U.S. Naval Academy Rifle Range, Annapolis, Maryland

[Mark in Rochester]

Searching for Garand photo I found another exceptional 1903 image

Naval officers at rifle practice, circa spring 1919.
The officer firing the M1903 "Springfield" rifle, in the foreground, is probably Ensign Edward D. Porges.
Note the rifle rack beyond him, with instructions: "Call Your Shot" and "Open Your Bolt".

[ralfus]

Its interesting that the 1917 and 1903 rifles were on the firing line at the same time.

[JimF in CT]

EAR Protection??? . . . .We don't need no stinkin' ear protection!!!!

[snell]

next stage of fire.... squatting position !!!

[CapnJohn]

Hey JIMf, whada SAY!!!

[gnoahhh]

I'll send a link to this thread to my nephew who's a Midshipman at the Academy. He'll get a kick out of it.

[Mike Haas]

There is still a rifle range there. Just not sure its the exact same range. State Police used to qualify with M16-A1's acouple of years ago.

[John Hancock]

Is that a Kerr sling on the 1917?

[Bob S]

EAR Protection??? . . . .We don't need no stinkin' ear protection!!!!

uh, ... what??

Resp'y,
Bob S.

[Bob S]

There is still a rifle range there. Just not sure its the exact same range. State Police used to qualify with M16-A1's acouple of years ago.

There were three outdoor ranges the last time I was there (1986): pistol range; 500 yard rifle range, and 300 yard "carbine" range, all out near the COMSTA. The butts of the 300 yard range were over grown with rather large trees and it was therefore unusable. The 500 yard range shared "turf" with a few athletic fields, so those had to be closed when there was range firing, which was not very often in later years. The 500 yard firing line was literally on the edge of a parking lot for some admin building.

Until 1975 or 76, when the Navy Team was selected, we earned our "keep" by convening at Annapolis and teaching the plebes marksmanship. After that, some Rocket Scientist decided that Service Rifle and Service Pistol shooting were "sports", not military skills. CHNAVTECHTRA would no longer support the teams; it was passed to the "Navy Sports Office", who was of course not funded for such stuff, so we all had to pay our own way.

The last official advanced marksmanship events at Annapolis before I retired was the 1986 Altlantic Fleet and All Navy matches.

Resp'y,
Bob S.