author who makes his hero miss is absolutely unique; in all other
literature the hero never misses, none of Homer’s heroes miss, nor does
David miss Goliath nor William Tell miss the apple nor Robin Hood the
deer.
This unique hero takes an even longer aim, later. He hears a horse
galloping towards him and _aims for ten minutes_ at a point two inches
above where he expected the horse’s head to appear round a rock. I suppose
he aimed two inches high so as to allow for the fatigue to his arm during
the ten minutes’ aim, causing it to slightly sag down.
I expect the next novel I read, the hero, knowing his enemy will arrive in
a month’s time, will keep an aim well above the railway station till he
arrives.
Evidently the idea is the longer the aim the more accurate it is,
forgetting that human muscles and eyesight tire, and that fast moving
objects cannot be hit with a stationary aim.
I have known a stag turn and go the opposite direction whilst a man was
aiming at a tree he expected it to pass.
It is amusing how, in a play, the hero after he has made the villain
desist by pointing a revolver at him, contemptuously throws the revolver
on the sofa and walks away.
It never occurs to the author of the play, or the actor, that the villain
would instantly seize hold of the pistol and turn the tables on the hero.
After the hero has covered the villain with the pistol and has been
applauded the “situation is over” so he throws away the revolver or puts
it back in his pocket and there the incident ends.
In one play the hero gives a loaded .44 revolver as a keepsake to a small
child.
This sort of thing is merely ridiculous and does no harm.
But harm is done if an actor through ignorance shoots another actor.
I have twice seen such an accident on the stage. Once a man blinded
another in both eyes, and in the second case in one eye, by firing blank
ammunition right into the other’s face at a few feet distance.
Men have been killed, one only a short time ago, by having the wad of
blank ammunition shot into them. In one case the gun had several wads
crimped hard into the shell so as to make a good loud bang when fired.
One man in this play was supposed to come across his enemy, and as the
latter fled, to shoot him. The actor, who I believe said he had never shot
a gun before, put the muzzle against the other man’s back when he fired
and killed him.
He had been told that it was blank ammunition and he thought it could do
no harm. This is the cause of all such accidents. Being blank ammunition
it is considered to be harmless.
Old ladies are laughed at when they scream and hold their ears when a man
begins to “brandish” a revolver on the stage or poke about with a gun,
with his finger on the trigger. But the old ladies are quite right to be
alarmed.
There is no knowing what may happen when a man ignorant of firearms, has
one in his hands, even if it only has blank ammunition.
A very favourite attitude with actors is to bang the butt of their rifle
on the ground and then put both hands over the muzzle, but in this case if
the rifle “explodes,” it is only their own hands that they injure.
For the safety of others this is the best thing they can do, before
someone else gets hurt.
Before being allowed to fire blank ammunition on the stage, a man should
be properly instructed in the safe handling of firearms.
Shooting blank ammunition on the stage is always a risky job. People are
so huddled up, that it is difficult to appear to shoot at a man without
shooting close enough to him to injure him.
If the gun is fired over the man’s head, it may set the flies on fire,
burn the eyes of someone in a grand tier box, or the limelight man.
It is a case of “save me from my friends” when a writer who is ignorant of
shooting matters tries to extol someone’s marksmanship.
We read “the anti-aircraft guns at once began to bellow forth defiance.
The shooting was wonderful and it was only the hardest luck that they did
not wing an enemy.”
As the number of shots is not mentioned and the element of luck
introduced, it is not possible to analyse this shooting, but another
writer is clearer. He says “he got within fifty yards, well within point
blank range, and fired 117 shots and the enemy was then observed to be
leaning forward, so it was apparent that he had been winged.”
Now here we have all the facts necessary to work out a simple rule of
three problem.
As 117 shots are to one shot, so is fifty yards to X (the distance the
adversary must be off to enable him to be winged, with a single shot).
This makes X equal 15.381 inches.
As to kill is about three times as difficult as to wing, divide by three,
this gives 5.127 inches as the longest range at which it is possible to
kill a man with a single shot, “which is absurd.” Q.E.D.
Another novel writer made use of one of my books very effectively to
describe the duel, with all details correct, except that he made the
distance between the duellists _five yards_, and they missed each other
twice at this distance!
