< Previous4 T H E R I F L E M A N September, 1943. Experiments in War-time By A. G. There seems to be an idea among people who have : presumably had no personal experience of load- i ing ammunition, that there is some magic virtue in a central fire as against a rim fire detonator. Furthermore, that a bullet parallel sided to the base within the cartridge case is necessarily more accurate than an " heeled " bullet, as exemplified in the .22 R.F. and the Greener .310, in which the outside and not the inside of the case is flush with the outside of the bullet forward of t h e " h e e l . " This school of loose thinking puts forward the sug gestion that a low power .22 cartridge of central fire and solid-base bullet if properly designed would infallibly beat the good old .22 Long Rifle cartridge into a " cocked hat " and turn our 2 inch or L|- inch groups at 100 yards into one inch or less at one magic stroke. I must modestly admit that at one time I used to have some such idea myself. Latterly, however, I have substi tuted a little solid experimenting for loose thinking, and while 1 make no claims to have become an expert on cart ridge ballistics or even to have dissolved into smoke the rosy dreams of the central fire thinkers, I feel sure that some account of these doings may be of interest to them vnd others, although the account is purely ^n interim report ; for the experiments are still going busily forward. In them 1 have the collaboration of two furiously enthusi astic friends whom I will call, in alphabetical order, J.B., andP.T., both of whom appear to me to possess practically unlimited scientific and engineering knowledge and skill, and all the necessary lathes, presses, and gadgets, to trans form ideas into concrete form. I am, in fact, merely instigator and tester in these affairs, and they do the rest. We all work very hard at our War jobs and we make no apology for the amount of spare time we spend by way of relaxation in trying, strictly within the letter of the Law, to produce our shooting requirements. Let nobody suppose however that we started out with any idea of producing a more accurate low power target cartridge than the .22 R.F., which is the result of fifty years of con centrated experiment and improvement by all the profes sional ammunition designers of the world. Such pre sumption would be little short of insanity on the part of amateurs working under War conditions. Our problem was a different one ; but the efforts to solve it should shed some light on the difficulties which would attend any such attempt, if it is ever made. 1 suppose our experiments arose in the beginning out of my dissatisfaction with the " ordinary " .22 Long Rifle, not as a target cartridge, but as a practical sporting cart ridge in the peculiar difficulties of our rabbit shoot. In the ordinary conditions of a fiat field or a rifle-range, if I point a rifle in decent conditions at a certain spot 100 yards away, the bullet from a good ,22 R.F. strikes within one inch of it, or at most one and a half inches. That is to say, within a two inch or at most a three inch group. In that case 1 know the range and can judge reasonably the wind. But in the conditions of our rabbit shoot, all too frequently shots fired at ranges estimated at that or threequarters or even in extreme cases half, that distance, simply did not land at ail anywhere within the expected area, and resulted in a rabbit merely scared away and not hit, or hit in the wrong place. Reloading and Adapters Banks. Our shoot is a miniature mixture of mountain, pre cipice, tropical jungle and African swamp, all within a half mile area. You can break your leg down a shale slide or ■ get yourself inextricably hooked up in tangled undergrowth over your head. You may take a shot up at 45 degrees or down at 60 ; through a dense wood or across an uncrossable canyon with a gale blowing down it. In a word, you meet all the usual conditions of real game hunting. If by some incredible stroke of luck you do bring off your shot at a rabbit perched up in a crevice of the Ravine, and that rabbit gives one kick, you might just as well not have shot it ; for it will disappear at the end of a dizzy roll down the cliff, into the impenetrable jungle beneath and be im possible of approach or recovery. Not even by a dog. This shooting, then, is interesting. It raises so many problems. It is worth while. Firstly, judging range over such broken country is almost impossible. Judging wind effect in such gullies and hills, isjitterly impossible ; it may be up, down, or sideways, and there is no indication. It is necessary, in such places as the rabbits choose to sit, to place the shot with the utmost exactitude and with sufficient shock as to " Knock them cold" instantly, without a movement ; otherwise they inevitably get lost. This again is complicated by the desirability of avoiding blowing them to pieces unfit for food. There are only two answers to all these problems at once. I will deal with only one at a time, though we are tackling both. The one I decided first to pursue, is, in a word, Hornetsl The.," Hornet " cartridge is a very high velocity centra, fire .22 calibre with a bottle shaped case and a copper enveloped (non-heeled) bullet, which looks just like a little Service Rifle cartridge. It is just under l|in. long over all and about ^in. diameter at the thick end not counting the rim. The bullet is 46 gr. weight, the charge is 10 gr. of a special smokeless powder, and it gives the colossal muzzle velocity of 2,650 ft. per sec. Its trajectory is very, very flat, as compared with any low velocity cartridge, rising less than an inch in 100 yards, and it is very nearly imper vious to wind deflection over that distance. It was reputed to be so powerful that it would blow a rabbit to pieces. We thought however—rightly, as it tutned out—that that difficulty could be overcome. It is also, at the present time, unobtainable from dealers, for it is made only in America and is not being imported. We thought, however, that we could overcome this difficulty by re-loading old cases, although even reloading materials are unobtainable. So we decided to go in for Hornets. After a great deal of trouble and a few false starts, we purchased two good second hand Hornet rifles. Here I may say that a Hornet rifle is merely any good .22 rifle chambered for the Hornet cartridge and provided with a central fire striker and suitable extractor. Actually the standard American bore diameter for the Hornet is .2175 or .217. But my Hornet is a. British made standard .216 Government barrel as used in the .22 S.M.L.E., and is fitted into the old Lee Speed Service bolt action ; and it shoots the standard Hornet cartridge bullet into the magni ficent Hornet standard accuracy of one inch groups or better at 100 yards. We were lucky enough to obtain at the same time a few Hornet cartridges, Winchester Super Speed, of the two WWW.RIFLEMAN.ORG.UKSeptember, 1943.T H E R I F L E M A N 5' types made, hollow point and soft point. These were enough for testing and sighting and making a start, with a few left over for actual e.xperiments on rabbits. I equipped my Lee with an Optical foresight and a reli able quarter-minute click aperture backsight, set first very carefully by sighting through the bore, and then with a very few shots set for central hitting at 100 yards. In order to. determine the actual trajectory I then set ' up a target at 100 yards, and one at 60 yards (peak of trajectory) which, viewed through the sights over a wrist rest, precisely superimposed itself upon the 100 yards one, and shot through them both at once, to save shots. I found the point of impact at 60 yards to be 7/8 in. above the line of sight—exactly what it should be. And we now had to duplicate this, somehow, by hand loading. Bullets were the first problem, and J.B. got busy. We knew that unfired .22 Rimfire cases before they had the rims formed on them could be drawn into bullet envelopes ; but we could not get any. Undaunted, J.B. started on .22 R.F. cases which had been fired and had their rims on them. He put in much time and work turning steel plugs and dies. We decided to try at first for more of a " Mark VI " blunt shape than the more difficult pointed bullet and, believe it or not, he succeeded in turning diit rimfire cases, rim and all, drawn to the correct bullet shape. The lead filling was an ordinary .22 bullet pressed in, and the total weight was the correct 46 grains. For