By WALTER WINANS
The Art of Revolver Shooting.
Royal 8vo. New Edition, Revised and Enlarged.
Fully Illustrated _net_, $5.00
The Sporting Rifle.
Royal 8vo. Fully Illustrated _net_, $5.00
Automatic Pistol Shooting.
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Practical Rifle Shooting.
16mo. Illustrated _net_, 50 cents
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Crown 8vo. Illustrated _net_, $1.75
G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS
NEW YORK LONDON
[Illustration: THE AUTHOR
Photo by London Stereoscopic Co.]
The Modern Pistol
And How to Shoot It
By Walter Winans
Commander of the Royal Spanish Order of Isabel la Catolica; Commander
of the Royal Roumanian Order of the Crown; Officer of the Royal
Roumanian Order of the Star; Chevalier of the Russian Order of St.
Stanislaus; The Royal Swedish Medal of the Olympic Games; World’s
Championship Gold Medallist, Olympic Games, London, 1908, for Double
Rifle Shooting; Vice-President of the National Rifle Association of
Great Britain; Life Member, National Rifle Association of the United
States of America; Life Member of the United States Revolver
Association; Member of the Association of American International
Riflemen; Revolver Champion for five years of the National Rifle
Association of Great Britain; Ten years Revolver Champion of the North
London Rifle Club; Seven years Revolver Champion of the South London
Rifle Club; Member of Le Pistolet Club, Paris, etc., etc.
_With Forty-six Illustrations_
G. P. Putnam’s Sons
New York and London
The Knickerbocker Press
1919
COPYRIGHT, 1919
BY
WALTER WINANS
The Knickerbocker Press, New York
PREFACE
My first book on pistol shooting (_The Art of Revolver Shooting_) was
published in 1900. Up to that date there existed no book which contained
instruction on pistol shooting, though several books had appeared
describing the different makes of pistols.
Since that date several books have appeared--some very good ones, by
various revolver experts. Unfortunately (as always happens when something
original appears), others who were not revolver shots took to writing
books on the same subject, largely made up of unacknowledged extracts from
my books. Not understanding their subject, they distorted my teaching, and
so any one trying to learn pistol shooting from them gets hopelessly
confused.
I therefore give this warning; do not follow the advice of any but an
acknowledged expert in pistol shooting, as books by hack writers, made up
of extracts from other writers, and illustrations from gunmakers’
catalogues, are not to be taken seriously.
Moreover, the revolver is now obsolete, and there is no use learning to
shoot it.
My object in writing this book is to give instruction in the modern
substitute for the revolver. That is to say, the automatic pistol, and
incidentally, to instruct in the single shot or duelling pistol.
For those who wish to study revolver shooting, I would refer them to my
book _The Art of Revolver Shooting_.
The present work might be called volume ii. of _The Art of Revolver
Shooting_, as it instructs in the form of pistol shooting which has now
taken the place of revolver shooting.
Though the revolver is now obsolete, my _Art of Revolver Shooting_ is of
interest, as giving details of out-of-date firearms, and the
best-on-record scores made with them.
These records will be of the greatest importance for future generations.
There are now no records extant of scores made with the long bow, the
cross-bow, and the various stone-hurling slings and balistæ. All
concerning them is legendary.
If we depended only on newspaper articles for what was possible in
revolver shooting, we should get legends similar to those of obsolete
arms.
I was credited with making a World’s Record with a revolver at five
hundred yards by a reporter when it should have been fifty yards. He
merely added a nought to the figures.
As all records are important for historical purposes, and for comparison
with future scores, I give as an appendix in this book those revolver
records which cannot now be beaten, the revolvers and cartridges being now
no longer made.
It is curious how, even up to the outbreak of the Great War, people did
not understand that shooting was more important than playing games, or
that shooting had to be learned.
I recently read a “trench anecdote” which relates that a man who had never
fired a shot before he was conscripted was shot in the back, and whilst
dying, “seized his rifle and dropped an enemy who was running past 200
yards off.”
To do this would require a first-class trained rifle shot who specialized
in shooting at moving objects, and even he, with his back broken, could
not swing, which is the essence of successful shooting at moving objects.
Another writer, a lieutenant, wrote during the war to one of the daily
papers, advising the purchase of a revolver to be deferred till actually
starting for the Front!
I have had several men on leave bring me revolvers and automatic pistols,
asking me to test them, as they could not hit anything with them at the
Front.
