< PreviousT H E R I F L E M A N J u n e , 1 9 4 3 . PROSPECTIVE COMPETITIONS FOR THE WINTER SEASON {Subject to decision of the Executive Committee of the Council.) T .-TO S.M.R.C. Home Guard Team Competition earns ° epresentii^ Platoons. Third Year Competition for Mackworth Praed Challenge Cup. SCOOTING -"d CLOSE 1st December, 1943. SHOOTING.-FIRST STAGE commences 1st January and ends 29th February, 1944. SECOND STAGE 1st March to 30th April. 1944 (for 25 teams leading in First Stage results). ^P'y for Entry Forms October 1st, 1943. News of the World" National Team Competition leams of four competitors, 2 cards each at either 15, 20 or 25 yards Twenty prizes divided equally between Home Guard Units and Rifle Clubs. - each organisation may enter more than one team. Entry—First team, 5s. ; each additional team from the same club 2/6. enter at once. Entries close llth October, 1943. The Scottish Cup Competition Teams of four, 2 cards each competitor at either 15, 20 or 25 yards Open only to affiliated clubs having ranges in Scotland. .This competition may be shot concurrently with the News of the World competition. Entry fee 51- for one team and 2/6 for each additional team from the same club. Entries close llth October, 1943. LONDON AND DISTRICT CLUBS SHOULD ENTER THE Browne Martin Competition To be shot as far as possible concurrently with the News of the World. Entry fee, 2/6 per team. The S.M.R.C. War-Time League Teams of five competitors at either 15, 20 or 25 yards. Teams will be allocated to divisions of 12 teams according to strength. Two team prizes in each division. Entry fee 10/- per team. Entries close llth October, 1943. The S.M.R.C. Pistol League Teams of four, at 10 and 20 yards. Official Pistol targets to be used. Teams will be placed In divisions according to strength. About six teams to a division. Entry fee 7/6 per team. Entries close llth October, 1943 Junior Winter Competition IN TWO SECTIONS : MAJOR, under 18. MINOR, under 15. Open to teams ojfour from Army Cadet Force, Sea Cadet Corps, Junior Training Corps, Air Training Corps, Home Guards, Cadets, Boy Scouts, Rifle Clubs, or any Junior organization. Two cards each competitor, at either 15, 20 or 25 yards. Entry fee 2/6 per team. Entries close 15th November, 1943. The "News of the World" Individual Competition Embracing the English, Scottish and Welsh Senior and Junior National Championships, also Veterans' Competition. In three stages. 15 prizes. Extra prizes for National winners. Entries close 15th November, 1943. Single entry 2/-, or three for 5/- if made at the same time. WWW.RIFLEMAN.ORG.UKJune, 1943. T H E R I F L E M A N 25 Extract from " The American Rifleman,'' 'January, 1943. Snipers on the '' I ^HEY have a high opinion of the rifle in the Red Army, I recognizing that in the hands of a trained man •L it is a deadly weapon. Every infantryman is encouraged to become a sniper. Behind the lines the training goes on continuously. Soviet snipers hunt in couples. Each man has a rifle equipped with a telescopic sight. Usually one does the shooting while the other observes. Every twenty minutes or so they change roles, since long intent gazing through field-glasses is very trying on the eyes. At short range, when there are a large number of targets, particularly when a German attack is being repulsed, both partners maintain fire. The sniper's commonest targets are enerhy officers, observers, snipers, gunners, trench-mortar men, automatic riflemen, aeroplanes on the point of landing and para chutists. So that he may give his skill full play, the sniper is allowed considerable independence in action. Ele uses his own judgment in selecting positions and targets. Often . he acts in isolation on the most dangerous sectors, and remains in ambush when necessary to cover the retreat of his unit. He needs not only great skill, but also high courage and contempt for danger. Snipers take part in both offensive and defensive fighting. Recently an infantry company was ordered to advance in a certain important sector. The commander called snipers into the preliminary conference before commencing the offensive, and instructed them to keep on the outer flanks of the first and second platoons and to pick off scouts and snipers, automatic riflepien and machine-gunners. The snipers of the third platoon remained with their group, which advanced in the company's second line,,while a party of snipers kept a little ahead of the flank squads. They observed all suspicious features of the terrain, keeping an especially wary eye on a mound beyond which they dis cerned a hardly noticeable camouflaged earthbank. When the platoons advanced to the attack, the Germans opened desultory fire from trenches. Machine-guns began to rattle from the mound. The Red Infantry fell to the earth. The gunners could not be seen, but puffs of smoke revealed their position. The Soviet snipers then opened oblique fire from both flanks, those on the right aiming at the left side of the mound, and those on the left at the right side. The German machine-guns were silenced. But the snipers continued firing to prevent the machine-guns from coming to life again. Taking advantage of the cessation of fire, the platoons rose and charged. One machine-gun opened fire for a moment, but the snipers silenced it again. Here is another example—this time of successful co operation by snipers in defensive fighting. Three pairs of snipers were sent to take up positions on the nearest approaches to the Soviet defence lines. One pair, who established themselves near a little bridge across a stream, , was instructed to keep a definite zone under observation, paying special attention to the exit from a certain thicket. An automatic rifleman accompanied this pair of snipers. Russian Front They were instructed that when the German vanguard reached a specified line they should withdraw to the main position. While withdrawing, they were to halt at inter mediate points and open fire. Similar precise instructions were given to the second pair, who advanced to the mouth of a gully, and to the tliird pair, who took up a position at the bend of the stream. After some time scouts appeared. Adapting them selves- to the terrain, they advanced toward the company's defence line. The snipers waited until the scouts had emerged from a maize field and then opened fire. Most of the scouts, including an officer, fell. The Germans then brought up machine-guns, which the scouts held in check for half an hour. The Germans apparently decided that the line where the snipers were stationed was the advanced defence line, and opened artil lery fire upon it. By then, however, the snipers had with drawn, and- the German guns shelled emptiness. During the withdrawal the snipers halted at intervals and picked off officers, observers and signallers. Assisted by the auto-riflemen, they also succeeded in shooting some machine-gunners and anti-tank gunners. As soon as they reached the main Soviet positions on the advanced defence line, the snipers became part Of the general fire system, definite targets being assigned to them. The Germans did not advance beyond the stream.