powder and primers we had to use what we had, by breaking down existing old cartridges. Our first choice of powder was taken from old Winchester .351 rifle cart ridges, and it was a lucky choice. I had some old Sher wood .300 bore primers, which by another stroke of luck, fitted, and after experimenting with some others, these were chosen, and half a dozen cartridges produced, one of which however had a genuine Hornet primer. On test, four of this batch gave nearly Hornet accuracy, and exact Hornet trajectory ; but grouped four minutes right of Hornet zero. The Hornet-primer cartridge shot exactly to Hornet zero. I kept the sixth to try on a rabbit. Now, during these manufacturing proceedings, I had been working towards making the Hornet bullets less damaging. The standard hollow nosed bullet will blow a large hole in a rabbit. If it strikes behind the diaphragm it will gut the animal. In any case it practically always drops it stone dead. But I thought that by " solidifying" these hollow noses I might stop this smashing ; and so it proved., I made little mushroom headed rivets out of iron wire, and tapped them into the bullet hollows, so as to form a protecting head just covering the exposed nose of the copper envelope, and making in effect a solid bullet. These did not expand on impact, but passed through the rabbit with sufficient shock and no more damage than from a solid lead bulleted " High Speed " .22 rim-fire. The trajectory was unaltered. On trying J.B.'s solid envelope bullet on a rabbit at 60 yards, it operated perfectly in the same manner. Now, during these experiments, I also made many trials with W.C.F. both as purchased and reloaded. The old, now obsolete, Winchester Centre Fire .22 cartridge was the original from which Major Wotkyns developed his "Hornet" load. The W.C.F. had 10 grs. of black powder, a 45 gr. solid lead bullet, and gave 1,300 ft. per sec. velocity. It was also loaded with an equivalent reduced charge of smokeless, and I had the luck to pick Up a few of both these cartridges—very old stock. They are, of course, exactly the same shape as the new Hornet (which is the same case but made of heavier brass), and can be fired in a Hornet rifle. My i'dea was to use' these, of which I had a larger stock, for short range. These cartridges are many years old and they grouped abominably—about three or four inches at fifty yards. The cause of this was that the black powder had deteriorated and caked. I removed the bullets, took it out, and re loaded with fresh black powder. And the results were no better . I then tried two case-fuls i.e. 10 gr. of the Lesmok powder from .22 R.F. cartridges. This is so, much finer than the original black powder that the 10 gr. occupied only about half the space in the central fire case, leaving the powder loose. The results were again appalling, and all the outside of the case was blackened with fouling. I half expected this, and so had tried again with the same charge with a " filler " on top of it, using ordinary medium oatmeal, to fill the case tight. - Instantly I got results. These grouped mostly into about f in. at.60 yards, with a few " flyers." Meanwhile, we tried loading these W.C.F. cases, with their original primers, with the full Hornet charge of Win chester powder and the J.B. bullets. The result was ludicrous. Of five rounds, two bullets missed the target, one went through sideways, and the others scattered. I might have known this would happen, for I had once attempted to increase the velocity of .297 250 black pow der cartridges by loading them with high pressure smoke less. Instead of getting high pressure and high velocity I got a feeble " phut." Most of the powder was blown out unburnt, and the bullet failed to reach the buits. For the present I will not describe any further experi ments. The above are enough to indicate that loading cartridges is not merely a matter of putting together a bul let, a charge, and a case, and expecting results. The primer is of highly critical importance. All pow ders burn at a given speed, and the speed varies enormously with different powders. The speed of burning and heat of the primer flash has to be just right to suit the powder used. No black-powder primer, for instance, is any use with a slow burning cordite or N.C. powder. The abso lute essential is that every grain of the charge must be completely burnt up and the whole of the gas formed before the bullet reaches the muzzle of the barrel. Other wise, it seems to me, detonations take place around the bullet outside the muzzle and cause the extraordinary swerves and topplings which we experienced. This com bustion has also to be complete, and this depends partly upon the initial pressure necessary to force the bullet into the rifling. The diameter and hardness of bullet metal govern this. If the combustion is not complete, you get a smoky explosion like the smoky flame of a gut tering candle or half lighted coal, as I did in the W.C.F. reloads. The exact design and fitting together of all these factors so that they work perfectly together every shot is what produces the accuracy and power of good modern ammu nitions. There are hundreds or thousands of possible permutations and combinations of type, size, weight, shape, metal etc., of bullet; coarseness or fineness and constitution of powder involving widely different factors in the volume required in the case space, the speed and power of the deto nating substance, and the initial pressure required. This last consideration is governed partly by the fit of the bullet in the case, or the crimping of the case into it in the heeled bullet ; and in modern cartridges the heeled bullet is of such a shape and hardness that on the firing of the charge. - {Continued on page 9.) WWW.RIFLEMAN.ORG.UK6 T H E R I F L E M 4 N September, 1943. Early Days i By Sir Clive IT was in October, 1906, when I first became connected with the S.M.R.C. The late Lord Colville of Culross, a tireless supporter of miniature rifle shooting, had a s k e d m e t o c o m e a n d m e e t E a r l R o b e r t s t o t a l k things over, and the latter explained to me at the subsequent meeting that if I would take on the job of assisting him in his Miniature' Rifle Campaign he could fix things up with Mr. Haldane (as he then was) at the War Office about my being seconded from my regiment, the Scots Guards. Lord Roberts, who had recently accepted the position of president of the S.M.R.C., had just inaugurated a campaign which had as its object the establishment of a rifle club on every village green, so to speak, and as I had always been very keen about rifle shooting, having for many years been " musketron" to my battalion, as well as Adjutant at Bisley for three years I very naturally accepted Lord Roberts' flattering invitation without any hesitation. When I asked him what exactly he wished me to do he said that he would leave it to me, but that I might consider myself as his private secretary for all rifle club matters and as organising secretary to the S.M.R.C. So I really had more or less carte blanche, and very congenial work I found it. Naturally my first step was to find out what exactly was the significance of those four letters, S.M.R.C., and to this end I hied me up to the City, to No. 23, Bucklersbury, at that time the headquarters of the Society. There I found Mr. Hyam Marks, the Society's capable and hard working secretary, and for the next two years I worked with him in the closest and happiest collaboration. Other active members of the Committee in those days, if I remember, were besides Lord Colville, Major-General Luard, Mr. Robert Martin-Holland, General Mackinnon. Mr. H. Loe Strachey of The Spectator, and Mr. E. J. Newitt, an expert on all rifle matters and a very good shot to boot. The office itself was not a very impressive place, and hardly seemed worthy of a Society with such a dis tinguished person, or even personage, as the late Field- Marshal Earl Roberts, V.C. for its president, but, of course, it had to do the best it could with its very slender resources, and even these at that time depended chiefly on the small profit to be made out of the ammunition or targets that Mr. Marks could persuade the affiliated clubs to purchase. I very soon determined to start a kind of sub-office in my flat over the Post Office in St. James Street, and it was here that our Committee meetings came to be held, a more convenient spot and certainly a pleasanter outlook, with the National