With one of these pistols I made the highest possible score at thirty
yards; with another I made ten out of twelve bulls at twenty yards. None
of the pistols was wrong. It was the men’s lack of skill.
Just before the war, several rifle ranges in England were closed, because
they interfered with golf players.
It is to be hoped that after this war, men will spend their spare time in
learning rifle and pistol shooting instead of wasting it in games, and
will not close rifle ranges because they interfere with their golf links.
The fallacy that games are the best training for military service is
exposed by a very interesting article in the _Field_ newspaper.
I maintain that no man who has not the instinct to shoot ingrained in him,
will shoot when under intense excitement and danger. If he is a player of
games he will not shoot, but throw things at his adversary, or use his
rifle as a pike or club.
Mr. John Lloyd Balderston, writing to the _Field_ newspaper of September
29, 1917, says:
“An officer showed me his charges going through a mimic
attack--_firing rifle volleys instead of hurling bombs or going in
with the bayonet_; in these attacks reliance was placed too much on
the bayonet and bomb--now we have realized that when the enemy runs
away and you run after him he is likely to get away. Accordingly we
teach the men not to rush wildly along with the sole idea of
bayoneting, but to stop and pump some bullets after him.”
WALTER WINANS.
January 1, 1919,
17 AVENUE DE TERONEREN,
BRUXELLES, BELGIQUE.
CONTENTS
PAGE
PREFACE iii
CHAPTER
I.--INTRODUCTION 1
II.--SPORT VERSUS SPORTS 6
III.--WHY PISTOL SHOOTING IS UNPOPULAR 13
IV.--THE WRONG WAY TO LEARN 16
V.--PRELIMINARY INFORMATION 20
VI.--HOW TO PREVENT ACCIDENTS 26
VII.--HOW TO PREVENT ACCIDENTS (_Continued_) 33
VIII.--TRIGGER-PULL 38
IX.--AMMUNITION 44
X.--FIRST LESSONS 46
XI.--LEARNING TO SHOOT 53
XII.--SIGHTS 62
XIII.--TARGETS 71
XIV.--PRACTICAL TARGETS 77
XV.--HOW TO HOLD THE PISTOL 80
XVI.--RUNNING SHOTS 86
XVII.--RUNNING SHOTS (_Continued_) 92
XVIII.--SHOOTING AN AUTOMATIC PISTOL 97
XIX.--TIMING APPARATUS 102
XX.--SNAP SHOOTING 104
XXI.--LONG RANGE SHOOTING 108
XXII.--THE AUTOMATIC PISTOL 113
XXIII.--THE MECHANISM OF THE AUTOMATIC PISTOL 118
XXIV.--PECULIARITIES AND FAULTS OF AUTOMATIC PISTOLS 125
XXV.--FINAL PRACTICE 132
XXVI.--EXHIBITION SHOOTING 135
XXVII.--CONTROL OF TEMPER 139
XXVIII.--THE EFFECT OF ALCOHOL AND NICOTINE ON SHOOTING 145
XXIX.--CLEANING AND CARE OF THE PISTOL 152
XXX.--PRACTICAL PISTOL SHOOTING 154
XXXI.--DANGER OF LEAVING PISTOLS ABOUT 160
XXXII.--USING ONE’S BRAINS IN SHOOTING 163
XXXIII.--THE PERFECT TARGET 166
XXXIV.--IS DUELLING WRONG? 171
XXXV.--REMARKS ON DUELLING 176
XXXVI.--REMARKS ON DUELLING (_Continued_) 180
XXXVII.--DETAILS AS TO DUELLING 185
XXXVIII.--OUGHT DUELLING TO BE ABOLISHED? 189
XXXIX.--HOW TO PREPARE A NOVICE IN HALF AN HOUR FOR A DUEL 194
XL.--PISTOLS FOR SELF-DEFENCE 200
XLI.--DRESS 207
XLII.--SELF-DEFENCE 212
XLIII.--PROTECTING THE EYES AND EARS 215
XLIV.--EYESIGHT 222
XLV.--THE WEATHER AND SHOOTING 226
