Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-09-24

the united states Revolver ASSoCidlioA
Is being held in the various large
cities of the country. This tournament
is held under the auspices of the con-
stituent clubs of the association, and
is but one of scores of important
agencies for the encouragement or
craftsmanship with small arms. The
National Rifle Association of America,
with its big meetings at Seagirt and
Camp Perry, together with it's various
state meetings, is accomplishing vast
deal in making good marksmen. For
g. full generation there have not been
so many expert rifiemen in the United
States as there are today. In the OLD
days, when every man had his trusty
flint-lock and could be depended upon
to bore out the eye of a squirrel in
tall tree. there was no need of prizes
to encourage men to become good
marksmen. The game life of the for
est and the neighborhood shooting bees
did that
Aside from the revolver and rifle
matches there is another agency that
is doing much to make the citizens
who constitute the unorganlzed militia
of the country efficient handlers. OF
small arms. This agency is the Ma
tional Association Of Trap Shooters.
There are several thousand gun clubs
in the United States which have fire.
quent contests, some with clay pigeons.
others with live birds and still others
greatest months of the year for trap
shooting. and there are no less than
fifty local events scheduled for the
month. Troy, N. Y. has an important
shoot for today; Bellaires Grove, Mo-:
and Lowell, Ind, for September 20 and
Is; Guthrie, Okla, for the 26th and 27th,
and Toledo. Ohio. and Decatur, ILL.,, for
the 9th, 2Sth and 18th.
The great American handicap, which Is
the blue ribbon event of the trap-shoot-
ing world, was held
Makes Clean in Chicago in June.
Record Of 100. shooters Mors 's eook p spt
in the various events of the meeting. For
the first time in the history of the handi-
cap 1t was won with perfect score.
Riley Thompson, one OF the pest anna
| teur marksmen OF the United States,
made a clean record of 100 straight His
| closest competitor was Harvey McMur-
| chey, who made 30 hits out or a pos
sible 100. This was the first time that
the handicap was ever lost on so excel
lent score. Only once before has nrst
| honor reached even as high as the ~
| which was second honor in this shoot
More than 127,OOO targets were shot at
| during the meeting.
| All trap-shooting events throughout
the United States are conducted under
the rules of the Interstate Association
This was organized a number OF years
ago. and under its activities nearly every
| former world record has been broken. In
| 1909 many former records were shatter-
| ed, and the year marked a higher order
Of craftsmanship than was ever before
| displayed. But the successes or 1909
have been eclipsed by those of the pres
ent year. Even the women have been
displaying unusual skill in the art of
shooting, and Mrs. A. Topperwein of
San Antonio, Tex, hit "a targets out OF
| a possible 100.
In the shoot held at Betterton, Nd,
the latter part of July, H. S. Welles-
| broke set a
Worlds Record worlds record
Made at Betterton. targets witbout
a miss, the previous record having been
held by j. NOVEL; Hawkins. with 1913
| straight Edward E. largest, twelve
year-old boy of Baltimore. Md, Is
| thought to hold the record for child
81 out of 100 at one time and 43 out of
80 at another time. The results of trap
shooting with clay pigeons in the United
States have been so satisfactory that the
| English have been led to adopt the clay
| target and the sport is growing as popu-
lar on the other side as it is in the
United States.
| In the United States there are two sys-
TENS Of awarding prizes in target shoot
| ing. One system is known as the jack
rabbit and the other as the money back.
Under the former the entrants are paid
according to the scores they make. Under
the latter the entrance fee is returned
to those who do not win enough prize
money to pay for the fee. The experts
do not like the jack rabbit system, con-
tending that 1t does not pay them well
enough for their skill. But in spite OF
some dissatisfaction with the prize al
liotting systems in vogue there never have
Ibeen so many trap shooters as there are
today. nor have the records of the rank
and file, as well as those of the prize
winners, been as high as they are now.
This shows conclusiyely that expert
Workmanship Is answering to the meth.
lods Of stimulation adopted by the various
organizations.
/ L &
| The object OF the National Rifle Asso-
citation of the United tates is particu-
larly to encourage
l0hiectS of the craftsmanship amoL.s
l individ,.o 1S ho