Gallery in the distance, than the rather grimy little Bucklersbury. I dare say all this sounds rather " feudalistic " in these modern days, but then it must be remembered that it was nearly 40 years ago, and I dare say we actually were more " feudalistic," though one cannot be quite sure what this disparaging adjective is meant to m e a n . M r. M a r k s a n d I , w i t h o u r e n t h u s i a s m f o r t h e Society, thoroughly understood each other, and we worked away hard, each on his own job, in the happiest manner. In fact, I remember how he very kindly came down and stayed with me in Devonshire for one of my early elections, spending most of his day answering catch questions on the typewriter he had thoughtfully brought with him. 1 soon realised that the only way I could be of much use, if any, would be to travel around the country, pay visits to the existing clubs, enthuse if necessary their members an J find out in each district who would be prepared either :r actively support the club that was already there in their the S.M.R.C. rrison-Bell. village, or who would be prepared to start and run other clubs in the neighbourhood. The rifle clubs at this time were of two kinds—the metropolitan or town clubs and the village-green type. The former were generally pretty prosperous, with plenty of well-off members, with a well-lighted indoor range, with all the latest shooting gadgets, and probably a nice little balance at the bank ; clubs such as Ham and Petersham or Southfields, for example. Though I visited many of this type of club I always had the feeling that the most tactful thing I could do was not to make myself a nuisance by staying there too long, as they seemed to be getting along very nicely on their own. The village-green type of club was a different proposition, and wanted encouragement. Most of them had a hard struggle for existence and chiefly depended on the enthusiasm of a keen secretary and the help of some local bigwig who could,persuade a few of his friends to join him on that important feature, the subscrip tion list. For ammunition in those days of poor agricultural wages was something of a problem to the club members, and the far too scanty sixpences soon got blazed away. So I decided that I had better devote most of my time to this smaller and poorer type of club. Fortunately there was never much difficulty in finding people ready to help in a practical way once they had got seized of Lord Roberts' great scheme of popularising the rifle club movement, and the number of new clubs grew satisfactorily. In fact, during the next two years Mr. Marks and I had the pleasure of seeing the register increase by over a thousand clubs. I enjoyed my travels throughout the length and breadth of the country enormously, for my tours took me into out- of-the-way places which I never should have visited but for a rifle club there. I was always commissioned to deliver a direct message of encouragement from Lord Roberts himself, and I had to detail to him what I had seen, when about once a month I would go down to Englemere, his place near Ascot, and report progress. The obvious pleasure shown by the President at the satisfactory increase in the clubs was no little encouragement to the secretary, too. Unfortunately the book in which I kept a log of all these visits, very often with snapshots or press reports, and the distances by rail, motor, or bicyle travelled, got lost in the blitz, when Codrington House got bombed. I had presented it a few years ago as a Christmas present to that distinguished old Guardsman, General Sir Alfred Codrington, to whom the S.M.R.C. owes a debt that it would not find it easy to pay, and later on Sir Alfred decided to place it at Codrington House amongst the records of the Society's early years. I cannot now remember exactly the number of clubs visited, it was between five and six hundred, but the grand total of the mileage travelled has stuck. It came to just over 23,000 miles, and nearly all of it in those lovely parts of the country which are forever associated with the word England. It was with much regret that, on being adopted as candidate for a Devonshire division, with a General Election obviously in the not-too-distant future, I felt it necessary to resign my job to which I had been devoting practically the whole of my time, and where I had spent two such very happy years. It was especially agreeable to me to hear at the recent annual meeting I had the pleasure of attending how strongly in every way the Society, with its extremely capable secretary, is going, and what fine work of great national importance it is carrying out. WWW.RIFLEMAN.ORG.UKT H E R I F L E M A N 7 Keeping By L. Tebbutt, Senior W< [This article is typical of the benefits to be derived fro IN most services of Civil Defence, the main preoccu pation of those in charge, in these days of comparative quiet, is that of keeping personnel together, and maintaining interest in periods of inacfion. After all, considering there are many of us who will qualify for five service chevrons when they are issued, it is not sur prising that something beyond reporting exercises, indoor and outdoor exercises, and competitions are required to sustain and keep together all the members of the services. At the same time, all good citizens find their time fully occupied and anything by way of diversion, must be inter esting, useful and concentrated. In Stamford, Lincolnshire, we have a Socials Committee composed of a member from each Wardens Post, under the chairmanship of the Deputy Head Warden, which is responsible for all the social activities embarked upon. Inter-Post competitions are held during the winter months for darts, as well as whist drives, dances, socials and mixed card evenings. Here, Wardens are able to meet the mem bers from other Posts, and likewise the wives, to whom previously their husbands A.R.P. friends were just names. This being a small country town, most of us have our gardens or allotments-to do in the summer, but we find time to get together teams to meet other services and local clubs at cricket, bowls, angling, etc., and usually manage t o h o l d o u r o w n . Recently, however, we have launched our most successful venture of the war—a miniature rifle club. Out of 120 wardens of both sexes and all ages, more than half the number were keen, so that the many difficulties met with at the start, just had to be overcome ; and, tackled in that spirit, melted away. We were lucky to be offered the use of.a range and rifles right away, and as this was an approved range under War Olfice regulations, there was no difficulty in getting affiliated to the S.M.R.C.—which is most desirable in all cases. There is no doubt we were very fortunate in such a beginning, but in most towns of any size, it will be found that the Home Guard have a miniature range, and are only too willing to assist Wardens. A subscription of 2s. 6d. per year is charged, and each member firing pays (before firing) for his -or her ammu nition—3d. for 10 shots which just about pays for targets as well. For the first month as we have 4 Posts, 4 separate nights were arranged for practice, and assistance and advice were freely given by some of the old soldiers, now wardens, and privately by members of the H.G., who specialise in musketry. A register of every shot fired was kept to record pro gress and keep account of ammunition. Before any firing took place all members were lectured by an authority on "range discipline" and safety-first, with the result that no member has offended in three months' shooting. Three seniors act as range wardens each evening, one taking absolute charge over all, irrespective of rank, or the importance of those firing. Together den. Post 4, Stamford, Lines. .22 rifle shooting by all Civil Defence Workers.