The Sun.
London, England, 1867-07-10 00:00:00

The WirnYedon Meeting.

Yesterday, the first really important day of the
meeting came and went as satisfactorily as the
best friends of the Association could desire. The
arrangements this year appear to answer their pur-
poses admirably. There has been no hitch so far,
everything working as smoothly as if the large staff,
on the co-operation of which everything depends,
had had a week's drill instead of being at the outset
of their labours. The weather was magnificent,
and the shooting in some competitions better than
in any previous year, while the average practice
was decidedly an improvement on previous years.
Misses now-a-days are rare at any range in any
reasonable weather, each meeting seeming to make
them more and more an exception to the rule of
good central shooting. The first great competi-
tion of the day was that for 11.R.1T. the Prince
of Wales's prize of £lOO, with £lOO added by the
National Rifle Association in the shape of twenty
£5 prizes for the next best scorers. About fifty
crack shots competed, and they made excellent
average shooting. Corporal Hepplestone, Ist
Manchester, and Private James, of the Queen's,
Westminster, tied for the first prize with 42 marks
—one less than the score of Sergeant Livesay, of
Sussex, the winner last year. The ranges and
number of shots are the same as in the first stage
of the Queen's, and the top scores, with so many
good men competing, were not so high as might
have been anticipated.
'the first stage of the St. George's, a competi-
tion which is year by year assuming greater pro-
portions, was contested in very spirited style, and
the winning score of last year-25 marks from 7
rounds, at 500—was beaten in one of the first
squads that fired. Sergeant Baillie, of the London
Scottish, made the fine score of 27 marks out of a
possible 28.
The Alexandra Prize, Enfield rifle competition,
at 200, 500, and 600 yards, for a series of 45
prizes (value £250), at each range, were com-
menced yesterday at the 500 yards range, and will
be continued during the next three days, and as
all the best known Enfield shots are entered, this
'series of prizes will probably be vigorously con-
tested. A very good beginning was made by
Sergeant Harris, of Shropshire, and Lieut. Pixley,
of the Victories, who both scored 19 at the 500
range. Mr. Pixley and several other
sgenitlnentile)ne
scored 18 in the same series at 200 yard .
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henry,
arms now being competitively tested at Woolwich,
was used to-day, and in the hands of the well-known
good marksman, Lieut.-Colonel Halford, made the
best shooting that has yet been registered. In the
three minutes allowed to each competitor, at 200
yards he got off 23 rounds, making 6 bull's eyes, 13
centres, and 4 outers, or a total 'bf 71 marks.
In a second trial Colonel Halford got off 24
rounds, but did not make quite such accurate
shooting, scoring a total of 67. marks. The rifle
worked perfectly, but a miss-fire spoiled the
chance of another gentleman who used the same
rifle. With the Remington rifle very good
practice was made by several competitors. Some
American copper-case cartridges were used during
the day, which appear to be perfect. In these
cartridges the ignition is in the rim, and not in
the centre of the base, on the central fire system
adopted in this country. The defects which the
competition so far has shown to exist in English
cartridges are sufficiently serious tomake it necessary
to seriously consider whether the Boxer system is
the best that could be adopted for the service
cartridge. The advantages of the breech-loading
system are seriously detracted from when it is ne-
cessary to use the ramrod occasionally to extract a
case that sticks, or to drive out a loaded cartridge
that declines to go off. Two competitors, who
thought more of rapid firing than of extreme a9cu-
-

The cartoon shooting, at 200, GOO, and 800 yards,
appeared to be as popular as at previous meetings
for small-bore and Enfield men to sight at before
trying their hands at the more important competi-
tions. The best practice yet recorded at these tam
gets was made by Captain Ross, who, out of nine
shots at 800 yards, made seven cartons, a bull's-eye,
and a centre.

The Association is fortunate in having sectmed
the services of Captain Fairelough as chief of the
statistical department. The work of this important
division was never so well and expeditiously done
before. This improvement is, morover, not found
incompatible with an amount of courtesy and con-
sideration for the representatives of the press, in
pleasing contrast to what in the earlier years of the
Assr.,eiation was their disagreeable experience.