Evening star., 1939-08-13
e-Target Device
Eliminates Chance
OF Mistakes
Ingenious Scoring Plan
Gives Full Protection
To All Competitors
BY FRITZ HOWELL,
Associated Press Sports Writer.


CAMP PERRY, Ohio, Aug. IT,
There will be no foolishness on the
firing line, August 26 to September
8, as $500 Of Americas top p-f1ight
pistol, small-bore and 30-caliber
riflemen match shots for the 1889
national championships. An in
genious scoring system has elimi-
mated all chances of cheating.
In the not SO distant past it was
not unheard of for an unethical en-
trant to drop an intentional shot
into fellow-competitor's target,
after a sly glance through his spot
ting scope had assured him the op-
ponent was racking up a better
score.
That wrecked the opponents
chances, for If the target showed 81
holes in a 20-shot match, he was
forced to accept the lowest possible
score on the card. The perpetrator
went scot free, since there was no
way to find whether the competitor
had fired the 2lst shot, or whether
someone had done it with malice
aforethought.
But that's all over now, under the
"backing target" system used at
Perry. The method calls for a Sec
ond card placed about IA inches
back of the record target, so that
the bullets must tear through both,
making Identical patterns in each.
Simple Checkup.
After the match the record target
Is superimposed on the backing card
over a topped table with a
strong light beneath. If the shot
patterns coincide, everything's okeh.
If they don't, there's dirty work
afoot. A shot dropped on the target
from a foreign firing point will be
off-center because of the different
angle, and the holes it makes in
the two cards will not "jibe" with
the rest of the pattern.
The range mathematicians have
figured that if the man on the next
point fired the stray shot, the holes
1t makes will be a quarter-inch
apart when the targets are matched.
If the offender was two points away,
the distance between the holes will
be a half inch, and so on, with a
quarter inch difference for each fir
ing point. In that way the scorer
finds Just who fired the extra shot.
The culprit's target then is check
ed. and if it shows 20 holes the
offender is disqualified, for the
scorer knows the act was intentional.
If only 19 holes appear on the
offenders card, the ruling is that he
fired the stray accidentally on the
wrong target, and his score is
counted, with deduction for the
hit on the wrong card.
Last year one civilian contestant
and several enlisted men acting as
scorers were barred for life from
the national matches for firing line
chicanery, but such cases are few
and far between. The vast majority
of the shooters, true sportsmen, are
strictly honest.
To protest a score, a contestant
is forced to post forfeit of so cents.
If he wins the protest, his money
is returned.
In one of last years small bore
events an entrant had been named
champion with a perfect score, his
bullets having eaten the heart out
OF the bulls-eye. But, the following
day, he appeared before the official
scorer, put down his so cents, and
protested his own score.
He had found an unflred shot in
his ammunition box, he said, and
figured he had fired only 10 shots,
instead of the necessary 20. His
target was re-checked, and only 19
holes could be found. But the scorer
had figured the Goth had gone
through the gaping hole eaten from
the center, and had given the
shooter the benefit of the doubt.
1t cost the entrant the champion
ship to make and win his protest.
but he got his so cents back, along
with clear conscience and a sin
cere handclasp from hundred
friends.