30 
FOREST AND STREAM 
[Jan. i, 1910. 
Philadelphia Trapshooters’ League. 
The following interesting review of the Philadelphia 
Trapshooters’ League is taken from the Philadelphia In¬ 
quirer. It is interesting in itself, and also important 
as showing how competition is kept alive from year to 
year by men of energy and initiative, hence is a good 
object lesson concerning how to promote trapshooting 
There is a real interstate tinge to the Philadelphia 
Trapshooters’ League this year. The admittance of the 
Haddonfield Gun Club to the circuit added another New 
Jersey club to the league, and with the bouth Uncls, 
of Camden, the organization is now made up of four 
Philadelphia and two Jersey clubs. 
This has increased the interest among the trapshooters 
and has added zeal to the desire to land the champion- 
ship. Naturally, each club is out to beat the other, but 
the Philadelphia clubs can be expected to root for one 
another in order to. beat out the Jerseys. Inasmuch as 
the gunners across the Delaware are great ones to pull 
together they will give the local shots a bitter struggle 
for the target championship of the East 
The great interest shown in the shooting world m 
this vicinity this winter adds that much more to the 
League’s success. Both the target and live bird clubs 
hereabouts have been enjoying an unusually busy season 
to date, and once the proper fever hits a gunner, he can 
be expected to shoot at a gait which will carry him for 
at least four to six months before the desire to rest up 
PO Th e is S has h proven to be a great boom to the Trapshoot¬ 
ers’ League. At the opening shoots held earlier in the 
month a total attendance of 154 marksmen participated 
in the first shoot, and although each club can only have 
ten high scores as a team s total to count in the point 
system 8 the turn out showed a clear desire of the gun¬ 
ners to shoot even if some of them did not have a iOO 
to 1 chance to get on the team. If such a condition of 
affairs can be maintained throughout the season the 
league is due to enjoy one of its greatest seasons. 
Then what promises to keep up the interest in the race 
is the almost evenly matched clubs in shooting ability. 
Meadow Springs has improved over last y e * r > 0 JVLder 
West Philadelphians can be expected to be a contender 
m The two 6 Jersey clubs boast of some really fine marks¬ 
men. South End was always a dangerous club for the 
other leaguers to shoot against and this^ season they. 
Won. 
Lost. 
Per C’t. 
Broken, 
15 
3 
.833 
3563 
13 
5 
.822 
3623 
13 
5 
.722 
3504 
12 
6 
.667 
3430 
. 10 
8 
.556 
3430 
9 
9 
.500 
3477 
, 6 
12 
.333 
3346 
. 6 
12 
.333 
3216 
. 3 
15 
.167 
2923 
. 3 
15 
.167 
2905 
Both Lansdale and Meadow Springs gave the Wissin- 
oming men a pretty good race, but they were unable to 
stand the strain, and fell by the w'ayside in the last 
month of shooting. Both clubs finished in a tie for 
second place with thirteen victories and five defeats. 
The Florists broke their own team record during the 
year, which they had established in the previous year. 
In the eighteen shoots they smashed 3563 bluerocks, but 
at that were beaten out by Lansdale on the targets, the 
up-State Dutchmen smashing 3623, a mark which has 
never been equaled since by any of the clubs. The 
standing of the clubs at the finish is appended: 
Targets 
..-. 1 . Lost. Per C’t. 
Florists . 15 
Lansdale .. 13 
Meadow Springs . 13 
S. S. White. 12 
Highland . 10 
Clearview . 9 
Media . 6 
Narberth . 6 
North Camden . 3 
Merchantville . 3 
Interest in the league during the 1906-7 season fell flat, 
and only four clubs entered the race for the champion¬ 
ship. The Whites, Highland, North Camden and Media 
answered to the secretary’s call, but the other clubs 
failed to respond, and the season started with a four- 
club circuit and under a different shooting system. The 
clubs decided the championship on the total targets 
broken by each club. They also decided to have only 
one shooting day per month. 
With the Florists out of the race, the Whites and 
Highlanders had a merry chase for the championship, 
the Dentals proving to be the best shots, and winning 
the honors by a total breakage of 2779 to the Edge Hill 
men’s 2619. North Camden finished third and Media 
last. The clubs finished as follows: 
S S Whites. 2779 North Camden . 2376 
Highland . 2619 Media . 2256 
More interest was shown by the clubs on the approach 
of the 1907-8 season, and the league started off with 
Highland, the Whites, South Ends of Camden, Meadow 
Springs and, Chester enrolled in the circuit. A point 
system, as well as a total breakage of targets was in¬ 
augurated, and this system has proven to be so success¬ 
ful that it is still maintained by the league. _ 
Highland won the championship with 20 points scored 
In the Matter of Distance. 
