Los Angeles herald., 1907-11-17
WHICH GUN
is BETTER?
CANNOT DECIDE ON OFFICIAL
TARGET WEAPON
Interest in Rifle Tournaments lncreas-
ing and Annual Championships
VIII Draw Out Many
Noted Marksmen

| HSNSN iUa'
Special to The Herald.
| WASHINGTON, ID. c., Nov 16-"shall
the national rifle matches Of 1905 be shot
With the Krag or the new springheld?'
| is one of the most important matters
which will come before the national
hoard for the promotion of rifle practice
at it's annual meeting in washington
| next January. There Is some question
as to whether the ordnance department
/ will be able to supply the new Spring
| field. or Model 1903. as it is officially
designated. TO the national guard in time
| for the outdoor practices OF 1908. Obviously
| il would be unfair to require the teams
| to use in the matches rifles to which
| they had been unable to accustom them
selves in spring and summer practice. At
! the same time all authorities agree that
! the militia should be armed with the
same weapon as the regular army and
as the latter will soon be completely
| cnuipped with the Model 1907 the
| equipment of the militia should speedily
| follow.
The new Springfield would long since
| have been in the hands of the national
guard had it not been for changes in the
ammunition. which, while greatly in
|
v eapons necessitated Remembering and
| thus DELAYED their ISSUE A new powder
! has also been adopted, calculated to re-
duce the erosion attendant on high ve-
locity, and it may take some time to Sc
cure a sufficient supply of this powder.
| Gen. Cro2ier, chief of ordnance, expects
| TO be able to state definitely by New
Years whether the war department will
be in a position to honor iequisitions for
the 1903 model for equipping the militia
in time for spring practice. As many Of
the Krags now in the hands ef the mill
tia have sadly worn barrels 1T is hoped
the new rifles can be issued In the spring
to avoid the expense of drawing new
tI$rag barrels only to be shortly discarded
for the new Springfeids.
Probably Camp Perry
| The board will also determine the
place of holding the national matches of
1908. 1t is generally understood they
will again be held at Camp Perry, Ohio.
which range will be extensively i'm
proved by next August The National
Rife association has already indorsed
Camp Perry. Among other matters to
be considered at the January meeting
will be the increasing work Of the ma
tional board. In 1908 congress created
the board and provided for three nation
al matches: a rifle team, an individual
Irihe and an individual pistol match
small appropriation was made for the
national matches and magnificent tro-
| ply was provided for the team match.
From a handful of teams the competi-
tion has grown until next year every
state and territory will probably be rep
resented. In addition to the money the
army and navy expend in rife practice,
| $500,000 is now annually given to the
states and territories for this purpose.
TO handle the national matches this year
required the services of considerably
more than one hundred regular army of
| ficers and two battalions of infantry.
| The Importance of the national board
| has grown with the tremendous increase
| of interest in the sport and in many quar-
! ters it is felt that some steps should be
| taken toward the organization of at least
a skeleton corps to handle the matches
from year to year. While the national
matchese have not increased i'll number,
the National Rife association is adding
to it's prize list each year. and the two
series being shot on the same range and
one after the other, an attractive program
| is presented covering two weeks 1t has
been suggested that the prize list of the
national matches be increased. not so
much in amounts as in the number of
prizes, especially in the national individ-
ual match, which thia year had over 700
entries
War Department Pleased
In connection with the revived interest
in rifle practice, the war department is
| highly gratified at the progress being
made in the organization of rifle clubs
| throughout the country, including mill
/ tary and civic clubs, p-acticing(with rifles
and revolvers. The National Rifle associ-
alton, under the energetic direction of
GEN James A. Drain, it's president is
| especially active in organizing such clubs,
| and Lieut.. Albert S. Jones is now devot-
ing his entire time to the work of the
N r. A., of which he has been secretary
for number of years. Afhliation with
| this association obtains for the clubs
many favors in the way reduced prices
| for government ammunition and rifles.
medals and national marksmens reserve
buttons, etc The National Rifle associ-
atoms permanent headquarters are in
New York city.
While much attention is paid to the
firing of great guns in the navy the
! blue jackets are quite as noted Tor
their skill with small arms. TO Com
| mander Sims, now naval aide to Presl-
dent Roosevelt, may be ascribed largo
| share of the credit for the excellence
| in rifle shooting displayed by the navy.
as it was under his direction that the
work assumed it's presentIactivity
! Navy Scored Often
In the national rife matches this
year the navy won the team match,
Midshipman w. A. Lee of the naval
academy won the national individual
rifle match and the national pistol
match, and Midshipman Fl. T. smith.
also of the naval academy. carried OH
i the title of military champion.
The navy has a splendid range at
Guantanamo, Cuba, and utilizes other
ranges wherever available. Practice
is expected at least once in each SIX
months, and a number OF prizes are
awarded, the amounts depending on
the number of men qualifying from
each ships crew. The last aYailapie
report shows qualifications in the navy
| as follows; Thirty-six sharpshooters
and marksmen, 374 flrst-class. loi9
second-class, 1898 third-class, and 6Slz
as fourth-class.
TO further encourage rifle and reVol-
| yer shooting, especially on the superp
range at Sea oirt, N, j. the Sea Slrt
Tournament association has peen o.
ganized with Brlgadier General X; he
Il NaI