120 



TARGET PRACTICE IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES. 



"Table B, trained infantry," now consists of three parts — independent, 

 miscellaneous jwactices, and practices for whicli rounds are allotted to 

 commanding officers and company commanders. Part I includes twelve 

 practices, of wliicli the first six are in the 1898 regulations, with the excep- 

 tion that the position in No. 4 at 500 yards is ' ' sitting '' instead of ' ' kneeling. " 

 No. 7 is "any position," 100 yards at a vanishing head and shoulders ex- 

 posed four seconds; No. 8 at a fixed head and shoulders, 100 yards, the 

 firer crouching behind cover and momentarily exposing himself as in the 

 similar jiractice in Table A. Trained men, however, are allow'ed only 

 three seconds for exposure, fire, and complete return to cover. Nos. 9, 10, 

 and 11 are at vanishing head and shoulders, fixed head and shoulders, and 

 vanishing second-class targets respectively, the distances being in the 

 first two cases 200 and in the third 500 yards. No. 12 practice is any posi- 

 tion, magazine independent, 600 yards, at a second-class vanishing target 

 exposed forty-five seconds. Part II embraces three practices, No. 13, inde- 

 pendent, about 150 yards at a moving figure ; No. 14, magazine independent, 

 about 200 yards, any position, behind cover, two shots at each backward 

 and forward run of a moving figure, 8 rounds in all; No. 15, magazine 

 independent, about 200 yards, any position, behind cover, at a vanishing 

 figure. A target to appear at intervals of five seconds, each time at a dif- 

 ferent place, and to remain exposed fotir seconds. Horizontal space for 

 each man's target not less than 28 feet. In the first two parts 106 rounds 

 are expended, leaving 94 for Part III, of which 41 are allotted to the com- 

 manding officer and 53 to the captain, who formerly had only 40 rounds 

 per man at his disposal. In addition to these 94 rotmds per man, general 

 officers are authorized to draw 4,000 rounds per battalion of infantry. At- 

 tention is directed to special instructions for moving and vanishing tar- 

 gets and range appliances, which will assist in framing schemes and in 

 selection of suitable targets. 



To speak broadly, the main changes in Tables A and B introduced since 

 the 1898 regulations, which have been in force only up to the present year, 

 are the abolition of volleys, the system of firing behind cover, and the 

 permission accorded to recruits to use any kind of natural or artificial rest 

 in their independent practices at 200, 300, and 400 yards. The increased 

 encouragement of individuality in the preparation of special schemes by 

 captains of companies, the closer attention iiaid to the use of vanishing 

 and moving targets, and the introduction of the "sitting" position are 

 other matters in which progress is indicated. 



For the purpose of comparison, the course prescribed by 



the musketry regulations of 1898 for cavalry and infantry is 



given below: 



Table A. — Recruits. 



PaUT I. — Dei.IBKUATK IXDIVIDIAI, FlHK. 



