The Idaho Springs siftings-news., 1919-06-13

Broauway. According to details now being ar
ranged by Lieutenant Colonel William O. Harllee.
q. s. NJ. c., who is executive officer of the
matches. rifles will begin to crack in competition
as early as July /, and the final cease firing
will not sound much before September 1. Dur
ing the first part of this period practice matches
and minor competitions will be scheduled. These
will be followed up by period of instruction
in craftsmanship for the civilian teams who will
participate in the national matches. After the
school of instruction, a series of craftsmanship
competitions, which include of the oldest
and most historic of rifle contests, will be held
by the National Rifle Association Of America.
These events will lead up to those American
craftsmanship classics which called the Ma
tionaI Matches The National Matches. there
fore, will probably be held toward the middle
end of August.
They consist of three competitions. The most
Important is the National Team Match. In this
event teams of II shooting members pitted
against one another. Each team, using the
United States military rifle. fires 20 shots rapid
fire at a target 200 yards away, 20 shots slow fire
at target 600 yards away and 20 shots slow
fire target LOCO yards away. To the victors
in this competition awarded four trophies
which highly priced among marksmen One
a prize to the service teams; second to the Ma
tional Guardsmen; a third to the civilian clubs
and a fourth to schools and colleges.
The first trophy is known the National
trophy 1t Is bronze plaque showing Mars
holding in leash the dogs of war" The
ond trophy is known the Hilton trophy. 1t is
also bronze bas-relief, hung about with "scaps"
upon which are recorded the names of the teams
that have won 1t since it was placed in compet
tion in 1873. The third is known the Soldier
of Marathon; 1t is a bronze statuette and Is the
oldest of the three.
The second of the National Match competitions
Is known as the National Individual Match where
In individuals instead of teams participate fol-
lowing the same course of fire prescribed in the
tenn competltion
tional Pistol Match and the honor of being vic
torious In this event is highly priced among
hand-gun enthusiasts is the victory in the
National Individual Match among rihemen.
Program Is Attractive.
The program of the National Rifle Association
matches is no less attractive to marksmen.
There Is 1.-THE Wimbledon match shot at tar
gets 1000 yards away, the winner of which holds
for one year thu Wimbledon cup, presented to
American rhemen by the Princess Louise of Eng
land in 1878, and assumes tho title of long
range champion" There is the Leech Cup Match
for the Oldest trophy in competition at the pres
ent time-a massive silver tankard, a gift to the
n r. A. in 1874 by the captain 'of the Irish
rife team which that year visited this country
10 take part in the first international marksman-
ship contest. There is the Presidents Match; to
the winner of which goes an autographed letter
uf congratuation from the chief executive and
the title military champion and there is the
Marine Corps Cup Match open to everybody, the
winning of which is also signal honor. The
tronbv in this competition was the gift of the
commissioned officers of the marine corps
IJntn to16 there participated In the National
Matches only the army, the navy the marine
e,ras and the National Guard. That year, how