MINIATURE RIFLE SHOOTING.* Tam manual will be found of the
greatest service to those who are interested- in the formation of civilian rifle clubs, and should be in the possession of- any one who is contemplating the erection Of a miniature range. It is a perfect mine of information as to the respective merits of different kinds of miniature rifles, tubes and adapters, miniature ranges and miniature targets of every kind; and contains some valuable hints as to the art of shooting itself and the care of arms, which are notably absent from any of the official military publications. It is intended to demonstrate practically "how any man with very limited room and sufficient determination can get useful miniature practice for himself at very little cost of time and money." Sergeant Tippins is an expert in all forms of rifle-shooting, and it is his deliberate opinion that such practice is of the greatest possible value, and that "a comparatively small amount of further instruction and practice in the open with the Service Rifle would make the average man a really useful shot." It is a noteworthy fact that most of the crack Bisley shots spend hours throughout the year at steady practice in aiming and snapping an empty rifle !
It is not surprising to hear from this amateur expert that in the official printed "rules" a miniature rifle range is defined as a range for using the full Service cartridge at thirty yards, and that such ranges are intended to supersede miniature cartridge ranges, after the provision of which no official supply of tubes or ammunition will be made. In future the soldier will be taught to shoot, if taught at all, by the use of the full cartridge, which, the writer tells us, is the "worst and dearest way." But, then, in the Army a good shot is "only a pot-hunter." No doubt it is in order to discourage " pot-bunters " that a "Government rifle is rarely correctly sighted either for alignment or elevation," and herein may lie the explanation for a scandal the appalling truth of which is confirmed by the War Commission.
Mr. R. B. Marston in the preface which he supplies to the manual tells us that we should as a nation "look into the future along the sights of the rifle-barrel." The phrase seems like a plea for militarism naked and unashamed. But we believe that were such a wish realised the result would be in the contrary direction. A population every man of which was a trained rifle-shot, able, we would add, to' supplement his shooting by an elementary knowledge of field duties, would be even less inclined to suffer the domi- nation of a military hierarchy than it is at present, and would know enough of the realities of war to be keenly interested in peace. At present we have a professional Army which is, or should be, always hoping for war, and a population which knows nothing of war but its theatrical side. Hence the exaggerated confidence which the mere sight of a General's cocked hit inspires. Hence, too, that "ignorance of the facts," in People no less than in Governments, the only true explanation of those initial disasters which have 'unfailingly ushered ill a British campaign of any magnitude. As distinct from the Navy, with the needs of which every elector is familiar, we have never as a nation taken the Army seriously. The result is a history which, from Walcheren to Natal, does but repeat the same wearisome story of want of adequate preparation and choice of in- effective ,leaders. The first step in any real reform will be ••'3finini,(re Rifle' glioofing. By Sergeant L. R. Tippius: London : Slinpaon
Low, Ilarstom a3ld (Jo. 115. net, . • • • - -
the elementary military education of our manhood, and e. possibility of expansion beyond the necessarily restricted limits of the Regular forces.of the Crown. If we agree with Major Burnham, the American scout, that what our Regular soldiers require is three times less drill and three times more shooting, it is obvious that we shall have made a great advance when we have taught every able-bodied Briton to shoot. Hitherto the difficulty has been the provision of rifle ranges, which in our densely populated island are costly to build and almost always difficult of access. But Miniature lizfle Shooting shows—what the new rifle clubs have already learnt—how completely these difficulties have vanished before the miniature rifle and the adapter. Not only can a range be set up in a London back-garden and at a trifling cost, but, thanks to recent improvements, constant practice at such a range is worth more than the intermittent instruction of the Regular soldier at open full-sized ranges. A man who can hit a button at twenty-five yards can hit a man at five hundred, Sergeant Tippins is a rifle enthusiast. He has given to rifle- shooting, he tells us, practically all his spare time. It is not, therefore, to be wondered at that he should claim for the rifle, not only that it provides an excellent form of recreation, but that it has an educative and moral influence of its own. He urges the introduction of rifle-shooting into the curriculum of every State-aided school, a recommendation we have ourselves strongly urged in previous issues, now re-emphasised by Sir George Taubtnan:Goldie as one of the most obvious lessons of the war. "Rifle-shooting is as good training to the eye and hand as any sport"; "The best mathematics of the best pupils in a school would not solve many of the problems of shooting " ; "The rifle 'gives us forcible lessons in temperance, soberness, and chastity quite as likely to be heeded as the most fervent of sermons,"—such are some of the virtues claimed by Sergeant Tipping for practice with a weapon which, like the bow of the Middle Ages, is both a means of recreation and an element of national strength. We join with the writer in hoping for a. return to the sound principles of five hundred years ago, and to see the targets set up once more upon every village green! Meanwhile it is somewhat humiliating to reflect that rifle clubs are extremely common and have long existed on the Continent and in the United States.
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