No one can be an entirely successful shot without the 
faculty of judging distance. Many otherwise capable 
performers make mistakes which are due to no other 
cause than the lack of this most useful instinct. It may 
certainly be cultivated, and great proficiency can be 
gained; but the first stage is the hardest viz., to realize 
how much opening there is for improvement. Consider¬ 
able variations are constantly manifest between individual 
estimates of distances inside 60yds., and these discrep¬ 
ancies surely prove that somebody must be wrong. At 
the same time, there is the tendency for friends to err 
in concert. The absence of definite standards of com¬ 
parison renders it exceedingly difficult to lay down any¬ 
thing like consistent rules concerning the fair range 01 a 
gun, however carefully the experiments are conducted 
fileMeadow Springs, have added several crack shots to and a total of 2811 smashed targets. The Whites gave 
JiKe ivicduuw 1 s » 1 • _ _ a r»nt tn. win z-i_- i,^Kirirr Kpotprt nnt hv nne nnint. 
the club’s roll of membership, and they are out to win 
th Haddonfield although a new club to local trapshooters, 
has some good men who know how to handle a gun an 
smashTbluerock. There is nothing of an easy proposi¬ 
tion about the subuiban Jerseymen, and they are ffue to 
have some say in the running for the league champion 
Sh Amone the three other Philadelphia clubs the great 
deVhe among the Highland and £, S. White gunners 
to beat out each other is a race within a race. ^her 
is a great rivalry running betweeq the two clubs, and 
whenever they are scheduled to meet some really fine 
them a hard tussle, just being beaten out by one point, 
but outshooting the Edge Hill gunners by 37 targets. 
The clubs wound up in the following order: 
Points Targets 
Scored. Broken. 
Highland . 20 2811 
S. S. White. 19 2848 
South End .. 19 * 2591 
Meadow Springs . 11 
Chester . 6 1542 
Like the 1907-8 season, the fight for the championship 
during 1908-9 was between the Whites and Highlands— 
that is, nearly three-quarters of the season had elapsed 
whenever iney e T r^r“ ‘mbers seem to make an that is, nearly three-quarters pt the season naa e.apseu 
shooting results. The club ™ e mbers seem^ each c i u b when the South Ends of Camden, coming forward with a 
especial effort to be P^totalwhfch is hard to beat for sensational spurt, gave both Philadelphia clubs a scare 
usually runs up a team total whicn is , some of 5ut the Dentals, having a good lead, won out with 18 
the other fellows. Both clubs 1 e m J countr y, and points scored and a total breakage of ^5221 targets. South 
u p OV nio-pnn men in tins pari ui LUC . i r_ 14 O mppp flnH 
best clav pigeon men in this part - . , 
the best ciay jj „ “blue streak” when lined up against 
End tied Highland for points scored, 14 a piece, and 
succeeded in beating out the Edge Hill gunners by 38 
they usually shoot a - - - 
61 The advent of the F ori fJ lu ^ a ° m th wh\ch gU at “one” time ''TlT Chester club dropped out of the league when the 
stirred up the real old enthusiasm ’ ^ q{ season starte d, but the Florists, again getting the fever, 
made the Wissinoming Club fa tro Florists applied for admittance, and with the Chester-Ridley 
the country to the other. At one the cream of Club a neat six-club circuit was cemented between the 
boasted of a membership which included 1 c am hal{ dozen clubs . The Florists, however, failed to show 
the Amateur shots of the country, and they are working 
SrfAis year to arouse that, same sp.ntamong he 
members and turn out for a winner. The Wissinoming 
men won the first two championships of the league, and 
Snce they have been regarded as dangerous shoot¬ 
ers to test marksmanship against. 
This season is the sixth for the league and the ma 
nn of the circuit looks just as good, if not a bit better, 
than any previous circuit. Although not as large as 
the first two years’ circuit, there is plenty of class to the 
organization this year, and they face a most promising 
future for the coming 1910 season. ._ 
During the first season of the league the shooting 
season running from Nov. 5, 1904, to July 1, 1905, the 
circuit’ was made up of nine clubs, they shooting twice 
a month on each other’s grounds. The clubs embracea 
in the league then were the Florists, Clearview, Meadow 
Springs 1. S. White, North Camden, Highland, Nar- 
berth Hill, Rod and Gun Club of Chester, and Hillside 
The Florists won that championship without much 
trouble, they winning seventeen of tbei r co . eI 8 h,:ee ^ 
schedufed shoots, finishing with a total of 3534 . targets 
during the season. The Wissinoming men shot in won- 
derfuf form that season and swept everything before 
them Clearview and Meadow Springs tied for second 
vHth'fifteen wins and three defeats. The clubs finished 
the season as follows: Targets 
W on. 
Florists . 
Clearview . 
