Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1916-09-16
Shooting Points
For Beginners
By Alfred Lane

There seems to be an idea among
big game hunters and military rifle
shots that shooting with % caliber
rifle is child's pastime and unworthy
of any male who has reached the long
trouser stage. Nothing could be fur
ther from the truth. The problems in
volved in high power rifle shooting
are practically all present in miniature
rifle shooting, as it is called in Eng
land. If man learns how to hold and
sight 30 caliber rifle and can make
good scores at short ranges with this
weapon he has laid an excellent foun-
dation for skill with an army rifle al
though he may never have fired shot
from the larger weapon. Anyone. who
was present at the Peeksltill shoot of
the New York public school boys will
certainly bear me out in this statement.
At this shoot large numbers of boys
from the public schools of New York
VINO were good marksmen with the %
rifle shot the Government Springfield
at the 200 and 500 yard ranges and
the scores they made would be ey'e-op-
eners to those who sneer at the hum
bic %.
N. R. A, Clubs.
Small bore shooting as conducted by
the civlian clubs associated with the
National Rifle association is at 25 yards
indoors and so and 100 yards outdoors.
The indoor target has a bullseye in
ches in diameter with inner rings 1-4th
inch apart, the center or ten rings be-
ing 10 inch in diameter In other
words, the Z, s, 9, and 10 rings are III
the black of the bullseye. The standard
target has six bullseyes on II arranged
in a circle around the center of the tar
get, the object of this arrangement be-
ing to economize on paper and in the
time time necessary to change targets,
This target must be placed twenty-five
yards from the muzzle of the rifle.
All indoor shooting by civilian clubs
is done slow fire and from the prone
position. The most popular rifles are
those weighing from seven to eight and
one-half pounds of the singleshot type.
All rules regarding sights permit the
use of any sights not containing glass.
Most of the shooters use a front sight
of the aperture type, which sight con
sists of stem and lopp, the bullseye
being centered in the hole in the loop.
The rear sight is a peep sight and is
placed back on the tang of the rifle as
near to the eye as possible. The rules
also permit the use of a sling strap and
consequently everybody uses one. This
is fastened to the forearm or the barrel
at a point a few inches forward of the
point grasped by the left hand. There
is considerable skill ana knowledge in
volved in the proper use Of a sling strap.
The user may use it in such a way as
to obtain great benefit or he may APP
ply it in such fashion that it is positive
" detriment. The best way is to have
it run back from the point at which it
is fastened on the right side of the left
wrist at a point as high ON the upper
arm as possible. The arm in combina-
tion with the strap then forms tri-
angle which is one of the recognized
forms in which material is placed to Sc.
cure rigidlty. There does not seem to
be any practical method of applying a
sling strap to the conventional light
weight repeating rifles so as to permit
its use for this class of shooting. | have
tried myself and the result so far has
been unsatisfactory. l am still working
on the problem, however, and il | find
any solution of it you may be sure l
will announce it in this column, as num-.
bers of shooters would prefer to use
their regular 30 calibre hunting rifles
rather than purchase special model.