The LordRobertsMatch!
  Im Kampfe fur Freiheit & Recht vereint 
God en de Mauser

The Gang at Rio Salado after shooting the Lord Roberts, 14-Jan-01

Some background:

This match is dedicated to the brave farmers, Boers, armed with Mauser 7mmbolt action rifles who stood and fought for the independence from Englandof their nations the Oranje Vrij Staat and the Transvaal,which, like mine, were made of immigrants who left the old world to forgea new one on land conquered from others. This Match is named after oneof their students who paid attention.

In what we call the Boer war, the entire mightof His Brittanic Majesty's empire was set upon tiny nacient nations carvedout of the harshness of southern Africa. Whether "Might makes Right" canbe debated, but it goes a long way in winning wars. Throwing in total blockades,scorched earth tactics and concentration camps helped too. But the Britishpaid a price for control of most of the world's Gold and Diamond resources.The bill for that price was submitted in the form of 7mmbullets fired from Mauser rifles in the hands of men who knew how to usethem.

TheBritish were armed with an early Lee Enfield  in .303 caliber. The Boers' nations, the Oranje Vrij Staat (OVS, Orange Free State) and Transvaal had purchased from Germany Model 1895 Mauser rifles in 7x57mm.The 7mm had a better trajectory. The Boers were better prepared as marksman.(They also knew the terrain and were fighting for their own people's self-determination).They used guerilla war tactics against the British rank and file tactics.

Lord Roberts observed that the Boers shot theshit out of the British. (Colonials shooting at redcoats! sound familiar?).He proposed a marksmanship training exercise involve aimed rapid fire byinfantrymen. This training was so successful that German units during WWIdeclared that they had been beat back by machine gun units, when in factit was infantrymen operating under rule .303. British soldiers, a generationlater demonstrating what their fathers and uncles had learned in Africa.Shooting an average of 15 aimed shots per minute from there Lee EnfieldRifles.

With that, I introduce the LordRoberts Match.

The Target:
A 24 inch circle. We shall use the US 500 yard target, with a 24 inch aiming black

The Range:
300 yards.

The Rifle:
Any Military Bolt action rifle. There shall be 2 categories: 1) any Lee Enfield Variant. and 2) any Mauser Variant. There will be a 3rd category for Rifles that don't fit in the above categories.(OK, we have not been dividing by categories.)

The Shooting:
The shooters come to the line with ammo, assume the prone position and be ready. The targets are run up for 60 Seconds, then pulled back down. When the targets appear, each shooter will fireas many aimed shots at his target, reloading as needed. (I had previously suggested 45 seconds, but the match is also called the "mad minute")

The Scoring:
Hits in or touching the black count. Numerical score based on scoring rings is not important.

I understand that the record on this course of fire is 39 hits, madeby a british instructor with his Lee Enfield Prior to WWII.

This will be quite difficult with a straight bolt 5 shot mauser. TheBritish rifle with its bent bolt and starting with 10 shots in the magazine will have a speed advantage.

It has been said that in WWI the Germans had the best hunting rifle,the Americans had the best target rifle and the British had the best battlerifle. This shall be tested.

Favor center!

Hi from Kim W. in NZ (NZ Palma team member 1999). According to the
book on the school written by the school 2i/c in 1921, the record inthe
mad minute was set in 1914 at the British School of Musketry by Sgt
Instructor Snoxall. 38 hits inside the 4 ring at 300 yds within the
minute. Scores of 34 to 35 were "not uncommon". Kim.

Thanks Kim!!!!