Allowing for each duellist three feet from where he stands to the end of
the muzzle of his pistol they would have only three yards between the
muzzles of their pistols. The writer must have either been unacquainted
with French metric measures (I gave twenty-five meters as the duelling
distance) or else he confused it with a sword duel.
CHAPTER LVI
GRIP
There is a great variety of opinions as to the shape and size a pistol
stock should have so as to give the best grip.
As I have already mentioned, the grip which suits me best is that on the
French duelling pistol. But what suits one man may not necessarily suit
another.
A smooth, mother-of-pearl stock is very slippery to me, but some think
this gives the ideal grip.
Some men have fat flabby perspiring hands, others have cold damp hands,
both of these seem to be able to hold a mother-of-pearl grip comfortably,
but they do not suit a man who has dry warm hands.
In the revolver days I knew several men who could not grip the Smith &
Wesson Russian model revolver comfortably. They said the stock was too
small for them. Even the Colt stock, according to them, was too small.
They, in consequence, induced the makers to supply Colt revolvers to suit
“The English market” with enormously big stocks.
Now these very men who found the normal stocks too small did not have
abnormally large hands. It was that they held their pistols with much too
rigid a grip.
Some men have special stocks made so that they “can get a firm grip.”
Some of them even go to the length of putting India rubber tennis racket
grips over the pistol stocks. I have tried shooting one of their pistols
so ornamented (?) and found it was like trying to shoot with a big potato
held in my fist.
Others, in order to obtain this “firm grip,” smear the stock of their
pistol over with wet modelling clay, take a grip of it and then have a
plaster cast made of their finger prints in this clay and get a stock cast
from this. When they hold this monstrosity with their fingers embedded in
it, they claim to have a perfect hold.
The idea they are working for is an entirely wrong one. The pistol should
be held as a fencing foil, lying in the palm of the hand. Because the left
hand gets burnt when many shots are fired in rapid succession from a rifle
or gun, a hand guard was invented which slips over to the fore end of the
gun and protects the left hand from contact with the hot barrels.
It was also claimed that, having to hold this guard made the shooter
always hold his hand in the same place, and that this was a great
advantage.
The rigid grip on a fixed spot is, as a matter of fact, a disadvantage.
It caused me to give up this hand guard and substitute an asbestos glove
for the left hand.
In game shooting with a rifle, or gun, one shifts the left hand
constantly, according to the angle of the rifle or gun to your shoulder.
For a high shot the left hand is thrust forward, for a low shot the hand
drawn back.
To sit down and shoot off the knees, the left hand is much further back on
the rifle than if you stand up to shoot off hand.
If you find yourself shooting under, you shift the left hand forward for
the next shot so as to shoot higher.
You cannot do all these niceties (which make all the difference between
first class shooting, and merely good shooting) if your left hand is tied
to one place. The same applies to pistol shooting.
The pistol should not be held in a “firm grip” as these inventors of
potato-shaped stocks imagine.
A fencer does not keep a “firm grip,” nor does a shotgun man.
All have their weapons lying in the palms of the hands loosely and easily,
the grip of the foil is only tightened momentarily for parrying or
thrusting and the game shot handles a rifle or shotgun as lightly as a
woman nursing a baby.
A pistol stock which has all the fingers embedded in it stops all wrist
play. It may answer for a long aim at a stationery target but for any
rapid shooting it is impossible.
How can a man draw and shoot in one movement if he has to fit his fingers
first into each hollow excavated in the stock? He might as well try to
pull on a glove each time before he draws his pistol.
If he gets the hold the least wrong he will miss and probably also get his
hand cut.
How can a man cock or slip on the safety bolt if he first has to take his
thumb out of the “dug out” in which it has taken refuge? He will most
likely fumble the whole thing and drop the pistol.
Very many pistol inventions are the result of a man who, shooting for the
first time, discovers difficulties merely due to his own clumsiness and
inexperience, and instead of consulting a pistol shot, invents something
to overcome these imaginary difficulties.
I have actually seen such an inventor shooting in a competition with an
iron rod up his sleeve attached to his pistol “to keep his arm steady.”
An inventor came to me with something he said would stop all runaway
horses, and was very angry with me because I would not try it on one of
mine, although I told him mine were properly broken horses, not runaways.
The invention consisted of two India rubber bags which, un-inflated, were
to be put inside the nostrils of the horse.
If there was any difficulty in stopping the horse, a pair of bellows was
worked, attached to a rubber tube connecting these bags to the driver.
