The Rifleman T H E O F F I C I A L O R G A N O F t h e S O C I E T Y O F M I N I A T U R E R I F L E C L U B S . Tei.! GUAI'HIC Address : '• Ri'h-shol, Estnuid, Loiidov." Telephone ; Gerninl 2032. Vo l . X I V. X o . 8 5 ( N e w S e r i e s ) . L O N D O N , J U LY, 1 9 1 7 . M o n t h l y, O x u P e x x y. [Reproduced by kind permisriun of Basmno, London. W e a r e g l a d t o p r e s e n t O u r S u b s c r i b e r s w i t h a n E x c e l l e n t P o r t r a i t o f o u r N e w P r e s i d e n t , W H I C H H E H A S B E E N K I N D E N O U G H T O S E N D U S F R O M F R A N C E . I N O U R L A S T N U M B E R W E E X P R E S S E D O U R S I N C E R E G R A T I F I C A T I O N T H A T F . - M . S i R D . H A I G H A D C O N S E N T E D T O S U C C E E D L O R D R O B E R T S A S P r e s i d e n t o f t h e S o c i e t y o f M i n i a t u r e R i fl e C l u b s . WWW.RIFLEMAN.ORG.UKT H E R I F L E M A N . July, 1917. THE THEORY OF THE RIFLE AND RIFLE SHOOTING ( Con/hiiied.J B y " B a l i s t i c a . " VIII. h a v e p r e v i o u s l y d e a l t w i t h a l l t h e c a u s e s affecting the flight of the bullet before and after leaving the rifle, as detailed in Chapter VI., except that which concerns the atmosphere. T h e a i r w h e n i n m o t i o n , i . e . , w i n d , w e w i l l discuss at a later stage and now devote our attention to cause eight of our tabulation :— VIII.—The Resistance of the Air. The old artillerists had a very crude and curious concep tion of the trajectory. They had no idea of the resistance offered by such an attenuated medium as our atmosphere. Most of us, with the common illustrations of the flight of a golf ball, or the stream of water from a hose-pipe, have now adays a pretty fair notion of what the actual shape of the trajectory is like. Sir George Greenhill, the distinguished mathematician, and one of the most celebrated ballisticians of his time, in his " Notes on Dynamics,"* has recalled the ancient trajectory conception which is illustrated in Figure VI. The x4' S I to Fig. VI. The ancient idea of the Trajectory. trajectory was supposed to consist of three portions, the first a straight line or " violent " portion, the second a curve of some sort, and the third again a straight line, the " natural " portion. Nicholas Tartaglia in 1537 wrote a book on gunnery and maintained that the trajectory was a curve throughout. Galileo in 1638 propounded the theory of parabolic motion as exemplified in Figure V. The parabolic theory was a great advance upon previous ideas, and it is not difficult to under stand that a parabolic curve was accepted as representing the true shape of the path of a projectile. Sir Isaac Newton devoted his attention to the subject and came to the conclusion that the resistance of the air was proportional to the square of the velocity. In his experi ments Newton used glass spheres filled with air, water and mercury, which he let fall from the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral. By observing the time occupied by the spheres in falling from the specified height he was able to calculate t h e a i r r e s i s t a n c e . Benjamin Robins was the first experimenter to measure the velocity of projectiles with any degree of accuracy. He used musket balls which he fired against a ballistic pendulum of his own invention, and carried his investigations up to 1,700 feet per second. He was able to verify the results * Wyman & Sons, Ltd., 1908. arrived at by Newton for low velocities. Above 1,200 feet per second, as the," Text Book of fiunnery " says : " Robins found that the resistance of the air was about three times the amount given by Newton's experiments, if calculated on the assumption of the quadratic law of resistance, that is, taking the resistance as varying as the square of the velocity." Following Robins came Count Rumford and Hutton to do much valuable pioneer work on the problem. A great advance was made in 1840 when Wheatstone suggested enlisting the aid of electricity in order to measure the velocities of projectiles. Wheatstone's suggestion was to erect wire screens in the path of the projectile, each screen forming part of an electric circuit. As the projectile broke .the wires of the screens the moment of disjunction was recorded by a chronograph, or time measurer. It was thus possible to ascertain very accurately the time occupied by a fast moving projectile in traversing known distances, and therefrom to deduce the resistance of the air. The Rev. Francis Bashforth (1865-1870 and 1878-1880) experimented on these lines with a chronoscope of his own design and succeeded in deducing laws of resistance which were accepted until recent years. In 1904-1906 the British Government carried out experiments with elaborate apparatus, and the results obtained, giving the resistance of the air up to very high velocities, are the latest available information we have on the subject. D B A.