The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-11-13
nx w.lter c. Hua.en, U. D.

By Waiter Gs bu0sOu, Ms Ds
 This is the first of series of arti- pen of Walter e. Hudson. M. D., of New York City. President of the Man. haitian Rifle and Revolver Association and recognized as one of the highest authorities on the subject.
 Target shooting as a sport has been more or less sharply divided into Match Rifle shooting and Military Rifle shooting. The points in which the match fife differs from the military are, the lighter trigger pull. finer sights, and better finish. and. in addi- tion. various departures from military styles are allowed in the way of spo- cial attachments, buttplates, heavier weight of barrel, etc. The match rifle also is developed with ac- curacy as it's chief aim, and accuracy at the particular distance 1t Is to pc used: while the military rife has to pc adapted to alk ranges. and be strongly built and serviceable under adverse conditions, even if at the expense or some acuracy. II.
 In view of these considerations. 1t is scarcely to be wondered at that the target rife developed with the sole op- ject of shooting from the on-hano po- sitfon at 200 yards, as in vogue by the German American (schuetzen1 clups' should differ so much from the long range match and military rife. The schuetzen rifle has changed but little in many years. and its present form is probably as near perfection for It's pur- pose as it is possible to get. Most Of the modern schuetzen rifles still use black powder, and in the finest Ameri- can makes the bullet is pushed down from the muzzle as in the old muzzle loading rifles. They are extremely &C., curate. and the shooting Is generally done on sheltered ranges; so that this kind of shooting brings the game down to merely one of skilled holding.
 On the other hand. the long range match rifle has of late years approach ed more and more closely to the mili- tary, so much so that of the match rifles now in use in England are mere ly military rifles fitted with fine tar get siughts. Skill in shooting at the long ranges, whether with military or match rifles, involves not only good holding, but also a knowledge of the effects of disturbing factors such as changes of light, wind, barometric pressure, temperature, etc.
 It must not be supposed however. that schuetzen rife shooting is of no value to rifiemen who aspire to honors with the military or long range rifle. II cheap ammunition it is generally done on ranges provided with facilities that insure comfort to the shooter during even the coldest and most disagreeable weather, and it is the best possible training for the holding. Therefore. it is far better for the riheman who keep in practice to shoot fifty or a hun dred shots at 200 yards. say once a week or two weeks during the winter
 -a0 I 1Aw the game altogether during cold weather. There are large number of civilian rifiemen who conflne them selves almost entirely to this kind of shooting, and who are nevertheless very we'll posted and skillful rihemen. able to take up other branches of rifle shooting at short notice; and their skill in holding, and intimate knowl- edge of many of the technicalities of the rife learned by long and careful practice with their own weapons cer- tainly put them far in the lead of the novice, no matter what other branch of rife shooting they adopt.
 But it is in long range shooting, un- doubtedly, that the rifieman finds the highest development of the sport. And in late years, since the advent of the modern smokeless powder rife of high power and small calibre, it is gratify- ing to note, in our American as well as in the British weapons, that the military and match rife have ap- preached very near to each other. lp the old black powder days. the match rifle with its paper patched bullet heavy charge of powder. and necessity of cleaning after each shot was a far different weapon than the military rifle. In those days. to attempt to shoot 1000 yards with a military rifle would have been considered the height of folly. But now there Is little difference in the scores made with match and military rifles at these long ranges. Indeed. our Krag, when a good barrel can be selected and when the drag is removed from the trigger Dull, is in the opinion of many expert riflemep fully capable at the mid and long ranges of holding it's own against the finest match rifles that can be pro- duced There are few target sights that afford better aiming than the 1901 model Krag sight, and while 1t Is true