—(Com piled for An Consantoir from Soviet War News.) Second Edition A . G . ' s B O O K of the RIFLE By A. G. BANKS, Ueut. R.E. (t.), B.Eng., A.M.Inst.C.E. " Add ' A.G.'s' book to your library if you are an old hand. Buy it as a start to your library if you are a beginner."—E. H. Robinson in the N.R.A. Journal. " L u c i d d e t a i l a n d c l e a r s k e t c h e s i l l u s t r a t e h i s theories and advice. The book should be invaluable to the novice and of great interest to the accom plished rifle-shot."—Z)a//>' Sketch. " Will be of great service to all classes of rifle users, military or civilian, beginner or expert."—Scotsman. " Any would-be shot who digests the sound advice in these pages will be well on the road to success."— Field. 7s. 6d. (by post 8s.) JORDAN & SONS, LTD , 116, Chancery Lane, W.C.2 WWW.RIFLEMAN.ORG.UK26 T H E R I F L E M A N June, 1943. What Difference Does the Rifle Make? By R. M. Robson, B.Sc. rHAVE met a number of people who think they would obtain much better scores if only they could use a more accurate rifle. It occurred to me that if we had soine means of comparing the relative accuracies rifles, it should be possible to calculate what actual difference in score might be expected when they are fired under identical conditions. In target shooting the number of points dropped depends on ; (a) The firer's errors (including failure to make necessary corrections). (b) The errors of rifle and ammunition, which we will refer to simply as rifle errors. In order to consider the effect of (a) and (b) separately we rnust try to imagine what would happen if each could be ehminated in turn. As in many mathematical problems we must imagine something which is non-existent. In this case we must consider a perfect rifle, perfect ammunition and a perfect marksman. It will be understood that these are purely theoretical conceptions. Suppose a man could fire a large number of shots from a perfect rifle and that he obtains a group such that the centres of all shots fired lie in a circle of radius F inches. Now suppose any particular rifle is fired by a perfect nwrksman giving a group in which the centres of all shots lie in a circle of radius G inches. If the man who fired the group F now uses the rifle of group G we can calculate for a large number of shots, what proportion will score 10, what proportion will score 9 and so on. Take any particular scoring ring and (for edge- touching scoring) let S inches equal the radius of the scoring ring plus the radius of the bullet. The man fires a large number of shots making the same degree of error as when using the perfect rifle and, if the rifle is shooting consistently, he obtains a group of radius F + G inches. We must assume that this group is correctly centred on the target. Consider those shots whose centres would have been at a distance ofX inches from the centre of the target if they had been fired with a perfect rifle. If X is greater than S — G but less than S + G, these shots may, or may not. score according to the rifle error, that is, according to their position in the rifle group. Those whose centres lie in the portion of the rifle group which overlaps the circle of radius S", will score. Others will not score on that particular ring. Now assume that the rifle distributes its shots evenly over its grouping area. (In practice it will do better than this and will place its shots closer together in the centre than at the edges of the group, but for the purposes of this calculation the error introduced is small and we know the direction in which it operates.) To decide the probable scoring value of these shots we must find the proportion which would score out of a large number of similarly fired shots. This proportion is given by the ratio of the area of that portion of the rifle group circle which overlaps the circle of radius S" to the total area of the rifle group circle. The area of the portion which overlaps is given by S^.sin + G^.sin~^P — X.P square inches, where S G S" is radius of scoring ring -j- radius of bullet. G" is radius of rifle group circle covering shot centres. X" is distance of shot from centre of target with no rifle error . P" is half the common chord through the intersections o f t h e c i r c l e s a n d P equals ^Ir^CS+G+X) (S+G-X) (S+X-G) (G + X —S) The area of the complete rifle group circle is TG^ square, inches. Call the ratio of these two areas R. T ten in firing 100 100 exactly similar shots, so that S and X are constant, R shots will score the value which that particular scoring ring represents and 100—R shots will not score that value. N o w c o n s i d e r t h e d i s t r i b u t i o n o f s h o t s i n t h e fi r e r ' s group. This time we will assume, not that the shots are evenly distributed over the group, but that they are evenly distributed with regard to distance from the centre. This is considered to approximate to what occurs in practice. Then on e t en th of th e sh o ts fir e d will lie in a c ir c le o f r a d i u s F/10 inches (with no rifle errors), two tenths will lie in a circle of radius 2F/10 inches and so on. As a first approximation we will assume that out of 100 shots, 10 are at a distance of F/20 inches from the centre of the target, 10 will be at 3F/20 inches and so on. If we substitute these distances for X in the above expression we can calculate, for each value of S and G, the proportion o f t h e 1 0 s h o t s i n e a c h c a s e w h i c h w i l l s c o r e a n d t h e proportion which will drop points. We thus calculate the total number of points dropped over the 100 shots. So far these remarks have applied to any range and any target with circular scoring rings. Taking as an example the S.M.R.C. .22 Match targets, the following table gives the average score which should be obtained when both the man and the rifle shoot consistently to groups of given sizes. Since for S.M.R.C. Match scoring rings S is pro portional to range and G and X are also proportional to range, the percentage of shots scoring on each ring and therefore scores obtained will be the same for all ranges. AVERAGE SCORE. (H.P.S. = 100).' F I R E R ' S G R O U P . R a d i u s o f c i r c l e covering shot centres. (F) 25 50 1 1 100 yds. yds.yds. . 