XLVI.--MILITARY AUTOMATIC PISTOLS 231
XLVII.--RECOIL 239
XLVIII.--JUDGING DISTANCE 243
XLIX.--GAME SHOOTING 249
L.--SHOOTING FROM HORSEBACK 253
LI.--GALLERY AUTOMATIC PISTOLS 260
LII.--SHOOTING GALLERY 266
LIII.--THE GASTINNE-RENETTE GALLERY 270
LIV.--OPEN AIR RANGES 276
LV.--SHOOTING IN LITERATURE 280
LVI.--GRIP 285
LVII.--TRICK SHOOTING 291
LVIII.--THE DEVILLIERS BULLET 300
LIX.--KILLING INJURED ANIMALS 305
LX.--COMPETITIONS 313
LXI.--POLICE PISTOLS 317
LXII.--INVENTORS 320
LXIII.--SIMPLIFICATION 326
APPENDIX A 333
APPENDIX B. THE LAW RELATING TO REVOLVERS AND REVOLVER SHOOTING
IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND 351
APPENDIX C. THE LAW OF CARRYING WEAPONS IN THE UNITED STATES 360
ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
THE AUTHOR _Frontispiece_
BREECH-LOADING PISTOLS 47
AUTHOR’S WINNING SCORE FOR GASTINNE-RENETTE COMPETITION,
APRIL 7, 1910 49
COLT AUTOMATIC PISTOL, POCKET MODEL, CALIBRE .32 52
COLT AUTOMATIC PISTOL .22 TARGET MODEL 54
COLT AUTOMATIC PISTOL, MILITARY MODEL, CALIBRE .38 70
COLT AUTOMATIC PISTOL, MILITARY MODEL, CALIBRE .45 70
HOW TO HOLD THE DUELLING PISTOL (1) 82
HOW TO HOLD THE DUELLING PISTOL WITH SPUR (2) 83
COLT NEW SAFETY DISCONNECTOR AUTOMATIC PISTOL, .25 129
THE GASTINNE-RENETTE 16 METRES TARGET 168
ORNAMENTAL DUELLING PISTOLS BY GASTINNE-RENETTE 181
PISTOLS BY GASTINNE-RENETTE 183
COLT DERRINGER 203
COLT AUTOMATIC PISTOL .25 205
UNITED STATES ARMY REGULATION .45 COLT AUTOMATIC PISTOL 233
UNITED STATES ARMY REGULATION .45 COLT AUTOMATIC PISTOL.
SECTIONAL VIEW 237
GASTINNE-RENETTE GALLERY 271
GASTINNE-RENETTE GALLERY--FIRING POINTS 273
SHIELD ON DUELLING PISTOL WITH GUARD FOR DEVILLIERS BULLET 301
THE GREENER KILLER 310
WINANS’ REVOLVER FRONT SIGHTS 324
AUTHOR’S WORLD’S RECORD SCORE 334
AUTHOR’S WORLD’S RECORD SCORE 335
AUTHOR’S WORLD’S RECORD SCORE 336
AUTHOR’S WORLD’S RECORD SCORE 337
AUTHOR’S WORLD’S RECORD SCORE 338
AUTHOR’S WORLD’S RECORD SCORE 339
AUTHOR’S WORLD’S RECORD SCORE. TWENTY YARDS DISAPPEARING TARGET 340
AUTHOR’S WORLD’S RECORD SCORE. TWENTY YARDS DISAPPEARING TARGET 341
AUTHOR’S WORLD’S RECORD SCORE. TWENTY YARDS DISAPPEARING TARGET 342
AUTHOR’S WORLD’S RECORD SCORE. SIX SHOTS IN 12 SECONDS 343
AUTHOR’S WORLD’S RECORD SCORE. FOR MILITARY REVOLVER AND SIGHTS 344
AUTHOR’S WORLD’S RECORD SCORE. TWENTY YARDS RAPID-FIRING TARGET 345
AUTHOR’S WORLD’S RECORD SCORE. FOR 3-INCH BULL’S-EYE TRAVERSING
TARGET, 20 YARDS 346
AUTHOR’S WORLD’S RECORD SCORE. FOR 2-INCH BULL’S-EYE TRAVERSING
TARGET, 20 YARDS 347
AUTHOR’S WORLD’S RECORD SCORE ADVANCING TARGET 348
AUTHOR’S WORLD’S RECORD SCORE FIFTY YARDS TARGET 349
TWELVE HIGHEST POSSIBLE SCORES MADE BY THE AUTHOR IN REVOLVER
COMPETITIONS AT 20 YARDS IN 1895 350
The Modern Pistol and How to Shoot it
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
There is now no use learning revolver shooting. That form of pistol is
obsolete except in the few instances where it survives for target
shooting, or is carried for self-defence; just as flintlock muskets even
now survive in out-of-the-way parts of the world.
