Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1907-06-27
CRACK Riff RANGE.
Ohio Spending 5000, 900 10 Make
1t the Worlds Best.
LOCATED AT PoRT CLINTON.

From Common Firing Line, 800 Men,
Shooting Alternately, Can Work at
onee-Many Thousand Feet Of Wire
Laid For Scoring System.
The state of Ohio Is laying over 9O7,-
600 feet Of wire at the Port Clinton
rifle range. and already officers of the
United States army and some foreign
officers have been there to inspect
what is the most complete rifle range
In the world, says the Ohio State Jour
nal. The fact that such an authority
as Captain Charles De Forrest Chan
dler Of the United States signal corps, /
formerly Of Cleveland, the man chosen
by the United States government to
solve the balloon problem for the ar
my, says it is the best ever shows
that the state is q long way In advance |
of even Uncle Samsxfn the matter Of a
target range where 800 men can occupy
q common firing line and shoot at all 4
the ranges from 1000 yards down to
the midrange.
The system OF wiring and the under
ground conduits that carry all the
wires as well as the system Of 'buz-
zers' that connect each target with the
scorers table-and there Is one to each
target-was designed by Captain Lewis
Jacquith Of signal company No. Of
Columbus, O. The state Is spending
about 100000 there In making the
range the best I'm the world.
fE Tnlnrhnf,oes 2ay, pYc,o ct $h1 !, rr<, ~
those adopted by the United States
government after exhaustive tests, and
every BIT OF wire In use is placed under
ground In steel c0nduits protected
from the dampness by gutta percha In
sulattOn. Inside the wires are carried
In lead pipe. are insulated and again
insulated from each other. From a
common firing point line drawn
across the range to the south, 300 men,
firing alternately, each at his own tar
get. can work at once. Captain JAG
quith after consultation with Captain
Chandler and expert shots has adopted
| a "buzzer' system for the extreme
range, LOGO yards. The buxzer plan is
this: Each target Is connected with the
scorers desk with q buzzer. When a
| man fires the scorer presses q button,
and the man at that particular target
knows that a shot has been fired. 1T
takes. about second and a half for the
ball from the gun to reach the target,
but the buzzer works like flash. The
ball may miss the target completely
and go humming through space The
targets are only about fifteen feet
apart and IL it were not for the buzzer
the scorer might hear (and this has
been the case at Seagirt) the music Of
i the bullet from another target and so
i fash the signal that the rife fred at
his target had scored a complete miss
when In point of fact the man shoot
] ing at the target had not fired.
4 AS the button is pressed the scorer
j knows that a shot has been sent to
his target, and his eye runs above to
see the shot. If it counts he immedi-
J ately throws the proper semaphore and
the shot is recorded to the waiting scor-
4 er, who has his glass on the target.
AS soon as No. man at No. / target
i shoots his target is drawn down and
i No. ! target for No. 2 man is ready.
4 The signals from any Of the ranges
are arranged like the semaphore on the
j railway. Before the shot is fired the
/ mark OF the ball is noted and the target
4 plugged. They are turned SO that the
1 scorer at the firing end Of the range
can mark the shot on the score sheet.
There are two Of these semaphores.
a One is white on one side and red on the
other. The white shows that the shot
4 has counted Eve. the red that it has
4 counted four. Semaphore No. has a
white disk with black cross in the
4 center, showing that only three has
been made, and the other side is black,
showing that the ball has but hit the
u two spot.
The system Of telephones is put Ia for
this reason: At all Of the big shoots
there have been numerous complaints
that sometimes takes hours to settle
and on which settlement depends the
winning Of some Important event. Fol
instance, a shooter has the right to
challenge the marking. The scorer
may have marked up three when Il
should have been i've. Immediate
connection can be obtained with The
target and the result verified.
The target tenders and the markers
never know at the Ohio range until q
minute or two before they go on duty
Just what target they are going Il
tend. They do not know who Is shoot
Ing, so there Is no chance for any col
fusion between the target tender and
the shooter. The buzzer Is on the NOV
able desk OF the scorer, and as he Il
changed from time to time there Is nc
chance for code Of signals between
the shooter and target tender. In 9th
er words, the fact that the shooter has
fred at q certain target is known al
the butts before the bali gets there
II the scorer does not mark properly
he can at once be called oyer the phone
and any error rectifed
"a The United States government uses
q flexible cable for its range work
This may de cut by some farm hand
with scythe, who is moving weeds