THE DECLINE OF RIFLE.SHOOTING.
MR. BAILLIE-GROHMA.N, who has personal acquain- tance with the straight-shooting peasants of the Austrian Alps, and also with the practical skill of English big- game hunters, gives in the September Nineteenth Century his experiences of the decline of rifle-shooting in this country. His text is the poor figure made by the English team which fired in the international competition lately held at Loos- duinen, in Holland. The teams were from France, Switzer- land, Denmark, Holland, Norway, Belgium, and Great Britain, the German and Austrian teams having applied for entry too late. Shots were fired standing, kneeling, and lying down, not at the long distances in most favour at Bisley, but at the fighting "individual" distance of 328 yards. This is about the limit at which an ordinary man can see to shoot at another. The competitors were allowed plenty of ammunition, one hundred and twenty rounds for each position, and the result was that the English were last but one among the eight teams, and in the standing position a very bad last indeed. This failure would not be as suggestive as it is had it come at another time. But coming at a moment when a small State without trained
soldiers, but in which all the citizens are trained shots, does not fear to match itself against picked British troops, as well as Colonial volunteers, it will naturally be asked whether the result represents the actual position of England in regard to other Powers in the knowledge of the use of weapons. For this is the practical meaning of rifle-shooting at the present day.
Prince Kraft in his "Letters on Artillery" notes that in the Sadowa campaign the German artillery was perfect in all respects but one. This was that they had not learnt how to shoot. In the interval before the Franco-Prussian War they learnt by incessant practice the real use of the modern field-gun; moving targets were invented for them to fire at, and when the fighting did come they shot, even at the great ranges of modern artillery fire, with a kind of sport- ing precision which was the delight of their officers, and demoralised the French battalions. It is this pride in the mastery of their weapon which makes really formidable soldiers; and it is not reassuring to find that the net result of Mr. Baillie-Grohman's experiences goes to show that interest in rifle-shooting, and consequently the standard of marksmanship, has declined both in the Army and outside it. Rifle drill and practice are mainly left to non-commis- sioned officers at our home stations, and even at Hythe School of Musketry the standard is low. Mr. Baillie-Grohman says :—" I have often watched for hours the target-practice of the non-commissioned officers who there receive the special musketry training which is to fit them as musketry instructors when joining their regiments. I cannot say I was much impressed by the shooting. I have watched men miss the target four times out of five, without receiving, so far as I could see, a word of instruction from the sergeant in charge. Very different is the drill the Continental soldier receives, as I have often had means of observing. There the captain is actually responsible, and his promotion depends upon the efficiency of his companies' marksmanship, and rifle-drill in one shape or another is a daily exercise. I can cite instances where British regiments have been practised only three days in the year in individual fire, which, of course, is the most important" This is scarcely the place to deal with the question of Army shooting, though the Times correspondent who first drew attention to the badness of the Mark IV. ammunition served out this year, might do good service by putting some statistics before the public. But the result in the Indian Army, where the shooting of the native troops, under the steady en- couragement of Lord Roberts, is now as 55 to 33 made by the British regiments, shows that the use of the rifle, the first
essential of the modern soldier, is not properly taught to our costly regiments.
It is quite possible that this indifference partly comes from outside, though it is no less regrettable. Among all classes rifle-shooting has for some years been "out of fashion." Little interest has been taken in it as a sport; it no longer holds a place in the popular imagination. The gun is more popular than ever, probably because there is still game to be
shot with the gun. But rifle-shooting is, most illogically, 41
looked on as unpractical, and ranks low, even as a pastime.
Only three thousand riflemen this year made a stay in Bisley Camp for their annual holiday. In other words, in a nation of over thirty millions, those who, outside the Services, take enough personal pleasure in the use of arms to spend the necessary time and money at our national rifle meeting, do not much exceed the number of three battalions of troops.
Bisley, be it remembered, is not confined to Volunteers, though as the bulk of the prizes are so limited, " popular " rifle-shooting does not receive lavish encouragement there.
Are we, then, to conclude that rifle-shooting as a national sport cannot be revived otherwise than by compulsion? Probably it can ; though even in archery, the pride of Old England, regular practice had to be enforced by law, and games forbidden. The intense interest now taken in watching football and also in cricket will decrease in time, and some other pastime in which the public can take a personal share will replace it. Rifle-shooting is in many ways an ideal modern amusement. It is not fatiguing, yet occupies the mind, and is accompanied by regular exercise in marches and drills, and has a pleasant social side. It would have main- tained the popularity which invested it at the opening of the Volunteer movement longer had not the weapon itself been so quickly improved. The old-fashioned rifle was something which the ordinary citizen understood. It was a short-range, fairly accurate weapon, and this is the character of all " national " rifles, except those now used by the Boers on the wide and open veldt. The peasants of Tyrol and Switzerland and the American backwoodsmen shot at marks on which they could see the bullet strike. Shooting at 200 yards or 250 yards with an Enfield or a Snider was a thoroughly popular amusement. At the present moment there are numbers of short ranges, some public, some managed by subscription, and some private, in the Midlands and Scotland, with targets set up against a quarry or a rock, in which this is a regular amusement on Saturdays and holidays. But the accurate long-range rifles made long-range shooting fashionable at Wimbledon and Bisley. Local shots gave up their short-distance shooting, and many local ranges were closed because they were said to be dangerous if used for the new rifles. The danger came in mainly if these were used at long distances. But, on the principle that half a loaf is better than no bread, it would be better to practise with the new weapons at short ranges than not to practise at all. There is always a great attraction in a gun of any kind. It is in itself much more likely to please than a bat, or a golf-club, or a racket. It produces the maximum of result with a minimum effort. This is an excellent basis to start a popular amusement from. But the immense distance between the shooter and the target now invests the rifle with super-popular
qualities. Plain people complain that though they liked shooting at a target on which they could see and hear the shot, they feel nervous when shooting into the middle of next week.
The Boer marksmanship was originally all learnt at short- range shooting. They were so careful of their lead that they would cut the bullet out of each animal as it fell, and regulated the charge of powder so that the bullet might not go through the beast. Good short-distance shots soon develop into long- range shots also. Short rifle-ranges are easily made, and if constructed on the Continental plan which Mr. Baillie- Grohman describes could easily be multiplied. There they are found in the middle of small towns and in the suburbs of large cities. Guards made of steel plates at the firing point practically form a tube, which prevents stray bullets from going wide of the back wall behind the targets. Ammunition is now dear; but for the Swiss Martini rifle it costs a little less than a halfpenny a shot.
The greatest chance for the popularity of rifle clubs is in country villages. Work on farms does not incline the men
to football or active games. On the other hand, rifle-shooting is just suited to them. The danger from improperly made ranges is not to be disregarded, as recent accidents at Plymouth show. But with short ranges the d anger is reduced almost to the vanishing point, and with cheap ammunition there will never be any lack of shooters to com- pete. The ammunition question is the most important, for no costly amusement is ever a popular amusement. Rifles might be lent by Government to clubs ; or sold to their mem- bers on easy terms.
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