If a man tries to defend himself with a revolver against another armed
with an automatic pistol he is at a great disadvantage.
The automatic is more accurate than a revolver, as the “blow-back” does
not vary as much as does the escape of gas past the cylinder in a
revolver.
The bullet in the revolver has to jump into the cylinder, whereas in the
automatic it is already fitted up against the rifling, before being
fired.
The single-shot pistol is the most accurate of any, there being no escape
of gas.
The automatic has not only a much longer range than the revolver (although
the popular idea that it can be shot accurately at a thousand yards or
more is nonsense) but it cocks itself instead of having to be cocked by
the thumb, or trigger finger.
Cocking by trigger-pull is such a strain on, not only the trigger finger,
but the whole hand, that, after a few shots, good shooting cannot be made.
I won all my rapid-firing revolver competitions using the single action
and cocking with the thumb, as this rested my trigger finger.
With the automatic, cocking is unnecessary and, with its lighter recoil,
good scores in rapid-firing are very much easier to make.
The penetration of the nickel-coated automatic bullet propelled by its big
charge of nitro powder is very great.
A man brought me a “pistol-proof” cuirass to test; I put a bullet at
twelve yards clean through it and then through two “bullet proof” ones,
placed one behind the other. (I used a regulation U. S. .45 Automatic
pistol.)
This was before the war. The inventor was disappointed. He had
experimented only with revolvers shooting soft leaden bullets and these
his cuirass had stopped.
Unfortunately, in its present comparatively imperfect development, the
automatic is the most dangerous firearm of all pistols for a novice to
handle.
The long barrel of a rifle can be struck aside if a beginner swings it
round and points it at the instructor or a nearby spectator, but the short
barrel of a pistol is easily pointed at and with difficulty brushed aside
by the unfortunate person standing near a “brandishing” and “flourishing”
man who is learning to shoot.
In spite of all warnings even those who ought to know better do this
swinging about. In fact, it is the recognized way of handling a pistol;
according to reporters, they always say So and So “was brandishing a
pistol” if he happens to be armed.
You can test the truth of the above remark by asking any one to show how
he would shoot a pistol.
He will raise his hand above his head and then jerk it down. It is very
difficult to get any one to understand the danger and the futility of
doing this.
Euclid tells us the shortest way from one point to another is a straight
line. Why then, in order to get the muzzle of your pistol on an object,
move it towards the stars first?
_Never let the muzzle of any firearm, either loaded or unloaded, point in
the direction where it would do harm unintentionally if discharged._
I, once only, in all my experience, found a beginner who did _not_ do
this, and the beginner was a lady!
After a few shots with a duelling pistol the wind blew the target down,
the pistol was loaded and at full-cock in her hands. I had seen enough of
how she handled a pistol, to know she had grasped the necessity of never
pointing where there is danger.
The target blew down as she was beginning to aim at it; she raised the
muzzle vertically and put the pistol at half-cock, I at the same moment
going forward to put the target back in place.
With any other beginner I would have taken the pistol with me when I went
up to the target.
Smoking is one of the greatest enemies to good shooting, even more so than
alcohol.
A drinking man may, for a time, shoot well, till his nerves are destroyed,
but smoking, long before it kills, makes a man unable to shoot well. He
has too much twitch in his muscles.
It is curious how heavy smokers deceive themselves, and think it does them
no harm.
At a dinner, a man told me that smoking could not possibly interfere with
a man’s shooting.
He said: “I can lift a tumbler full of water without spilling a drop.”
There were plenty of tumblers and a decanter before him, but he took very
good care not to demonstrate his contention.
I looked for his hands; he had one carefully out of sight, behind him; the
other, with the eternal cigarette between the fingers, he was pressing
tightly to his waistcoat, but not tightly enough to prevent my seeing
that his hand was trembling as if with the palsy.
Then, he added, to clinch his argument:
It is all nonsense to pretend that smokers cannot stop smoking if they
want to; I stopped for a whole week and the only thing was that I did
not sleep and had no appetite; it was not worth it, so I began smoking
again.
This is an extreme case, but all smoking, from the first whiff, is
cumulative poison, deteriorating the nerves.
If a man gives up smoking and takes to pistol shooting in the open air, he
will find his nerves enormously strengthened and, as long as he guards his
ears from the concussion (which I will deal with later), his health much
improved.
For elderly men also there is not the strain on the heart as in golf or
tennis.