In the mid to late 19th Century target rifle shooting was a popular sport, and via the Volunteer movement Great Britain had thousands of trained riflemen. Naturally, businessmen sought to sell their wares to these riflemen enticing them with a variety of goods to assist the aspiring marksman. With ammunition, field glasses, vernier sight adjusters, tools and other associated accoutrements the rifleman acquired, a means of carrying it all was needed. One suitable case appeared in 1886, the ‘Wimbledon Shooting Case’.
Category: Firearms
Firearms history. Long range rifle fire and target rifles. British Military Longarms. Ammunition. Accessories. Gunmakers.
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John Rigby, Dublin, Ireland
INDEX. Rigby muzzle loading and later breech loading long range match rifles were famously used by Ireland in international shooting competitions against America.
The Science of Long Range Shooting
It’s 1879, and since the 1874 International Match at Creedmoor there have been a lot of changes. Edwin Perry shares, in his Third Edition of Modern Observations on Rifle Shooting (1880), some of the major changes / advancements at Creedmoor in just a short 5 years. When it comes to bullet alloys, much of what has been passed around on the internet as fact about the advent of harder alloy bullets is, frankly, nothing but conjecture. And what has been passed off as fact is in effect WRONG. Very hard alloy bullets, were in vogue by 1879 for long range competition and were sold by Sharps and Remington. Factory ammo was no longer used by any of the big name shooters. Most had, after careful study, found that their own reloads had much better performance on the long range targets. Make no mistake about it, rapid advances in long range shooting were going on, and much of it we knew little about, until now.
Breech-loaders V. Muzzle-loaders
On Saturday, July 31st, a very interesting competition took place in the presence of Major Sir C.S.Paul Hunter, Bart., between Corporal Bainbridge and fourteen picked men of the battalion using long Enfield rifles and three men using the Soper direct-action breech-loader.
Wilson and Steward’s Sight Elevator
Established in London in 1852, Steward’s were opticians and scientific instrument makers. Steward’s had a long standing relationship with the National Rifle Association (NRA) and this article features one of their gauges.
Metford & Bullet Alloys
Some of William Metford’s letters to Sir Henry Halford survive and give a fascinating insight into the experimentation conducted by these gentlemen in the pursuit of accuracy. This short collection of extracts from their correspondence covers work with bullet alloys.
The Soper Rifle
The rifle invented by Mr. W. Soper, of Reading, was one of the number sent for the recent competition at Woolwich, and was rejected on the ground of “complication of breech arrangement.” In this rifle the breech-piece is formed of a block of steel, working freely up and down in a vertical slot at the rear of the barrel, and secured to a lever fixed at the bottom of the lock, which is placed in the center of the stock. The striker is mounted inside the breech-piece, and works easily without any spring. The cock is also secured to the breech lever in such a manner that the breech-piece and cock are worked simultaneously.
The Lee Magazine Rifle
England has lately adopted a small-bore – 0.303 inch calibre – modified Lee magazine rifle – a Lee with most of the strong points of the mechanism modified out – after making a long series of most amusing steps of development in order to reach the conclusion that this arm was suited to her needs.
The Soper Rifle Factory – In Liquidation
Mr. George Russell Butler has received instructions from the Trustee of Mr. William Soper’s Estate to Sell by Auction, at the above Factory (which adjoins the Great Western Railway Station at Reading), on Wednesday and Thursday, the 6th and 7th of July, 1881, at 11 for 12 o’clock punctually each day, and exceedingly valuable and complete Machinery, Special Tools, Stock in Trade and Effects, comprising the entire contents of the factory and of the retail shop in Friar-street.
The Snider Breech-Loader Rifle
At the present time when the “Snider question” is exciting so much interest and discussion, and when the Government factories are busily employed in turning out large numbers of what will, for some time, be the national weapon, we think a description of the Snider rifle and its ammunition will not prove uninteresting to our readers.
Small-bore Rifles Compared, Wimbledon 1862
During the early years of the National Rifle Association’s Annual Rifle Meeting there was keen interest in the small-bore rifles used. One correspondent to the Volunteer Service Gazette in 1863 in seeking to understand the merits of different makers rifles, collated scores obtained at Wimbledon in 1862 by four rifles – Henry, Kerr, Turner and Whitworth. His letter and comparative tables are reproduced.