125" .25" ■ .5" .25".5"1.0" .375".75"1.5" .5"1.0"2.0" .625"1.25" 2.5" .75"1.5"3.0" R I F L E G R O U P . Radius of circle covering shot centres. (G) .05" at 25 yds.. 1" at 50 yds. .2" at 100 yds. .1" at 25 yds..2" at 50 yds. .4" at 100 yds. .15" at 25 yds.. 3" at 50 yds. .6" at 100 yds. .2- at 25 yds. .4" at 50 yds. .8" at 100 yds. .25" at 25 yds.. 5" at 50 yds. 1.0" at 100 yds. 100.00100.00100.0099.8099.25 99.9199.5799.0298.3697.73 97.3697.2997.0596.5696.04 95.4695.2594.88 94.3993.96 92.8492.7592.5592.18 91.80 90.6890.48 90.1789.8689.50 WWW.RIFLEMAN.ORG.UKJune, 1943. T H E R I F L E M A N 27 The assumptions made are, of course, only justified for a large number of shots and consistent shooting. If a man gets more than his fair share of shots near the. edge of his group on any one card of 10 shots, his score will be less than that shown. The table only gives the average score which he may expect with a rifle of given grouping capacity. Perhaps the chief interest in the result lies in showing the difference in score which may be expected with rifles of various degrees of accuracy. Even if there are practical deviations from the assumptions made and the average scores shown in the table are not quite correct it is con sidered that the average differences between any two rifles or any two marksmen will not be appreciably affected. For the class of rifles considered (i.e., from .2" to 1" group radius at 100 yards) we see that rifle accuracy is most' important to men grouping to about 1" radius at 100 yards and that for such men there is a maximum difference of about 2 points between the rifles considered. For men shooting to larger groups, the difference is less than this. Now the man who wants to know what increase in score he will get with a more accurate rifle has only to look at the table. Suppose his average score is 93.96 with a rifle which groups to 1" radius at 100 yards. If he changes to a rifle which groups to .6" at 100 yards his average score should go up to 94.88. Corresponding information for intermediate group sizes and scores can be obtained by plotting on a graph the values given in the table. In order to estimate the value of G for any particular rifle it is necessary that a group should be fired with it either by an expert shot or from a vise and G may be taken as a little less than the radius of the group so obtained. An approximate value of F for any marksman may be obtained by subtracting the value of G for the rifle used from his actual group radius. It is possible to improve on the mathematical processes involved, but for the present I shall be satisfied if I have done no more than indicate a method of approach to the problem of " WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES THE RIFLE M A K E ? " Wood Top (Hebden Bridge) Rifle Club Unbeaten in the National League, 14th Division (50 and 100 yards), average 1913.33, and in theWar-Time Summer League, Nth Division (25 yards), average 488.82, From left:—j. Sutcliffe, H. Roberts, C. W. Lohias, H. K. Sutcliffe and T. W. Ban-ford, T h e W o o d To p R . C . m e m b e r s h i p i s d r a w n m a i n l y f r o m t h e s t a f f c f F. & H. Sutcliffe Ltd., manufacturers of sectional buildings. The Decline of ''Armoured Force" We are creating many new divisions of armoured troops for this war. And we are right in doing so. Armoured force is a branch of the army that will be important for an indefinite time to come and perhaps always. But it may now be noticed that war correspondents and press writers have at last awakened to the paramount importance of infantry and other arms and are giving them more notice and more due credit than at any time since the advent of the two new arms—air force and armoured force. It is a well known fact that American made self-pro pelled tank destroyers were furnished in some numbers to the British 8th Army in Egypt. This new gun is accredited with having smashed the tanks of General Rommel's armoured force in Africa and with having contributed much to the recent British victory in that country. If the claims made for this gun are true, we can see the handwriting on the wall. The dominance enjoyed by armoured forces o n t h e b a t t l e fi e l d s o f 1 9 3 9 a n d 1 9 4 0 i s o v e r. As mentioned before, this decline had become apparent in 1941 in Russia. In a recent newspaper dispatch, Henry Shapiro recently quoted Lieutenant General Chuikov as giving much credit for Russian successes to their Katushka, the still secret Russian gun that is responsible for many tank casualties. It is another example of the old story of fire power versus armour. Fire power always wins in the end. T h i s d o e s n o t m e a n t h a t a r m o u r w i l l b e d i s c a r d e d . Warships have retained armour even though the projectiles fired from big guns can pierce it. Armour gives protection against small arms, and all guns but those especially de signed. Therefore, armour will continue to be used to give protection against ordinary weapons and to force the enemy to take special measures to protect himself against armoured vehicles. Nevertheless, armoured force will gradually lose its abnormal ascendancy, and, although useful and necessary, will never again occupy the powerful and dominating position that it held for a brief moment in the early part of this war. Although the speed of motor ve hicles on roads or suitable terrain will continue to be very important, even that value will be somewhat lessened by the coming inability of armoured vehicles to give the same protection to motor columns that has been relied upon for the last three years.