Condition is Good. 104 pages

COVER

ningA.

With the blue expanse of Buck Mountain (elevation 8,400

feet), in Washington State's Wenatchee National Forest, rising

in the distance, a pack train winds its way down to the

timberline on Carne Mountain.

Kodachrome shot was made by Loren C. Wade of Tracy,

Calif., while visiting Wenatchee Forest last fall.

Camera

used was a Kodak 35.

----------- 2 -----------

OCTOBER

Personal Problem.

AN EDITORIAL

Stop That Buck! .

BY JOHN S. ROSE

Pistols at Perry

League Shooting

BY JOHN TOKAR

Billy the Kid

BY E. B. MANN

Hair Triggers and Hare Brains .

Pistol Shooter Grows Old.

BY CHARLES LEWIS

Bench-Rest Technique

BY CLARK, HOLMES, AND WHELEN

An M-17 and a K-43 .

BY L. E. CAPEK

Russians from Springfield

BY H. A. BRAND

Springfield Rifles.

A CHAPTER FROM HATCHER'S NOTEBOOK

Make Mine Reloads

BY MAJOR ELLIS LEA

The Stockholm Internationals

The Man Behind the Gun

By C. C. HANKINS

Old Coach .

----------- 3 -----------

Huelet Benner's frown (right) isn't an indication that he is unhappy at having defeated Harry Reeves for the

National All-Around Pistol Championship. Benner is just as delighted with the way his scores at Camp Perry

put him on top as is Navy CPO John Young (left), new National Individual Pistol champ, and Mrs. Rosiland

Noble (center), new National Woman's Pistol champ, but figures he's now carrying more of a responsibility

TY-SEVEN

17

----------- 4 -----------

Ву Е.

William H. Воппey, Jr.,

son of W illiam H. and Kath-

leen Bonney, was born No-

vember 23, 1859, in New

York City.

later, in Silver City, New

Mexico Territory, he killed a

man who had insulted his

mother. In 1878-9, still in his

teens, young Bill Bonney was

the central figure in the bloody

Lincoln County War in New

Mexico Territory.

night of July 13, 1881, in

Pete Maxwell's house in old

Fort Sumner, Pat Garrett

fired the shot that killed Bill

Bonney, alias Billy the Kid-

an outlaw now, with a price

on his head and twenty-one

dead men to his credit. He

Twelve

уеars

On the

was twenty-one years old.

HERE, IN

paragraph, is the story of

Billy the Kid. Not a pretty

story; nothing in it to attract

attention

ONE

SHORT

except, possibly,

|

that this man killed one man

Sudduth

for every year of his life. Not

a pleasant character, you'd say.

know.

Not a fellow you'd like t

Yet few men, good or bad, ever managed within the shor

span of twenty-one years to leave such a deep and lasting im

print on the country in which they lived. Few men have s

stirred the hearts and the imaginations of so many people

few have been better loved; few have been more bitterly hatec

Those loves and those hatreds still live in this Southwester

cour.try; and the man who calls Billy the Kid a hero or a cu

had better, even today, be sure of his company!

The same is true if one speaks of him as a gunman. Sa

that he was the greatest gunman the West ever produced-th

fastest, the most accurate-and you have a host of supporters

Say that he was not, and another host will flock to suppor

you. Men who knew him say that he was a dead shot wit)

either rifle or revolver, lightning fast, incredibly accurate

Others say that he was just a "sure thing" killer who had onl

average skill with weapons, downing his man always from th

rear or from ambush.

OCTORER

NINETEEN FORTY-SEVEN

----------- 5 -----------

B. MANN

Which is true ? Was Billy

a gun wizard or a phony?

How good was he?

There is one kind of evi-

dence which we who shoot to-

day never question. That is

the evidence written on the

target, after the shooting. It's

the hits that count there!

It

is the test of performance that

"separates the men from the

boys," as the saying goes. So,

let's see how Billy performed;

not at targets, but in battle.

Let's take, for example, the

famous "Three-Day Battle"

-the major engagement of

the Lincoln County War:

It would be impossible in

this space, and beside the point

of this story, to state the causes

of the Lincoln County War.

