Krag Collectors Association Forum

I received some old 35 MM slides from another military collector. They include some images of target shooting in the 1950s.

Interesting picture of Col Jim Crossman and Maj Bill Brophy on the line at Camp Perry Ohio in 1957. Looks like they were demonstrating the then new M-14 service rifle. Notice the rifles are early models with the walnut handguard.

Before he was an author, Bill Brophy was a combat veteran and earned his CIB in Korea along with a bronze star. He was an experienced marksman and fired in High Power competition for many years.

Cat Man

Thanks for sharing the photo and information.

Col Jim Crossman's Mom & her 1922 Springfield.

Col. Crossman's Mom (Blanche Crossman) was the first woman to ever represent the US in international rifle competition. The 1919 Dewar Team. She beat out 75 men & won her place based on scores in qualifying matches.

Do any of us have a prone position that low to the ground?

Now that is a truly "Liberated Woman". Great story!

Blanche Crossman's offhand with her 1922 Springfield. Is that a Fecker scope?

Great pics! My, how shooting positions have changed! Since she shot very good scores thusly (unless they are just poses) imagine how well she could do with a better stance, especially offhand.

Pictures are scans of photos in her husband Ned Crossman's 1928 (?) book on smallbore rifle shooting.

I wonder what the range being fired at was? 75yds., perhaps 100? At first I was thinking that the long spotting scope was a bit of overkill - then I considered the optics of the day, and the fact that .22 holes can be hard to see in the black, so it all makes sense. Great pics.

They shot at 50, 100, 200 & 300 yards. I think that at ranges greater than 100 yards, they had targets mounted over trenches & men in the trenches to pull and mark targets.