Topic: MilitiaRC - Rifle Clubs
At the beginning of the new century, the well known and top Australian rifle shooter, P. Fargher of the Melbourne Rifle Club wrote the book called Hints on Rifle Shooting, published by Sands and Mcdougal in Melbourne. The text deals with all the problems people found with the commonly available service rifles employed in the first decade and beyond within the Australian military forces. As part of the Rifle Club Movement, shooting at rifle clubs was strictly carried out with the designated service weapon. This little book is a gem in detailing all aspects of the rifles from the shooter's point of view. To assist readers to fully understand the weapons used by the Mounted Rifles and Light Horse, the book will be serialised on this blog.
Fargher - Hints on Rifle Shooting, Part 1
Fargher - Hints on Rifle Shooting, Part 2
This is Part 3.
I would recommend beginners to get the Government rifle, and, when they have learnt to use it, if they have the money to spare, they might do worse than lay out eight or nine pounds in a target rifle of some well-known make. They will get a nice selected heart stock and carefully finished sights for that price.
One advantage of paying a good price for a private rifle is that it tends to make one more careful of his rifle, and its shooting qualities are likely to last longer on that account. If you buy a rifle of private make, see that it is of British manufacture and bears the Government Viewer's mark.
The fore end should be a bit of straight grained wood, and nicely fitted to the barrel. The bands should not be screwed up tight, but should be just tight enough to prevent them being moved easily with the hand. The foresight should be clean cut, evenly sloped on the sides, of medium thickness, and should have no burr or file marks on it. The sides of the ladder of the backsight should be perfectly parallel, so that the bar will fit it evenly all the way up and the bar should be just tight enough to ensure its not slipping with the shock of the discharge.
I spoilt a couple of long range scores at Sydney two or three years ago, and ruined my position in the Champion aggregate, through the ladder of my rifle being loose at the place the bar comes to at 800 and 900 yards, and for a time I failed to notice it had slipped down because it was all right at the middle ranges. This unevenness of the ladder may be caused by screwing up the ventometer too tight when putting on wind lines. The forecap should he square on top, not too thick, and the metal should be well gouged out in front of the V, which should be small, with bevelled edges. The top edge of the backsight should also be bevelled to a knife edge, and the bar should be straight and not capable of being tilted out of the horizontal line. The trigger pull should be short and clean, and there should be no suspicion of a move in it until it goes off. The pull should be as light as is permitted by the rules of rifle shooting, viz., 6 lbs. It should never be more than 6 lbs.
In my opinion 6 lbs. is much too heavy, and far better shooting could be done with a 5 lb. pull, which seems quite enough for safety.
Citation: Fargher - Hints on Rifle Shooting, Part 3