Meadow Springs . "> 
S. S. White. 19 
North Camden . 1 
Highland . ® 
Hill Rod and Gun Club... 4 
Hillside . . 
There were two changes in the circuit during the 
1905-6 season. The Hillside and Hill Rod and Gun Club 
of Chester, finding the pace a little too stiff for them, 
dropped out of the league and the vacancies were filled 
by Merchantville and Lansdale. The latter club proved 
to be a hard one for the older teams to beat with the. ex¬ 
ception of the Florists, who, continuing their victorious 
career of the previous season, again captured the cham¬ 
pionship, they winning fifteen and losing three shoots. 
any of their previous wonderful shooting, and they 
finished in a tie with the Chester-Ridley Club for last 
place. The standing follows: 
S. S. White . 
South End . 
Highland . 
Meadow Springs 
Florists . 
Chester-Ridley .. 
Points 
Scored. 
18 
14 
14 
12 
7 
7 
Targets 
Broken. 
2522 
2458 
2420 
2358 
2204 
2021 
Lost. 
Per C’t. 
Broken 
1 
.944 
3534 
3 
.833 
3504 
3 
.833 
3278 
8 
.556 
3289 
11 
.389 
2979 
12 
.333 
3006 
14 
.222 
2888 
14 
.222 
2700 
17 
.105 
2656 
1 
2 
3 
4 
5 
6 
15 
15 
15 
15 
15 
15 
11 
13 
8 
9 
7 
9 
13 
11 
6 
8 
9 
6 
12 
10 
13 
8 
7 
, . 
8 
10 
9 
11 
7 
8 
11 
11 
11 
9 
, , 
10 
11 
10 
10 
9 
9 
11 
7 
11 
9 
10 
7 
12 
7 
9 
13 
8 
7 
8 
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Fig. 1.—Full Choke at 10yds. Charge, 1 1-16 oz. No. 6 
(289 pellets). Target 2ft. square, divided into 2in. 
squares. Area per square, 4sq.in. 
upon which such estimations are based. For instance, it 
has lately been suggested that half-choke boring for game 
guns should prove exceedingly useful in the hands ot 
shooters willing to let some of the easier chances go by. 
This recommendation was partly based on the statement 
that the best shooting distance for the half choke was in 
the neighborhood of 35yds. The subsequent discussion 
of the subject was complicated by assertions made in 
perfect bona fides that cylinder guns were quite effective 
at such a distance. Shooting experiments suggest most 
emphatically that this is not so, since at no such dis- 
Atlantic City Gun Club. 
Atlantic City, N. J., Dec. 25.— A furious rain and 
snow storm was not enough to dampen the ardor of the 
Atlantic City Gun Club regulars. They were on the 
ground early and shot until it was so dark it was impos¬ 
sible to see the targets. Part of the shooting was done 
in a heavy downpour of rain. 
Targets: 
Targets: 
Headley, 18 . 11 13 
Sheppard, 18 . 13 
Wescoat, 18 . 12 
Bates, 18 .. 
Conover, 17 . 8 11 
T Mathis, 16 . 10 
A Mathis, ljl . U 
Cook, 18 . 
Watson, 17 . 
Jackson, 17 . H 7 .. .. 
The chickens were very evenly divided. Headley, Wes¬ 
coat, Conover, Bates, T. Mathis and Sheppard all cap- 
tured two, and Cook, Watson and A. Mathis each took 
one. _ m ,, 
The scratch men shot two of the events from the 
porch, 23yds., to escape the rain. 
Friday, 31st inst., Fred Stone, of Red Mill fame will 
be with us for the afternoon, and we ask that all of the 
members turn out and give him a royal welcome. 
Powers was sadly missed; did not think a little rain 
would keep him away. A TT „ „ , 
A. H. Sheppard, Sec y. 
, 
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Fig. 2.—Half Choke at 10yds. 
tance could a cylinder gun be sure of placing the sug¬ 
gested minimum of five pellets into a bird. 1 his very 
reasonable suggestion was at once confuted by the argu¬ 
ment that birds need much less hitting to bring them 
to earth in a condition to be promptly bagged. 
Experience in the shooting field provides many other 
instances of diverse opinions directly or indirectly con¬ 
cerning the most important problem of distance. Birds 
crossing at 35yds. are frequently allowed to go by be¬ 
cause they are supposed to be out of range. At other 
times birds just clearing the low trees of a young planta¬ 
tion are shot at practically overhead when the distance 
from muzzle to bird is liable to be inside 5yds. There 
should be no difficulty in expressing these distances in 
yards or feet with approximate truth, but it is only 
here and there that one finds a shooter who has reduced 
range estimation to a fairly exact science. One of the 
greatest troubles in this particular country is the constant 
muddle which exists between feet and yards. The former 
