FOREST AND STREAM. 



283 



Sexton, Muer and Shaffer having tied, made five addi- 

 tional shots at same range with the following result:— 



Womp Score. Tot'll Name. Score. Tot'l . 



J2f,5 54555 24 Shaffer 5 5 554 24 



S :■■'■■• 5555 . 3 **{„ . m , 



The above shooting is about the strongest in a general 

 wa y we have yet noticed; 272 made by five men out of a 

 possible 280 may be called stunning. If this is not suf- 

 ficient suppose we look at the following as a score made on 

 the 28th by the same club. The weather was very cold 

 and disagreeable, the wind blowing quite hard. Condi- 

 tions—Distance, 500 yards; two sighting and twenty scor- 

 ing shots. The following are the scores out of a possible 

 100:- 



Name. 



Score. 



5 5 5 5 5 



Total. 

 98 



98 



96 

 96 

 95 

 94 

 93 

 92 

 87 



orge Willard 5555o455o54o5 



«q Sexton 5 5555 5 554555555 5 5 545 



t Mnir 6 555 5 5555555555 5 55 5 4 



Oh. Fuller.'. 5 5545555545545555555 



i? S Thompson 55 55545 5 544555554555 



W C Blackmer 4 45544555 5 55555 5 5554 



W E Strong 55554555555845525554 



AG Alford 55 4 45445455555455554 



T M'Loomis 3 4555555555545445 5 53 



C. B*. Prouty 55555454454545 555025 



A whole row of points of exclamation are insufficient to 

 express our opinion . 



Omaha, Nov. 28ih.~ The presence of Major Fulton 



brought out the marksmen of the Omaha Rifle Club. The 



first match was at 200 yards, five shots, with the following 



results:— 

 ^ame Total, j Name. Total. 



Fdlton 20 B add 11 



p e t y. I9i Thurston.. 16 



Kennedy 17[Hoffmeyer 17 



At long range, 800 yards, fifteen shots, the scores were:— 

 Kame. Total Name. Total. 



Fulton 67 Eichards 49 



Kennedy 56 tioffmeyer 43 



Petty 53 



California.— In our issue of the 18th of November 

 last, it seems we did not give to Co. O, 1st Regiment, full 

 credit for the many prizes won by them. In the three 

 days rifle contest held at the Presidio, to Cu. C were 

 awarded no less than nine prizes, and to Co, E seven. 

 JSspecially in the team shooting were they in the front, the 

 'Silver Challenge Trophy, the Commander-in-Chief's Medal 

 and the GoldMedal, three out of the five prizes having been 

 adjudged to Co. C. When the shooting was so very gen- 

 erally good.it was, of course, difficult for us to discriminate. 



Crescent City Rifle Club, of New Orleans. — We 

 are in receipt of a brochure containing the charter and by- 

 laws of this association, of which Col. W. J.Benhamis 

 President, Col. W. T. Yandry, Vice Present; John K. 

 Renaud, Treasurer, and S, Mullen, Secretary. The laws 

 necessary to govern the Crescent City Club seem to us to 

 have been carefully considered, and are, in our opinion, 

 models of good sense, and as we are frequently asked 

 what are the general rules to be used in order to conduct 

 a rifle association, we should advise the adopting of just 

 such by-laws as those employed by the rifle club in New 

 Orleans. 



Using the Dittmar Powder in the Rifle. — Some ex- 

 periments with the Dittmar powder by a member of the 

 American International Rifle Team, may be of interest. It 

 must be understood that we by no means advocate the use 

 of the Dittmar powder, as a few trials of this particular 

 material cannot determine its merits. Explosive compounds 

 of innumerable kinds exist; chemistry is adding each day 

 another to the already large list, and though fulminates 

 may have their use, common gunpowder, with its slower and 

 more gradual generating power, seems as yet the substance 

 best adapted to our wants. The Dittmar powder use; 

 of the three grades — the coarsest, the intermediate, and the 

 finest grain. Prior to loading the shells an English flask of 

 approved make was used as a measure of bulk, charges of 

 F. G-, Hazard and the Dittmar being afterward carefully 

 weighed from such measurement:-- 



Hazard's 



Dittmar's 



Dittmar's 



Dlitmar's 



FG powder. 



large grain. 



small gr. 



finest gr. 