-'' Fig VII. BuUet'a patli with gravit.v and air resistance affecting it Figure VII. gives some idea of the bullet's path with gravity and air resistance affecting it; this should be com pared with Figure IV. of Chapter VTL, A, B, C and D being the points which would have been reached with unrestricted motion, and A^, B,, C, and D, the points actually reached. The figure is, of course, not to scale. The laws governing the resistance of the air are con veniently expressed by the following formulae :— C r = A v m . . . ( j g ) = P g . . . . ( , 7 ) In formulae (16) and (17) C is the Ballistic Coefficient of the projectile, which can be expressed as C = nkd~ (18) where w = the weight of the projectile in pounds ; n = the coefficient of reduction ; fe = the coefficient of tenuity (density of the air); and (i = the diameter of the projectile in inches}- »'=the retardation in feet per second per second; /) = the resistance in pounds to the unit projectile of I i n c h d i a m e t e r ; g=the gravitational constant; and m = the index of the power of the velocity quali fied by the constant A. WWW.RIFLEMAN.ORG.UK•lULY, 1917. T H E R I F L E M A N . The values of .\ and in as determined by the experiments of 1904-6 are a.s follows :— Limits of Velocity. f.s. f.s. A m 15.366 4,000 to 2,600 1.67 2,600 to 2,000 2,000 to 1,460 1,460 to i,igo 1,190 to 1,040 1,040 to 840 840 to o 10' 58,49s 10' 59.S14 10® 95.408 1012 23.385 10=^ 59.939 10^2 74.+22 1.8 6-45 3 1.6 10" The unit projectile in ballistic calculations is of one inch diameter and one pound in weight. The values of A and m a.s tabulated above were deduced from the experiments which were carried out with projectiles having a head struck with a two-diameter radius. What this means can be seen by reference to Figure VIII. The coefficient of tenuity, fe, is A\ FiR. VIII. Projectile of two-diameter radius ol head. u n i t y f o r s t a n d a r d a t m o s p h e r i c c o n d i t i o n s , b a r o m e t e r 3 0 inches, temperature 60 degrees Fahrenheit. The coefficient of reduction, n, includes factors of shape of head and steadi ness of flight", so that when the shape of head of a projectile is 2-diameter radius, and the steadiness of flight is the norm.il of the experiments, the value of n is unity. When the values of w, d, n and k are each equal to unity the value of C, as expressed by formula (18), is also unity. These are the standard conditions for which the laws given above are stated. The retardation during a one-second flight of a projectile conforming to these conditions, moving at a velocity of 1,400 feet per second is, then, bv formula (16):- 95.408 r = X ( 1 , 4 0 0 ) 2 ioi= = 261.8 feet per second per second. The actual resistance, p, in pounds can be calculated by formula (17). For the standard projectile moving at a velocity of 1,400 feet per second, as r = 261.8, we have 261.8 P = = 8.13 pounds. 32.19 It is useful to have a table of p for various velocities; such a table can be calculated readily from the resistance l a w s : — Table of the Resistance of the Air in pounds (p) to a projectile of two-diameter radius of head under standard conditions of shape, steadiness, and density of air. Vckxiity . p V elocity . p f.s. pounds. f.s. pounds. too 0.037 1,600 10.88 150 0.070 1.700 12.13 200 ... . ... o. in 1,800 13.44 250 0.159 1,900 14.82 300 ... ... 0.212 2,000 16.25 350 400 500 600 840 900 950 1,000 1.040 1,100 1,190 1.300 1.400 1.460 1,500 0-337 0.4S1 0.644 1.10 1.36 1.60 1.86 2.09 3.01 4-99 6.51 8.13 9.22 9.68 2,100 2,200 2.300 2,400 2.440 2,500 2,600 2,700 2,S00 3.000 3,200 3.400 3,600 3,800 4,000 ... 17.49 .... 1S.75 ... 2.0.04 ... 21.36 ... 21.90 ... 22.71 ... 24.09 ... 25.66 ... 27.26 ... 30.59 ■ 3 4 . 0 7 ... 37-71 ... 41.48 ... 45.40 ... 49.46 From the above table the resistance of the air at any velocity from 100 f.s. to 4,000 f.s. to a projectile of any diameter may be obtained by multiplying the value of p by the square of the diameter; thus, if we put R for resistance, we have :— R = : p d - . . . . ( 1 9 ) For the Mark VII. bullet with M.V. = 2,440 f.s. we have by formula (19):— R = 2i.90 X 0.31 X 0.31 = 2.1 pounds; so that, as it issues from the muzzle, the service bullet has to overcome a resistance of over two pounds. 0.22 inch miniature bullet with a muzzle velocity of 1,100 f.s. would meet a resistance of « R = 3 . 0 1 X 0 . 2 2 X 0 . 2 2 = 0.15 pound. The resistance, R, is the actual force in pounds which is exerted against the projectile. Looking at formulae (16) and (17) it will be seen that C is a measure of the power of the projectile to overcome this resistance. If C is small, although the resistance of the air is the same, the retardation will be greater than if C is large. Suppose, for example, that the service bullet had a standard shape of head and standard steadiness of flight, then n would be 1. Therefore, by formula (18) : 0.025 C = — = 0 . 2 6 0 , 0 . 3 1 X 0 . 3 1 if we let fc=i. It is obvious, then, that the retardation to the bullet will be much greater than to the standard pro j e c t i l e f o r w h i c h C = i . To calculate the retardation we take formula (16) :— Av m . ,58,495 X (2,440)1.5 1 0 ' X 0 . 