The San Francisco call., 1896-07-23

prepare for war" If the familiar figure
in red. white and blue clothes, topped off
with that old white hat, had stood on an
eminence behind his soldiers out at the
Presidio yesterday afternoon and surveyed
the landscape toward the bay and the
block target, looking not much larger
than an orange, half a mile away, he
would have been proud of the marksman-
ship displayed.
Company c of the First United States
Infantry at Angel Island is out at the
Presidio for few days outing and target
practice. There are thirty-eight men in
the company. First Lieutenant Ferriss
and Second Lieutenant Wilcox are in COM
mand.
Thirty-six tents are pitched in the bor-
dering trees of little grove-almost a
whole tent for each man. The tents were
left by other com panies which have pre-
ceded Company G at target practice. This
company arrived last Tuesday on the
ground, got down 10 business yesterday
before the targets, and expects TO finish
the target practice by tomorrow at noon
The shooting was interfered with yester-
day morning by the fog, and in the after
noon high wind lowered the number OF
The practice in the afternoon was at a
target 800 yards, or 240 feet less than half
q mile away. 1t was a black disk on a
white background of cloth and paper.
The sharp ping of the bullets as they
struck the target could be heard a second
or two after the cartridges exploded. The
men lay on their stomachs on a little
knoll and their aim was downward toward
the bay. Each man fired twenty rounds.
Whenever a catboat, a yacht or steamer
or other craft on the bay came opposite
the range, firing was suspended until it
had passed beyond the possibility of being
punctured.
ceeded the old Springfield rifle in the
army. The target was down on the beach,
and whenever there was a miss the dust
or sand could be seen rising from the spot
where the bullet struck. This gun does
deadly execution at two miles, and will
shoot over three miles with perfect ease.
1t would kill a man over at the Lime
Point Signal Station, and with the proper
elevation raise one of the 11z-inch-long
bullets over the big bluff beyond the
point and drop it into Sausalito. So the
necessity of the precaution of waiting till
craft pass out of range on the bay is ap-
parent. The Krag-Jorgenson is the new
army model. 1t is 3S-caliber and weighs
about nine pounds. The cartridge is 3A
inches long.
In shooting the new regulations are
that the men must lie on their stomachs,
that the sight must be perpendicular and
that the gun must be against the shoulder
and elevated from the ground. Formerly
the men, in shooting at iong-range tar
gets, could lie on their backs and rest the
muZzle of the rife between their toes, but
this is now forbidden. The shooting for
the day was good, considering the state oi
the weather. The result of the seasons
shooting by the different companies will
not be made known for several days yet
The practice is about evenly divided be-
tween the s00-yard and 1200-yard ranges.
The reason that the Presidio reservation
was chosen as practice ground Is that
there is not sufficient range on Angel
Island and because it would be dangerous
there. The skirmish drills for the season
have been completed.