—Ed.] As regards shooting requisites, advice and help, the Club is well served by the S.M.R.C. All scrap is salvaged ; spent cases go to scrap merchants who pay about 2d. per lb. for them, used targets that are beyond patching go to paper salvage, and even the ammu nition cardboard boxes find a ready sale in war-time to jewellers who cannot obtain packing for rings, etc. So far we have had four matches with the Police ; Heads of Civil Defence Services ; Home Guard from a neigh bouring Air Station, and a local Engineering Works Club ; and have won them all. Many other matches are in pros pect, on our open range so long as evening light allows, t h e n t h e r e t u r n m a t c h e s w i t h t h e C l u b s w h o h a v e i n d o o r ranges. Interspersed with these fixtures, and after the month's practice, an inter-Post competition was shot for a handsome challenge'cup given by a local business firm. O n e o f t h e m o s t n o t i c e a b l e f e a t u r e s o f t h e R i fl e C l u b ' s activities has been the interest shewn by the ladies, and their steady improvement ; also the success of the old soldiers. In this connection one of the underlying motives of the Committee has been the thought that every able bodied man and woman should know something of the use of firearms, and how to protect themselves. Perhaps this is best expressed in the following extract f r o m T h e F i e l d . " According to the Anglers and Hunter of Vernon British Columbia, Civil Defence Rifle Clubs are being formed under the guidance and supervision of game war dens. Membership is not confined to men alone, but is composed of men, women and younger boys. It is added ; The idea is to acquaint people with the use of firearms so that in the event of invasion even the women in the home would .know how to protect herself and would not have that fear of firearms which seems to be general among the ladies. One reason the Russian defence was so magnificent was because for years they had had civilian defence rifle leagues, and four years ago, six million shooters had won the coveted " Voroshilov " sharpshooters badge. Almost ten thousand adults had won the coveted possible " Sniper " • rating, and some of the shooters were internationally famous. . In one of these international shoots, 18 of the 21 first prizes were taken by Russian shooters." Already we are becoming more ambitious, and a pro ject is afoot to obtain premises for an indoor range and our o w n r i fl e s . N o d o u b t A . R . P. s e r v i c e s w i l l b e m a i n t a i n e d for some time after the war, and especially in the case of Wardens, a most useful addition to their training might well be the opportunity to learn the use of arms and to shoot straight. A free copy of each issue of this magazine is sent to every affiliated unit. It should be kept at the Club Room or Range WWW.RIFLEMAN.ORG.UK8 T H E R I F L E M A N September, 1943. S o m e F a c t s A 1 By M. G. '' I ^HIS is not intended to be an exhaustive treatise on I small-arms, but is merely the result of questions -L and arguments which have been put to me as a Home Guard Armourer and Weapon Training Officer. For example, it is not sufficient for the average Briton to be told to keep his " sights upright," he wants to know why he must do so. I have tried, therefore, to explain some of the more simple peculiarities of our weapons. As an instructor once put it to me : " It is a pity that all the science, ingenuity, and forethought involved in the design of a firearm had to be expended in the production of something with which to kill men, but things being as they are it is an even greater pity to nullify all this work by ignorance and carelessness in the use of the weapon." I agree. For the purpose of this article the word rifle may generally be taken as including all rifled small-arms, but reference is intended more particularly to Service rifles and other Service small-arms, not necessarily British only.- R I F L E S I N G E N E R A L . (1) Interior Ballistics, etc. When the trigger of a rifle is squeezed (or pressed, or pulled, whichever you prefer) the firing pin is released, allowing it to strike the cap of a cartridge, causing the primers to ignite the main propellant charge. The charge by burning develops a large amount of gas which forces the projectile up the barrel towards the target. The pressure in a gaseous fluid being equal in all directions, a force equal to that causing the projectile to move forwards is expended in a backward direction, and is sometimes made use of in the functioning of machine guns and machine carbines. This gas pressure jams the neck of the cartridge case against the chamber walls forming a gas seal, and drives the case on to the head of the bolt. The bolt is prevented from flying out by its locking lugs being engaged with the b a r r e l o r a c t i o n . Between the face of the bolt and the base of the barrel a small space is left, known as the " headspace." If the headspace is too small the locking lugs may not be sufficiently locked, though this is unlikely, and there will be no room for expansion of the cartridge case due to heat etc., whilst if the headspace is too great the result may be ' separated cases and is almost sure to cause the empty case t o b e h a r d t o e x t r a c t f r o m t h e c h a m b e r. This is known as a " hard extraction." An enlarged chamber or particularly soft case will cause the same fault. Abrasives, therefore, should never be used on either the chamber or bolt, and nothing should be done to the bolt which is liable to interfere with the headspace. It is not safe to change bolts, even with the American quantity produced weapons, as the headspace may be affected. If you are dissatisfied with your bolt please let an armourer deal with it, do not tamper with it yourself. Owing to the terrific gas pressure (about 20 tons to the square inch) the base of the bullet commences to move before the point and so is forced into the rifling. This is known as " setting up." Just in front of the bullet the rifling is tapered to give the bullet easy entry, the tapered portion being known as the " leed." The rifling is composed of a number of grooves, the high portions between the grooves being known as " lands." Usually the width of the grooves is the same as that of >ut Small-Arms . B a r n e s . the lands. At the high velocities used in large bore rifles a lead bullet instead of turning with the rifling would siinply strip, so the bullet is given a tough envelope. In British ammunition the envelope is of nickel, in American cupro- n i c k e l i s u s e d . As the bullet leaves the muzzle it is followed by large amounts of gas, causing blast. Some gas also passes the bullet whilst it is still in the barrel, this is known as " windage," and at the moment the bullet leaves the muzzle windage is very likely to upset its flight, causing inaccuracy. Hence the importance of keeping the muzzle free from unnecessary wear and tear. The comparatively sudden explosion of the charge causes the barrel to vibrate in a somewhat similar manner to an iron bar struck by a hammer. The first vibration is a comparatively large one, followed by smaller ones, and it is usually during the large vibration that the bullet leaves the muzzle. If. the vibrations are upset in any way, as for instance by resting the rifle on .a support near the muzzle, the bullet will, of course, leave in a different direction. The sights are adjusted to make allowance for this vibration, known as " flip," so by doing anything which upsets the natural flip of the weapon one is simply asking to miss the target aimed at. An oily or wet cartridge case, caused perhaps by an oily chamber, cannot grip-the chamber walls completely, and so is forced harder on to the bolt face, thus altering the natural vibrations, as they are trans mitted to the barrel in a different manner, causing the bullet once more to leave in an unpredictable direction. The detonator usually used to ignite the charge is fulminate of mercury, and is so sensitive that it has to be diluted. The diluent is potassium chlorate which, after firing, becomes potassium chloride. This has many affinities with common salt, otherwise known as sodium chloride. Thus if the primers are left in the barrel they will absorb moisture, causing rusting and pitting. Sufficient water will dissolve the primers, hence the method of cleaning with water. Cordite fouling is comparatively innocuous. If a gauze is used unnecessarily on the pullthrough, minute scratches will develop on the lands, and these will pick up potassium chloride and also bits of bullet envelope, and the second state of the rifle will be worse than the first. So don't use a gauze unless you have to. Once a gauze has been used in a barrel one can reasonably expect to have to continue using it. The number of lands and grooves is a compromise between the minimum and the ideal. A bullet fired from a barrel with only two lands could not be expected to spin as well as one fired from a barrel with a hundred lands (the new Service rifle nothwithstanding), but the latter bullet would have such small indentations that