Charge i-94 grains: 



36 grains 



38* 



42 7-10 



2-93* 



So* 



38* 



42 



" 3-93 2 10 • " 



35* " 



38 



41* 



4-93 1-10 



3i 



38]; 



43 7-10 



V 5-93* " 

 Total.... 467 3-10 



86* 

 179* 



38f 



42 1-10 



192 



2.1 



Average... 93 ^3-50 



35* 



38 2-5 



42 1-5 



;: Distance fired at was 500 yards. The proper elevation, 

 having been acquired with the common powder, two bulls- 

 eyes were made. Shells filled with the Dittmar were next 

 hied, and eighteen shots were fired, the first ten of which 

 with the usual cleaning of the barrel, then eight more 

 without cleaning, the first two of which latter shots were 

 placed on a target in a direct line low, about six inches un- 

 ; for me bullseye. The elevation having been 1.10, an in- 

 crease was made to 1.11-J-. Altogether eleven bullseyes 

 were made, and the seven other shots not on the bullseye 

 •were close, the furthest being about 11 inches off. The 

 second experiment w T ith the Dittmar and with the same rifle 

 .with a slightly lower elevation, from 1.9i to 1.10, gave in 

 jfforty-f our shots the fo] lowing results: The .first seventeen 

 y -shots were not on at all. This was caused apparently by 

 iii; . w * n( ^ aad tn e absence of flags to determine the direc- 

 |^° n > and because the marker could not locate the first balls. 

 /Trying a second time, there having been some delay in or- 

 |uer to load more cartridges, the results were better. With 

 'ffi adjustment of the wind gauge the first two shots were 

 $w the target, and of the twenty-seven shots, eight were 

 fipiuseyes, and the remainder close, the furthest sixteen 

 inches from the bullseye. With some slight precaution 

 jji|iere was not, so our experimentalist informed us, any dif- 

 siaculty i n loading the shells. After firing, the rifle was per- 

 fectly clean. The shells showed no trace of usage. After 

 ,j,yusiDg the same shell four times it could be chambered with- 

 out any difficulty. The recoil was slight. It is necessary 

 ,f» add that the marker stated that the bullets seemed to 

 ' 'Wm to have been driven with great force on the target, 

 ,»vca harder than with ordinary powder, 



TheElcho Shield.— On the occasion of the presenta- 

 tion of this magnificent trophy to the gallant Irish team in 

 Dublin the ceremonial took place amid much eclat, and in 

 the presence of a large assemblage. A procession having 

 been formed, a gun carriage bearing, the Shield was escorted 

 from the castle by a squadron of the Fourth Dragoon 

 Guards, with their band, and by fifty men of the Sixtieth 

 Rifles and a body of artillery. The members of the team 

 present were Messrs. S. S. Young, W. Rigby, E. Johnston, 

 J. Rigby, J. Wilson, R. 8. Greenhill, and Mr. Foster. 

 Lieut. Fenton was absent, being on Government duty in 

 England, and Surgeon Major Hamilton was at sea on his 

 voyage to India. Major A. B. Leech sent a letter regret- 

 ting his inability to attend the reception of the shield, hav- 

 ing been called to England. Appropriate speeches were 

 made by the Lord Mayor, Alderman Manning, the City 

 Marshal, and many other gentlemen whose names are fa- 

 miliar to our riflemen in the United States. The Lord 

 Mayor did not forget to^say a kind word in regard to his 

 American guests who had contested with the Irish riflemen 

 at Dolly mount. "He hoped that the Irish eight, who so 

 nobly won that distinction, might continue to represent 

 their country, and be the bearers of, if possible, more sig- 

 nal triumphs in their after struggles. Their success was a 

 proof that ere long the little check they received at Dolly- 

 mount would be forgotten, and that when the Irish eight 

 had given themselves more thoroughly to practice they 

 would, like their brothers across the water, be in a position 

 to say that they would shoot against any team in the world. 