Its roots lay, doubtless, in the

feud between John Chisum

John

Chisum was one of the truly

great "cattle barons" of the

Southwest, a Texan who early

moved his family and his im-

mense herds to the New Mex-

ico ranges to be nearer existing markets. L. G. Murphy

was a cattleman, too; but it was Chisum's claim, right or

wrong, that Murphy's profits came mainly from Murphy's

skill in marketing cattle that wore, or should have worn,

and L. G. Murphy.

Chisum's Long Rail brand and Jinglebob earmark.

Murphy, together with his partner, James Dolan, also

owned various businesses (a store, saloon, hotel, et cetera)

in the little town of Lincoln, county seat of what was then

the biggest county in the United States-a county as big as

the present state of Pennsylvania. It was to the detriment of

the Murphy-Dolan interests, naturally, when Alexander

McSween (a lawyer, educated first for the Presbyterian

ministry and still deeply religious) and J. H. Tunstall (an

Englishman of wealth, culture, and social standing who had

come to New Mexico and fallen in love with

its climate, its scenery, and its people) opened

competitive establishments.

these beginnings that the Lincoln County

War grew; and it was purely incidental, at

It was out of

21

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Hair

ow COMES THAT TIME Of year when the Great American outdoors sous ,

dozen weeks the Slap-Happy Hunting Ground will claim as its own Lord-onl

knows-how-many who went forth to shoot-and got shot!

Game wardens, landowners, and farmers have a downright mistrust of the

gunning season

something as relaxing and beneficial as hunting can be, has become almost as

besmirched nationally as "'pleasure driving"-and for the same reasons: Care

lessness, Ignorance, and Selfishness.

It is amazing to scan the records of last year's hunting casualties-to sce in

cold type the idiotic things so-called intelligent folks did with firearms.

Let's take a "trigger happy" swing about the country, and just peep at the

high spots of press releases on what high-power loads and short-range minds did

for, and to, American hunting . . . and please don't laugh out loud, Brother

A lot of folks with tear-stained cheeks fail to see any humor in these little

newspaper items.

We'll start with California-that great Pacific Coast state which boasts ( ?).

the annual championship in highway motor deaths, also does a creditable job on

the number of gunshot funerals.

Just to insert a pair of gems: Young Bill Chernoff had returned from a most

successful duck shoot, and his mother wanted to snap him with his bag and gun

for the family album. But first she asked him if his gun were loaded. "No,

maw," said Bill, poking the 12 gauge barrel at his head

pulled the trigger-Maw never clicked the shutter!

And when Paul Woodruff, Jr., tried clubbing a raccoon to death, his shotgun

discharged and removed some of his very important insides. Paul, Sr. grabbed

up his dying son's gun and continued swatting the hardy coon.

let go, and Mrs. Woodruff told the undertaker: "Make it two!"

In Oregon, Don Rolinson, an Army sergeant on terminal leave, celebrated

his final and complete recovery from Nazi-inflicted wounds by going elk hunt-

ing. Back to the hospital he went, severely wounded again .

panion's ricochet. . . off an elk's antler!

Just a few rifle shots away from that one, Kenneth Kollman's "black bear".

turned out to be a hunting pal, and close friend, who died with a .30 caliber

slug in his lung. Ken was held for manslaughter.

A Montana wolf hunter got off luckier, . . . and we hope wiser. . . when

he rested his rifle, muzzle down, on his boot. The bullet ripped a hole clear

through it-passing between his toes!

A New Orleans sportsman who went big-game gunning on a friend's mul-

tiple-acred Texas ranch used a telescoped .270 on "th' biggest consarned moun-

tain lion Ah evah seen"

palomino grazing on a fenced range.

An Oklahoma father, explaining the danger of a shotgun to his twelve-year-

old son, said, "You never point it toward anyone this way"

to tattoo his heir-apparent's hip with a score of 12 gauge pellets.

Bennie Bengtson, a RIFLEMAN correspondent in Minnesota, sends us a few

classic examples of pea-brained shooting mishaps in his state and neighboring

Wisconsin. One bitter day a hunter drove his car into the brush and tenderly

covered its radiator with a fur robe. He then made a wide circle through the

.. so have insurance companies. It does seem too bad the

"See?." He

Barrel No. 2

by a com-

..