—From The Cavalrv Journal, of the U.S-A, January-Februray, 1943. The American Riflemai Real Marksmanship S U R P R I S E F O R G E R M A N S 6 0 0 Y A R D S A W A Y. Capt. Lord Leveson and Drill-Sgt. Knight, of the Coldstream Guards, are known in their battalion for their skill with the rifle. In Tunisia they have proved that they are as quick and sure in the field as they are on the range. They were making a reconnaissance in the Medjez el Bab area, when a movement on a hillside nearly half a mile away caught their eye. Lying hidden, they watched until a German patrol of seven men crept into view. Then they opened fire. The first shot winged one of the enemy, who jumped high into the air, while his comrades turned to run. Three others were dropped and only three survivors got back to cover. At a distance of 600 yards at rapidly-moving targets, this was fine marksmanship. WWW.RIFLEMAN.ORG.UK28 June, 1943. Looking B By A. G. Let me start off this article with a suggestion that will serve to conserve .22 ammunition which is most valuable today, and none too plentiful. For the first seven years of my training I was a member of a Club with a rule that at each range you were allowed one sighting only, after which the first seven or ten shots at each range were the counting scores for the main competition of the day, either Championship, Spoon or Handicap event. A large number of Clubs staged competitions having seven shots to count owing to the fact that considerable quantities of N.R.A. targets were used with a possible of 35. The idea of the one sighter only was introduced for three reasons, first with a view to keeping down the cost of shooting, giving to the poorer members an equal chance of competing with those better placed to take out numerous practice cards before putting up the card that mattered. There was nothing to prevent the rnore wealthy member blazing away as many shots as he wished after the main daily competition shoots had been completed. Secondly, practically all our outdoor ranges were constructed in such a way that the whole Club had to shoot at the one distance, before moving back to the next range and so on. As it was, a good muster compelled a chap to spend a full afternoon on the range to get a " shoot through." My particular Club, formed in con nection with a Church Institute, had amongst its members a nuinber of men who could not afford to purchase their own rifles, so that we had to depend upon Club weapons, and a rush for a particular weapon would mean some one wanting to miss a turn, thereby generally helping to slow up proceedings. Lastly, and perhaps the most useful reason, for adopting the one sighter at each range, taught us to thoroughly know our sights, how to make any corrections in elevation or direction in the least number of shots, other wise one's score would be badly mauled about. It cer tainly proved excellent training and today similar methods ■would have the additional advantage of saving ammunition. I think in the early days of the movement Clubs were more inclined to introduce varied competitions into their programmes, our Club certainly did, and I have taken part in competitions in the sitting, kne^ng and standing posi tions, using stationery, disappearing and moving targets. Disappearing and moving target events were introduced at Open Meetings where many will call to mind the N.R.A. Bisleys, in particular. What if the moving man did have a liking to hesitate a second at a particular spot ? Or the running deer have a tendency to reduce speed as he was dodging round a bush as he did at an N.R.A. Bisley ? It all made for good fun. Before the general adoption of Aperture sights there were arguments galore as to the usefulness of these sights as compared with " open " sights, all the time the Service rifles were fitted with the latter. For several years the bulk of the Clubs were using the military patterns and I feel sure credit should be given to the Southfields Club (now Wimbledon Park) and our old friend E. J. D. Newitt, in particular, for being the first and foremost exponents, in the use of aperture sights, certainly in this country. The Americans were ahead of us, of course, as most of the rifles in use were the Stevens type, favoured greatly by the ack, No. 3 Rickarby . Southfields club, fitted with the American Lyman No. 2 aperture rearsight, with the one hole eyepiece, but no windgauge. The lateral adjustments could be made by having a Lyman foresight fitted with a windgauge. Some also had spirit levels but they were not allowed in com petitions. Quite a lot of shooting was carried out with the Lyman No. 17 pattern foresight fitted with a bead and/or a thin ring, whilst the Stevens interchangeable disc fore- ^ sight was later popular, this having various sizes in rings, and beads fixed by means of a clip, and in 1911 a blade disc was added to the various discs that could be obtained. Tomalin, of the Jaeger club was a great " stickler " for " open " sights and for this reason he used to trot out the scores made by my old Club the Ashford Church House Institute, knowing that we were using the Military sights for several years, and we were certainly amongst the leading teams, with those sights, in our times, if match results were any guidance. One was compelled to keep up the practice in use of open sights as many N.R.A. and other competitions were confined to Military sights only. In the case of Matches between teams using the different sights it was customary for a team using open sights to have five points per man added to its total score. Instead of a V bar I have used a plain bar marking up my own white line with white paint and a vernier, having a barleycorn front sight the base of which was painted white halfway up the barleycorn. A tedious business no doubt, and possibly the expression " shooting over the bar " would be Greek to the bulk of today's marksmen. I have unearthed a coy of the official Prize list issued in connection with the Daily Mirror Miniature Rifle Meet ing held at Southfields May 1st to May 4th 1907. Indivi dual entries totalled 3,218. Individual competitors in squadded events 432. Number of shots fired 31,972. Field Marshal Earl Roberts, K.G., spent some time on the range on the 3rd day. He made full enquiries as to the types of rifles the competitors were using, it being stated in the report that he was pleased one member of the English team in the International against Wales was using an adapted Service Rifle. Compared with the high standards of marksmanship reached in recent years, as a result of superior