2 6 0 = 2,711 feet per second. We must bear carefully in mind the fact that retardation is a m/t. In the present example the retardation of the bullet at the rifle muzzle is at the rate of 2,711 feet per second per second WWW.RIFLEMAN.ORG.UKJuly , 1917. If this rate of retardation were maintained for about I to about 1,220 f.s.s. ; and at the end of a second of flight it is intbs of a second the bullet would come to rest in that only about 420 f.s.s.. The forward velocity of the bullet at the period of time. In reality, the retardation of the bullet end of the first second of its flight is still over 1,100 feet sbes very rapidly ; in balf-a-second of flight it is reduced per second. (To be continued.) V E S T H A M N A T I O N A L R E S E R V E R I F L E C L U B . Range ; Nursery Lane, Upton Lane, Forest Gate, E. iearest Station : Forest Gate, G.E. Railway, 4 minutes' walk. 5 G R A M M E o f O P E N P R I Z E M E E T I N G t o b e h e l d a t t h e a b o v e nge from Saturday. 28th July, to Tuesday, 7th August, 1917, inclusive. Entrance Fee. s. d. Squadded Competition, 10 shots at 25 yards. 5-bull target o 6 Squadded Competition, 10 shots at 25 yards, lo-bull target o 6 Squadded Competition, 10 shots at 25 yards, time-limit target o 6 A g g r e g a t e o f C o m p e t i t i o n s i , 2 , a n d 3 i o Unlimited Deliberate, 10 shots at 25 yards, 5-bull target o 3 U n l i m i t e d T i m e - L i m i t , 1 0 s h o t s a t 2 5 y a r d s , t i m e - l i m i t target o 3 . Squadded Tyros, 10 shots at 25 yards, 5-bull target ... o '6 . Spoon Shooting (Unlimited), 10 shots at 25 yards, 5-buU target ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... o 3 (One spoon will be given for every 20 entries). l. Unlimited Sporting Com.petitions on Special Targets ... o 3 ) . P o o l ( U n l i m i t e d ) e a c h t a r g e t o i (The figures 10 in centre of single bull—3 shots— figures to be entirely removed. Pool (minus 20 per cent, deducted for Club) will be shared between successful competitors). I . T h e " S t r a t f o r d E x p r e s s " C u p . Te a m s o f f o u r ( t ' l i i s Competition is limited to Essex Clubs only), whole of t e a m t o s h o o t t o g e t h e r . . . . . . . . . p e r t e a m 2 o V. T . C . C O M P E T I T I O N S . Ali. V .T .C. CoMPET iT ioss, Open Sights, No Slings. 12. Squadded, 50yds., centre ring, ain.- bull at 25yds., 10 s h o t s d e l i b e r a t e . . . o 3 13. Squadded, 15 20 V.T.C., ijin. bull at 25 yards, 10 shots deliberate ... ... ... ._ ••• • ■ . . . . o 3 14. Squadded, Figure Target (100 seconds allowed), 10 shots rapid ■ o 1 5 - A g g r e g a t e o f C o m p e t i t i o n s 1 2 , 1 3 , a n d 1 4 o 16. Unlimited Deliberate, 15'20 V.T.C. Target, 10 shots ... o 18. 19. 20. Unlimited Rapid, 15-20 V.T.C. Target (100 seconds), 10 shots V. T. C . Te a m S h o o t . Te a m s o f f o u r . 1 0 s h o t s o n 1 5 / 2 0 V . T . C . T a r g e t p A t e a m 2 P O L I C E A N D S P E C I A L P O L I C E C O M P E T I T I O N . U n l i m i t e d D e l i b e r a t e , 2 0 s h o t s o n l o - b u l ! t a r g e t , 2 5 y a r d s o Ladies' Competition, 10 shots at 25 yards, 5-bull target... o SPECLAL COMPETITIONS. Cartridge Bursting by Teams of Four will take place on Monday, 6th August, commencing at 2.30 p.m. The target will consist of 10 " 22" cartridges placed in a piece of wood painted black. The team.s will be drawn in pairs and will shoot together on knock-out system. The team bursting the most cartridge? in t w o m i n u t e s w i l l c o u n t w i n n e r s . T h e w i n n i n g t e a m in the Final will, in addition to the prizes, become the holders of the Club Goblets for one year. Entry fee p e r t e a m 1 3 . " K " D i v i s i o n o f P o l i c e T e a m S h o o t . T e a m s o f S i x . 10 shots, S.M.R.C. 5-bull Match Card, 25 yards. P e r t e a m . . . . . . . . . • . • . . . . . . . . 2 (This Competition is limited to members of the " K " Division of Police only.) Entrance Fee. s. d. 2 3 B O Y S C O U T S O R C A D E T S . A Medal, kindly presented by Mr. J. A. Grove, will be given to the Boy Scout or Cadet under 18 years of age making the best score on a 2-bull target at 25 yards, 10 shots, open sights. A Second Prize given b y t h e C l u b . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . o i 24. " Open Sight " Match between West Ham Nat-onal Re serve, " K " Division Police, and ist Essex V.T.C. Te a m s o f S i x . 1 0 s h o t s d e l i b e r a t e o n 1 5 / 2 0 V. T. C . ' P a r g e t . N o s l i n g s . . . . . . . . . . . . p e r t e a m 5 o The S.M.R.C. has kindly presented, with other prizes, a Life Membership of tlie S.'M.R.C., which will be awarded at this meeting as a prize. Shooting will be carried out strictly in accordance with the Rules of the '.S.Al.R.C. and competitors entering squadded competitions must state the day on which they intend to shoot. The Range will be open for shooting as follows :— On Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday,. I t o 8 p . m . On Saturdays, all day. On Sundays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday, yth August, 10 a.m. to noon, when shooting will cease. The prizes will be distributed at the close of the meeting on Tuesday, "th August, when a Grand Concert will be given on the ■ Range Grounds. All competitors and their friends are cordiallv invited. Entries for Competitions 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 18, 20, 2 1 , a n d 2 2 s h o u l d b e m a d e b y l e t t e r t o t h e S e c r e t a r y, w h i c h s h o u l d r e a c h h i m n o t l a t e r t h a n t h e fi r s t p o s t o n 2 3 r d J u l y. O t h e r C o m petitions on Range. F. STANLEY, Hon. Secret.ary, 16S, Tennyson Road, Stratford, E.15. SPECIAL CONST ABULAR Y I N T E R - D I V I S I O N A L R I F L E L E A G U E . (Up to and including June 30th.) NOR THERN SECTION. ' M a t c h e s . Division. Shot. I. s. 3 2. X. ....... 