1901 International match

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reincarnated
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1901 International match

Post by reincarnated »

I am in the midst of writing a biography of Willard Milton Farrow (1848-1934), about the best of the old time black powder long range and also offhand 200 yard target shooters. In the late 1890s, he dropped black powder and lead bullets and took up the Krag. He was a Lt., Inspector of Rifle Practice for the DC National Guard. At age 53, he won a place on the American team, shooting against the Irish team. The rules said you had to use the national rifle of your country, so the Americans shot Krags (probably worked over by some pretty good gunsmiths, including Farrow) but with something close to GI sights. The match was 15 shots at each of 800, 900 & 1000 yard stages. A perfect score for an 8-man team was 1800 points. The Irish did not use the Lee-Metford. Instead, they showed up with Steyr-actioned 1893 Mannlichers in ".256 Mannlicher" = 6.5 mm Dutch. The Irish won, 1620 to 1609. Any position was OK. Here is one of the Irish rifles. The guys with their Krags did darn well!Image

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Dick Hosmer
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Re: 1901 International match

Post by Dick Hosmer »

Fascinating - thanks! Wonder what sort of sights our guys used? I understand that the Krag shot well enough at long range to have held on well past the adoption of the 1903, and its' demise was lamented.

That's a rather puzzling, and butt (pun intended) ugly plate on the Irish rifle - not at all what I was expecting prior to reading the text.

reincarnated
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Re: 1901 International match

Post by reincarnated »

I do not know about the sights. Were they ordinary military, maybe 1901 sights. The match was held Sept. 7, 1901. The Irish team had been shooting at long range, various back positions, at Bisley, for years. I know they shot at 800, 900 & 1000; maybe also at 1100 & 1200 yards. Those sights were pretty standard for Bisley.

There is a guy who lives near Garberville who has one of the Irish rifles, sights and all. he paid $400 for it 2 or 3 years ago. I have been trying to get it.

As far as I know, the only American shooters with a lot of experience at long-range shooting were W. Milton Farrow (been at it since 1874, won the Wimbledon, placed in top 3 at Creedmoor several times, was on the American team that beat the Irish in 1880 and 1883) and maybe G.W. Young.

Farrow would have known about the long range sights and how to mount them, but he was a watchmaker by trade and had already made and sold his own tang sights for schuetzen competition. He certainly could have made an issue Krag sight into a vernier or click-type micrometer sight adjustable for both windage & elevation. Fitting custom width & height blades to an ordinary Krag front sight would not be hard. A sight protector with a hood could be made into a "globe" front sight cover. My question would be "to mount the rear sight on the rifle butt" to take advantage of the longer sight radius, but shooting from an unfamiliar position or just practice shooting from a conventional prone position. The American team practiced at Sea Girt for the last 3 weeks of August, 1901.

I have a reproduced copy of "Shooting and Fishing" Vol XXX for 1901, but it is missing pp. 417-478, the part with all the details.

reincarnated
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Re: 1901 International match

Post by reincarnated »

Volume 31 of Shooting and Fishing (Oct 1901-Oct 1902) tells a lot about a revival of long-range shooting after the losses by American teams shooting the Krag to Irish and Canadian teams. Farrow retired his Krag and bought a Winchester High Wall Musket, in .30-40 Krag, fitted with a No.3 round barrel. The rifle came with a 1901 Krag rear sight and standard military front sight. Farrow added a vernier tang sight, another tang sight mount on the heel of the buttstock, and a windage-adjustable globe front sight with spirit level and interchangeable inserts.

madsenshooter
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Re: 1901 International match

Post by madsenshooter »

That .256 Mannlicher is very close to being a fully rimmed vs the semi-rimmed, 6.5 Japanese. A bit longer but not much. One could make 6.5 Japanese from 6.5 Dutch, if need be.

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