812 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



fJuLY 26, l»>o. 



FIRST STAGE TARGETS. 



WATTLEWOETH. 

 500 yards. 



BRITISI TEAM. 



600 yards. 200 yards. 500 yards. 600 yardB. 200 yards. 



AMERICAN TEAM. 



JOINER. 



200 yards. 500 yards. 



AN OFFICIAL OPINION 



The National Rifle Association of America, ) 

 Office, No. 112 William Street, V 

 New York, July 22, 1888. ) 

 To the Editor of the Forest and Stream: 



It is not a difficult task for non-experts to offer critical observations 

 about the inferiority of our American team. Unmerited reflections 

 from those ignorant of facts are pardonable, while those who are 

 familiar with rifle practice regard our defeat from a very different 

 line of rational argument. . , 



The National Rifle Association does nor assume to heeomean apolo- 

 gist for inexperienced sharpshooters, bin when amateurs attempt to 

 mislead or misjudge the siiuafio,, it beet .« a pleasant duty to de- 

 fend and instate the America,, team in its proper position. 



The impression thai .these contests are shot, under similar conditions 

 and with similar rifles as in those matches which made American 

 riflemen famous through consecutive victories does not seem to 

 have escaped the attenl ion of oar countrymen. The truth is that it 

 was impossible, to induce our English friends to meet us, as of yore, 

 with our fine sighted and scientifically adjusted weapons, that super- 

 induced the nmst accurate marksmanship: ami I repeat my former 



i hat. with our line rifles. America stands nrst and foremost, 



and it would be an exceedingly difficult undertaking to win the 

 laurels that remain accredited to the United States., 



BritiBh sharpshooters, under the enthusiastic direction of tnat 



. . , ., r _. ,.., ..nI oi— □...«. xr.iifn..a oiY,o»linrv imrier- 



repeated defeats, were extremely anxious to introduce a match that 

 would enable Great Britain to win. After considerable correspond- 

 ence the National Rifle Association concluded the terms and condi- 

 tions, which were in every particular to their advantage. Instead of 

 using the rifle with which our previous victories had been won, we 

 agreed to use a strict military weapon, with open front and primitive 

 rear sights -appliances which Americans have long since discarded 

 as unprogressive and considered practically obsolete. The distances 

 were divided into two stages-200. 500 and 600 yards— the regular 

 military distances, where we can hold our own with any country, 

 even with inferior military arms; the second sage was arranged at 

 800, 900 and 1,000 yards— distances « here, it is safe to state, we never 

 bad any experience or practice. We expected to be beaten and never 

 disguised our opinions; it was only a question of how many points, 

 defeat naturally faking place at the long la.uges. 



In the first eompctit on our team were armed with inferior military 

 rifles, the English weapon being quite equal to our line sporting rifles, 

 so far as it referred l>. ui I skilful workmanship, a fact 



admitted by Sir Henry Halford and hi; i, ■.■,. apletion of the 



match our team were' beaten under favorable conditions at all the 

 distances, and submitted to it like soldiers and philosophers. 



The greatest gaip made by our British friends was at the long 

 ranges where twenty years' practice enabled th-m to become expert 

 and msaters of all the atmospheric conditions, including shooting in 

 a rain storm. What had we to show against such experience / Three 

 months' practice I Is it a wonder that we were beaten 170 points with 



.e armed 

 Let the 



t the following statement: 



^^^tSS^S^X^^T^S>^^^^^ S^coW*^"«£Z^Tjn«^ to the enumerated 



forces, as a matter of fact Great Britain has over ,500 qualified 

 marksmen in the first class to select fourteen men from; it was with 

 lei ay that we could seeuie forty men to enter for 

 competition for places on the team. 



What did the first defeat accomplish for the return match? Our 

 answer is, one I I .in- match. It led to the production 



of a superior m id another season of practice, thus giv- 



ing us one and a half years' experience to our competitors' twenty at 

 the longer ranges. Interested partisans have made an attack o " 

 Brown rifle, with which more than one-half of the team w 

 in the return match, and attribute the defeat to its u 

 public draw their own conclusions from the following .... 

 The majority of the men in our team who used the other rifle a 

 the bottom of t he list ; so defeat cannot fall on the Brown rifle. Too 

 much praise cinnot be. offered to Mr. Brown for his indefatigable at- 

 tempts U> produce a military arm equal to the English, calculated to 

 assist in winning the Wimbledon competition ; therefore, any attempt 

 to involve it in our defeat is unjust and actuated by other than sound 



To the general facts connected with the match we can add noth- 

 ing until the captain of the team, Colonel G. E. P. Howard. 

 makes his report. To state that the results of the shooting 

 by our team at 200, 500, 600 and 800yds., with a lead at the 

 latter distance of twenty-four points, was an unqualified surprise 

 to every National Guardsman, and even to the British Volunteers, i ; 

 simply to substantiate the truth. We had a perfect right to indulge- 



[OONTINUEn ON PAGE 5H.] 