3 3. N. .... 3 4. Y . ....... 4 5. F . ....... 3 3 2 2 I o 0 1 I 3 3 o o o o o Appfi-egaie Score. 2,264 1,310* 2,132 2,638 o S c r a t c h e d Points. . 6 . ■ 4 • • 4 • 2 * Includes walk-over again'st F Division. SOUTH.ERN SECTION. Division. 1. 2. 3- 4- 5- R. Y B L.G.O.C. T iShot. 3 4 3 3 3 Wo n . 3 3 I I o Matches. Lost. Drawn. 0 1 2 2 3 o o o o o Points. , 6 , 6 . , 2 . 2 . . o . Aggregate Score. 2.303 2,255" 2,203 2,192 1,309 * Includes allowance for two matches shot with sights and walk-over against T Division. WWW.RIFLEMAN.ORG.UK7 MACKWORTH PRAED CHALLENGE CUP FOR VOLUNTEER REGIMENTS. Open to teams of eight from any Company or smaller unit of Volunteer Regiments affiliated either to the Central Association of Volunteer Regiments or to the S.M.R.C. Ten shots per man deliberate at 25 yards, S.M.R. 50 yds. match targets, with 2 inch bull and carton ring. [By l;ind ivrmh'sion of the "Daily GrapMe." THIC WINNIXG TE.\M .-\ND CAPTAIX MILLAK. RESULT OF SEMI-FINAL. B Co. Qth Surrey (776) beat Bolsover Unit .A. Co. 4th Derbys (764) by 12. 99 F. E . B a d d e l e y L. S. Snell ... T. W . W i d d o w s o n H. S. Heywood C. W alker W. H. Phelp ... E. Ball E. Barry .1 99 97 97 97 97 95 95 Larkin ... . Leaving C. Cults E. C. Sykes ... J. Woodhouse J. Thackeran \\'right Kirk H. W 99 97 97 97 96 95 9i 9' Witness ; H. C. Pressland. Witness ; F. Carter, S.M.R.C. A Co. 5th City of London .A Team (774) beat C. Co. ist Devon ■A Team (772) by 2. E. .A. ChownT. E . B a r r e t t . . . . . . 9 9 Sergt. Cockerill 99 L i e u t . C o o p e r . . . . . . p S S e r g t . S t u r g e s s 9 7 S e r g t . R e y n o l d s 9 7 Sergt. Martin 95 W . H . B u t c h e r . . . . . . 9 5 S e r g t . K i l l i c k 9 4 W i t n e s s ; F. J . T u c k n o t t , S . M . R . C . 100 W . E . N A ' c e k s 9 9 R. T eele ... ... . ■■ 9 S .A. M. Sncllgrove 9S ] ' . F . C o . x 9 7 E. G. A'cnn ... .•• 9b G . D a l l e y 9 4 H . H . B r e t t i n g h a m . . . 9 0 W i t n e s s : Major C. B. Templer. The Final Stage of the Competition took place on Wednesday, July 4th, on the range of the Ham & Petersham I^ifle Club, between teams drawn from A Co. 5th City of I^ondon V.R. and B Co. 9th Surrey V.R. After a very interesting contest, the former team secured the victory by the small margin of seven points. The d e t a i l e d s c o r e s a r e a s f o l l o w s : — I. A Co. 5ih City of London A'.R. (the Challenge Cup, eight Silver Medals, and ;£rS). Corpl. Barrett ... ... ■■■ t o o Sergt. Cockerill ... Sergt. Ivillick Sergt. Martin Sergt. Reynolds ... Pte. Butcher Lieut. Cooper Sergt. Sturgess ... 95 97 96 96 96 95 95 773 B Co. gth Surrev V.R. (eight Bronze Medals and ;£'4). Pte. Sneil 9S P t e . D a n v e r s W a l k e r Pte. Widdowson I.ce.-Corpl. Pratt Sergt. Baddeley ... Corpl. Barrv Pte. Ball Pte. Phelp 98 97 96 96 95 94 92 766 WWW.RIFLEMAN.ORG.UK8 T H E R I F L E M A N , July, 1917. A l t h o u g h t h e c o m p e t i t i o n w a s s h o t i n t h e r a i n , t h e l i g h t w a s q u i t e f a v o u r a b l e f o r r e a l l y g o o d s h o o t i n g , a n d t h e f a c t t h a t b o t h teams scored slightly under their average in the preliminary stages can be accounted for by the excitement and " nerves " which usually a ff e c t t e a m s s h o o t i n g u n d e r s h o u l d e r - t o - s h o u l d e r c o n d i t i o n s . C o r p l . Barrett is to be congratulated upon making a possible—the first that h a s b e e n r e c o r d e d i n t h e fi n a l s t a g e s o f a n y o f o u r V o l u n t e e r Regiment Competitions. T h e d o n o r o f t h e C u p , S i r H e r b e r t M a c k w o r t h P r a e d , B a r t . , was present, and witnessed the whole of the shooting. Before pre senting the Cup to the winners he stated :—" The second annual competition promoted by the Society of Miniature Rifle Clubs for the Mackworth Praed Challenge Trophy (which has been taken part in by teams of eigiit men drawn from any company or smaller unit of Volunteer Regiments throughout England, Scotland, and Wales) has proved one of the most notable successes of the current sea.son. The entries numbered 266, against 2S1 in the previous year, these being drawn from 39 counties in all (England 34, Scotland 2, Wales 2. and Guernsey 1). The number of different competitors who have taken part in the various rounds is 2,128. be beaten in the si.xth round, as up'to that time they had shown the best form of any team and averaged no less than 780.83 for seven shoots. " A n o t h e r p o i n t w o r t h c o m m e n t i n g u p o n i s t h e n u m b e r o f p o s s i b l e t a r g e t s w h i c h h a v e b e e n r e t u r n e d i n t h e c o u r s e o f t h e c o m p e t