equipment, the Prize list of this Meeting strikes one as being extremely odd, so much so that some of the results are worth recalling. Mind you, I rather thirik we got a decided kick out of trying to reach the " possible " or should I say the " impossible " with the equipment of the times. Let us take the Championship of the Meeting, 10 shots at each of the distances of 25, 50 and 100 yards, with 194 competitors taking part. There was one possible at 25 yards by E. Whitby (Hendon and Cricklewood) and one possible at 50 yards by E. J. Amoore (Southfields)! At 100 yards one 98 recorded by F. Greener (Harborne) lead the field, and this marksman collared the Championship Trophy, Gold Medal and 5/9 with an Aggregate of 293-— good going in those days. He used a " Greener rifle " and was immediately followed by George (Daddy) Barnes, Southfields, with a 292, using the Stevens " Ideal " rifle. A curious feature of the Prize list in this competition was that the least money was at the top i.e. Sj-, 6/-, If, 8/- and {Continued on page 47.) WWW.RIFLEMAN.ORG.UKJune, 1943. T H E R I F L E M A N 29 Geometry of Major Gill's New Aiming Mark {Final Articled rHIS aiming mark was designed, after observations and experiments extending back for several years, as representing the most compact symmetrical " shield " that will cover the vulnerable parts of a rifleman in the " prone " position, firing to his front whilst offering the smallest possible " target" to an adversary. It therefore defines what a soldier must be trained to hit, for the purpose of practical warfare ; whilst its required linear dimensions are found, from repeated observations, to be practically 20J inches in height and width. The simplest method for constructing the full-size aiming mark is to draw a circle of 12 inches radius and, with this same radius, to divide the circumference into Viewed at 25 yards range. Shows enemy at 200 yards. six equal parts, then, missing out each alternate division, draw an equilateral triangle within the circle, by straight lines joining the three " unmissed " points of division. Using the three sides of this triangle as radii, and its corners as centres, the arcs that define the outlines of the aiming mark are now drawn, and the figure is complete. For use on the 25 yds. range, a prone firer at 400 yds. distance is correctly represented by an aiming mark having three radii of 1.3 inches, inscribed in a circle of inch radius (for the " grouping " and " application " tests), whilst a prone firer at 200 yds. range is correctly represented by an aiming mark having three radii of 2.6 inches inscribed in a circle of H inches radius (for the " snap-shooting " test). These representative aiming marks for use on the 25 yds. range are, of course, in the ratios of 25 I 25 1 — = — a n d — = - 400 16 200 8 to the full-size aiming mark, whilst if they are set up for indoor use with spotlight rifles, at one-fourth of the 25 yds. range, namely at 18J ft. from the "foresight, they will represent prone firers at 100 yds. for the smaller and at SQyds. for the larger of the two aiming marks. The aiming marks can be easily made by cutting them out as " windows " in thin brass or zinc sheet for stencils. and using any desired colour of stencil ink or paint on any suitable strong paper background, for example on brown o r g r e y p a p e r . They can also be stamped out from scraps of wall paper to give any desired degree of " camouflage " (by the use of three correctly curved cutter blades set in similar grooves cut in hardwood or metaT blocks, or by shaped punch and die), then gummed on to suitable paper back grounds. If the aiming marks are to be used on a 20 yds. range the radii become 1.04 inches in a circumscribing circle of 0.6 inches radius, and 2.08 inches in a circumscribing circle of 1.2 inches radius, respectively ; whilst for a 30 yds. range these dimensions become 1.56 in. in a 0.9 in. radius V circle and 3.12 in. in a 1.8 in. radius circle, to represent the full size aiming mark or " shield " at ranges of 400 yds and 200 yds. Viewed at 25 yards range. Shows enemy a'. 400 yards. As a comparison of areas may be of interest to some users of the new aiming mark, it can be stated that its area is only 67.3 per cent of the area of the circle that circumscribes it, and 89.8 per cent of the area of a circle whose diameter is equal to its width and height (namely a diameter that is 86.6 per cent of the diameter of the circumscribing circle). The actual linear dimensions I haye used are those that are truly correct for the distance scales, but I appreciate that some users may prefer others, and, if it helps their shooting, by all means let them haye their wishes. As a general instruction when using this aiming mark firers are advised to align the sights on the " peak " of the mark, then to lower the sight line until a small gap is seen between the tip of the foresight and the middle of the lower curve of the mark, for with this procedure very good and quick shooting has been achieved. Major Sir Gerald Burrard, Bart-, D.S.O., F.R.G.S. The sympathy of his innumerable friends in the shootine world will be with Major Sir Gerald Burrard, Bart., D.S.O PROS who recently lost his father. Retired from the R.F.A "in the last war after being severely wounded. Major Sir Gerald Burrard "is well known as the Editor of Game and Gun and the author of such outstanding work as The Modern Shotgun and Tlw Identification of Firearms and Forensic Ballistics. WWW.RIFLEMAN.ORG.UK:o T H E R I F L E M A N JtJNE, 1943. The "Practicar* am By Lt.