it would probably strip instead of following the rifling. Barrels may be rifled either left or right handed. In Service rifles only Britain and France use left handed rifling. The British Mk. VII bullet leaves the muzzles, pinning at the rate of 175,680 r.p.m., and since it accelerates from zero to this velocity in about 25 inches it is easy to see that stripping might take place but for careful design. We have now followed the bullet from the time of firing to its exit from the muzzle at a speed of 2,440 ft. per second, or 1,663 miles per hour in the case of the Short Lee-Enfield, and 2,700 ft. per second, or 1,840 m.p.h. in the case of the American model of 1917 with which some Home Guards are armed. WWW.RIFLEMAN.ORG.UK9 (2) Exterior Ballistics, etc. A bullet fired horizontally would in due time fall to the ground, under the action of gravity, and its path or trajectory would not therefore be a striaght line. Actually the trajectory is approximately parabolic and when the rifle is sighted on an object, say 500 yards away, all that one has done is to make the line of sight coincide with the trajectory 500 yards from the rifle. Since the bullet will- in due course come charging along the trajectory it ought therefore to hit the point of aim. The faster a bullet travels the flatter is its trajectory, and if the bullet travels fast enough it will rise so little above the line of sight at a given range that it would hit any reasonable targel on its way there, hence the " battle-sight." The American M.l bullet, in travelling 400 yards , only rises 13 inches above the line of sight, so if aim is taken at the middle of a Hun there is a reasonable chance of stopping him at any range up to something over 400 yards, which is the approximate setting of the battle-sight on the M.17. I understand from the U.S. Ordnance Department's Handbook that the battle-sight of the M.17 is adjusted for 400 yards when firing .30—.06 ammunition ; with M.2 ammo, this goes up to 450 yards, and with M.l. ammo, to 480 yards. However, it will be seen that the sights are merely a convenient method of tilting the barrel so that the trajectory can be made to coincide with a given spot. The bullet, far from following an ideal trajectory, is acted upon by other forces than that of gravity. The twist imparted by the rifling causes the bullet to drift to one side, and immediately after leaving the muzzle the bullet may be following a corkscrew course and may not settle down for quite some distance. Thus it is said,of the S.M.L.E. that it does not begin to shoot under 200 yards. The bullet loses much more forward velocity on its journey than it does spinning velocity, so that on the latter part of its trip it may be over stabilised and unsteady. If the bullet does not spin fast enough it is apt to turn head over heels as it travels along, giving rise to " key-holing " of the target, showing that something is wrong with the barrel. A further and most important factor is the effect of the wind on the bullet, and for this only experience can teach, except that the text books are a good guide for the first shot. If the rifle is fired vertically upwards or downwards the line of sight should be parallel with the bore, but it is not, since the sights make allowance for the drop of the bullet from its line of departure. Since, under these conditions, there is no such drop, it follows that the point of impact will be "above " the point of aim. This applies in a greater or lesser degree according to the elevation of the barrel, e.g., at an elevation of 60 degrees to hit a target 600 yards distant, the correct range at which to set the sights would be 300 yards. An allowance should therefore be. made when firing uphill or downhill, at aircraft for example. Canting or tilting the rifle about a horizontal axis has the opposite effect. Take the extreme example of a rifle fired lying on its side. Since the sights are fixed on or parallel with the centre line of the barrel, there is now no allowance for drop, so the bullet will strike below the point of aim. Further, what was the allowance for drop of the bullet is now causing the rifle fo shoot to one side or the other, in the same direction as the cant. So a canted rifle shoots low and either right or left. Moral, keep the sights upright. As before, this applies in varying degrees according to the amount of -cant given. A peculiarity of cant, shared also with drift, is that its effect increases progressively with the range, and the effect of cant varies also with the height of the line of sight above the bore of the barrel. ( 3 ) S i g h t i n g A r r a n g e m e n t s . " These fall under three main headings, of which there are many sub-divisions, viz.. Open, Aperture and Telescope. The open sight is strong and simple, but has nothing to recommend it over the aperture sight, in my opinion. It may enable some shots to fire a greater number of rounds in a given time, but not with the accuracy of an aperture sight. Why in pre-war days were the bulls bigger for the Army Meeting at Bisley than for the N.R.A.'s meeting, at which aperture sights were used '? Open sights are quite easy to use, but with age or infirmity the eye has increasing difficulty in focussing both backsight and foresight. The answer is the aperture or orthoptic sight which is not looked at, but looked through. The fact that the back sight does not have to be focussed enables it to be placed closer to the eye, giving a longer sight base and therefore improved accuracy. The size of the aperture is often quoted as a cause of inaccuracy, but on the M.17 exper- ments, carried out by responsible authority in America, have shown that so long as the foresight is seen anywhere in the aperture the maximum error thus caused is not more than 3 inches in 200 yards, which, you will agree, is not material when shooting for warlike purposes. At present the telescope represents the ultimate in rifle sights, but is of the three types the most vulnerable and easily upset. It cannot and does not of itself improve anyone's shooting ability, but by showing up errors in holding, which previously were blamed on sighting, or wind or other factors, causes the formation of better habits. By its use the poorest eyesight is placed on a level with the keenest sight. However, in failing light a 'scope is usually not so good as " iron " sights. It is far too readily assumed that shooting must be much easier with a 'scope sight, whereas the contrary is the case. A 'scope simply helps to make aiming more exact, and of the three essentials to good shooting (holding, aiming and trigger pressing) aiming is probably the least important. {To be continued.) Experiments in War-time Reloading and Adapters {Continued from page 5.) the hollowed heel " sets up " and fills the rifling like a solid base bullet. It is, in itself, no disadvantage whatever. Whether the detonator is contained in a central cap or in the rim of the case has no bearing on the perfect ballistics or otherwise of a low power cartridge. The only reason 1 believe for using a central cap and anvil at all is for higher power cartridges when the pressure reaches a point at which the rim-fire case cannot stand it and would burst at the point of impact by the striker. It seems to me very unlikely that at the mere adoption of central fire and solid base bullet will ever improve the accuracy obtainable within the ballistic power of the .22 " small bore " low power cartridge. There may be a continuation to this article if the interest warrants it. 1 have not touched Adapters yet. WWW.RIFLEMAN.ORG.UK1 0 T H E R I F L E M A N S e p t e m b e r , 1 9 4 3 . The Canadian S.B.R.A. Classification System By K. N. Morris. Members of the Society of Miniature Rifle Clubs whose interest in shooting extends to the .303 Service rifle and the annual peace time Empire Meet at Bisley will agree, I am sure, that Canada for many years has consistently produced marksmen of high calibre. Their many wins bear testimony to this belief, and yet Canada has not won a single major small b o r e e v e n t s u c h a s t h e L o r d D e w a r I n t e r n a t i o n a l . I t i s only logical that if Canada can produce excellent big bore men she can also produce small bore marksmen, and in larger numbers too, for while the big bore teams have only the Armed Forces of peace time on which to draw, the small bore teams can draw their personnel from the entire adult population of a country of some twelve million