ResearchPress
45 Cal.
In Great Britain there were small clubs engaged in target practice prior to the establishment of the Rifle Volunteers in 1859. The National Rifle Association was formed later the same year, and its aims included "the encouragement of Volunteer Rifle Corps and the promotion of rifle shooting throughout Great Britain." It is from that time that rifle shooting as a national sport originates in Great Britain. You're right, rules evolved as they do in any sport. They had to start somewhere and constantly evolved through the muzzle and breech loading era, introduction of smokeless powders, etc. Today's competition rules had to be newly written with the 'modern' revival of muzzle loading, and even today adapt.That's why I call it "competition creep". It started with , I assume, Target matches between Rifle Regiments or however it went down, just for bragging rights or some kind of prize
And I'm sure, right away, guys started looking to get an "edge" by using different bullets, making sure charges were consistent, etc etc and slowly the Rules became cemented , over the years, with the P58 shooters getting the 10% penalty and everything else, and we have those matches as they exist today.
In the 19thC there were many matches between Volunteer Regiments, more often in teams with maybe 10 - 20 men each team and shooting at several distances commencing at 200 yards. (This on my web site may interest: Enfield Rifle Team Shooting: Bristol vs Staffordshire). County Rifle Associations also evolved. Under NRA rules Volunteers fired with the Government Ammunition issued from the NRA magazine. Rules varied depending who was running the events - some permitted use of cartridge checkers for example, others did not. The NRA had two classes - Volunteer Rifle Matches where they competed using their arm of issue, and 'Any Rifle' open to all-comers. The latter was sometimes referred to as scientific rifle shooting, and other than a few basic rules covering the like of 10lb weight limit on the rifle, trigger pull and no telescope sights - gun makers had free reign and this is the class of rifle that developed for 1000 yard target shooting. The aim was to encourage innovation and advancement in rifle design.
Volunteer Riflemen competed with their arm, the Enfield, later the Snider, Martini-Henry, Lee-Metford... Even with breech loaders for Volunteers, the NRA issued ammunition - this from 1873 rules for example; "In all competitions restricted to Volunteers and Snider All Comers, none but the ammunition, issued from the N.R.A. at the firing point shall be used. The ammunition so issued shall in no way be tampered with."
I've never seen anything in contemporary rules about the 10% penalty you refer to, although have seen others writing in modern times say the same thing. If you can cite a contemporary source for that I'd been keen to know. Unless maybe a specific event, I can't find it in NRA(UK) rules.
So unless you're looking purely at military musketry instruction / practice and shooting at the appropriate distances... my rambling note is just trying to show that how the Enfield was used in the 19thC differed with practitioners. Blasting away at 25 yards with a bunch of cartridges is no more or less meaningful than lobbing grease groove Minie bullets at targets 600 yards away in a competition today. Shooting at such extended ranges with the military muzzle loader is just something special that I will never get tired of.I highly recommend, using these weapons the way they were designed to be used and were actually used in their military service . . . .
Being able to put on a cartridge box with 50 cartridges, and a cap box, and just shoot one after the other is just something special that I will never get tired of.
And exactly the same can be said for the historically minded shooter who may give the impression of looking down upon those who enjoy using the military rifle for target shooting, as if you're "doing it wrong" by using a plastic phial with a pre-measured charge rather than a paper tube (cartridge), and loading a separate grease groove Minie style bullet.It's almost like some people have turned them into purely platforms for competition use and subconsciously look down on those people using them as close to the original way they were used historically , as if you're "doing it wrong " by using paper cartridges and cartridge boxes to shoot military rifles designed to be used with paper cartridges and cartridge boxes .
David