-Col. G. E. A. Avery large percentage of men in the Services are now armed with pistols and it is only right that considerable thought should be given to these weapons, their use and the methods of instruction. As regards this last there are, broadly speaking, two main schools, the " Practical " and the " Target-shooting " as we might call them and when exponents of these schools meet there is generally some argument. The " Practical" man says that the pistol is a weapon for close range work only. It will be used in an emergency and there will be no time for taking up a firm stance and a steady aim. It may be necessary to shoot with either hand from any conceivable position, from behind cover or in the dark. And every time, you've got to shoot mighty quick. ° Teaching target work, he argues, makes for slowness both of mind'and,body, whereas what is wanted is the ability to draw quickly and get a shot away in much the same time that Hobbs in the old days would pick up a ball at cover and bang it in to the top of the stumps with one continuous movement. Slow shooting will never teach this and even the so- called " rapid " practices are utterly unlike anything that a man might be called upon to do in war. The " Target" shot might reply that all this is very true, though he will not agree that all pistol shooting is going to be done in a great hurry or necessarily at very short ranges. Suppose a man is being charged by half a dozen Japs, he will hardly like to wait till they are within ten yards of him before he begins to shoot, but if he is not taught to shoot at greater distances he will have little confidence in such a situation. In America, where they study revolver shooting more deeply than most nations, the Army Course includes a practice at 50 yards and at this range the late W. O. Raven, R.N. at Bisley put six consecutive shots clear inside a four- inch bull. In America, too, experimental shooting has been done up to 600 yards. There is the well-known story—I have told it before— of the " bad-man," terror at ten yards but no good beyond it, who was held up and captured by an American officer who encountered him at fifty yards range. Only the other day an old soldier of the last war told me how he had come on a party of our men with their hands up in front of some Germans with a machine gun. He was armed with a revolver with which he had learned to shoot and coming on the Germans from the side he was able to take a steady shot and hit the leader in the stomach. Thereupon the remainder threw up their hands and our chaps gathered them in. It would seem that the short range theory ought not to be given too much weight. Admittedly the quick draw and snap shot will, at times, be called for, but it does seem that there is a tendency to visualise war shooting as a gun fight in a Wild West saloon. Of course emergencies will occur, and men must be trained to meet them, but in most cases, when the enemy is known to be about, a man will be on the alert with his pistol in his hand and will not have the added complication of the draw . The real point at issue, however, between the two schools is the method of training. I the "Target" Shot Granet, D.S.O., M.C." The Snap Shot method is very well described by Fair- bairn and Sykes in their little book, " Shooting to Live." Not only have they had to shoot for their lives against Chinese gunmen, but they have had a great deal of experi ence in training the men of the Shanghai Police. The tested theories of such men are not lightly to be put aside, though it must be remembered that their shooting is under special conditions and at short range. The " Target Shot" will point out that in order to hit one's mark it is necessary, first to point the gun in the right direction, and second, not to disturb this direction in the act of pressing the trigger. These two fundamentals, he maintains, are more easily and quickly taught in slow time when faults can be seen and corrected. It is almost hopeless to do this when everything is being carried out at the highest possible speed. A man might shoot for weeks like this and hit nothing, whereas, by taking it slowly at first, he will get confidence and soon work up his speed with far less expenditure of ammunition. His progression is, at first sure hits, in slow time, at short range, using the sights ; then sure hits, at increased range ; and finally sure hits, at short range, in quick time, from any position, in the dark. It is to be noted, by the way, that Fairbairn and Sykes do not despise the use of the sights when there is a chance of using them. Between the two methods it is impossible to deliver a dogmatic judgment. There are more ways of killing a cat than choking it with butter. The quick-brained man, good at ball games, will very likely find little difficulty in throwing his bullets into a man- sized target and will postpone the use of the sights at longer range till a later stage. The idea of learning to walk before he tries to run will appeal to the less " ball-nunded " man. He will prefer to start slowly and work up his speed afterwards. Who shall say which will be the more reliable in all circumstances after a month's training ? Some Thoughts on Mr. A. G. Banks' Projected Rifle {Continued from page 8.) we went to a neighbouring town to shoot a return match against their Tigers, we had to shoot at brilliantly lit targets, from a dark firing-point. The whole thing, to us was a nightmare. And how much more we enjoyed—and how much more practical were—the targets I used to make for our own competitions a disappearing man, who might bob up anywhere, or a running rabbit who moved like a hare past the good shots, and ambled slowly for the beginners. I think it was in 1908 that the Army changed from biills-eye to figure targets and' rapid practices. Six fine old bulls-eye shots in our Regimental team promptly resigned. The Serjeant Instructor of Musketry and I were all that was left. But. we picked six recruits, and trained a team which won just as many matches as the old bulls-eye team did, and obviously was of far more military value. WWW.RIFLEMAN.ORG.UKJune, 1943.T H E R I F L E M A N 31 " F i r e L e s s a n d F i r e B e t t e r " AN INTER VIEW WITH AN ARMY OBSER VER By Walter McCallum, in The American Rifleman " T ^ I R E L e s s A n d F i r e B e t t e r . K i l l m o r e e n e m i e s and save ammunition you may need later to -L save yourself." . That message, brought back from the steaming hell of Guadalcanal and New Guinea, where life or death depends on the accuracy of the individual rifleman with his weapon, is the big lesson learned from the successful Marine and Army campaigns in the Southwest Pacific where today Army Ground Forces are pushing the Japs toward their inevitable rendezvous with death. " If there is one message I would like to have our sol diers going into those areas understand," said Col. Russell P. Reeder of the U.S. Army, " it is that every soldier going into the jungle should know his weapon, its characteristics of accuracy and its dependability. The fighting on Guadal-' canal and New Guinea is savage. There is no quarter. It's a case of kill or be killed. And the rifle is the domi nant weapon." Colonel