I'm planning on shooting my 1903A3 in a 600 yard match in the next couple of weeks. Been shooting it at 300 yards, and today shot it at 400 yards. The rifle and I are holding the black very well....anyone else shooting 600 yards with an 03A3?
How about a Model 1903 at 1000 yds?
The following piece is about George Farr's record at Camp Perry. The Farr trophy is named for him.
Thanks to German Salazar for posting this on his website.
Regards
Jim
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"Dad" Farr's 1921 Record Still Waits To Be Broken
by J.B. Roberts, Jr.
That high power shooter George R. Farr would establish a virtually unbreakable record at the 1921 National Matches seemed unlikely - especially to Farr himself. But what he did and the conditions under which he did it rank Farr among the most memorable of America's competitive shooters.
George Farr was by some accounts a lumberjack. In later years he worked as a gunsmith in Seattle, Washington. Called "Dad" by his fellow shooters, he was probably better known because he was the sort of man everyone liked than for his marksmanship. Personality aside, Dad Farr's shooting was worthy of all the admiration it won him.
The star of the 1921 matches was Marine Sergeant J.W. Adkins. Adkins had already won four major long-range events when he fired 75 consecutive bullseyes at 1000 yards and won the Wimbledon Cup. Adkins used a telescope-sighted M1903 Springfield rifle and commercial 180 gr. .30-06 Match ammunition to fire the third possible on the Wimbledon course in 30 years.
At 4:30 p.m., Sept. 4, 1921, as Adkins was finishing his record string, Dad Farr walked up to the firing line. He carried an M1903 rifle drawn from Ordnance supply that morning because his own rifle was not working, a homemade spotting scope, and 22 rounds of 1921 National Match ammunition. Farr's first sighter was a 3; his second a 5. Following the second sighter, Farr fired 20 bullseyes - the first time he had ever fired a 1000 yard possible.
He then prepared to leave the line, for he had used all his ammunition. The range officer gave Farr two clips of ammunition, sent him back to the line, and spent the next hour looking for ammunition to keep him shooting. Between 4:30 when he began firing and 6:10 when darkness caused him to drop a shot into the 4 ring, Farr fired 70 consecutive record bullseyes.
Farr's feat was truly awe-inspiring. Firing with borrowed equipment, using metallic sights in the rapidly failing light, and at the age of 62 years, he came within five shots of beating Sgt. Adkins' score which was fired with a scope-sighted rifle. The service rifle record Farr set 55 years ago (now 88 years ago -GAS-) still stands. Because of the change in the target, it will probably never be broken.
To commemorate Dad's skill, competitors at the 1921 matches purchased the rifle he used from the government and presented it to him. They also instituted the Farr Trophy which has been awarded to the high service rifle shooter in the Wimbledon Cup Match for each year's competition since 1922.