. and smashed the right foreleg of his host's prize

and proceeded

woods

through . . . you guessed it .

Another Minnesotan, one Larry Robertson, out after a nice, big buck, was

so scared by bullets following his passing through dense brush that he jumped up

on a tree stump hollering and waving his arms. Then he was properly shot

chrough the legs!

finally spotted a "standing deer"

and pumped three bullets

his jalopy's radiator.

THE AMERICAN RIFLEMAN

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T WOULD SEEM AT FIRST THOUGHT that the use of the

machine rest must be the best method of eliminating the

human error from study of the rifle. But contrary to rather

wide belief only three forms of machine rest have proved

at all satisfactory, and these do not have the wide adapta-

bility that is needed. There is the Pope and Hubalek type

which is suitable only for accuracy and ammunition testing

with .22 rimfiré and other low power, heavy-barrelled, single-

shot rifles, the fore-end of the stock being removed from

the barrel when placing the rifle in the rest. Then there is

the Mann "V" rest for testing ammunition and systems of

rifling, but not an assembled rifle. Finally there is the

Woodworth cradle, used in the Mann "V" rest, which holds

the Springfield 1903 rifle in its stock. So far this cradle has

becn made for that one rifle alone at a cost of construction and

insiallation that is prohibitive. None of these give a true

indication of how a complete rifle in its stock will shoot in

the hands of a rifleman, nor does the sight adjustment ob-

tained with them give any indication of what adjustment will

be needed when the rifle is held by the shooter.

So far the use of the bench rest.has been the one and best

method of testing a rifle. But it seems to me that the technique

of construction and use of the bench rest has never been de-

veloped as it could be. After reviewing all previous bench-

rest shooting, it is quite apparent that considerable human

error has often existed in it. Shooters have approached the

goal of eliminating the human error from the study of the

rifle only after years and years of work, and not all of them

have told how they have done so.

technique elsewhere*, but I am quite sure it is far from free

of personal error, which often has amounted to as much as a

half minute-of-angle. I have also seen brief designs of bench

I have described my own

* Small Arms Design and Ballistics, Vol. II, Ballistics.

OCTOBER, NINETEEN FORTY-SEVEN

----------- 8 -----------

T IS INTERESTING how gun hobbyists can sometimes con-

I coct an effective firearm from wartime leftovers. This

seems to prové the old adage that true love always finds a

way. For the

long-range sheep rifle to my collection. To define the words

"long-range sheep rifle"-a high-velocity hunting arm with

a telescopic sight, adjustable within reasonable accuracy for

all ranges up to at least 800 yards. I gave much thought to

the many possible actions and scope combinations that would

give me this. After checking many actions and their costs, 1

decided on an Enfield M1917 for its strength, caliber, and

availability at that time.

About six months ago a souvenir K-43 German rifle scope

was presented to me. This sight, which for lack of a better

name I call the K-43 (this identification is stamped on one

side), is a German military rifle scope.* By comparing it with

our standard American scopes it seems to be approximately

34 power and has a field of view slightly less than that of

the Lyman Alaskan. The lenses are not coated but give a

bright and clear image even on dull days. The reticule is a

pointed post with an interrupted horizontal bar of the same

width as the upright. Objects are in good focus from about

fifty féet, and the definition is perfect from twenty-five yards

to infinity. The scope itself is adjustable for windage by a

protected dial on the top and for elevation by a dial on the

right side, calibrated in meters. It is six inches long and the

diameter at each end is one and three-sixteenth inches. From

what information came with the scope it seemed to do a good

job "over there" and was made by the Zeiss Company to

German military specifications. From close examination I sus-

pect it is weather-proofed, as the fittings are insulated and very

tight. The outside of the tube is rough but not very many

specifications for military tools called for polished surfaces.

I wasn't too enthused about using the scope at the time it

was acquired since it had no mount, and as far as I knew there

were no mounts available for it on an American-made rifle,

Since it would cost a considerable amount of cash to have

past

few years I have felt the urge to add a good

one made

the

scope went into my miscellaneous drawet.

up,

When my M-17 was received from the arsenal I found it

was in very good condition. While giving the rifle the once

over, a way of mounting the discarded K-43 scope on the action

came to me. I was sure that the big mass of steel on the rear

* The correct designation is ZF4, meaning Zielfernrohr 4 power. It was

standard equipment on the German K-43 semiautomatic.

