12 G 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Jan. 27, 1912. 
Weslern Connecticut Trapshooters’ League. 
The annual meeting of the Western Connecticut Trap 
.Shooters League was held at the Sea Side Outing Club, 
Bridgeport, Conn., Monday, Jan. 15, 1912. The meeting 
was called to order by President E. H. Bailey, of Dan¬ 
bury, and the following delegates responded to roll call. 
IVIessrs. Hall, Adams and \\'ilson, Bridgeport: Bailey, 
Olmstead and Day, Danbury; Bailey, Fray and Judd, 
Bethel; Rice, Smith and Gale, New Brunswick; Sher¬ 
wood. Sherman and French, Long Hill, and Dreher, 
Templeton and Hall, Waterbury. 
communication was read from Secretary .Shaner, of 
the Interstate Association, congratulating the League 
upon the highly successful season of 1911, and informing 
us that we had the largest average attendance of any 
league or association in the country, and wishing us 
continued success. Also a communication from the 
Flartford Gun Club, applying for admission to the 
League, should there he any vacancies this year. There 
being no vacancy, and not deeming it advisable to in¬ 
crease the size of the I.eague, the secretarv was in¬ 
structed to so inform the Hartford Club, and fheir letter 
was placed on file for consideration when a vacancy 
mi.ght occur. 
President Bailev made his report on the season’s work 
and offered several recommendations for adoption for the 
coming year, princinally among them being the question 
of “class shooting.” it being the desire of the different 
clubs to have the prizes go to the shooter who merits 
them, and avoid the dropping back of men when they 
see that they are out of the running in the next higher 
class. 
The follow-ng rule was adopted for the comuig season: 
“That the third high gun of the dav be used for a basis, 
and that each class be defined by a graduation down of 
10 per cent, to each class. 
It was moved and adopted that %ve have two 15-bird 
and six 20-bird events, making a total of 150 birds, the 
same a.s last season, but making eight events instead of 
10. This was done in view of the fact of the lafge at¬ 
tendance of the tournament.s, and hoping to expedite 
matters by less changing of squads, when there is al¬ 
ways more or less time lost, and at the best, it was 
generally dark before the last gun was fired. 
It was moved and adopted that any and all “special 
events” shall be dec'ded after the regular program of 
the day is concluded. 
The follow'ing officers were elected for the ensuing 
year: President, W. W. Rice. New' Haven; A'ice-Presi- 
dent, FT. IVT. Judd, Bethel; Secretary-Treasurer, Chas. 
.Sherwood, Long Hill. P. O. address, Stratford, Conn ; 
Directors: D. H. Hall, Bridgeport: \V. E. Dav Dan- 
bur}'; . B. .Judd, Bethel; Homer Sherman, I.ong Hill; 
W, W. Gale, New Haven; John Dreher. W’aterburv. 
A hearty vote of thanks was extended to the retiring 
officers. 
The follow'ing dates w’ere sc’ected for the different 
tournaments the coming season: Bethel. Mav 4; New' 
Haven. May 25: Long Hill, June 22; Danburv. July 13; 
Waterbury. Aug. 17; Bridgeport, .Sept. 2. 
Much enthusiasm w'as expressed on all sides in re¬ 
gard to the success of the past season, and after a gen¬ 
eral exchange of ideas as to the good and w'elfare of the 
organization, the meeting adjourned, all anxious for the 
opening of the regular jeason. T. I\L A. 
Penn Square Gun Club. 
Penn Square, Pa., Jan. 20.—The Penn Square Gun 
Club held an interesting live-bird shoot on their grounds 
this afternoon. Expert w'ing shots from Philadelphia, 
Norristown and the surrounding country attended. 
Mumbower won the 25-bird race, losing only his 17th 
and 22d birds. Walker failed to gather his 1st. 2d, 1.3th 
and 18th birds. Phillips, Chalk, ll’alker and Hart also 
shot well. The best scores follow: 
Twenty-five bird race: Mumbow'er 23, M'alker 21. 
Ten-bird race: Phillips 9, Mumbower 8. 
Miss-and-out sweepstakes: Chalk 5, Phillips 4. Hart 
4, Walker 3, Righter 3. Jamison 3, Butz 2, L^hler 2, 
Detw'iler 2. 
Final miss-and-out sweepstakes: M'alker fi. Hart 6, 
Phillips 5, Uhler 5, Chalk 4, Butz 3, Righter 3, Jamison 
3, Reimer 3, Detw'iler 2. 
Live Bird Match. 
Shamokin, Pa., ,Ian. 20,—In a live-bird match here to¬ 
day, Nathan Berner, Mahanoy City, Pa., captured a $400 
purse over Penrose Marquette, of this place. A large 
number of sports from Schuylkill. Columbia and North¬ 
umberland counties w'ere present, a big amount of 
money changing hands over side wagers. The men 
were to have shot at 17 birds each. Benner grassed 10 
out of 16 and his opponent 8 out of 16. Marquette missed 
his first five birds, while Benner let his first 3 out of 5 
get aw'ay. 
