Arizona republican., 1907-06-16

ranges shall be established at or near
each station Of such capacity as will
practically permit about the same eX-
ercises as on a state or national range.
Company commanders are directed TO
make an effort to secure by yearly
lease ranges Of not less than 500 and
II possible of 100 yards in length and
200 yards in width. Reports are to
Ice accompanied by maps Of the pro-
posed range. contiguous country dis
lance from the armory, etc. After ap-
prevail all expense for construction Of
targets and lease Of the land will be
paid by the state quartermaster gen.
eral.
The terms 'sharpshooter, expert
marksman." etc, which distinguish
the classes of military riflemen are
often puZzIing to those not familiar
with rifle practice. To become a
r,arksman one must make IS ont Of
POSSIBLE $50 at 200. goo and 500 yards.
The sharpshocter must get $50 out OF
100 at two. three. five and six hundred
ards beside doing well enough in
shirmish to bring his total To 225 or
two-thirds of the possible score. An
expert must do all this and also score
10 out Of so at 500 yards and 80 out
- 80 at 1000 Yards The latter dis
lance is more than half a mile and the
bulls-eye looks mighty small.
Michigan expects to whocp :. up in
the next national matches In no
state is more interest displayed in rifle
practice or is there more intelligen
supervision or more enthusiastic CO.
operation than in Michigan. At the
first national match in 1903 the Michi-
gan team finished last out of IS teams.
vt Fort Riley they were - out of 81.
The next year they finished -Srd out
of IS and last year with ~ contest
ants the team was 18th. Only ten
state teams distanced Michigan. the
others being the service teams. This
state expects to climb another notch
this year.
The Increase in rife shooting ~
manifested by the fact that work now
going on in the states will add 500
targets to those now available. Much
Of this will be possible because of the
recent increase in the funds allotted by
the government to the support of the
militia.
The model of 1906 bullet weighs $50
grains against the 230 grain bullet
formerly used. II wears out the rifle
barrel almost twice as rapidly and the
rifle may not stand more than 1000 to
250O rounds. II has an initial velocity
Of $3.50 feet against 1900 feet for the
903 model The great advantage of
this bullet is that If the soldier be not
trained in target practice and will
point his gun on a level with the
height Of his eye the bullet will strike
an advancing infantrymen somewhere
between the head and feet at a dis
lance OF about so yards. For the mo-
del of 1903 bullet the point blank
range was about 300 yards. Instead
of the blunt end formerly used the new
bullet is very much the same as the
pointed ogival projectie fired from
the sea coast rifle except that il is
even more pointed.
The war department has allotted S.
600 for the purchase and construction
Of a rifle range on the recently pur-
chased Leon Springs. Texas, reserva-
ton. 1t will probably be available for
the southwestern competition this
summer.
1t is not generally known that the
name of the famous New York rifle
range. Creedmoor was selected by a
newspaper man, the late Col. Henry
G Shaw of the New York Sun The
property was formerly known as
creed Farm and being flat was given
the addition of moor making il
Creedmoor. The range was establish
ed in the early '70's.
a camp of instruction I'm small arms
practice has been established by the
Pay State Military Rifle association
at Wakefield. Massachusetts. 1t will
he open until November l.