persons. W H Y T H E N H A S C A N A D A Y E T T O E S T A B L I S H H E R S E L F A S A L E A D I N G S M A L L B O R E C O U N T R Y ? Until recently the major obstacle was the lack of a governing or parent small bore rifle organisation to develop s h o o t e r s a n d c o - o r d i n a t e t h e i r a c t i v i t i e s . T h e D o m i n i o n of Canada Rifle Association has been in operation since 1 8 6 8 a n d r e s e m b l e s t h e N . R . A . o f G r e a t B r i t a i n i n t h a t i t is primarily a service rifle organisation for members of Canada's Armed Forces. While several days of small bore matches were a part of its annual peace time prize meetings at Ottawa, these matches were just a minor side show and no effort was made to develop .22 shooters. Accordingly a group of enthusiasts met in Toronto in 1932 and organised their own Canadian Small Bore Association for the purpose of co-ordinating club activities, sponsoring competitions and organising new clubs. Several years later an executive of Montreal shooters was elected, since when the office of the Association has been in Montreal. From the outset our Association was fortunate in receiving the whole-hearted assistance and co-operation of both the S.M.R.C. and the N.R.A. of America," but, nevertheless, the early years were most difficult. It is a tribute to the founders that they carried on with undiminished optimism despite setbacks and disappointments. Finally the skies began to clear, and in 1939 the sun broke through, since when the C.S.B.A. has made definite progress despite the handicaps of World War 11. N O W T H A T T H E M A J O R O B S T A C L E H A S BEEN OVERCOME, WHA T OTHER PROBLEMS A R E T H E R E ? From the point of view of an International match such as the Dewar, a great handicap is Canada's vast size. Canada fired her 1940 and '41 Dewar matches in Montreal which, although not at the geographical centre of Canada, is fairly well centred in the most densely populated area. As a result, almost all the contestants were from the east and central provinces, where as there are many splendid riflemen in the mid-western and Pacific provinces who, in effect, are barred from a place on the team by the heavy expense of travel. To illustrate, let us take as an example John Jones who lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, and who would be a pillar of strength to the team. Jones makes inquiries and finds that to travel to Montreal will require four nights and three days on the fastest train, and a similar time for the return trip. His railway fare and other travel expenses will total 5240, while entry fees, board and lodging while in Montreal plus a little sightseeing and amusement will run his expenses up to about5300 (at the current rate of exchange approximately £75). Being a man of moderate means, Jones regretfully concludes that he must stay at home, and so the team loses another strong member. It is our hope that post-war developments in the means of travel will help to eliminate this serious obstacle. W H A T E L S E H A S P R E V E N T E D C A N A D A F R O M E S T A B L I S H I N G H E R S E L F A S A L E A D I N G N A T I O N O F S M A L L B O R E R I F L E M E N ? The answer is simply that we do not have enough srnall bore target rifle shooters. Canada is definitely " shooting conscious," and, apart from the cities, there are few families which do not possess a firearm of some kind, but almost all of these firearms are of the hunting type. No accurate figures are available, but it is questionable if there are more than 500 match rifle shooters in Canada. Of these the majority are " dyed-in-the-wool" fans who are m e m b e r s o f o u r C a n a d i a n A s s o c i a t i o n o r m e m b e r s o f affiliated clubs. With so few shooters from which to select our national team, we are at a decided disadvantage when firing against Great Britain and the United States. The only remedy for this situation is to develop a steadily I increasing number of proficient riflemen. To tell you i what we of the C.S.B.A. are doing to interest beginners : and to encourage maximum participation in our national championships is the purpose of this article. ' HOW THE C.S.B.A. CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM OPERA TES. Until 1940 all of our national (postal) championship matches, both winter indoor and summer outdoor, had no system whereby competitors were segregated according to ability. As a result these matches were supported almost ! exclusively by a small number of experts, for there was nothing to attract the less proficient. Realising that we were restricting, instead of enlarging, the number of our active supporters, in 1940 it was decided to operate two separate classes in the summer matches. Official averages were calculated for everyone who had fired the 1939 summer matches, those with an average of 96.5 or better being in " A " Class and the remainder in " B " Class. Each newcomer was asked to name his own class on the basis of whether or not he had won an award during the previous four years in any local or regional tournament. Highly encouraging results proved the value of a classification system and the experience of each subsequent year enabled us to introduce further refinements. The C.S.B.A. Classification System, as it now operates, is as f o l l o w s : — Each shooter has two separate classifications, one for [ indoors and one for outdoors, based upon his scores of the most recent year. As will be observed in the following tables, the class standards for outdoor matches are lower than for indoors, due to the added problems of wind and WWW.RIFLEMAN.ORG.UKSeptember, 1943. T H E R I F L E M A N 11 changing light. The basis upon which a competitor's class i s d e t e r m i n e d i s : For Indoor Matches. Class "A "—An official indoor average of 98.000 or better . Class " B "—An official indoor average of 96.000 to 97.999. ' ^ o f fi c i a l i n d o o r a v e r a g e o f 9 4 . 0 0 0 t o Class " D "—An official indoor average of less than 94.000. F o r O u t d o o r M a t c h e s . • Class " A "—An official outdoor average of 97.500 or better . Class " B "—An official outdoor average of 95.000 to 97.499. Class " C "—An official outdoor average of 92 500 to 94.999. Class D An official outdoor average of less than 92.500. It is further provided that if a competitor's average for the preceding year was .500 or more ' over the minimum average for his class and his new average, based on his scores for the current year, does not fall more than .500 below that class he will remain in that class. Example :—John Jones enters the 1943 Summer Programme with an average of 98.167 (" A " Class) and fires an average of 97.216 (" B " Class). Because of the foregoing rule, he will again compete in " A " Class in 1944. If, however, he had entered the 1943 Summer Matches with an average of only 97.667 (" A " Class) and had fired an average of 97.216 (" B " Class), he would compete in " B " Class in 1944. The purpose of this rule is, of course, to prevent a marksman, because of one or two bad shots, from dropping to a class in which he does not rightfully belong. Where newcomers are concerned, it is left entirely to their good sportsmanship and honesty to classify themselves. To these newcomers we suggest that they fire a minimum of three targets under normal competitive conditions and calculate their average from these scores An integral part of the Classification System is our method of awarding prizes. In former years a fixed number of prizes was guaranteed without any advance knowledge of the number of entries. In some cases the number of prizes was entirely inadequate, while in one instance we recall that there were more prizes than com petitors. With our present system we pledge ourselves to provide a prize list for each class solely dependent upon the number of entrants, and we select a standard prize of a price which will permit us to award one for each four to six shooters. In our Summer Matches currently in operation the entry fee per competitor is 50 cents while the standard prize, apart from the major award for first place, costs us 81.50 ; accordingly, we pledge ourselves to provide one prize for every four entries, thus assuring ourselves of82.00 income for every $1.50 spent on standard prizes. Xhe difference of 50 cents covers the expenses of operations. ADVANTAGES OF THE SYSTEM At the time of writing, no important faults are evident in the C.S.B.A. Classification