i t i o n . T h i s y e a r t h e r e a r e n o l e s s t h a n S t ( i n c l u d i n g t h e one made this afternoon), against 48 last year. It is very interesting to state that without exception every competitor who has taken p.trt in the final stage has used the S.M.R.C.'s Converted .Martini rifles." W h e n h a n d i n g t h e C u p a n d m e d a l s t o t h e w i n n i n g t e a m . . S i t Herbert .Mackworth Praed heartily congratulated them upon their victory, and stated that if they were successful in winning the cu() three years in succession it should become their oun property, and he would be willing to provide another for further competitions, l i e a l s o h a n d e d t h e b r o n z e m e d a l s t o t h e i n d i v i d u a l m e m b e r s o f t h e losing team, and congratulated them upon the good fight they had put up. Captain .Miller, representing the A Co. 5lh City of London V.R., stated that the Corps were very proud of having won the htmdsome IBy kind pcrmimion of Ike ■■ Graihic." PRESENTATION OF CUP BY SIR HERBERT MACKW^ORTH PRAED, BART. " T h e s h o o t i n g t h r o u g h o u t t h e w h o l e o f t h e p r e l i m i n a r y r o u n d s has shown a great improvement upon that of last year, when the highest score recorded throughout the competition was 780. On this occasion this score has been beaten no less than 13 times, the record score now being 787, made by B Co. gth Surrey, one of the teams taking part in the final to-day, followed by 786, made by Thetiord Platoon 6th Norfolk V.R. The most extraordinary per formance of the whole competition has been the individual shooting of Mr. A. Holden, of the Thetford Platoon, who took part in seven rounds and scored five possibles, a 99, and a 98, thus only dropping three points out of a possible 700. " The two teams shooting to-day, viz., .A Co. 5th City of London V.R. and B Co. gth Surrey V.R., have been most consistent during the whole course of the corripetition, B Co. gth Surrey having shot in seven previous rounds and averaged exactly 777 per shoot, whilst A Co. 5th City of London, in seven rounds and a tie shoot, have averaged 777-87 for their eight shoots. Although I can con gratulate these teams on qualifying for the final stage", I would like to point out that the 1 hetford Platoon were extremely unlucky to challenge trophy and were also very grateful to-Sir Herbert Praed for coming to the range to present it. He hoped that the team would again succeed in getting into the final next year Lieutenaiu Potter, on behalf of E Co, r.fh Surrey V.R., also vi'ctor^'- ""^''IJcrt Praed and congratuL-iU-d the winners' on iheir In connrction with the Competition, thv. fciiowing have received S.Iyer Souvenir Spoons for the highest a-yerage score in each of the eight leading teams :— No. of A. Holden, Thetford Plat. A Co. 6th Norfc-Ik'^^.'!^''7°" H. Lynn, A Co. 3th City of Londoti ... 6 0882 T. late.son, D Co. 17th West Riding 6 0866 A. h. Carder, Stourbridge Co. ist Worcs. ... 7 98.37 E. C. Sykes, Bolsover Unit A Co. 4th D.-fcv-.'!.' o qs';^ L. S. Snell, B Co. gth Surrey .. ../ ' 7 Is il F. F. Cox, C Co. ist Devon ' I 07!^ L. Mills, Colchester Co. 2nd Essex 6 07.22 WWW.RIFLEMAN.ORG.UKJuly , 1917. T H E R I F L E M A N . METROPOLITAN INTER-BOROUGH MINIATURE RIFLE SHOOTING CHALLENGE CUP COMPETITION. The I-'inal Stage of the above event uas competed for shoulder to shoulder on the range of the -Manslield (Highgate) Rhie Club on Saturdav, July 7th, between teams representing the Boroughs of Hornsev Kensington, Lewisham, ;md Shoreditch—the four, leading teams in the Preliminarv Stage, shooting for which tooU place during the months of .April, May, and June, on the respective home ranges. The scores in the First Stage were as follow.s .April. -Mav. 1,508 ... 1,49' ... 1,481 ... 1,492 ... i,4«S ... 1,44b ... 1,421 •••• i,33.s ... I,-'37 1.150 Hornsey Shoreditch Kensington Lewisham Wa n d s w o r t h C a m b e r w e l l St. I'ancras Stolce Newington Lambeth Finsbury Deptford In the Final Stage the Conditions into two s'ections of four ; rapid firing J line. 1.33.S L,S-- 1.547 1.514 1,5-15 1.457 1,424 1.347 1.537 i.5-'9 1.53^ 1,517 iWh5 1,500 1,460 1.4-19 i.3<M 1.1144 1.1^43 were te.-ims of eight, divided a t 2 i n . b r e a U a b l e d i s c s a t To t t i l . 4,5ii'5 4.559 4.554 4.545 4.501 4.510 4.3Ai 4.-74 3.98b io'o var'ds 12 disc.5 to each four competitors, time limit three minutes; one section of four from each of the opposing Boroughs to compete against each other, the team breaking all its discs first or most in throe minutes to score one point. 