 Probably another opportunity would be presented to the 

 Irish team across the Atlantic next 3 r ear, when he hoped to 

 be present, and would be glad to be accompanied by some 

 members of the Council. He trusted that the Irish team 

 would, on their return, be bearers of another triumph such 

 as that, and that a similarly interesting proceeding would 

 take place in the City Hall." 



— The United States ordinance ofncer transmits the fol- 

 lowing in regard to the new rifles to be used by our regu- 

 lar soldiers:— 



"The manufacture of Springfield rifles and carbines at 

 the National Armory has been carried on during the past 

 year with all the economy and success that the very small 

 appropriation would admit of. Not more than 1 7 ,000 arms 

 will be made under existing appropriations. Up to this 

 date the entire army has been supplied with new rifles and 

 carbines, calibre 45, and we have now in store a reserve 

 supply of these arms of about 26,000. At the end of the 

 present fiscal year our reserve supply may reach a total of 

 40,000 arms of the new model and calibre, about enough in 

 case of war to arm one corps d'armee. It is not to be ex- 

 pected that in war our armies will be better satisfied with 

 arms of obsolete patents, discarded models, than in the 

 early days of the rebellion they were with the offscourings 

 of foreign markets. Men who are to meet the enemy in 

 battle have a right to demand of their country, in whose 

 defense they are willing to imperil their lives, to be placed 

 on an equality with the foe, and be armed with the best 

 weapon that ingenuity and workmanship can produce, and 

 in our country, where armies are to be improvised, made 

 up on the instant by recruits from the anvil and the plow, 

 the want of military discipline and training should be, as 

 much as possible, compensated by the quality of the 

 weapon the soldier is to use. Our arsenals should be, there- 

 fore, well stocked at all times with a large reserve supply 

 of the best rifles and carbines, and Congress should, in the 

 spirit of economy, appropriate liberals for their manufac- 

 ture." 



The best rifle in the world is worth, however, no more 

 than the old brown Bess, if men do not know how to han- 

 dle them. 



shoot at very long range or not at all; but Inordinary practice at such 

 game as Is shot with a rifle, the range rarely reaches two hundred yards, 

 is of tener less than one hundred, and demands a quick off hand shot. 

 Every sportsman will bear me out in the assertion that, in the pursuit of 

 game with the rifle he Are* a hundred shots at a distance less than two 

 hundred yards to every one that he fires at five hundred. I do not, of 

 course, include antelope and buffalo hunters, neither would I be under- 

 stood as arguing that long range shooting is a useless accomplishment, 

 but simply that men who think they have acquired practical skill in rifle 

 shooting by the method and with the weapons now so much in vogue 

 will discover their mistake the first time they stand in a runway and try 

 to shoot at a deer as he runs past them at an uncertain and constantly 

 shifting distance. 



The first object with every rifle club should be to train men for practi- 

 cal service. Only such weapons and such sights should be allowed as 

 would be available for such service, and preference should be given to 

 those of the simplest construction, and possessing the greatest facility 

 of manipulation, combined, of course, with sufficient power for any re- 

 I quired sporting purposes. Provided with such a weapon, the shooter 

 j should be forced to begin with off hand practice at short range, and only 

 J allowed to advance in proportion to the skiil he acquires. He should be 

 « exercised, r,r should exercise himself, in judging distance and in quick 

 sighting, which he can acquire by home practice of cap-snapping. Thus 

 j will be laid the foundation of his education, which, if he is ever called 

 j into active service, he will find to be infinitely the most important. If 

 he is ambitious to train himself for election to a representative team be 

 can go on with his practice to any extent he pleases; but there are mul- 

 titudes of good riflemen all over the country who have no such wish, 

 who know that off hand practice at from two to five hundred yards with 

 a good sporting rifle involves the exercise of more skill than thousand 

 yard shooting with the elaborate machinery and preparation it requires, 

 while it possesses greater intrinsic interest and is of infinitely greater 

 practical value. 



