MINIATURE RIFLE 

 SHOOTING 



IN years gone by the facilities existing 

 in this country for rifle pradice were almost ex- 

 clusively for long range shooting with the Service 

 arm, hence the interest was largely confined to 

 members of the reguW and auxiliary forces, and the 

 number of men who might be described as marksmen did 

 not amount to more than a few thousands. Now there 

 are thousands of civilian rifle clubs with a membership of 

 some hundreds of thousands, using various weapons from 

 air guns to '303 rifles. 



We are of opinion that the reasons for this sudden 

 change were (1) the feeling engendered during the 

 progress of the South African war that every man 

 should know how to use a rifle, and (2) the introduction 

 of the rifled air-gun and the "Witton" pellet, with 

 which very accurate shooting is obtainable at short 

 distances ; being very cheap, this form of shooting 

 enabled people to practise who would not otherwise 

 have been able to do so. 



Once started upon a shooting career very many of 

 these air-rifle men were not content until they had 

 become proficient shots with the miniature rifle and 

 even in many cases with the Service rifle. 



Cost, however, has been and always will be a most 

 important fador where rifle clubs are concerned, and 



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