Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-02-12
RIFLE SHOOTING
IN THE YEAR 1920
Past Year Was Good One, But the
Outlook is Even More
Encouraging.
BY Peter p. Carney.
Editor National Sports Syndicate.

The wear 1919 was wonderful ono II
the history OF rifle shooting. but l92t
promises to eclipse everything that ha'
been done heretofore in the line OF rifi'
shooting promotion.
The National Rifle Association gives
every indication Of becoming active and
with the War Department IN accord with
the work of the National Rifle Associa
lion there is no reason why there shouldn' I
be thousands of active rifle clubs in the
United States.
This country is considerably bchinc
England and Switzerland in the promo
tion OF rifle shooting There is no excuse
for il and il is high time that the N. X, A
rot 10 work and remcdied the matter.
One handicap-and the greatest one to the
encouragement of rifle shooting-is The
lack of proper places to shoot.
There must be ranges or there wont
be any rifle shooting. That is where the
Federal Government will have to come in
If rifle clubs can't find places to shoot the
government will have to find places fol
them And right in line with this thought
il wouldn't he n bad move on the part of
the government to set up a national
range-a place where the national match
IS could be held each year.
NATIONAL RIFLE RANGE.
This is a necessity. This jumping from
one place to another each year and
running up against all sorts of obstacles
doesn't tend to encourage the sport. 1T
The government built national range for
good and all time, it could be built right,
and if possible improved from year to
year.
The small bore shooting game is going
to be pushed this year. The small bore
range at Caldwell attracted as many, IT
not more shooters, than any OF the other
ranges and the National Rife Association
has a committee working on plans to pro-
mote this end of the rifle game-which
gives every indication of becoming one OF
the greatest sports in the United States.
The United States defeated England
7,6l7 to 1923 In the international match
for the Dewar trophy last year, making the
fourth time In six shoots that the United
States has won this trophy.
SMALL BORE TEAM TO oLYMrics.
There will be small bore team sent TO
the Olympic games in Antwerp to repre-
sent America This fact alone should
stimulate small bore shooting. The chance
TO qualify on a team to wear the stars and
stripes in the Olympic game Is honor
enough for most any one.
E. G. Crossman. who was IN charge of
the small. bore shooting in the nationai
matches, urges the formation of zones
East. West. North and Southland that
the teams in these zones form leagues and
that the winners of the sectional zones
meet in the national matches TO decide
the championship of the United States.
This sounds good. Now what is wanted Is
an energetic individual or two in each
zone to plan the leagues and carry them
through. Some one must do the work.
Previous TO the formation of sectional
zones it would be a good plan TO form
State leagues. With State leagues proper
ly organized it would be much easier to
work out the sectional idea. Leagues are
the greatest developers OF any sport. The
athletic clubs, industrial establishments,
country and golf clubs, could all be inter
ested in the development of rife shooting
through the league idea.
One of the best things that has been
done to encourage rife shooting is the
Winchester Junior Rife Corps, which has
a membership OF more than 10000 BOYS
and girls and the action Of the n. Il. A. IN
making junior membership for boys
under l6 wears The boy of today Is the
man OF tomorrow. Ii We can encourage
the boy in rife shooting and then keep.
him interested, America viii not have 10
bow much longer To I he English and Swiss.
Five million roIn, of ammunition was
shot at Caldwell last august. This sounds
like a lot, but when YOU take into con-
sideration that the government has hve
billion rounds bought and paid for, the
Caldwell ammunition Is only drop IN the
bucket. 1t will take 80 years under full
pressure to shoot UP this ammunition.