It is to be hoped that in arranging the matches to be shot at PhiladeL 

 phia due regard will be had to the development of all the essential points 

 for actual service of both the shooter and his weapon. Off hand shoot- 

 ing, or shooting in positions which are readily assumed, as kneeling or 

 sitting, should take precedence of the more elaborate positions which 

 secure a rest for the gun; and rifles which are simple in their construc- 

 tion and manipulation, and require no very great care in cleaning and 

 keeping in order, should have preference over those which are liable to 

 cause delay and vexation by their elaborate construction or the necessity 

 of very careful treatment. Vernier and wind gauge sights, or better 

 still, as I said before, telescope sights, ought to be admitted at ranges of 

 eight hundred yards and upwards, but I enter my protest, and hope that 

 others will endorse me, against awarding the highest merit to such shoot- 

 ing as requires their aid, and I would liave them vigorously excluded 

 from all matches which are intended as tests of men and weapons in any 

 but extraordinary emergencies of sporting or military service. 



H. W. S. Cleveland. 



[Differing from our correspondent as to the last clause of 

 his very excellent communication, trusting that at the Cen- 

 tennial, matches of every kind, short and long range, will 

 be shot, we think it would be better to allow the public to 

 discriminate as to the exact amount of applause the cham- 

 pions of short or long range may merit. But we most 

 heartily indorse the writer's views in regard to the tendency 

 young organizations have at present of making rifle shoot- 

 ing at 1,000 yards the sine qua non of their ranges. Our 

 correspondent's letter is a thoughtful one, and in many re- 

 spects is exactly to the point. — Ed.] 



SHORT AND LONG RANGE. 



Chicago, December, 1875. 

 Editok Forest and Stream:— 



It is evident that rifle shooting is destined to be, for the coming year 

 .at least, a subject of absorbing interest to great multitudes of people in 

 this country and abroad. All the nations of Europe have been invited 

 to compete with us at Philadelphia next Autumn, and while they are ex- 

 erting themselves to the utmost to retrieve the defeat they have suffered 

 at our hands, all America is going into training to sustain the honors 

 achieved for us by the delegates from Creedmoor. liifle clubs are or- 

 ganized, or in process of organization, in every considerable town and 

 city in the country, and the class of men who compose them, and the 

 zeal with which they have entered upon the work, afford sufficient evi- 

 dence that the ball is fairly set in motion, which is destined next year to 

 sweep over the country with a furore which nothing can stay. 



At this early stage, therefore, it is well for all who are interested in the 

 movement to consider seriously its objects and the best mode of attain- 

 ing them. The want of such consideration is obvious in the reports of 

 the clubs in all sections of the country, which are laid before us in the 

 weekly issues of Forest and Stream. The universal ambition seems 

 to be to report good scores at long ranges, and every new club begins al- 

 most at the outset to practice at the distances at which any position is 

 allowed. Tyros in shooting are surprised and delighted to find that by 

 distorting themselves into a position which only on very rare occasions 

 they would be able to assume, either in military or sporting service, and 

 using a weapon which no man would ever burden himself with in the 

 pursuit of game— a piece of artillery, in fact, with an astronomical ob- 

 servatory attached to it— they are enabled to make bullseyes and centres 

 at enormous distances. 