OCTOBER, NINETEEN FORTY-SEVEN

----------- 9 -----------

BRAND

Engrave

ample w

HEN BILL CODY SHOT Some buffaloes with his Smith &

W Wesson American Model Revolver, as an oft-repeated

legend tells us, he created a trend in titles that has persisted

to this day. His guest at the time of the hunt was the Grand

Duke of all the Russias, who was so impressed with this

performance that he carried home glowing reports to his

brother, the Czar. The S.&.W. American was a fine weapon

in its day (and still is for that matter). It shoots a large

caliber cartridge (.44 Smith & Wesson American), it has a

long eight-inch barrel, automatic ejection, and a perfect

balance. Produced in 1870, it

was the first cartridge revolver THE FAMED SMITH &

adopted by the United States "RUSSIAN"

Army. In its day it was well

ahead of any competition. For- OF PRINCES AND S

tunate was the man who could AND THE

boast the ownership of one of TARGET SHOOTER'S RI

the civilian models.

The Grand Duke was sold on this revolver and became

a super salesman in its behalf. Upon his return, Smith

& Wesson received word from St. Petersburg that the Czar

would place an order for about a quarter of a million re-

volvers.

American underwent several modifications: the barrel was

shortened, the grip was rounded and a hump placed on it,

and a spur was added to the trigger guard. The top rib of

the barrel was inscribed with Russian characters and the

FIRST SUC

But the design was to be changed. The S.&W.

famous Russian Model was created. The cartridge (.44 Smith

& Wesson Russian) was an improved, more powerful version

of the American. It rapidly became one of the popular re-

volver cartridges of its day.

During the fulfilment of the Russian contract there were

gay times in Springfield. The Czar had sent quite a dele-

gation of titled Russians to place the order, present their

Smith & Wesson American Model with the words

"Russian Model" on the top rib.

was evidently made for use South of the Border

This gun

OCTOBER, NINETEEN FORTY-SEVEN

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INTERNATIONALS

T TEN A.M. ON August first the flags of twenty na-

tions were raised simultaneously on the Stora Skug-

gen rifle and pistol range outside Stockholm, Sweden.

After a short speech welcoming foreign competitors to

the matches, General W. A. Douglas, Commander-in-

A

With officials, competitors, reporters and cameramen watching, General

W. A. Douglas of the Swedish Army fired the opening shot of the first

postwar World Championship Matches of the International Shooting Union

Chief of the Swedish Army, went to the firing line of the 300

meter range and fired the opening shot of the first World

Championship rifle and pistol matches held since those in

Helsinki, Finland, in 1937.

Eighteen European nations, Argentina, and Egypt had sent

squads to the matches, varying in size from six to the forty men

who comprised the English team. Argentina, backed by an

$80,000 appropriation from its government, sent twenty-three

competitors who arrived in Sweden on June twenty-seventh

and spent the intervening time shooting the Swedish rifle on

the Stora Skuggen range. The English team almost didn't

arrive, finaly reaching Stockholm just prior to the matches

on a "training flight" of the Air Force wich arms, ammuni-

tion, and other impedimenta. Greece, whose financial plight

has made it necessary for the United States to contribute

direct aid in money and materials, sent its representatives to

Stockholm in a Greek Army plane furnished by the U. S. On

the other hand the United States, which had sent Brigadier

General Merrit E. Edson, USMC, to the meeting of the

Shooting Union early in 1946 to get an "American Match"

(fired at 200, 300, 400, and 600 yards) and an American

stylę pistol match included in the program, was unable to cir-

cumvent the red tape involved in securing transportation for a

team and was represented only by one delegate who used regu-

42

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THE MAN

BEHIND

THE

GUN

By C. C. HANKINS

C. W. ROWLAND AND HIS RIFLES . . .

THE STORY OF ONE MAN'S ATTEMPT TO

ACHIEVE THE ULTIMATE IN ACCURACY

The late Charles W. Rowland was probably the greatest

bench-rest shooter of all time. It was Rowland who took

rifles by the fine gunmakers of the last century and got results

with them which often could not be equalled by the makers

thèmselves. Like F. W. Mann, Rowland was a tireless in-

vestigator. A personal fortune allowed him the leisure and

means to devote unlimited time to the problems of extreme

accuracy. Today, C. W. Rowland's 200-yard groups stand as

the finest personal shooting record of any man who ever lived.