'I'he second sections to compete under similar conditions, and the Borough scoring the most points to be the winners. The shooting throughout failed to reach the high standard of the last few ye.aVs, but 'ihis can be to a great extent accounted for by the strong wind and changing light, both features having fai more effect upon this style of shooting than on ordinary shooting with a black and white target. The best heat w;is undoubtedly the tie shoot between Shoreditch and Kensington, when the former team broke the whole of its 12 discs in imin. lysecs. and .secured the trophy. The Shoreditch teani thoroughly deserved its victory, it being' decidedly the best team on the day. The following are the details of the I'inal Stage : — Heat I. Heat 2. Heat 3. Heat Heat 5. Heat 6, Heat 7. Heat 8. Heat 9. Heat 10. Heat It. Heat 12, Shoreditch .A L. Flavell P. C . E b n c r H. G. Flovd .A. Ridd Shoreditch B .A, Barbour W, W e e k e s G. G, S, Crampton M, Russell L e w i s h a m A J. Anthony J. Black R. H. Anthony E. A. T uf frey Kensington B J. N. Baxter W. S e a r l e W. B a i l e y A, F". Allman Kensington A Hornsey B ... Shoreditch A ... Shoreditch B H o r n s e y A . . . H o r n s e y B Kensington A Kensington B b e a t H o r n s e v . A . . . H. \V . Curchin W. R . M u m b y .A. (i. Rickarby P. F . E v c r i t t , , H o r n s e v B . . . F. C a l k i n W. S m i t h W, T . N o r t o n H. Gibbons Kensington .A J. T. Stevens F. . A . M i d d l e f o n W. B . M a y W. H . G a r d n e r L e w i s h a m B F. O . A n d r e w G. Riley F. J . T u c k n o t t W. S t o n e Hornsey .A ... Kensington B L e w i s h a m . A L e w i s h a m B L e w i s h a m A L e w i s h a m B Shoreditch .A Shoreditch B Ti m e . M. s. 1.50 I-45 2-59 3-0 1-55 1-39 2.20 2.25 2.29 2.24 1-57 Shoreditch L. Flavell W. W e e k e s H. G. Flovd T I E S H O O T . ... beat Kensington ... J, T. Stevens W. B . M a y J. N. Baxter C. G. S. Crampton W. S e r l e The Shoreditch Borough will hold the Cup for the ensuing year while each member of the team received a silver medai. bach [r-embcr of each of the losing teams received a silver spoon. Alter the Shoot llie Mayor of Wandsworth handed over the Cup to tlie winners, and presented the spoons to the losing teams. He staled tliat the medals would be presented at a later date. In com menting on the few entries this year, due probably to the number oi men engaged on services connected with the war, tlie expressed Ihe hope that in future years the competition would be supported by all the 32 Borouglis. He thanked the Mansheld Club for the use of their range for the final shoot, and also Mr. brank Carter, the Assistant Secretary of the S.M.R.C., for taking charge ot the shooting. Speeches were also made by the Mayor of ^Hornsey. Lieut.-Col. ^Lc May, J.P., ex-Mayor of Lewisham, and Mr. C. Newton Russell, Borough blectrical Engineer of Shoreditch. NORTH RIDING VOLUNTEER REGIMENT COMPETITION. % Bcluw we give the result of the Competition .nrranged by the Countv .Vssociation of Miniature Rifle Clubs of the North Riding of Yorkshire, open to teams representing North Riding \ olunteers alTiliavod to the .Association and to the S.M.R.C. The Conditions were teams of eight, shooting with open sights and no slings at 20 yards, on the 15 20 yards double V.l.C. target with carton ring. ist Prize (4,:8)—Scarborough Co. A Team (766). B.S.M. Fountain 99 S e r g t . C . E . Wa n l c s s . . . 9 9 Sergt. J. T. Cowlon ... 96 Pte. G. Ditchburn 96 Pte. T. I. W right ... Sergt. H. O. Taylor S . M . E n . W a t t s . . . Corpl. R. I?.ichardson 96 95 94 9t 2nd Prize (^4)—Northallertton Section A Team (758). Corpl. B. Calvert Pte. A. Elgie ... Sergt. I^ambcrt Pte. .A. Robson 99 ,Sergt. Walker 97 S.M. Gibson ... 97 Sergt. Mason 96Pic. E. Willoughby ... 89 95 93 92 3rd Prize (;^:2)—5th N.R.V.R. A Team (737). W. S p e n c e r H. Martin M. Bradley H. Carter 96 95 94 93 A. Bradlev E. Hill (i. Diinn R. H. Riddle 9t 9t 89 Scores : Shoreditch, 4 ; Kensington, 4 ; Hornsey, Lewisham, i. A Co. Thirsk (736), ist.Platoon C Co. N.R.V.R. (729). Ncrthallerton Section B Team (718). -■t h B a t t . N . R . V. R . B Te a m ( 7 0 8 ) . B Co. I/3rd N.R.V.R. (691). Thornaby Det. A Team (686). Loftus Co. (684). Richmond Platoon (569). WWW.RIFLEMAN.ORG.UK1 0 T H E R I F L E M A N . J m v . 1 9 " . ' C A R E O F A R M S . " B y " A k e r i m a n , " M u s k e t k v O f fi c e r. — s A X T R A C T f r o m " M u s k e t r y R e g u l a t i o n s , " P a r t I . : — " . . . W h e n a r i fl e b a r r e l i s n e w , t h e i n t e r i o r o f t h e b o r e c a r r i e s a h i g h p o l i s h . . . . i t m u s t b e ■ — " J c l e a r l y u n d e r s t o o d t h a t , i n a w e l l - c a r e d - f o r r i f l e , while the brilliancy of the polish will diminish, the lands of the bore should still be bright and free from all stain of rust or fouling." While most rifleshots, miniature and otherwise, know this, how very few there are who can at first keep that " brightness" for long in their barrels ! Before the war. we civilians generally learnt our lesson by h a r d e x p e r i e n c e . T h e fi r s t r i fl e t h e w r i t e r p o s s e s s e d w a s speedily ruined through ignorance of " Care of Arms." The next lasted little longer. But now he has a match rifle which has fired thousands of shots and been at many compeiilion meetings, and the barrel has its original brilliance. The Army teaches one many things. And one of the first of these is that it does not pay a Government to let its soldiers learn their rifle-cleaning by means of ruining rifle barrels. The soldier has to keep his first barrel spotless. It is probably the only one he will ever get, while in this country at any rate. And a dirty rifle at inspection leads to pack drill or "C.B."