Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 July 1875 — Our Shooting Stars. [ARTICLE]

Our Shooting Stars.

The great rifle match has ended in a victory for the Americans which was more complete and brilliant than we had any right to hope that it would be. Our victory over the Irish team last year was due to the fact that one of the Irishmen threw away a shot by accidentally aiming at a wrong target. Such a victory left the question or the relative skill of the two teams virtually undecided, and until this test the belief was general here and abroad that there was no real difference between the crack rifle shots of America and Ireland. It is impossible, however, to suppose that a score of 968 to 929 was the result of accident. It was unhesitatingly accepted by the Irishmen themselves as an evidence that the Americans are the best marksmen in the world, and we shall have a clear right to accept that generous estimate of our skill if the American team win the matches which are soon to be shot at Wimbledon. The victory must also be interpreted as a proof of the superiority of breech-loading over muzzle-loading rifles. The former, most of which were of the Remington pattern—were used by the Americans, while the Irishmen used the Rigby muzzle-loader. American rifle manufacturers can thus claim an active share in the victory at Dollymount. Indeed it is in the evidence which it afforded of the superiority of American rifles that the practical value of the international match chiefly consists. Of course the immediate result of the late contest will be to give an immense impetus to rifle-shooting in this country. It is noticeable that the members of the American team were not drawn from the population of the West, where the rifle is a familiar weapon, but from a fegion where, prior to the Opening of Creedmoor, two years ago, rifles were as unfamiliar as they were among the English civilians before the volunteer movement began sixteen years ago. If in two years we have produced riflemen who are better shots than Ireland can show after sixteen years of rifle-shooting, we can safely expect to retain our supremacy in the future. However, we shall do well to wait until after the Wimbledon matches before we stimulate the eagle to his loudest shrieks of enthusiasm.— Hearth and Home. :