The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1906-06-16

two half days of each week. However
from many years experience with COM
petitions, believe that very large
majority of rifle and revolver shots have
concluded that it is very easy to oyerdo
the practise beore going into the match;
in other words, nearly all competitors
shoot to much, and by this get their
nerves into condition which is far from
conducive to good shooting. A man
should shoot enough with full charges to
become accustomed to, the recoil of his
weapon and its elevation After this is
done it will be found far more advantag-
eous to put in his time in training his
muscles to be steady in holding his rifle
or revolver in various positions and
swapping the weapon, taking great care
each time the trigger is pulled TO see
that an accurate aim is taken and that
that the front sigh does not move away
rom the bullseye. This training in
sighting the weapon and trigger pulling
is emphasized for the reason that the
three position taken in rifle shooting, e.,
standing, sitting and lying, are all more
or less straining on the muscles, thus
causing certain amount of tremor
which. for successful shooting, must be
prevented.
s.The training of the muscles can be
| done much better, more efectually and
more economical, by using dummy cart
ridges than by firing full charges. Men
who intend to enter a match should de-
vote about two hours each day to holding
the rifle and pulling the trigger IN the
tbraa nositions. 1t is not desirable to do
this in two consecutive hours, but to
make three or four trials at it each day,
as NAV ha found most convenientffi
man can have his rifle at home or at ms
place of business and put in ten or hfteen
minutes at this work when practicabie.
Each memeber of the team should be
nroyided with at least ten dummy cart
ridges. and use them in going through
the motions of rapid fire and skirmlsh
T have spent much time in teaching sol
diers to shoot the rifle and revolver and
have seen A large number of men who
| followed the practise above indicated go
] upon the target range andy qualify as
/ sharp-shooters on their first attempt. A
man should not be allowed to fire a shot
until he gets his muscles in such as to
be steady in holding the rifle in the pre-
scribed positions.
I'm selecting the rifles to be used in
! the national match new ones should be
i obtained if practicable. l am firmly con-
/ WINGED that these national competitions
are of the greatest assistance all in
making efficient soldiers for the firing
line. and when we consider the numerical
/ disadvantage Of our small military force
in comparison with the armies of other
nations the absolute necessity of mill
tary force trained to assume the most
important duties of the line of battle is
apparent. Since the advent of long range
accurate rifse, believe the military unit
Ii sthe man behind the rife, and when
that element is first class the efficiency
of the company, the regiment and the
army is assured"
/ While the War Department under
stands that the question of sending a
team to the national mach is largely one
of expense money, it is believed that evry
/. State and territory should be able to
/ spare from its apportionment of the an
nual Federal appropriation a few hun
dred dollars necessary for this purpose
The information gained at these competi-
tions is believed to be worth to the States
many times the amount of money it will
cost to be represented by a team.
In view of the great interest taken by
the newspapers Of the country in the
matter of rifle shooting and in the com
ing national match at Sea Girt, the COM
mittee ON publicity of the national board
for the promotion of rifle practise will
this year make new departure which it
is expected will be highly commended.
The national rifle match will be followed
by the annual matches of the National
Rifle Association of America, and the
committee on publicity has arranged with
the National Rife Association to have
this year "press match" Every year
there are number of newspaper men
i in attendance on the rifle matches send
ing special reports to the larger newspa-
pers of the country. Some teams bring
with them newspaper men who send re
ports Of the shooting done by these teams
to the papers in the State from which
the team comes. In addition a number
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