This inflated the bags, and the horse, according to the inventor, “at once
comes to a standstill.”
I told the inventor that a horse thus choked would throw himself about,
and cause a fearful smash before he died. He probably thought, “what lack
of imagination” horsemen have.
A wooden or vulcanite stock with a small clean-cut file pattern so as to
give a non-slip hold is good.
A too small grip has the fault of driving the nails into the ball of the
thumb; it should be just thick enough to avoid this, any thicker would be
clumsy.
An ivory stock is heavy, but this may be an advantage if there is weight
needed in the stock to counterbalance the barrel, otherwise ivory gives a
good grip, if roughed.
The depth of the roughing depends on the tenderness of the hand of the
shooter.
A roughing which would make one man’s hand sore is hardly enough of a
non-slip hold for a man whose skin is harder.
Sometimes screw heads and pins are not quite flush with the stock and may
chafe the hand.
They and any roughness left on screw heads by the unskilful use of the
screw driver should be filed down smooth.
A sore hand which gets hurt at each shot is very detrimental to good
shooting and the shooter is constantly trying to get a fresh grip in order
to save his hand.
Automatic pistols have almost universally a projection over the hand
between the thumb and the trigger finger for the slide to work on.
This turns the stock into a “saw handle” which used to be common on
English duelling pistols.
I have tried such a stock with very good results on a revolver, but it is
in the way of one-handed cocking.
An objection to a “saw handle” is that it compels the grip to be always
taken in the same place, and as I said before, the grip should be movable
higher or lower, according as you find you are shooting too low or too
high.
A little rosin ground fine and rubbed on the stock and hand gives a good
non-slip grip if the stock is greasy or slippery.
Do not shoot with gloves on. It destroys the sensitiveness of the hand,
especially the trigger finger. I am always afraid of being shot by
accident when a man shooting next me wears gloves, especially the slippery
so-called “chamois skin” ones.
CHAPTER LVII
TRICK SHOOTING
“Champion Shot” shooting on the stage must not be taken too seriously.
No one can keep on shooting at small objects on a man’s head or held
between his fingers without an occasional bad shot, and if it misses by
only half an inch, such a miss may cause the death of the assistant.
Unavoidable sources of accident are, a weak cartridge giving a low shot; a
hang fire, or, as in one fatal accident, the rifle blows open, lowering
the muzzle and the bullet entering the assistant’s forehead.
Aiming to graze the top of the ball minimizes this risk but does not
eliminate it.
A miss too high does not matter, but a miss too low means death to the
assistant.
Managers of theatres are now very chary, since this accident, of employing
“Artistes” who do real shooting. It is too dangerous and the police will
not allow it. All sorts of ways to minimize risk are employed. When
objects are held to be shot at, steel thimbles over forefinger and thumb
are concealed under a glove.
A steel skullcap fitting down to the eyebrows with a rod some four inches
long projecting from the top is employed to hold the ball, the steel
skullcap concealed under a wig with low fringe of hair to cover the
forehead. This is worn by a woman assistant, her high piled up head
serving to hide the rod.
There are several other reasons for employing a woman assistant instead of
a man.
It looks so much more effective to shoot things off a woman’s head or
fingers; and she can wear long gloves in evening dress without exciting
suspicion that she has steel gauntlets concealed under them.
When well arranged, the ball, two inches in diameter, and the aim taken to
graze the top of the ball, a miss must be fully eight inches too low to do
any damage to the assistant when she wears a steel skullcap down to her
eyebrows under her wig of piled up hair.
Some do not even risk that, but, by an arrangement of a steel plate
connected with a lever below it, and the whole hidden behind the “back
cloth,” the shot is fired at the plate a foot higher than the assistant’s
head; this plate forces the bottom of the lever, armed with a spike,
forward. The spike breaks the ball and immediately returns out of sight
through the “back cloth.”
Some natural object is painted on the scene over this hidden target for
the shooter to aim at.
I give below a few exhibition shoots, ranging from real shooting,
through “assisted” shooting down to “trick” shooting, and simple conjuring
tricks.
The reader, if asked to shoot for a charity bazaar or to amuse people at a
village fête, can choose from this list, according to the rigidity or
elasticity of his conscience “in the cause of charity.” And charity covers
a multitude of sins.
