The San Francisco call., 1896-08-15

ton will be held August 81 at Eintracbt
| Hall, on Twelfth and Folsom streets. All
the loca, marksmen will attend the shoot
ing festival, and many in the interior cities
have promised to be present. The turn
| ers of San Jose VIII attend in large num-
| bers.
The question as to which of the several
targets now before the public shall be
| adopted by the marksmen of the United
States as the standard is still under dis
| cussion in the East and West The prefer
five-ring German target and the new Co
lumbia target, which was originated by
| f. 0. Young of San francisco
| Mr. Young has received letters from all
over the United States, in which the
writers heartily indorse the target because
of its simplicity in count, fairness to the
! marksmen and because 1t gives the full
value of every shot and every score of
shots. Briefly described, it has an inch
center mum bered /, and half-inch rings or
circles mum bered from the center to 26.
| The black is twelve inches in diameter,
this size being the least trying on the
marksman's eyes, and at shorter distances
| the arget is not reduced in size as on
| many others, because in preserving the
! full size of the target the values of shots
| are preserved as well. The most jealous
opponents are those who, by long practice,
are welded to the German ring target.
An amusing case of ballot-stuffing on
the target question vote is recorded from
| Wilmington, N. J. The secretary of a
rifle club there sent in a vote of thirty-one
names in favor of the German ring target,
and added that he was authorized to vote
the names of 1000 rifiemen of New Jersey
for that target. The idea of there being
/ 1000 marksmen in the little bailiwick of
| New jersey has set the marksmen of the
| country laughing. In the International
| shooting tournament in Wilmington in
1889 there were scarcely 500 present, and
| three-fourths of these came from other
| parts of the country.
| F. J. Rabbet, the well-known rest-rihe
| shot of Boston, has recently issued what
he calls standard ring target. His bulls
/ eye is the same as the Colum bia target,
| mum mbered from l to II, half inch circles.
The 13 is an inch circle, the IA Pinch
circle, the 15 a 4-inch circle, the 16 an 8
inch circle, the diameter increasing by
doubling. Outside of the 16 ring all shots
count IL. This arrangement, he explains,
is for the benefit of the "poor shots"
! This is very considerate of Mr.. Rabbet.
! Considering that he shoots at rest and
wants the full value OF every shot, he has
at least been good enough to himself to
keep the Columbia bullseye ct half-inch
circles for his own use. Let US see how
the poor shots fare on this target Sup
pose A punches a score of five shots in th e
| 16, close to the Is ring. BIS score of five
shots are also placed within the 16
ring, but close to the IL ring.
Both score so points. or rather
they tie, yet has shot about eight inches
nearer to the center than B. Wherein lies
the fairness of this system of scoring, and
why should A be so badly handicapped
by the target? / think Mr.. Rabbet's pro-
duction as bad a failure and as much of
freak as the old standard American target.
The amusing feature of the controversy
| on the ssmerits" of this target is that Mr..
Rabbet and his friends, after appropri-
ating the principles of the Columbia target
in the blacK, innocently request those who
have adopted the Columbia target to
make few concessions and accept Mr..
Rabbet's mixture. The Colum bias friends
will not make any concessions.
The question of copyrighting the Colum-
bia target has also been raised in connec-
ton with the matter of cost. Mr.. Young
has settled this by putting the Colum bia
target lower than any OF the others. Not
withstanding the few apparently labored
criticisms of the Columbia target II is rap
!, idly coming into favor with all the rifle
| clubs in the West, who not only appre-
| ciate its merits, but desire to use the home
product, while in the East thousands OF
| marksmen are speaking loudly in It's favor
Within the past month the interest of
| many local marksmen has been directed
/ to the use of small arms, and by the end
| of the year it is likely that we will have
pistol and revolver shots equal to any in
the East. Many of the marksmen in this
line are mem bers of the Columbia Pistol
and Rifle Club, and the new revolver
match has caused many to cast about for
the best revolving weapons they can lind.
At first the 32-44 revolver was shut out,
but at the last meeting of the club this
bar was raised. J. g. German, A. III.
Pane. G. M. Daiss, f. o. Young, DR.. l.. o.
J Rodgers and others have already entered
the contest, which, being re-entry
match, gives opportunity for some fine
shooting before the year Is over, and as
there is a valuable trophy and three cash
prizes in sight the competition promises
to be keen. At present most of the marks
men are making experiments in order to
| secure the best revolvers and ammuni-
tion. In this line Pape did some good
work the other day.
| He reloaded with smokeless powder
full charge, lot of shells which he shot in
a 38-caliber Colts army 1894 model re-
yoIyer. The smokeless powder worked
well. as may be judged from the annexed
score of twenty five shots, made on a re-
duced military target at fifty yards:
< : +: : : 5 : : { - -
A run of 40 out of 125 is not bad. II
seems that many marksmen are afraid of
| the smokeless powder, and condemn it
| after using light charges. Their fears are
| without foundation, and excellent results
| can be obtained by using for charge ali
| the shell will hold. However, the bullet
needs to be seated so that it can start
easily. Crimping the shell should be
| avoided NJ 7 Wurrr