System, as opposed to which the following favourable points have become strongly evident during the last three years. (1) A few lessons under a good coach are sufficient to enable most beginners to shoot scores of 92 x 100 indoors, and 90 x 100 outdoors. The Classification System is arranged so that regardless of your ability there is a proper class for you and, most important, whatever your ability may be, you are competing only against those of comparable ability. (2) The system will divide any typical group of com petitors into four groups of reasonable size. Our latest records show the following distribution of competitors with official averages—32% are in " A " Class, 37% in " B," 13% in " C"" and 18% in " D." While " A and " B " Class competitors at present outnumber " C " and " D " Classes, each year the gap is lessened. Despite our e ff o r t s t h e r e r e m a i n a f e w s h o o t e r s w h o t h i n k t h a t o u r competitions, are sponsored for the experts and so refrain from entering, but once the system is generally understood, it is our belief that each class will have a comparable number of contestants. (3) Conclusive evidence shows that the system does attract the support of beginners and less proficient shooters. Many of our old supporters are serving with Canada's Armed Forces, others are in essential industries, and war services which take up the time formerly devoted to rifle shooting and, to top it off, there is a serious shortage of ammunition. Despite all this, a record number of contestants have entered the matches each year. If the system had been launched in time of peace, instead of with the handieap of war, we firmly believe that the results would have been even greater. Without the system the Association would never have received the support of those who are now shooting in " C " a n d " D " C l a s s e s . (4) The system is easy to operate. The secretary of any club or association must tabulate and publish each shooter's scores in announcing the results of a match, and all that remains to .be done is to calculate his average and determine his class by reference to the tables reproduced above. (Once a year is often enough to reclassify com^ petitors.) (5) The Classification System provides a definite incentive to improve. While no stigma attaches to a " D " or " C " Class competitor, the incentive is always present to try a little harder and so climb to a higher class. (6) If a competitor can improve his average so that he climbs to a higher class, the chances are 10 tol in his favour that he will also win a prize, and possibly a Class Champion ship. (7) While at first glance the method of permitting a newcomer to name his own class may appear to be lax, our records prove that the vast majority classify themselves honestly. Most people who take up rifle shooting seriously will be competing for many years and he would be a fool indeed who would prejudice his good name by selecting a classification below his capabilities. While it is true that many who select " D " and " C " classifications conclude their first year with scores that put them in higher classes, this is only to be expected, for they are beginners whose improvement in one season is usually rapid. (8) When no advantage is given to weaker shots the prizes are always won by the experts. With the Classifica tion System the prizes are well distributed, but the major " A " Class award always goes to the best man. (9) When an advantage is given to a newcomer by means of one of the established " Handicap " systems, {Continued on page 24.) WWW.RIFLEMAN.ORG.UK12 T H E R I F L E M A N September, 1943. A b o u t " O f fi c i a l C o m m u n i c a t i o n s " By Major R. Brown, D.S.O. A friend of mine is trying to make out a list of the various types and models of Service pistols issued to the Army and Navy since the raising of the Regular army towards the end of the 17th cen tury. He has now arrived at the percussion period, and here I thought I could be helpful, and dug out an " Official Communication " issued in 1842, describing the percussion arms lately introduced into the Service. One would expect so august a document, decorated with an official reference number, and dated from the Horse Guards, Whitehall, to be correct. But it isn't. It gives one rifle which never seems to have got into production ; omits a rather similar one which did, omits all mention of the special carbine of the House hold Cavalry ; gets all mixed up about the calibre of the " Victoria Carbine," and triumphantly omits any mention at all of a pistol, although, later on, it gives details of the Navy pistol. Just over a century later Officialdom, true to form, has issued some equally enlightening statements : " The New British Rifle " and " The New No. 4 Rifle," equally accu r a t e a s t h e i r f o r e - r u n n e r. I gave the facts about the Brunswick mentioned in the one on " The New British Rifle," but would like to apolo gise for and correct a mis-statement I made. I said the .280 Ross had two grooves. This was based on an exami nation of only one specimen, which I now find had, as is common practice with match rifles, been fitted with a new barrel not made by the Ross Company. The Ross, as sold by the makers, had four grooves. Surely at this time there would be no harm in publishing a complete description. The Germans must have cap tured lots of them at Dieppe, and by now know everything that is to be known about it, and have decided whether to convert it to take another cartridge, or to issue it " as is " ; to some one or other of their satellites. Isn't it extraordinary that our authorities can't make up their minds whether we want a cut-off or not ? The cut-off was originally designed because the rifle was intended to be used as a single-loader, and the magazine was to be kept in reserve for emergencies—I am speaking of the o r i g i n a l M a r k 1 L e e - M e t f o r d o f 1 8 8 9 . , When we changed to charger-loading the Mark 1 S.M.L.E. was issued without a cut-off, but slotted for one. Later on, cut-offs were fitted to them. The pattern 1913 rifle, and its off shoot, the P. 14, had n o c u t - o f f . T o w a r d s t h e e n d o f t h e l a t e w a r t h e c u t - o f f again disappeared, only to be re-introduced in the Mark 6, now No. 4. The reason for its re-introduction was an in fatuation at that time with a grenade-discharger cup which fixed on the same way as the bayonet. But we used a bomb which necessitated the use of a blank cartridge, and the cut-off had to be closed before fitting on the grenade dis charger. Judging by the way Home Guard rifles intended for discharging grenades are strengthened I imagine this discharger has gone out of fashion, so perhaps the cut-off will remain abolished. The " simplification of the safety-catch " is interesting. I have always maintained that our safety-catch is mechani cally unsound, since it depends on a spring which can be " s e t " o r b r o k e n b y c a r e l e s s n e s s . 1 But the " Simplified " catch is a return to the one origi nally fitted to the Mark 1 Lee-Metford which was so un satisfactory that it was abolished before the rifle was g e n e r a l l y i s s u e d . • In the absence of anything which directly prevented the bolt from being turned when the catch was " ON," it was quite easy to break off either the little bit which locks the striker, or to .shear off the stud in the cocking piece. In the first case, the rifle was no longer safe with the catch " on," and in the second the striker protruded from the face of the bolt while the bolt was pushing the cartridge out of the magazine. That is an odd point about the rifle " bindinig " when hot. In some 20 years soldiering in the Infantry I've never met it, but it probably does happen at schools of musketry where specialists fire some 60 rounds a minute. Nowadays we are too polite to indulge in the embittered arguments which raged at the time when rifles were intro duced for general use in the Army. But at the time of the introduction of the " Enfield " rifle, the question of two grooves or three was heatedly discussed, and ended by being settled in favour of three. The argument took the general form that a 3 groove barrel distorted the bullet less than a two-groove, in that, whereas in the two-groove the grooves were opposite each other, in the three groove the groove came opposite to a land. Of course all this applied to bullets differing a great deal from modern