It is curious how one never can tell what will be a success with the
public.
A really difficult feat fails to impress the audience and a simple easy
shot “brings down the house.” What must be constantly borne in mind is
that you must never make a bad shot, that spoils the whole thing.
You can cover up your mistakes sometimes.
If you hit the ace of hearts, have it handed round to the audience and go
on to the next item. If a shot is encored do not repeat, go on with your
programme.
To do something well and then, trying to repeat it, to make a miss, is a
fatal mistake.
If your first shot at the ace of hearts just misses the heart by a shade,
this does not matter.
Keep on shooting and make a good group “all cutting into one hole” and
hand it round to the audience, thus covering up the traces of the bad
first shot.
Stop shooting as soon as the hole cuts well into the pip. If you try one
shot too many and get it clear of the “all shots into one hole” then you
have made a fearful blunder--a three shot group is ample.
Never attempt anything which you are not able to do easily. To make a lot
of easy shots without a mistake is far preferable than to try difficult
shots with one or two failures.
If you can trust your nerve it is as well to keep the most difficult shot
to the last, so as not to have an anticlimax. As a climax (if your
conscience will permit you), give one or two “assisted” shots, so as to
end brilliantly.
Always practise on the actual stage and with the same lighting as you will
have to shoot under, when giving the exhibition.
If you do not do this you may find the light different, or so bad that you
will not be able to do yourself justice.
A stage open to the sky, is, on a calm day, best of all, but there is the
risk of a wind springing up. Always shoot on a stage elevated above the
spectators so that all can see, and have the sun at your back.
On an open air stage you can finish as follows:
Have an old-fashioned .44 Winchester, black powder, repeating rifle. These
can still be picked up at second-hand gunmakers’ shops.
Get cartridges for it loaded with No. 10 shot.
Have a lot of the rubber balls filled with water.
It looks most effective if the water is of various colours for alternate
balls.
Get an assistant to throw them straight up as high as he possibly can,
and break them in succession.
With practice you can break them as fast as he can possibly throw them.
The higher and straighter up he throws them the easier they are to break
and yet the more effective they look.
The stop butt should be an iron box with a back sloping downwards, away
from you, at an angle of forty-five degrees, deflecting the bullets into a
tray full of sand.
Some “numbers” for the programme (range fifteen feet) I give below.
Put a playing-card up edgewise horizontally and cut it in half.
Be sure the background is such that you can see the white edge of the card
against it.
If you get your elevation just right, the card will be cut.
Use a .44 calibre bullet in all shooting, as that gives you more leeway in
case you are a little wrong in your elevation.
This is the most difficult shot of all and should not be repeated.
The same shot with the card vertical.
This is slightly easier, as one is less apt to miss horizontally than
vertically.
The “assistance” in this shot is to have the card as much out of dead edge
on to you, as the audience will stand without detecting it.
Unless a spectator is absolutely behind the shooter and looking over his
right shoulder he cannot see if the card is not absolutely dead edge on.
The duffer’s way of doing this shot is to fire dust shot instead of a
bullet.
Hitting the ace of hearts I have already described.
To hit several pips on one card is very difficult. It takes really good
shooting even at the five yards’ range to hit the six pips in succession
on the six hearts.
Also this cannot be “assisted” in any way unless you fluke one pip when
shooting at another with the .22 Colt target automatic pistol (or see
Plate 4). When the “gallery ammunition” automatic pistol is invented air
filled rubber balls can be put in a row and broken in quick succession. In
“assisted” shooting they are made of dark rubber with a minute white
bull’s-eye painted on each, and the balls stand in recesses in a screen of
the same colour as themselves, so that all but the white spot is
invisible.
To the uninitiated it looks as if it is the minute white bull’s-eyes which
are hit.
If the air balls are large, the shooting is very easy. If shot is used
instead of bullets any one can do this trick but the balls must be far
enough apart to avoid breaking two or more balls at one shot.
To snuff a candle if the wick is aimed at requires quick shooting as more
than a momentary aim at the wick dazzles the eyes.
It is better to put the candle in a candlestick and cut the candle to a
predetermined length, and have the pistol sighted to shoot that much too
high.
The aim is then taken at the bottom of the candle in order that the bullet
hits the wick, and therefore there is no glare in the eyes from the flame.
