The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1894-06-16
MILITIA MATTERS,

The members of the Fourth Regiment are
looking forward to the period of rifle prac-
tice at Sea Girt, which. according to orders,
begins Monday, July 30, and ends on the
following Friday, and thus early prepare
lions are being made for the event. AL
though an entire week has been assigned to
the regiment, the National Guardsmen will
not be compelled to stay at the range all
that time. As soon as a man qualities he
can go home if he SO desires, but if he wishes
to stay with his comrades. the State will
furnish him with a tent, cot and, blankets.
He will receive all the comforts of a
home, with the exception of meals.
Companies A and B have decided to re-
main the entire week, and plans are already
being made for pleasure trips. Captain
Bumsted of Company A, who is an enthusi-
astic angler, is arranging for a number Of
fishing trips. The Captain will spare no eff
fort to give his command the biggest kind
of a time.
The guardsmen are particularly interested
in rife practice this year because different
targets and a different system of scoring will
be used. Heretofore the marksmen had to
make a score of 25 out of a possible so on the
200 and 500 yard targets. This year the 800
yard target will be abandoned and 300 yard
target used instead. Seven shots will be
allowed on the 200 and 800 yard targets and
out of a possible score of 10 the marksman,
if he desires to add another bar to his badge,
must make a score of so. Thus it will be
more difficult to qualify this year than in
previous years
This years practice probably will be the
last with the Springfield rife. The new
Krag-Jorgensen magazine rife, which will
shortly be supplied to. the regular army has
been adopted by this State upon the recon-
mendation of the committee of experts ap-
pointed by Governor Werts, and if the firm
supplying them can can turn them out quick
o,o,rb tia Na+iopoI Cr1arA of Naw .Jarcav
will be equipped with the new arms in a
year or a year and half at the latest.
The Springfield breach-loading rifle
now used has a calibre of As inches and fires
a bullet weighing 500 grains, a little more
than the ounce ball of former days. 1t has
served the regular army well and faithfully
for twenty years, but as it superseded the
muzzle loader of the past generation so must
it now give way to the magazine gun,
one which, while capable of 'abeing
fired as an ordinary single loader,
has a supply of cartridges held imyTeseTye in
a magazine. which can be put into use by a
single movement of the haRd and the con-
tents fired with inconceivable rapfdity at the
critical moment of battle. Thu new rifle has
a calibre of 30 inches, about the, diameter of
a lead pencil. The powder is, of the, smoker
less kind, and the Bullet. although Sweighing
only $50 grains, will kill q man at 1900
yards. The whole. cartridge weighs sonly
ABOUT O0o-QaH as HUGH as NhuSou
and when one considers the enormous num-
Der of them that will be used in the battles
of the next great war, he can easily appreci-
ate the Importance of enabling the soldier to
carry twice as many on his person as form
erly. When we add to this increased range
and accuracy and greater rapidity of fire,
the immense advantage of the new weapon
over the old will be apparent.
The ammunition that the National Guards
men require to qualify is furnished by the
State. The cost, however, is comparatively
light, and, as skill with a weapon is Of vital
importance, the residents OF the State should
feel amply repaid for every dollar.
The target used at Sea Girt is the same as
is used in the regular army. The bull's-eyes
and different rings around them are all ell
liptical, with their longer axes vertical.
This may seem strange at first, butit is done
to make up for unavoidable defects IN the
manufacture of the rife and ammunition,
it having been found by actual experiment
that when the former is fired from asiaxed
rest the bullets strike in such an elliIsis as
has4been described. With the old circular
form of bulls-eyes, there would nnrnbs
shots striking just above and below
Fit,s4sa which, had it not gslabeep
for defects beyond the control of the 55nian
Aring would have been in the bullseye it
self. The ellipse also corresponds more
bnearly to the form of the vital partsd of a
mans body,1as viewed from the front, than
the circle. The size of the builseye for the
two hundred and three hundred yard ranges
is ten inches, vertical axis, and eight inches,
horizontal axis.