The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-08-10

y
AT is discouragfng to think that sc
niue interest is taken in rife competi-
lions when the results with the new gun
are so satisfactory. When there were
department and army. competitions we
nad an interesting time every year in
August and September, and unless we
see their revival the efficiency and won
oerIua possibilities of the new rifle will
never be known No better reason for
THIS statement could be found than TO
com com T,a4, the scores made in department.
1888 and 1894. In 1855, first place was
held with a score of 4SO points, whereas
II required nearly 600 points to get first
place on on most of the teams of 1892, 1898
and 1894. 1t. takes years of practice to
become an expert marksman.'
Sergeant Jansen, Company A: tine
new sight is, in my opinion, a decided
think we ought to go still further and
get a wind guage. l don't like to aim
off the target to make bulls eye.
can hold the gun much steadier than the
Springfield as it is better balanced. The
| trajectory is, of course, a great inn
/ pFovement to say nothing of the
magazine. My sllirmishing with the new
gun is much better than I expected it
tried it on the skirmish range. l would
like to see another competition with it.
think all kinds of team shooting should
4 be encouraged.
Private Condor, Company A: 81 did
/ very well after 1 got onto the gun. 1t
! being my first year in the service l was
naturally proud of my success as a
snarpshooter. l think the new sight is a
good thing and next year the scores
ought TO be much better"
First Sergeant Weir: 81 think the
new rifle is far superior to the old and
with the new sights ought to do great
deal better shooting. Our scores aver
aged well but were not as high as they
should have been on account of the
weather.
Ex-First Sergeant Russell, who was
dlscharged as veteran from company
b yesterday, said: Il will tell you
what's the matter with the new rine, or
rather with the men who have fired it,
that makes it shoot so much to the left.
You see the front sight is a Sood deal
higher than the old sight on the Spring
field and the least little cant will throw
the shot to the right or left. Most men
pull the gun over TO them in shooting,
canting it slightly to the left, instead of
holding it level and leaning fully over TO
the line of sight. If you put the gun in
vice and shoot it you will see the diff
ference. Then the line of fire and the
line of sight is about the same, but let
I q thousand men get out on the range
and fire the gun, each one holding it in
his own peculiar way, and you find that
ninety-nine in every hundred shoot to the
left. The new rear sight was gotten up
10 correct this fault as far as possible.
L believe the new gun will eventually
beat the worlds record in small arms
firing
Color-Sergeant Davis. Company B:
| My opinion is that the rag-Jorgensen,
model SO, as it is called, will be equal
if not superior TO any rifle in existence.
l even believe model '92'' to be far
ahead Of any rife yet used in our army.
II Sfn hn nf a nd - ar
our practice marches successfully. and
it can only be called simple in its
mechanism. as i can be taken apart
and assembled almost without q screw
driver. and cleaned in very short time.
Il think the only trouble in shooting
with the new arm has been the fault
of the rear sight, thoug-. the new sight
is quite an improvement. Still there is
room for more improvement by making
the notch smaller and having a wind
gauge on the slide to use when the leaf
is raised. as the drift and the effect of
the wind is immaterial up to
COO yards. CAT the long and extreme
ranges it is very difficult to judge how to
aim when you have TO put your front
sight so far to the right of an object to
hit it, Then, If in action, when WITHIN
six hundred yards of an enemy, lay the
slght-leaf down and our forgotten wind
age would not trouble US.
Competitions Yes; ! believe in all
kinds of rife matches, regimental, de-
partment and general. 1 think they go
a long way toward developing the quail
ties necessary to the making of a good
soldier A sharpshoofer must Of neces-
sity be temperate in a number of things.
You can put me down as being in favor
Of the competitions.
Sergeant Davidson of company G did not
do quite as well with the new gun this
season as expected but he has an in
teresting record with the Springfield. He
enlisted little over ten years ago in
Nashville, Tenn, and went to company f,
Eighth infantry, at that time stationed at
Fort Niobrara, Nebraska. After five
ears service he re-enlisted and joined
company G, Sixteenth infantry, March II,
1891 He was discharged last March at
the expiration of term of service and is
now well on in the eleventh year of his
Soldier-career.
Within the past six years Sergeant Da-
wilson has become famous as crack
shot IN the department and the teams
having broken the record for rifle shoot
ing and now holds the championship of
the word for the highest score ever made
with an army gun. In August, 1880, he
was a member of the department of the
Platte team, standing ninth ON the list, at
Bellevue Nebraska, with a score of 5l5
in a possible 500. In August, 1891,
he was first on the Platte team, with a
score Of $50 points. In August, 1892, he
again stood first OF the same team, hav-
ing made the phenomenal score of $50
points, which is the record with the army
be beaten with a rifle whose magazine
holds but five cartridges. In September,
1852, he stood third on the army team of
ten, the crack team of the regulars. at
Fort Sheridan, ILL.,. with score of 5S4
points. In October, 1892, he carried off the
first prize, a gold medal in competition
on a moving target on tie Fort Sheridan
range, competing against the army team
for that year and thirty men of the ma
tional guard from Illinois, Wisconsin, and
Iowa In addition to the medal, David
son received a purse of $50 for defeat
ing the national guard in regular COM
petition.
In October, 1893. he stood first on the
distinguished marksmen's'' team with a
score of 62l points, the highest ever made
on that range, winning the coveted ''Buf-
falo medal" which represents, or did
represent up to 1894, the ultima thule of
army workmanship.
Speaking about the new magazine gun,
Sergeant Davidson said:
In my OPINION the .krag-Jorgensen rifle
is superior to the Springfield, owing to the
fairness Of the trajectory and the higher
velocity. l think considerable improve
ment might be made on the sights I'm
provement has already been made so far
concerned, but why not make allowances
for wind? One cannot hit an object very
often al long range when he is compelled
to aim from ten to fifteen feet away from
it. Some men claim that the sight now
in use is better for all practical purposes
than it would be with a wind guage at
tached; that in actual combat a man
would under the excitement of battle new
er think TO adjust his sight for wind or
weather.
"As we have two rear sight notcbes
one for short and mid-range firing and
the other for long and extreme ranges,
while the leaf is down at short and mid
range, but when the leaf is raised at the