The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-09-04

have dragged. This is, however. almost
 wholly attributable to adverse weather
 conditions and the unusual number of
 teams entered. The army officers have
 never before been called upon to handle
 matches of such magnitude and antici-
 pating much smaller attendance, had
 formulated conditions for the matches
 somewhat out of proportion to the facil-
 ites afforded even by the Sea Girt range
 the largest in the United States For
 instance, two skirmish runs were pro-
 vided in the national team match. Run
 ming these off two teams at time, each
 consisting of twelve men and twenty-four
 silhouette targets having been provided,
 necessitated, even without the loss of a
 single minute. the consumption of nine
 hours and fifteen minutes, allowing only
 fifteen minutes for each two teams to
 make the run and return to the firing
 line.
 Is of Prime Importance.
 Speaking of skirmishing, it may be said that not only is this one of the most in- teresting features of the matches to out siders but it Is regarded by officers of the national board as of prime importance to the marksmen as the conditions more nearly approximate those of actual war fare than do any others. The shots are fired at silhouette targets representing an enemy kneeling with a rifle pointed In the direction of the skirmisher, and
 another alongside, representing man
 prone and shooting toward the skirmish- CT, the two being the positions most like ly to be assumed at the various distances. Shots on the prone figure where little
 more than the head and shoulders
 are exposed count five; on the knee ling figure, which presents larger tar
 get, they count four. Beginning at 600
 yards shots are fired slowly, until, as
 the skirmisher approaches nearer the tar
 get he empties his magazine although
 shooting at distances which he Is re-
 ouired to estimate. Twenty seconds are
 allowed for five shots which includes
 eiecting the empty shells, taking aim and
 firing In all twenty shots are fired, so
 that the highest possible score on q
 skirmish run is 100 That Americans can
 shoot Is amply proven by the case of
 Private Durward of the Massachusetts
 voluntee militia, who won the national
 individual match, which he carried off against 656 competitors. In one of his skirmish runs Durward attained total of 91. which means that had he been con-
 fronted with two men, one kneeling and the other prone, he would have struck the kneeling figure four times, the prone figure fifteeen times and have made only one miss. In other words. nineteen of his twenty bullets would have gone home. Hereafter all the states will pay more attention to the skirmishing as in the matches. where skirmish runs are includ- ed in the conditions. the scores made on these runs are usually the determining factor in fixing the positions of the com petitors.
 Altogether, as has been said. the coun- i1y has every reason to be proud of it's marksmen and Brigadier General Hall under whose immediate supervision the national matches were shot. has received many congratulations from the visiting officers and his fellow members of the national board, on the admirable manner In which he and his associates conducted the competitions. and on the success at tending their efforts.