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Show Wind Plays Big Part ; In Outdoor Shooting i i BY PETER P. CARNEY. That there is considerable more to accurate rifle shooting than ihe mere aiming of the piece and the pulllnu of the trigger was admirably demon-1 strated at the Navy Rifle Range at' Caldwell recently by Captain W. II. j Richard, on? of the expert rifle shots I i of the AVincheater Jtepeatlng Arms Comp&ny.- Captain Richard, who Is one of the ' best shots In the world, and who la ; the holder of countless trophies won islt rifle shooting, was trying: his skill I on' the 1,000 yard range. The day was perfect, -with a ' gentle breeze I blowing laterally across tho range: a i breeze that would have been scarcely I noticed by the average individual. Us force and direction was suf-I suf-I flclent however, to cauco Captain i Richard to hoed It. for before firing ! lie carefully set the rear sight of his , rifle at what Is known as one point I left windage. That Is to say. his rear I sight was so set that both the front and rear sights would pr6perly bear upon the bulls-eyo when aimed, but ' the muzzle of tho rifle would point ' nni nt thr hulls-eve. but at a point j forty Inches to the left of, and horl-t horl-t zontal with It. The Captain fired, and 1 the bullet, which would have struck ; quite off tho target had no allowance beon made for tho slight breeze, pierced the bulls-eye near its center. ! "Good shot, Captain." said oncW the onlookers, who happened himJrif I to be a very sre-od shot "You got ; yotir' allowance for windage right the "first time. No need for further ad-justnient. ad-justnient. I wlah.l could get It right 'the first thno like. that. I Invariably ' have to set my sight two or throe i times before 1 am right." "Well," , drawled Richard, you are not right this time cither, Tom. I've got to i make a change right now." "Why, , what for?" asked Tom. "Man alive. ! can't you -see that tho wind has i veered from the west to tho east?" replied the Captain grinning broadly at hfa friend as he proceeded to readjust read-just his rear sight. Richard Knew. "Hoy," was Tom'3 surprised response. re-sponse. Then after gazing around a bit: "Y-e-e-s, 1 guess it has. But it isn't blowing strongly enough to make very much dlfforonce." "Think, not?" asked the Captain. "No, if Isn't," answered Tom, and he fell to watching cloBely Richard's manipulation of that roar sight. "for the love of Mike, Cap," he suddenly sud-denly exclaimed, "What arc you thinking of' You've moved .that i sight over to a point right, that's two i whole points In the opposite dlrec-j Hon. Do you realize that the muzzle , of your piece Is going to point eighty; inches from wher it pointed before forty inches on tho other side of the) target. Surely you don't think thej i wind haa changed enough to warrant. (such a drastic chango as that." I Richard, already lying prone. 1 seemed to snuggle closer to the I ground, and as he carefully tucked I the butt of his rifle into the hollow of his snoulder and took up his alm.i muttered determinedly. "I reckon j she's about right." There was a momentary pause, then the report. Another slight pause as all eyes woro raised toward tho target, tar-get, everybody expectantly tense that Is. all except Richard who gradually relaxed from his firing position and lowered his rifle then out from" bc- hilnd tho butts shot the whlto disc where it rested directly over the central cen-tral portion of the 36-ln. bulls-eye. A perfect hit! Upon esaunlnatlon or the target it Ivwis found that less than linlf an inch I separated the two slvots even though the muzzle of the rifle had pointed at I objects eighty Inches apart: How many of you who read this have over given a thought to the big part the wind plays in rifle shooting: |