The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1898-07-19
SEA GRIT RIFLE PRACTICE
Members Of the National
Guard Will Shoot as
Usual This Year.
Especial to .The Jersey city Newa.,,l

Especial to 'sThe Jersey City News.'1
TRENTON. July IS. 1S9S.-Orders were
issued to day by Adjutant General Stry-
ker. calling for rifle practice by the mem
bers Of the New Jersey National Guard
who have not enlisted in the service Of
the United States, on the range at Sea
Girt during the month of August.
This order is the outcome of the efforts
of Inspector General of Rifle Practice
Bird w. Spencer and other members of
the State Military Board. Who have
been impressed with the necessity for
good craftsmanship among infantrymen
ever since the American forces landed in
Cuba and encountered the fire of the
Spanish s-harpshooters.
It is aid that Governor Voorhees, did
not favor the proposition at first. because
of the large number of National Guards
men who had left the State in the vol
unteer companies, and because of the
expense to the State that the target
practice would incur. An arrangement
was made with the United States mill
tary authorities under which volunteers
from the New Jersey National Guard
win be permitted to practice at ranges
established at the national camp
grounds, and the records made there
will be forwarded to the Inspector of
Rifle Practice in this State. and the
makers Of them credited the same as if
they had made the scores on the Sea
Girt range When this plan had been
perfected Governor Voorhees, readily con-
sented to the proposition, and the order
/ . ,n1r- ~ +Io ~ - I L.. = = - -.
Speaking of the matter, Genera Spen-
Ger said yesterday: ITO deprive the
boys who have for family or business
reasons been unable to go with the vol
u~nteers, Of an opportunity to keep up
their record as raarksmen, would be
unfair and unwise. And those men at
the front should not be deprived of that
opportunity. The Second Regiment, at
Jacksonville. have a range. and are
anxious to keep up their State records.
First Regiment, at Falls church,
can easily build a range and the Third,
at Sandy Hook and Pompton Lakes,
are excellently Situated for rifle prac-
tice."
The work of putting the range at Sea
Girt into shape for use next month will
be commenced at once. When the First,
Second and Third Regiments were in camp
there, some of the men foraged for mater
ial to make floors. The fences and butts
came under their eye and they appro-
pFlated some of the lumber in them to
their use. Two weeks work on the range
men who go there TO shoot win have the
satisfaction of knowing thai they are
practleing under conditions that are equal
to those surrounding any rifle n in the
United States.
The members of the New Jersey Ma
tional Guard lave always taken a lively
interest in he practice and when the APP
proprlatiOr made by the State for that
purpose was liberal enough to permit men
from every company in the brigade to
visit the range annually it was largely
patronized. but three years ago the appro-
priation was reduced from $14. 000 to IS, 900.
and a good many of the guardsmen re-
manned way from the range because they
could not afford to pay their fare to the
a week. AS a result, rifle practice at Sea
Girt has fallen off, but the interest in it
has never Jagged among the men.
1t is a department of the military or
ganization of the State that offers the
private the only opportunity he has to
make an individual record and appear In
the official report that is issued from
the Adjutant Generals office each year.
has been an interesting strife
among the men to excel each other in
their ratings as marksmen, and this has
resulted in bringing the guardsmen of
the State up to the STANDARD of the reg
ular army, which, the authorities say. Is
a point reached by the guard of no other
State in the Union.
The requirements of the rules govern
ing ange practice in New Jersey are Sc
we're. To qualify as a marksman on the
two and three hundred yard ranges, the
guardsmen must make a so per cent.
score, which is ~ in TO- The sharpshooter
is expected to make a score OF 50 per cent.
on all ranges from 200 to 600 yards. This
percentage makes it necessary for him
to make Sc bullseyes in every 70 shots.
In spite of these rigid requirements and
the falling off of attendance at the range
in consequence of a decreased appropria-
ton for rifle practice, the Adjutant Gem
erals report for last year says that 208
men qualified as s-harpshooters, n 1907
as marksmen.