Reeder, an Infantry Officer, is back in Washing ton winding up the details of an operations mission to the Southwest Pacific areas, sent there by the highest Army authority. He was in on the taking over of Guadalcanal by the Army Ground Forces, spent endless hours talking with Marine and Army commanders and is back with the message that the individual weapon, the rifle or the auto matic rifle, is the best friend the soldier can have in jungle fighting. Colonel Reeder is a former West Point athlete, a foot ball player and former assistant coach of the 1927 team that had the late Christian K. (Red) Cagle as its star. He knows his rifle shooting from the butts up. " Every soldier gets rifle practice as part of his basic training" he said. It is invaluable, but the soldier going into battle in the kind of fighting to be found in the South-west must have more than that. This is the picture : Our troops are fighting in a dense, thickly wooded jungle that thins out in spots to ridges sparsely covered, and thickens in the low spots and around the streams Seldom do you see the enemy at more than 100 yards range, and then only for a fleeting instant. The need is for calm, cool, deadly shooting, sometimes at vague targets ; in in other words, men who know their rifles and what they will do. Men trained on the firing line under conditions where a lot of guns are going off around them are highly valuable. But there's one thing we don't want. It is men we call "trigger-happy" who squeeze off at any sound or movement. That sort of blind shooting discloses your position, may hurt your own men and wastes ammunition. And ammunition is valuable. Transportation facilties are not good and most of the ammo must be hauled by manpower . " That is why I say, fare less and fire better.' You may need that ammunition in a hurry some time." " —American riflemen are better than we are. They nearly always hit the target." " We were told that the Americans on Guadalcanal could be easy to defeat. We were not told about American artillery which killed and wounded so many of us. We could dig our selves into the ground and escape the American mortar fire, but there was no escape from the artillery fire and American riflemen are better than we are. They nearly always hit the target."— Testimony of a Jap prisoner. " We are up against a very determined enemy," added Colonel Reeder. " Not only in the Pacific area, but every where. He is a pro and we are the amateur, but the ama teur has caught up with the pro and is going to lick him at h i s o w n r a c k e t . F r o m w h a t I s a w, w e m u s t a b a n d o n i n the Pacific area the old idea of volume of fire. I say this because we now have a war of mobility, where the accent is heavy on aimed fire. We have to go back to the days of Roger's Rangers, when every man made every shot count." " You can't hurt 'em or scare 'em by hitting around 'em. But you can do a lot of damage and win a lot of battles by hitting them. If you hit around 'em they don't budge, and they don't scare. And after you hit 'em they don't budge either, but for another reason. Just as a golfer or a boxer practices incessantly, the trained rifleman must keep in practice. Our work at Camp Perry has been invaluable, but it must be expanded in all our training. Particularly must our men practice shooting at dimly seen targets which is necessary down there." Colonel Reeder hasn't much respect for the Jap as a marksman, but he has a lot of admiration for Ins ability as a personal camoufleur. " The litle monkey is wonderful in concealing himself. He uses all the local vegetation, and all the local scenery. You can get within a few feet of thern, knowing they are there, and not see them," he said. " I was told that Major General Yandergrift (Marine Corps Commander on Guadalcanal) was at his Command Post with three officers one day, standing in knee high grass. Suddenly out of the grass broke three Japs, one ' officer brandishing a sword. They were mowed down by hand weapons. They were so cleverly camouflaged and concealed themselves so well that they were on the group without being seen. They must have crawled hundreds of yards." But the Jap doesn't like cold steel. " The American outfights the Jap with the bayonet," said Reeder. " Every time our men have been up against them with the steel the Japs have been whipped. Col. Merritt A. Edson, the noted Marine Commander, said his men have made three separate bayonet charges and won them all." Nor is a Jap a good rifleman. " He is plain lousy," said Colonel Reeder, " and his snipers have been over emphasized. The Jap has a flair for concealing himself in a tree trunk, in a maze of banyan roots, or in acoconut tree top. He shoots at our men from these concealed" positions and his little . 25 calibre rifle doesn't make much noise or give out much smoke. It's hard to track down 1 these snipers. But because of their poor marksmanship their value is more as a nuisance than real. So well con cealed are they that our men frequently go past them and find themselves attacked from the rear. Then our know ledge of marksmanship and rifle practice is even more valuable. " Another thing I would li'xe to emphasize is that all our troops must have complete knowledge of all the in- WWW.RIFLEMAN.ORG.UK32 T H E R I F L E M A N June, 1943. fantrj^ weapons of war. They must know rifles, pistols machine guns, automatic rifles, hand grenades and every thing used by the infantry soldier. You can't count for ' example on all your machine gunners getting through or E m f t h r o u g h w i t h o u t bein^ hit Therefore, I cannot make it too strong that every so.dier should know all weapons, and how to handle mem. I had a lesson in this from the last war." Colonel Reeder served with the 30th Infantry after the war One Nested ^ ^"®sian born Sergeant named He used to tell us of the time on the Marne when the Oermam were pushing forward without regard to casual- les. Iney had killed all the men at one of our machine gun posts. Nested told us he got to the gun and tried to operate it, but he didn't know how at a time when it could 1 i m p o r t a n t that all soldiers know all weapons." " "When I was on Guadalcanal," said Colonel Reeder, a httle pink-ckeeked Marine by the name of F. R. Mc- Allan, a Corporal, was-pointed out to me as one of the best fighters. He didn't look a killer. He had a nice face, weighed about 150 pounds and was very wiry. He fought so well and killed so many Japs he was made a corporal, and he wouldn't talk about himself but about his platoon leader. He had a special love for his Brown ing automatic rifle. ' I love this gun,' he told me. ' And I take care of it. It has helped me out of some tough spots.'" Colonel Reeder said the fighting is so close on Guadal canal that hand grenades are pretty useful. " Our boys trained to throw baseballs, do all right with the grenade." The Jap has developed something new. It is a wooden bullet, cut down to fit those .25 calibre rifles. "They fire them at short range," said Colonel Reeder, " maybe 10 or 15 yards. And they'll kill at that range.