— a n d w e l l - m e r i t e d t o o , f o r To m m y A t k i n s i s p r o p e r l y t a u g h t from the beginning, in any decent Battalion. After this war, there will probably be some improvements i n t h e r u n n i n g o f R i fl e C l u b s . P e r h a p s t h e i n s t i t u t i o n o f a " Care of Arms " lecture for "recruits" may be one. Mean while, let me give some idea to the readers of this paper of what the lecture would consist. As soon as the army recruit gets his rifle, then, he is taught | " Trigger Pressing " (of which more anon) and " Care of .A.rms." The latter subject is split up into several heads. First comes " daily cleaning "—for that he must learn at once. It may be raining heavily when his rifle is issued, or sand may be blowing in clouds across the parade ground—yfet his rifle must be spotless when next brought on parade. In " daily cleaning," then, the outside of the rifle must first be "wiped clean and dry and free from grit or hard oil." This means a very great deal more than might be supposed. It means the man must take out the bolt and magazine, and wipe off all dirt. He must get a small brush (Tommy gets into trouble with the Medical Officer very often for using his tooth brush for this purpose !) and extract all dirt, to the last grain and particle, from all the nooks and crannies of bolt, cam grooves, cocking piece, charger guide, boltway, magazine recess, backsight, nose cap and all the rest of it. It takes some hard knocks on inspection, as a rule, to make him understand how very clean it must all be. Then in damp weather he must wipe over the whole gun with an oily rag. In dusty weather it must be left dry. If there be any rust anywhere, he must on no account use emery paper or any gritty substance. Oil, or at worst paraffin, is all that may be used—and#!*' must be Army Russian Petroleum at that—if he can get it. As a matter of fact, they supply all sorts of stuff these days. Now for the main part, the bore, i.e., the inside of the barrel. This must be thoroughly cleaned once a week, if the rifle is not fired. The cleaning is done by using a cord " pull- through," with dry "Regulation 4in. by zin. flannelette" in the loop, the middle loop, not the end one. That is for the armourer to get hold of to extract the broken end in case of a "jam," and heavy penalties attach to putting flannelette in it. This is pulled through many, many times, until the bore is bright. Then a smaller piece of oiled flannelette is'pulled through, leaving a film of oil behind to protect the steel against moisture. This oil is, in the ordinary way, left in for a week. At the end of the week there is generally a special " dry clean" inspection, when the barrels are examined, the oil being replaced immediately afterwards. So much, then, for routine cleaning. Now for " cleaning after firing ball." When the rifle is fired, the explosion of the gases causes three kinds of fouling. The first, superficial, is caused by the solid products of combustion of the cap comjiosition and charge. This is the black deposit which one sees in the bore. The next, internal, is caused by harmful matters from the combustion, of a highly acid nature, being forced into the pores of the steel while hot, by the enormous pressure of the gases. If neglected, this acid residue rapidly causes corrosion and "rust- pitting." The third fouling is " metallic," or nickelling. It is caused by portions of the cupro-nickel envelope of the bullet being deposited, or smeared, on the steel bore, and rapidly causes in accuracy if allowed to accumulate. It is visible on the lands in t h e f o r m o f w h i t i s h s t r e a k s . Now, to get rid of these foulings, the first thing is to remove the superficial fouling by means of a pull-through, first with oiled and then dry flannelette patches. Then it is necessary to open the pores of the steel to get out the internal fouling. The regulation, and by far the best, method, is to pour down the barrel from breech to muzzle by meansof afunnel,five to six pints of hoiVfagwater. Thefouling then exudes and can be wiped out. The bore is then dried and re-oiled. This method is always adopted on Government Rifle Ranges, and also in the trenches, when conditions allow. The bore may be wiped perfectly clean at first, but after the hot water is poured tiuough, the patches come out again as black as ink with the internal fouling. This treatment should be repeated for three days after firing, as the fouling still continues to exude, and will still cause trouble if not cleared out. Nickelling rarely occurs in a good barrel, but often starts when once the polish is allowed to deteriorate. The rifle is then at once handed to the armourer, who gets out the superfluous metal by means of mercury preparations which dissolve the nickel. The soldier is strictly forbidden to attempt to clean out nickel himself. This then, is the system of teaching whereby the recruit is enabled to. take good care of his rifle from the start. In a luture article the writer proposes to show how knowledge thus gained may be applied to the cleaning of the .22, and wherein lie the differences and pitfallg. Co., Ltd., Rin.E§, PARKERIFLING, AMMUliiTldNi vTiteErSFCJINVAS AND LEATHER GOODS £ A - * r - / ' - * h p '■'■I j.: .A ■.