Du Pont Gun Club, Rifle Dept. 
Wilmington, Del., Jan. 20.—The results of the four- 
man pistol team shoot on the range of the Du Pont 
Rifle .and Revolver club W'ere: 
K. K. V. Casey’s Team L. du Pont’s Team. 
K K V Casey. 199 L du Pont. 215 
p Appleby . 209 EG Ackart. 203 
W S Weeden.178 F Robelen.157 
S B Miller. 134—720 T E Doremus.... 134—709 
Pistol scores: D. Appleby 87, 87, 90; L. C. S. Dorsey 
83, 80. 
Rifle scores; D. Appleby 86, 80; W'. G. Long 57, 44; 
P. Randall 40, 45; J. Anderson 18; J. A. Campbell 45. 
Rifle Practice in America. 
.The report of Secretary Albert S. Jones, of National 
Kine Association of America, just issued, would indicate 
that, if the year 1911 is a criterion, target rifle shooting 
in America is a failure. The report says: 
That the rifle club movement in the United States is a 
failure is owing to tw'o causes: the first and foremost 
being a lack of outdoor ranges whereon rifle firing can be 
carried on. ^ At the present time there are only forty rifle 
clubs in this country, exclusive of the foreign-American 
clubs of the Schuetzen class, who have outdoor ranges, 
owned or leased by the club. There are thirty or more 
clubs who are able to get a small amount of practice 
on Notional Guard ranges. Some of these clubs are able 
to get this practice, how'ever, only at such times w'hen 
the ranges are not in use by the army or militia, which 
in most cases is when it is impracticable for the rifle 
clubs to use them. i\Iost of our rifle clubs in the larger 
cities have practically gone out of existence owing to 
this cause. 
This lack of ranges is particularly noticeable east of 
the Itlississippi River, where the growth of the popu'a- 
tion m large cities has forced the closing of the ranges 
in and near them, with the result that rifle firing is now 
confined to one or two State ranges, often available only 
for the use of the National Guard. 
W hat is needed more than anything else in the mili¬ 
tary line in the United States is the construction of rifle 
ranges by the Government near large centers of popula¬ 
tion for use not only by the army and National Guard, 
but by civilians, colleges and schoolboys’ rifle clubs 
and cadet corps. Every year that this is put off only 
increases the ultimate cost. It probably w'ill be im¬ 
possible to acquire ranges for long-distance shooting, 
and we may have to come to the -shorter ranges pro¬ 
tected by mantles, such as are in use on the Continent. 
After the Government has acquired ranges, the next 
move must be the free issue of arms and ammunition. 
W’e then w'ill be in a position to see the movement 
grow and expand, and it would not be long before we 
would have built up in this country an organized re¬ 
serve of qualified marksmen of enlistment age and more 
or less military training. 
The law passed in 1905 authorizing the sale of service 
arms and ammunition to rifle clubs has not proved effec¬ 
tive in stimulating civilian rifle practice. Since the law' 
went into effect 1000 model 1903 service rifles have been 
sold to clubs. My belief is that very few' of these rifles 
are being used for the use intended—target practice—and 
that a great many have passed from the hands of the 
original owners. Under the present law-, the Government 
has no way of compelling the purchasers of these rifles 
to use them in target practice, whereas if rifles are 
“issued” to clubs for the purpose of target practice, and 
they were not used for that purpose, they could be w-ith- 
draw’n and the club’s charter cancelled. 
The National Rifle Association is indebted to the 
Ordnance Department for many courtesies. The Depart¬ 
ment has done all it could under the law' to help the 
cause. By order of the Secretary of M'ar, a certain 
number of new Krag rifles were set aside for sale to our 
rifle clubs at the price of $10 each, and ammunition for 
the same at the price of $15 per 1000. Our club mem¬ 
bers seem to prefer the latest model, however, as 314 
model 1903 rifles were nurchased during the last year, as 
against 69 Krags: 97,250 rounds of ammunition for both 
models w'ere purchased by rifle clubs duruig 1911. 
I would recommend that the question of legislation for 
the building of ranges be again taken up, or if the rifle 
practice bill now pending in Congress should become a 
law, that the greater part of the appropriations carried 
therein be devoted to. range building for some years to 
come. If the Government does not do something along 
these lines, the only alternative is to encourage the or¬ 
ganization of miniature rifle clubs like they have in 
England, where over 2000 such clubs are now in exist¬ 
ence. Gallery shooting with small caliber rifles is not of 
great value, taken from a military standpoint, but it 
would be better than nothing at all. Experience has 
shown that men who kept up their gallery w'ork durin.g 
(he winter produce better results on the outdoor range 
in summer, which goes to show there is some value in 
miniature rifle shooting The interclub indoor leagues 
that we are promoting have greatly stimulated gallery 
work. 
Among colleges there were 8 new clubs organized, 
w'hile 10 have dropped out. Of the 36 college clubs en¬ 
robed, 27 are institutions having a militarv department. 