- They let our men get past them and shoot at their backs with these wooden bullets. They won't carry far enough to hit their own troops, but they'll do a lot of damage at close range." This slogan for the Taunton District " Wings for Victory Week was commended as best interpreting for the occasion the proud motto of the Royal Air Force, " Per ardua ad astra — Through hardship to the stars." One of the events of the week in which many sportsmen were interested was the international shooting match arranged to be held at the Black Horse Hotel yard between Rifle Club and the Taunton (Mass.) R.ifle and Pistol Club. We commend this idea of friendly rivalry between all towns and cities of the same name whose roots are entwined in the U.S.A. and Britain Also to such towns and cities in the British Dominions I 1 ne American Taunton Club team were shooting their ° match the same day, and the scores were ex changed by cable. The scores of both sides were displayed as soon as available, in the window of Messrs. Hintons' the gunsmiths. Fore Street, and the public were able to see which Taunton won the match. By a remarkable coincidence the date of the match corresponded exactly with that of the 1937 contest, which was on May 24th. On that occasion the Taunton (Somer set) team was beaten by 38 points, viz., 973 to 935 The Match Secretary, Mr. B. W. Frost reports the match as follows :— Secretary Somerset S.B.R.A. on behalf of the S.M.R.C., duly attended our A Taunton, Mass., held on Monday evening 24th May, and we were grateful to him. The character ot the match was such that we desired the scoring to be beyond question. Mr. Mullings acted jointly with a U.S. Army Captain and all went well. The result of the match w a s a s f o l l o w s ; — Taunton, Somerset, (best eight) 773. Taunton, Massachusetts (best eight) 772. " Our Range was decorated with Allied flags Alder man C. H. Goodland, T.D., J.P., Mayor of Taunton, Somerset arrived at 7.30 p.m. and was accompanied by a U.S. Army Captain (from Maine) and by a 2nd Lt. Nursing Sister U.S. Army (from Taunton, Massachusetts). Our President, Mr. G. L. Sidey attended, and also Major R. F. Dew, M.B.E., commanding one of the Taunton Home The Match of the Tauntons 'AIM HIGH AND GET THERE." Guard Companies. His Worship stayed throughout the proceedings and afterwards the whole party adjourned to the Black Horse Hotel for an alfresco supper. " On 28th May our Chairman, Mr. T. A. Bushell, received a cable from Mr. Ben Hackett, Secretary of the Taunton (Massachusetts) Rifle and Pistol Club, giving news and scores of the shoot at their end (also on 24th). Their part of the match was witnessed by two Australian soldiers, by Hon. M. Aldrich, Mayor of Taunton City, by the Chief of Police and by the President of the Municipal Council. Unfortunately the B.B.C., without any adequate reason, withdrew at the last moment the arrangements for broad casting our side of the match. This was a disappointment but it probably resulted in higher scores! We are most gratified to have won this match by the narrow margin of one point. The Taunton British Legion had a postal match with the Taunton (Mass.) Rifle and Pistol Club as part of the American city's tercentenary celebrations in 1937. On that occasion Taunton, Somerset, lost by 38 points. Two members of our team also shot in the 1937 match They are P. E. Arlidge and W. G. PufiTett. Mr. Puffett is a grand veteran and has been at it since 1900. As you see he IS still good for 98." We give the complete scores below ;— Small-bore Taunton (Massachuselts) n m " • • . A A R i f l e A N D P i s t o l C l u b . . 7 7 2 n. • • '0® Hackett, B. , . 99 McLclian A. E. . . 99 W alden , 98 Pufretl, W G .. 98 Grossman, E. L. .'! 97 Harrison, R. C. .. 98 Josselyn 97 Harrison, Mrs. R. C. 95 Gillon ' 97 B W 9 5 K i i T . . • • 9 7 G a n g e , H J . , 9 5 G u t h r i e . . ' ' 9 5 Cousins, F. G. .. 93 Grossman, E. D. .. 92 After the close of the match the Mayor fired the first target in a " Wings for Victory " open competition, which was being held all the week. He secured 40 points out of a possible 50. Subsequently the Mayor, visitors, and team adjourned to the Black Horse Hotel, where all were entertained to an alfresco supper by the president of the club. The Mayor in a few commendatory words, thanked the U.S. officers and others for their attendance, and congratulated the team on their fine shooting. WWW.RIFLEMAN.ORG.UK33 Parkeriflinq A G A I N M A K E S N E W S : " His wonderful shooting and the present condition of the barrel is a striking tribute to the excellent workmanship and materials,"—S.M.R.C. This valued appreciation of Parkerifiing was recorded after Mr. F. H. Bowden, of Brighton, had fired in the " News of the World " Individual Competition—and here are the facts : Mr Bowden scored 298 points ex 300—on his 71st birthday—with a gun Parkerifled THIRTEEN YEARS ago. We now quote Mr. Bowden after his remarkable feat "1 first started shooting in 1927 with a new gun, shot with it for three years, then had it Parkerifled in 1930, since when 1 reckon I have put at least 70,000 rounds through it and the barrel is still in perfect condition as you can tell by my present shooting—in the last Summer League my aggregate was 1088 f o r 1 1 m a t c h e s . " ¥ M THE PROCESS tUUSTRATED THE ORIGINAL BORED OUT THE PARKER INSERTED.MAKIMG • T O R E C E I V E R I F L E D T U B E A S U P E R A C C U R A T E L O N O E R A C C U R A T E W H I C H I S R I F L E P a r k e r i fi i n g f o r S u p e r A c c u r a c y F u l l d e t a i l s o f t h i s s e r v i c e c a n b e o b t a i n e d f r o m 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 WWW.RIFLEMAN.ORG.UKNext >