TARGETS
I began my instruction with a white bull’s-eye on a black target, but, as
soon as the pupil becomes a little proficient, this bull’s-eye shooting
should be stopped.
The pupil should then learn to hit the middle of a large object, not a
small object of different colour, superimposed on a larger one.
The great difficulty beginners have in deer-stalking is that they aim at
the stag as a whole, instead of trying to hit a definite part of him.
If you aim at even a large object in the former way, you are very apt to
miss it entirely.
In France there are man targets of iron, the natural size of a man in
profile, which can be stood on the ground in front of the butts. These are
the best I know for shooting at with the small duelling charge.
There are divisions incised into this target so that the marker, when he
goes up, can see the value of the shot, but these divisions are invisible
from where the shooter stands. He must judge as to where to aim and hit.
The target is painted over after each series of shots with a mixture of
soot and water.
Be sure not to use any size or varnish, as this fixes the black so that
the bullet does not knock it off, and so shots are difficult to locate on
the figure from the firing point.
With soot and water the shots appear almost white on the target at the
spot the soft lead bullet has flattened and dropped down, taking the soot
with it.
These iron targets are suitable only for soft lead bullets driven at low
velocity.
With a high-power automatic pistol it would be dangerous, as bullets would
rebound or glance off long distances if the edge of the target were
grazed.
For shooting with powerful ammunition, the target must be of wood, or
canvas on a wooden stretcher, with black paper pasted over it. The bullets
go through into the butt, which latter must be exceptionally thick or else
the last of several bullets striking in one place will go through it.
The pattern of target we used at the Olympic Games at Stockholm in 1912, I
do not like. It was much too big and the rings (upright ovals) too
distinct. It was like shooting at an ordinary ring target with visible
bull’s-eye.
It was a good idea, however, having upright ovals instead of circles for a
man target, as a miss right or left is important, whereas a rather high or
low shot would still strike a man.
For animal targets, on the Continent, these ovals are placed horizontally,
because an animal is longer than it is high; also for running shots a miss
in front or behind the bull’s-eye is more excusable than one over or
under.
The proper distance to practise at is the distance you can hit the
invisible bull’s-eye twice in three shots. As soon as you can do better
than this, move the target a few feet further off, or decrease the size of
the bull’s-eye.
The idea is to have a target on which when shooting your very best, you
may just be able to make the highest possible score.
This is the principle on which the targets are made in all the
Gastinne-Renette competitions in Paris.
The highest possible score is not beyond the power of the pistols, if held
by a very good shot.
For the Grande Medal d’Or, the holding has to be nearly as good as if the
pistol were fixed in a vise, but it _is_ possible to make, as several
dozen winning targets made by the crack shots of the world testify.
A target impossible to make a full score on discourages the shooter.
It rather adds to the interest if a hit breaks something; if a clay
pigeon, for instance, is put on a nail for a bull’s-eye on a man target
painted the same colour, it is practically an invisible bull and it is a
great satisfaction to see the pieces instantly fly at a hit, instead of
having to examine the target to see where your shots are.
These clay pigeons, or soup plates, or whatever you use, would not do if
put against an iron target, as the splash of the bullet would break them
even if they were not actually hit.
One can buy an apparatus in Paris which fills rubber balls with water,
which make good targets to shoot at either hung up or thrown in the air.
To hit them with a pistol with a bullet when thrown in the air is
extremely difficult, and can only be safely tried when shooting out to
sea, or against a high cliff.
Single barrel pistols of 28 shotgun bore, 10-inch barrels are made to
shoot shot, and these are very good for such shooting and train timing and
swing in snap shooting.
At eighty live pigeons at twelve yards’ rise I have got more than half I
shot at. One has to be quick, as the pigeon is so soon out of range. No. 7
shot is best for this, but the pistol only shoots half an ounce of shot,
and makes a very small pattern.
I will explain in the next chapter how to shoot so as to compel quick
shooting without the cumbersome machinery for making a target appear and
disappear.
If you count seconds for yourself or have them counted for you, the time
varies and one cannot help dwelling on the counting when a fraction more
time is needed for your aim to be correct.
The utmost care must be taken, if you have an assistant to go to and from
the target, not to point in his direction or to load before he has come
back. Even at otherwise well-managed shooting clubs, there is too much
carelessness in this respect.
Targets which draw up and down on trolleys are a great nuisance, and yet
almost all shooting galleries are equipped with them, and their presence
is considered the acme of good gallery equipment in England.
This may be all right for preventing markers being shot, but I prefer an
iron man target, life size, standing on his feet in a green field with a
suitable background. One can shoot so much better than at a figure painted
on a flat background.
You see a miss by the momentary puff of dust where the bullet hits the
ground, instead of having to look for a bullet hole in the painted
background.
It would be possible to make a target which drops down and rises again
from the impact of the bullet.
I have a target in the form of a stag which when you hit his invisible
heart, he half rears, then bends his hocks and plunges down on his knees,
throwing back his head in the most realistic manner. This stag, stood
amongst long bracken and stalked, gives a most lifelike performance.
He is wound up in various places and the shock of the bullet on a buffer
releases the movements in succession with momentary intervals.
It was made by a very ingenious target mechanic, who also makes monkeys
which run up a tree when hit, parrots who turn a somersault on the
branch they are sitting on when hit, a man who takes off his hat and bows
to you when you hit him properly, a chamois who tumbles over a precipice.
The maker, who has a shooting gallery on the Continent, makes a good
profit out of it, as the bull’s-eyes are very small and difficult to hit,
and people keep on paying to shoot in order to amuse their companions, and
children beg their parents to try to set the automatons in motion.