ones. The bullet then was of soft lead, and smaller than the bore, and the explosion expanded it into the grooves; now our bullet is hard, and larger than the bore. A point I don't remember being raised in the controversy of the 1850's, but which seems important, is that a three-groove barrel tends to centre any bullet which is not quite up to stand ard accuracy of manufacture. And " war-time " ammunition doesn't always come up to peace-time standards. A year or so ago I sat up nearly all one night frenziedly search ing all the books I have on cartridge manufacture, to find out how it was possible for a cartridge to have two bullets and no powder, and finally came to the conclusion that it was impossible. But I had just opened two cartridges, one a miss-fire, and the other because it rattled like the other, and found each had two bullets and no powder. They were of 1940 manufacture. I suppose " Machine tool" is Officialese for rifling machine. In its highest form a rifling machine will cut grooves of any pitch desired. In its simplest, once one has decided what pitch to use, a mere twisted bar running between guides will do the trick. I have lately been reading an American book which gives illustrations of the rifling benches used for making Kentucky rifles, and many of them had wooden helices to control the cutter. And I have a photograph of the machine used by the native gentleman in the Khyber who makes.hand-made S.M.L.E.'s. He uses a twisted bar of flat steel. However, I've got a long way away from discussing official communications. This one ends up with remarks on the protruding muzzle. I think the real reason for it was the infatuation, which I mentioned earlier, for the interchangeable bayonet and grenade-discharger. {Continued on page 15.) WWW.RIFLEMAN.ORG.UKSeptember, 1943. T H E R I F L E M A N 13 Looking Back, No. 4 By A. G. Rickarby. At the 1912 annual meeting of the National Rifle Association at Bisley the late Lord Cheylesmore, then Chairrnan of the N.R.A., bemoaned the falling off" in Service rifle entries at the great Annual Prize Meeting, and apparently no efforts appeared to have been rnade to stop the rot. As the " old stagers " dropped out—it's surprising the number of years they will carry on—no new recruits seemed to take their places. The small-bore movement was growing year by year, this offering an excellent recruiting ground for new Service rifle " blood," but the opportunities of shooting with the .303 were scanty, mainly due to the absence of a handy Service range and little effort was made to attract the small bore man to travel to one. However, Lord Cheylesmore's lament aroused the Bisley correspondent of the Military Mail (the camp newspaper) to action, by giving prominence to his lordship's complaint with the result that it led Phil Plater, that keen and excellent small-bore and Service rifle marksman, to tackle the job of organising a one-day rifle meeting on the Bisley ranges. Boosted by the Military Mail right well did he do it, for it was a most successful day. Known as the Civilian's One Day Bisley, it was held on 8th October, 1912, perhaps a little late in the sea'son for j such outdoor work, still it was a most satisfactory " try i out." Only small-bore marksmen who were civilian 1 Service rifle " tyros " were allowed to enter and of the 120 | competitors very, few had handled a Service rifle previously. One chap admitted afterwards he was a little dubious as to the "kick " he was expecting to get from the rifle ! The programme consisted of some ten events with the small-bore and the full-bore rifle, plus a team shoot at 200, 500 and 600 yards, figure targets. Competition No. 1, ten shots at 100 yards (small-bore) fell to C. H. Mullings (St. John's, Bedminster), 98 (97 centre scoring), followed by his club mate F. M. Pyle, also with 98. That old friend of ours. J. T. Mountain (Bicester) was third with 97. Mrs. Muirhead (Byfleet Ladies), yours truly, A. Medhurst (Chobham) and A. Ridler (King's Norton) followed with 96 each. This was not a very comfortable shoot, as we had to lie out in the heather, 100 yards in front of Butts 7, 8 and ; 9 on the Bisley ranges—in fact it was rough. Competition : No. 2, back to 200 yards, still with the small-bore, called for | ten shots at the Service figure target. Here G. W. Burton (Beckton) scooped up first place with 47 out of 50. Mullings (Bedminster), Edwards and Partridge (both of Booking factory) also turned in 47 each, but were placed in the above order by counting out as is usual when shots are signalled separately at Bisley. That excellent small-bore marksman A. Oldman (Harleston), with Mrs. Muirhead and Hutter (Eastbourne) followed with 46. (You will get these ladies i popping up to show us how it's done !) The Aggregate of | the two small-bore events at 100 and 200 yards represented j Competition No. 3. Mullings 145, Pyle 143, Burton 143, ! Mrs. Muirhead 142, Ridler 141, Oldman 139, Partridge 136, i took the first seven prizes, and I also note that G. W. Green | (Chiswick) and W. Bradborn (Norwich) were in the prize ] list. ' The real " try out " then started, i.e., a squadded shoot ; of seven shots at each of the distances, 200, 500 and 600 ' yards. Practically the whole lot of the competitors used borrowed Service rifles and each man could have a Service rifle coach, of which the majority took advantage. There were very many willing helpers, all taking as much interest in the proceedings, as if they were pulling the trigger themselves. A. Medhurst (Chobham) rattled up a very fine shoot, getting " possibles " of 35 each at 200 and 500 yards, unfortunately finishing with a 30 only at 600—still, his aggregate of 100 was first rate going. W. Bradborn (Norwich) with a " poss" at 500 yards, finished 99. V. C. Lake (Alexandra Palace), under his father's coaching, also making 99. H. A. Matheson (Chiswick) and H. C. Cooke (Central Markets) turned in cards of 98 each, whilst F. W. Cooke (Dorking) secured 97. Then came a bunch of 14 of us with 96"s and 95's all in the prize list, except one poor unfortunate beggar who was counted out with 95. It was then left to take the totals for the " Grand Aggregate " of the two series of shoots with the small and full-bore weapons. Although the full-bore event only brought him in 91, C. H. Mullings (Bedminster), with an aggregate of 236, came out " top dog." W. IJradborn (Norwich), with his 99 (full-bore) nosed into second place with 235. A. Oldman (Harleston), with the same total was third ; then followed A. Medhurst (Chobham), who had not done too well with the small-bore, 232. F. M. Pyle (Bedminster), stumbling with 89 in the full-bore shoot was 5th, 232. E. H. Robinson (Norwood and Dulwich) seemed to have a special competition with me as, although we finished all square at 231, my one lead upon him with the small-bore, he counteracted by "dusting " me by one with the larger weapon. A. Ridler (King's Norton) also turned in a 231, tripping up with 90 at the longer ranges. Then followed G. W. Green (Chiswick) 230, and a string of fellows down to 224. The Alexandra Palace R.C. walked off with the team shoot at 200, 500 and 600 yards with 375 for the four men, and we were very bucked over that win. The team consisted of V. C. Lake, A. H. Ford, H. 1. Hawkins and myself. Chiswick, 369, and Farnham, 368, came next. T. H. Russell, of the then prominent Thetford club, lent me his shooting iron and " held my hand " over the long range shoot. Shooting commenced at 9 a.m. and continued all day long without a hitch, whilst the Service rifle scores were exceptionally good, especially as the conditions at 500 and 600 yards were extremely difficult owing to the failing light. Generally it was proof that small-bore practice and training is very valuable to those who want to become marksmen with the Service arm. Writing of this particular day's sport brings to my mind another great day we had on the Hendon and Crickle- wood rifle range in 1913. 1 had just returned from America where 1 had been impressed by the performances of some of their great trap shooters (with the shot gun, of course) and suddenly got a brain wave to arrange a match in which each man on the team should use rifle, shotgun and pistol. 1 challenged H. K. Rogers and J. Thomas (Hendon and Cricklewood) to raise a team of 20 men from London small bore clubs to shoot a match against another 20 1 would find. My team was' named the " Chicopees," and our {Continued on page 18.) WWW.RIFLEMAN.ORG.UKNext >