Now, if the only object in view is to train men for the Philadelphia 

 matches, and those matches are to consist exclusively of trials of skill 

 at very long ranges, and with all the mechanical arrangements that can 

 be contrived, I grant that such training is all right and proper, so far as 

 it goes; but I submit that it does not go far enough, for in the first place 

 it excludes artificial rests, while the positions it allows' are in fact the 

 same in the result, only Dy a more awkward and elaborate process. It is 

 perfectly easy to make an artificial rest \vhich a man can carry in his 

 pocket, and which can be adjusted in less time and with less difficulty 

 than is necessary to put oneself into the positions assumed by many 

 modern shooters. Then, again, it excludes telescopes, which are avail- 

 able in any actual service in which vernier and wind gauge sights can be 

 used, while they are far superior in power. For such shooting, there- 

 fore, artificial rests and telescopic sights should be allowed, and any- 

 body that cares to contend in matches where such machinery is used is 

 welcome to do so. 



But such practice alone will never make skillful riflemen for the exi- 

 gencies of sporting or military service . In shooting antelope or buffalo on 

 the plains, and occasionally in lake or river shooting, it is necessary to 



♦ — — 



GAME IN SEASON IN DECEMBER. 



Moose, Alee Amerleanus. Wild Turkey, Meleagris gallopaw* 



Elk or Wapisi, Cervus Canadensis. Huffed Grouse, Bonasa wnbetlus* 



Red Deer, GervM Virgbiianm. Pinnated Grouse, Cupidonia cvfido. 



Caribou, Eaiigifer caribou. Quail, Qrtyx Virginianus . 



Hares, Levori/ue. Wild Ducks. Andtmca. 



Game in Market. —Until sufficient snow has fallen to 

 allow Western market hunters to trap prairie chickens 

 these birds will remain scarce. At present the market is 

 almost depleted, and they are worth $1.50 per pair. Ruffed 

 grouse or partridges are more abundant, and sell for $110 

 to $1.25 per pair, the former price being for Maine birds, 

 which do not attain the size and plumpness of those killed 

 in our own and adjoining States. A few woodcock have 

 appeared in market during the week, said to have come 

 from Long Island, but more probably from Southern New 

 Jersey. They were in fine condition, and sold for $1.50 

 per pair. Quail are worth $3 to $8.25 per dozen. Canvas 

 back ducks from the Chesapeake bring $2.25 per pair; 

 red heads, $1 to $1.25; mallards, $1 to $1.25; black ducks, 

 75 cents to $1 ; widgeon, 50 to 75 cents; broad bills, 50 to 

 60 cents; teal, 50 to 75 cents; brant, $1 to $1.25; geese, 75 

 cents to $1 each; rabbits, 50 to 65 cents per pair; venison, 

 saddles, 22 to 25 cents; steaks, 25 to 30 cents. 



— Four gentlemen of Alexandria, Virginia, have been 

 hunting in the viciuity'of Albermarle and Currituck 

 Sounds, 1ST. C, since November 20th. In a few days they 

 killed 42 deer and 60 turkeys. They went up the Roanoke 

 river as far as Shell Landing. 



— Holabiid's Hunting and Fishing Suits are especially 

 adapted to service in Florida. Not only are they nearly 

 impervious to water, but they are invulnerable to briars, 

 burs, ticks, etc. One can hunt in them with far more 

 comfort than in corduroys. They answer admirably as 

 overhauls for general service. 



, — Rabbits are so numerous in Nevada as to cause 4 enor- 

 mous damage to crops. One farmer lost $500 worth of 

 cabbages in a single night, another had fifty acres of the 

 finest barley destroyed. They are trying to poison the 

 vermin out of existence. 



Maryland— Beer Park, Dec. 6.— Game is very plentiful 

 and getting cheaper. I have never known as many ruffed 

 grouse to be in the stores for sale before, their price being 

 sixty cents a brace. Rabbits are more numerous than ever, 

 and hundreds of them are killed every day. What is the 

 matter with the quail this Fall? I have found within the 

 past week several nests with eggs in them, which xvere evi- 

 dently deserted, and have been shown young birds that 

 were shot which are, not, lare'p.r than rnhins 



ALLEGHANY* 