The report shows a marked falling off in schoolboy 
rifle clubs, a loss of 26 teams being recorded. 
This decrease in schoolboy clubs is due to four causes, 
the principal one of which is the lack of ran,ges; the second 
reason is the difficulty in getting competent instructors 
to take charge of the boys as required bv our regula¬ 
tions; the third, the cost of purchasing rifles and am¬ 
munition; the fourth is the opposition encountered from 
the school authorities. This opposition seems to be 
almost universal throughout the country. 
New' York and Washington are notable exceptions to 
this rule. In both cities this work has the hearty sanc¬ 
tion and co-operation of the school authorities, and rifle 
shooting is one of the recognized sports in the school, 
and the school letter is given to the members of success¬ 
ful rifle teams, the same as in other branches of athletics. 
In C-’.cater New York there is a sub-target gun machine 
•nstaded in each school and the rifle shooting depart¬ 
ment is under the direct supervision and care of a 
faculty member detailed for that purpose. In addition 
to which there i.s the Public Schools Athletic League, 
which as.^umes direct control of the shooting. During 
1911 over 3000 boys received rifle instruction. 
In connection with this w'ork, I would again suggest 
that schoolboy work would be greatly facilitated if the 
Ordnance Department of the Army W'ould manufacture 
portable gallery ranges, these ranges to be issued in 
units of one complete range, including a back-stop w'ith 
W'ires and wheels for the trolley system and simple 
instructions for installing. Such a portable range could 
be manufactured at a cost of between $40 and $50 a unit, 
and would be easy to install in anv room where 60 or 
75ft. in length could be secured. This would do away 
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with a lot of technical specifications on range building, 
which ic more or less Greek to the average boy. I think 
th.'it if this could be done, that a good many schools 
would become purchasers of such ranges. 
Another feature greatly needed is a uniform gun for 
this work. At the present time there are no less than 
eight to ten different makes and styles of rifles being 
used by the boys in their work. 
The Government has about 34,000 Krag carbines c-ii 
hand V'hich would make an ideal arm for schoolboys, as 
they cculd be used for both indoor and outdoor work— 
for indoor work by using an adapter and a revolver car¬ 
tridge or gallery loaded ammunition. It has also been 
suggested by the Chief of Ordnance that .22cal. barrels 
could be put on these rifles at small expense. 
This countrv greatly needs an up-to-date cadet rifle, 
preferably a miniature of the service rifle. Nearly all 
foreign countries manufacture a miniature army rifle 
for their cadet corps. 
1 his ,vork among the schools will never amount to a 
great deal until we are in a position to appoint a com¬ 
petent n.an in each city to take charge of the work and 
devote most of his time to it. This, of course, would 
require paying such a man for his time and expenses. 
LEGISLATION. 
The so-called rifle practice bill, entitled, “a bill to 
promote a patriotic spirit among citizens and youth of 
the United States, and for the encouragement of rifle 
practice ” has been re-introduced in Congress. There 
have been few bills so strongly indorsed by “powers that 
be,” and .good citizenship generally, having the backing 
and approval^ of President Taft, Theodore Roosevelt, Sec¬ 
retaries of War Root, Wright, Dickinson and the present 
Secretary; of the Chief of Staff and of Chief of Ordnance 
LT. _S. Army; Chief of Division of Military Affairs; 
Nat’onal Board for Promotion of Rifle Practice in 
United ' States; National Rifle Association of .America; 
Natiemal Guard Association of United States; Com- 
mander-in-Chief Grand Army of the Republic; President 
National Civic Federation, and many other organiza¬ 
tions and prominent citizens. 
This alone should show its W'ork, and should require 
no other recommendation. Necessity for this legislation 
is apparent. The purposes of this act not only are to 
create universal knowledge of the military arm among 
citizens, but to revive the almost lost art of rifle shoot¬ 
ing as a pastime in this country, for rifle shooting bears 
too important a relation to our national defense to be 
ne.glected.” 
Results of an investigation to ascertain how many 
Arnericans in different branches of the service, as well as 
civilians, received instruction in rifle practice during the 
year 1910 furnishes food for thought. 
Records of the War Department show that during that 
year 29,230 members of the Regular Army, exclusive of 
those in the Philippines, received rifle instruction, of 
which 17,473 failed to make the qualifying score. 
During the same year the Navy instructed 35,000 men. 
and the Marine Corps 4400 more. In the organized 
militia 51,749 w'ere given rifle instruction, of whom 20,630 
failed to qualify as marksmen. There were also 40,000 
who were not even taken to the range. 
This makes a total of 120,379 men in the regu'ar mili¬ 
tary service of the United States who received rifle in¬ 
struction of more or less degree during the year. To 
this might be added 3000 members of civilian rifle clubs. 
There could also be counted 7710 students in colleges hav¬ 
ing a military department who were given a limited 
amount of instruction. 
In the aggregate, this w'ill give us a total number of 
male citizens between the ages of eighteen and forty- 
five who practice with the service rifle during one year 