^ "I iiftiiiitrpf , - v ' ^ A - ' w A ' ■ - ■ = :SB-l'-I , ','75» , sLOHTs; Optical and TEUscopiCr Ki'scocit parxer magaijne, telescopes BIRIWIINGHAM" WWW.RIFLEMAN.ORG.UK■ Tn-v . 1017. the rifleman. 1 1 QUEEN ALEXANDRA'S CHALLENGE CUP, 1917. For tlu." first time sinre lliis Compi'tiiion was instituted in 1907 i t w a s u n l o r t i i n a t e l y f o u n d p r a c t i c a l l y i m p o s s i b l e t o h a v e t h e F i n a l s h o t s l u j u l d e r t o s h o u l d e r . . V r r a n o e m e n t s w e r e t h e r e f o r e m a d e f o r t h e i | ' o r h s h i r e a n d D e r b y s h i r e t e a m s t o s h o o t o n t h e r a n g e o f t h e Hrincliffe and Kcclesall Rille Club on June 16th, whilst Middlesex and .Surrey shot on June 2jrd on the range of the Ham and P e t e r s h a m R i t l e C l u b . T h e s h o o t i n g b e t w e e n t h e r e s p e c t i v e p a i r s wa- vi ry close, but the scores made by the Metropolitan Counties averaged 40 points more than their competitors in the North. The score of .Middlesex, the winning team, compares very favourably w i t h t h a t o f L i n c o l n s h i r e , t h e w i n n e r s o n t h e f o u r p r e v i o u s o c c a sions, whilst the 403 points made by Mr. 11. W. Curchin for .Middlesex has only once been beaten since the Congietition was .made a te.am shoot in 1910. The details of the F'inal Stage were as follows :— CON'Dl riONS. (d) 20 shots deliberate at 25 ytirds, 2 .S.M.R.C. Match 1 argets. (/i| 20 shots ;it 2 .S.M.R.C. Time-Limit Targets each in 90 sees, (cj One minute firing at a Skirmisher Target at 25 yards. I. The Cup, 0 Cold Medals and .MIDDLILSKX. Ti m e - Del. Del. Limit. .Skir . T otal. 11 . W. C u r c h i n too 97 too 97 9 403 A, D. Ctirlwright 9896 9592 8 389 11.G i b b o n s . . . ... 97 9992955 388 W. ■ f. .Norton98 9494 95 63S7 A. C>. Rickarby 98 96 929"7 384 G. We s t w e l l . . . ... 97 95 909"5 378 588 577 563 561 4"2,329 2. Six Silver Medals and ;£?6. SURREY . Ti m e - DeL Del. Limit. Skir . T otal. H. Harding ... 9898 97 too 9402 G . C . . M . W i l l c o x . . . 9997929" 103S9 H. Gough 9995 95 927 3SS H. C. ■pre.'island 97 96 9"9"10 385 M i s s K . M a y 94 98 96 888 384 .\. Butt 9594 85 94 10378 58257S 5.56 fJi 1 11 1 54 2.326 3 . S i x S i l v e r M e d a l s and ^.6. • YORKSHIRE. ). Spinks 9794 96 94 / 3SS .\. Greaves 96 9595 89 10 3S5 1. 11. .Stokes 9"9593 9II 7 3S2 "g. Blake 96 9794 88638" W. D i x o n 94 9883 95 / 377 F. P a u l s o n 9795 89 90 3 376 57" 576 55"55240 2,289 4 . . S i x S i l v e r M e d a l s and ;T6 DERBYSHIRE. G. Allen 9999979"9395 H. .Moore 96 95 96 94 6 3S7 J. Daziel 95979"95 8 386 F. ( ! . . S m i t h . . . 8998 93 96 6 3S2 C. Barraciough ... 94 95 8896 4377 E . B m g h a m . . . ... 94 98 82 76 6 356 5675S2 547 548 39 2.2S3 -O- S . M . R . C . T E A M C H A M P I O N S H I P . CONDITIONS.—One team of six from any club in the United Kingdom affiliated to the S.M.R.C. ten each at 25, 30 and 100 yards, S.M.R.C. match targets. 30 shots deliberate. RESUL T OF PRELIMINAR Y ROUND. H a m & P e t e r s h a m Lee Wey bridge Alexandra Palace Edmonton Garston 1713 beat Maiden Athletes. 1601 by 112 S e v c n o a k s . . . 1 6 1 0 , , 9 2 Brighton Railway A t h l e t i c . . . 1 5 7 0 , , 7 9 ■ W a l t h a m s t o w Ensign ... 1668 ,, 56 Borough of Wa n d s w o r t h . 1 6 6 1 , , 5 2 Devonport ... 1655 ,, 46 1702 1649 1724 1713 1701 Dundee1709 beat Brancepeth 1677 by 32 Hampton & Hampton Hill 1646 beat Bicester Town District ... & B r i n c l i f f e & E c c l e s a l l . . . 1 6 S 4 Shanklin 1702 H ; u n & ! P e t e i s h a m . . . 1 7 2 0 Kllengowan ... ... 1714 Dundee ... ... ... 1706 ifiarswood Hall Collieries . 1659 Cherwell Stourbridge M i t c h a m . . . M'ellingore Midland Railway , Derby Urmston 1514 by 132 "553 1640 "675 1672 1664 1621 "3" 62 ■15 42 42 38 Dennis • " 6 3 9 ,, Castleford 1613 „ 26 P a d i h a m . . . 1701 ,, Wimbledon Park1689 ,, 12 B r i n c l i f f e & E c c l e s a l l . . . 1 6 6 8 ,, Middlesbrough . "6599 Renfield • " 6 9 3 ,, G.E.R. Mechs.' Institute1687 ,, 6 Stourbridge . 1 6 4 9 ,, Metropolitan (Birmingham) 1647 ,, 2 Ellengowan . 1 6 9 9 Maidenhead did not return targets. FIRST ROUND. Padiham... 1711beat Renfield ,. 1683 by28 Pitsmoor 16S1 ,, Atlas ■ 1654 ,, 27 Garston ... 1697 ,, Dennis .. 1674 ,, 23 Cheam... 1700,, R.N. Barracks, Devonport .. 1681 ,, "9 W e s t H a m N . R ... 1648 , , We y b r i d g e .. 1630 ,, 18 Edmonton ... ... 1716 ,, .Alexandra Palace 1700 ,, 16 L a n c a s t e r . . . ... 1695 ,, Lee .. 1679 ,, 16 G l o u c e s t e r C i t y... 1706 ,, Perth City & C o u n t y . . . .. 1696 ,, ID DRA W FOR SECOND ROUND. 1 . A d d i s c o m b e o r A p p l e t o n v. D u n d e e . 2. Ellengowan v. Cheam. 3. Ham and Petersham v. Garston. 4. Pitsmoor v. Lancaster. 5. Garswood Hall Collieries v. Shanklin. 6 . E d m o n t o n v . W e s t H a m N a t i o n a l R e s e r v e . 7 . B r i n c l i f f e a n d E c c l e s a l l v. G l o u c e s t e r C i t y. 8. Padiham v. Hampton and Hampton Hill. 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