The type of equipment Rowland used has practically van-

ished from the American scene.

breech loaders, marked with the names Po pe, Schoyen, and

Zischang, remain in the gun cases of a handful of old-timers,

and the occasional younger shooter who has become interested

in Schuetzen shooting has a rifle or two.

unique type, and no more will ever be made. Developed solely

for extreme accuracy, the muzzle-breech loaders of Pope,

Schoyen, and the others were loaded from the muzzle, using

cast bullets. The powder charge was inserted from the breech.

They were always built on fine single-shot actions. The skill

which went into their boring may never again be equalled.

T'hese notes, by a friend and pupil of Rowland, are recorded

A few hundred muzzle-

These rifles are a

----------- 13 -----------

Well, we finally got back home

from Camp Perry safe and

sound. The only kind of weather

we had there was hot and then

toward the last Jupiter Pluvius

opened up all the spigots he had

and down it came, but the coun-

try needed it badly because there

were cracks one inch wide in the

soil, and the corn and 'tatoes

were dehydrated and very sad

about the whole thing. In all

the years that we have been at

Perry, we have never seen hotter

weather and we have, therefore,

come to the conclusion that the

matches were held too early. I

think everybody will agree with

me on that score, but there may

have been reasons for that,

which we don't know about. In

any event, the NRA, or whoever

gets these things started, should

begin now for next year and not

wait until the last minute to set

the dates.

Yes, there was a lot of grip-

ing at Perry this year, but that's

a healthy sign. Anytime you

don't hear the small borer com-

plain, you'd better do something

about it, because he is liable to

run out on you. On the whole,

Camp Perry was a success. They

stopped taking entries at 700

rifle and 600 pistol; at least

that's what they tell me. We

never saw so màny oldtimers at

Camp Perry at one time as this

year. We didn't meet all of our

old friends because we were in

and out of headquarters, out on

the range and the other times

trying to find a cool place to get

out of the terrific heat.

We were well satisfied to see a

couple hundred 37's on the firing

line. It's pretty good evidence

that they are gaining in popu-

larity and doing a job.

Despite the terrific heat, there

were some good scores made.

A rather unusual thing hap-

pened, too. The National Cham-

pion repeated and also the Na-

tional Lady Champio n won

again, and the new National

Junior Champion is a slip of a

girl from the East, who has also

recently won the Metropolitan

----------- 13 -----------

BRIDGEPORT, CONN., Oct.,

1947. When first introduced in

1937, the Remington "Range-

master" Model 37 Target Rifle

immediate

recognition.

won

shooters

who

Top ranking

handled and fired it agreed that

the 37 was the finest 22 caliber

small-bore target rifle

manufactured.'

In the past ten years, the 37

has steadily advanced in popu-

larity, and now it stands as a

leader in its field. Shooters are,

always quick to note perform-

ance, and this accounts for the

Rangemaster's rapid climb to

the front ranks of target rifles.

The Model 37 has an outstand-

ing record. Shooters like the

way it han'dles, like its action

like the way it backs up

their shooting skill.

Backed by the world's finest

and most experienced gun de-

signers, the Model 37 has all

the features required for match

accuracy. It has a fast, smooth

bolt action... a specially rifled

28-inch barrel-heavy-semi-

floating

at muzzle. It has heat-treated

operating surfaces to insure

minimum headspace without

variation.

In addition, the Model 37 has

the sensational "miracle" trig-

ger . . . smooth, sharp, crisp;

lightning-fast, let-off, with no

back lash, drag or creep. It has

a single sighting plane which

lets you put your cheek against

the same precise spot whatever

type sights you use.

ever

double countersunk

Palma, Kleánbore, Targetmaster,

Rangemaster, Express, and Shur

Shot are Reg. U. S. Pat. Off. Core-

Lokt is a trade mark of Remington

Arms Company, Inc., Bridgeport

2, Conn.