked, All
the barrels of any one set of rifles may be fired from the
same stock. F. Sights. Regulation Enfield, but so arranged
as to admit of any other sights being subsequently fitted to
the rifles. 4, Any person intending to compete shall, on or
before the 22d of October next, pay an entrance fee of £lO,
and shall at the same time sign a letter to the secretary in
the annexed form accepting the conditions of competitions
as here laid down. Each competitor may enter more than
one description of rifle, subject to these regulations and to
the payment of an additional entrance foe of £lO for each
additional set of rifles. 5. The riles shall be delivered at
the office of the Association before 11 o'clock a.m. on the
21st of November, and shall •be tested and examined be-
tween the hours of 12 and 5 p.m. on that day, in presence
of the Council, by the Superintendent of the Royal :mall
Arms Factory. The rifles delivered by any competitor
will not be accepted without the certificate of such super-
intendent that the conditions Nos. 2 and 3 have been
complied with by such competitor, 6. Each competitor
shall, previous to the trial, fill up and sign the annexed
paper, stating the particulars of hie rifle and ammunition,
and the price of the rifle, 7. The charge and ammunition
used by the competitors at the trial shall be the same in
all respects as stated by him is such paper. 8. The price
of the rifle shall in no case exceed £2O ; and shall include
the cost of a disc aperture back-sight with Vernier scale
and a covered slot foresight with graduated laterial
adjustment. The rifles must admit of these sights being
fitted to them. 9. These rifles of each set shall be taken
indiscriminately for trial, and these shall be numbered,
from Ito 3. The rifles shall be tried in the order in which
they are numbered. 10. The order of shooting shall be de-
termined by lot, to be drawn by the secretary not less than
15 days previous to the 22d November, A letter will be
assigned accordingly to each competitor for each set of rifles
delivered by him. Notice will be given to each competitor
of the letter drawn for him. 11. Letter A, rifle No. 1, shall
commence the trial ; letter B, rifle No. 1, will then be taken,
and so on in succession; and after the rifles No. 1 have
been fired, then rifles No. 2 will be fired, commencing with
letter A. The firing shall be continued from day to day
with the letter and number next in order after the rifle last
fired on the previous day. 12. The rifles shall be fired from
fixed mechanical rests, Government rests shall be assigned
by lot to such competitors who do not bring their own.*
13. Each competitor shell be responsible for the adjustment,
fitting, and general condition of the rest used by him dur-
ing the trial. Each competitor shall either be present to fire
his rifles, or shall appoint a representative to do so. 14.
The distance fired at shall be 1,000 yards. Eight trial shots
shall be allowed for each rifle before the 30 competitive
shots are fired. Thirty competitive shots shall be fired con-
secutively from each rifle. 15. No cleaning during the 30
competitive shots shall be allowed. 16. The diagrams
giving the mean radial deviation and taken as at the School
of Musketry at Hythe shall decide the figure of merit of the
titles. 17. The description of rifle that gives the best figure
of merit shall be selected as the ono with which the Queen's
Prize, second stage, shall be competed for at the ensuing
prize meeting of the association. 18, The figure of merit
determining the best description of rifle shall be the aver-
age of the three rifles of one description. 19. No mechani-
cally fitting loading rods shall be used. 20. Competitors
may use the clinometer to take the angle of elevation,
which shall be recorded by an officer appointed for that pur-
pose. The clinometer may also be used to readjust the
angle of elevation during trial, but only in presence of this
officer, and with the sanction of a member of the Council,
or:some person appointed by the Council. 21. No telescope
shall be used by competitors or spectators after the trial
shots. 22. Competitors shall either be present thetnse:ves or
appoint some one to be present at the target when the dia-
grams are taken off. They or their representative shall
sign the diagram, which shall also be countersigned by the
secretary, or by some person appointed by the Council. 23.
The secretary shall select one of the three successful rifles
to be kept by the Council as a pattern arm. 24. The suc-
cessful competitor shall be required to supply to the asso-
ciation, by the Ist of May, 1865, 60 rifles, which shall in
every respect be similar to the pattern arm, except that
they are to be fitted with a back-sight and foresight of the
description mentioned inCondition 8, and the price of which
shall not exceed that stated in the annexed paper. The 60
rifles, when supplied, shall be submitted to the Council,
and such an examination of them will be instituted by the
Superintendent of the Royal Small Arms Factory as tvill
satisfy the Council of the perfect soundness of the rifles
and of their conformity with the pattern arm. Every rifle
which he shall certify to be net made in accordance with
the pattern arm will be rejected, and the competitor shall
supply another rifle in lieu thereof, which shall be sub-
mitted to examination in the like manner. 25. The suc-
cessful competitor shall supply at a fair price such quantity
of ammunition, of the same quality and kind as used by
him at the Woolwich competition, as may be required for
the sighting of the rifles previous to the Wimbledon meet-
ing, and for the use of the competitors in the second stage
of the Queen's prize. 25. Subject to the above regulations
the competition will be conducted under the direction of the
Council, or their officer appointed for the purpose whose
decision is in all cases to be final. (Here follows a copy of
the form of paper to be filled up by the competitor.)
The shooting for the prizes of the sth Middlesex Admi-
nistrative Battalion Rifle Volunteers (the 26th Middlesex),
Her Majesty's Customs, and 42d Middlesex(Shliatharine's
Dock Company), un•ter the command of Lieut.-Colonel
Grey, took place, by rho kind permission of Lieutenant-
Col. Davis, at his range at Cranbrook-park, II:ord, on the
29th ult. and three following days. The firing was origi-
nally commenced at the range rented by the battalion at
Plaistow, but in consequence of an injunction having been
issued to prevent shooting there, an interruption took place
which somewhat affected the number of competitors on sub-
sequent occasions, In an other respects the meeting has
been most successful. Higher scores were made in some in-
stances than those returned as having won prizes; but, as
they were made by men who were disqualified by the rule

* Facilities will be afforded by the Superintendent of the
ILval Laboratory at Woolwich for competitors to fit their
slide bare to the tests any time previous to the trial.