I've spent a lot of time looking for anything that would tie this marvelous old Krag to W. Milton Farrow or to the NRA and New Jersey National Guard matches at Sea Girt. I'd pretty much struck out until I found a reference in the NRA's Annual Report for 1904. The report on the Schuetzen match listed 10 competitors. An asterisk (*) preceded the names of 3 competitors. At the end of the match report, the asterisk indicated shot with "Krag" rifle. "Krag" was in quotations, implying (to me) that it was not an ordinary Krag. The Sea Girt Schuetzen match was shot at 200 yards using the German 25-ring target. The target is the same as we use today, but there were 25 rings, hence the name. Bigger paper? It was an offhand match, shot with the body free of support. Rules were "any rifle, any sight, any caliber, set triggers allowed. Cleaning between shots allowed". A Krag shooting military cartridges would be very much of a handicap. A *Krag fitted with a stock designed for offhand shooting, firing handloads with cast bullets, might be competitive. The match at Sea Girt was a 3-shot re-entry match. As I understand it, each competitor stood at the firing point, probably next to a loading bench, and slowly fired 3 shots at his target. After Shooter A fired his 3 shots, it was Shooter B's turn. After all shooters had fired at their first targets, the second round of competition began, and after that, the third and final round. Each shooter could score a maximum of 75 points per target. 3 target scores were added for the final score, with 225 points being maximum. It's a long, slow match. Plenty of time to share the *Krag, unless there were 3. Were there 3? Owen Smith won, 213 points. Harry Pope, 2nd with 211. Dr. Walter G. Hudson, 4th with 209. *Pvt. Robert Lee Pile, D.C. Natl Guard, was 6th with 208. *James G. Dillin was 8th with another 208. *Capt. William C. Gannon, N.J. Natl Guard, was 9th with 204. I've learned about Pile and Gannon, but not much about Dillin. Maybe his name was misspelled. Was there more than one *Krag? I'll bet not. Where was Farrow? He'd had an argument with the NRA's Board of Directors over annual memberships and lost. His name doesn't appear in the 1904 Annual Report. But was he at Sea Girt with the rifle?
|