The Wilmington morning star., 1940-03-10
Ponder Smoke
Edmund McLaurin

csc philosopher who lived way back
in ISL B. c., and who is now being
credited with just about everything
that is quoted these days, there IS
an old saying that I'VE live ana
learn. The true purport OF these
words was brought home force1u!ly
to local riflemen last weekend DUR
ing the firing of the wilmington
mid Winter Smallbore Rifle tourna'
Rifle and Pistol clubs first annual
ment, for. beyond the shadow OF a
doubt, the shoot served to orlng
many interesting and heretofore
unappreciated facts and fancies to
the attention of participants and
spectators alike. For instance:
Holding a heavy target rifle on
a target during the firing of a 40
shot match, such as the SO yard in
dividual event of last week, is a
strain on the arm which is encir-
cled by the 1 IA inch leather gun
sling. After about the 25th shot,
nerve reactions and heart impulses
become quite evident, and, since q
tight sling is important to steady
holding and aiming, there Is little
you can do about it except to at
tempt to hold more carefully with
each succeeding shot, which auto
matically brings about a reflex ac-
ton and possibly a wild shot or two.
Usually by the time the 40 shot
course Of fire is completed, the ten
sion of the gun sling has almost
completely cut off circulation of the
blood through the upper portion of
the sling arm. But Mr.. and Mrs. A.
F. Mott. of Asheville, who captur-
ed several high honors in the open
competition, overcan:e this bugaboo
of all riflemen by simply strapping
an arm cuff of heavy leather on
the sling arm of the regulation
shooting coat, said cuff being fitted
with a small metal loop which in
turn received a hook attached to the
gun sling. The wide, three inch cuff
could not possibly slip, a n d the
heavy tension of the sling was
minimized by the spread of the cuff
and the fact that the sling was
merely hooked on the cuff instead
of encircling the arm itself. Conse-
quently, the User had only to con.
c%entrate on his Or her aiming and
discharge of the rifle. There is no
doubt that the new arm cuff is an
improvement over t h g customary
sheepskin padding used for the pur-
pose of reducing arm pulsations
during firing.
In addition to the r e w tube
sights, now permitted in iron sight
competition, several of the Kan.
napolis shooters h d telescope
sights of the very latest design. One.
in fact, was so OFFICIALLY perfect
that I was able to see the bullet
holes in the targets 100 yards away
when curiosity compelled me to take
a peek through the new sight. lima.
CINE a rifle sight which will not
only quarter a bull's-eye, but which
will also enable you to see your
shots as thy r fired! I was in.
formed that the particular sight be-
ing described set the owner back a
mere $91, which is more than the
average man pays for his complete
outfit. I personally believe that it
will be many moons before anyone
in the local club shows up at the
Sunset Park range with a s91 scope
sight mounted on his favorite rifle.
1t rained the second day of the
shoot-and how-but range e
lations were enforced and shooting
continued just the same. The pelt-
ing rain made accurate shooting
next to impossible for those compe.
titors whose eyesight required them
to wear glasses. Not only did the
rain render shooting glasses USE
less, but it also f sged the spotting
scopes 80 that most Of the men had
to stop every five or six shots and
wipe the lenses of their instru.
ments. But the rain did not prove
a problem to one man who fired
next to me in the Dewar event. He
simply opened his shooting kit and
removed there from a metal cover
Which he slipped over his rifle, full
length, sights and all, and pro.
Ceeded to fire awav of tho h,,l,.