The “assisted” way of doing this shot is to have a pair of bellows with
nozzle curved at right angles, the side of the bellows towards you made of
steel, the nozzle pointed at the candle wick, behind the candle, of course
concealed so that when the background is struck the bellows blow the
candle out.
I give a number of other shots and other information on exhibition
shooting in my _Art of Revolver Shooting_ to which I refer the reader if
interested in such shooting.
A most sensational looking shot is a purely “assisted” one.
It is to break two air balls simultaneously with a pistol in each hand.
The balls are placed some two inches apart. One pistol is loaded with dust
shot, the other with blank ammunition, or even, if the shot charge makes a
lot of noise and smoke, the second pistol need not be loaded at all.
Holding the pistol loaded with shot in the right hand, the other in the
left hand, aiming between the balls with the one loaded with shot and
holding the other alongside it, pull both triggers together, breaking
both balls with the pistol loaded with shot.
Tunes are played on a target so arranged that hitting plates either makes
the plates ring, or else the plates drive back and strike bells.
These plates are large so as to be easily hit, but the exhibition is
“assisted” by small bull’s-eyes on each plate and the audience think these
latter are alone hit.
The tunes are usually played with several “pump” repeating .22 rifles, the
rifles being changed at each pause in a bar in the tune that the band
plays.
Winchester .22 Automatic rifles are better, though I have never seen a
professional use them. The automatic needs only trigger pressure and turns
and quick runs can be played with it.
When the gallery charge, automatic pistol arrives, it will be possible to
use it in the same way for playing tunes. The clips can be dropped out and
a fresh one inserted when the tune gives a pause of a bar, care being
taken not to fire the last shot, but let it carry on the first cartridge
of the new clip, as I have explained earlier.
The plates should be so arranged as to show the “black notes” like a piano
does, otherwise it is difficult to play tunes having sharps, flats or
accidentals, if all the notes look alike.
I saw a “bandmaster” (?) at a village horse-show overcome this difficulty
of his drum and fife band by allowing the “band” to ignore the black
notes and to substitute naturals for all sharps and flats; the effect was
very fine and greatly applauded!
CHAPTER LVIII
THE DEVILLIERS BULLET
Dr. Devilliers has patented a spherical bullet, made of a secret
composition, which is shot out of pistols with only the fulminate of the
cap to propel it.
It cannot be used in an automatic pistol loaded through the magazine as
there is no recoil to operate the mechanism, but it can be shot from a
magazine pistol if used as a single loader.
It is primarily intended for a duelling pistol and can be used in
revolvers.
The idea is to have a bullet which can be used in competitions under real
duelling conditions against live opponents instead of at targets.
The pistol barrel has to be kept cold. When it gets hot after a few shots,
the bullet will partly melt and get soft and then it does not take the
rifling.
The usual way is to have a sort of champagne cooler full of ice and to ice
the loaded pistols for a few minutes before shooting them.
The bullet strikes with considerable force, enough if not protected
against to put out an eye or injure the throat if struck.
I have had several painful grazes on the arm from these bullets going up
my sleeve and I also shot out a piece of skin between the forefinger and
thumb of the pistol hand of my opponent the first time I fired one of
them.
[Illustration: PLATE 17. SHIELD ON DUELLING PISTOL WITH GUARD FOR
DEVILLIERS BULLET]
He fired a shade sooner than I and was lowering his pistol when my bullet
struck his hand, the skin being stretched tight on the stock of his
pistol, the bullet cut a semicircular notch out of his hand.
Since then a thin steel shield is fixed on the pistol just in front of
the trigger guard so that the hand is entirely protected when aiming (see
Plate 17). I patented similar shield on a soldier’s rifle to protect his
usually exposed left hand, and also to partially protect his head, when
shooting.
Do not shoot at any one at a shorter range than twenty metres (twenty-one
yards two feet); the blow from the bullet at twenty metres is not too
severe if the shooter is properly protected.
It is useless for practice to shoot at a longer range than twenty metres
as the bullet rapidly loses its accuracy beyond that distance.
Wear goggles fitted in a fencing mask, the goggles of thick strong pebble
glass or of triplex safety glass (which is lighter).
The fencing mask fitted with heavy goggles is very cumbersome. I think an
aviator’s cap and triplex glass goggles is ample protection except that
the throat must also be well protected by a thick leather stock as strong
as a saddle flap.
A blow on the throat may do serious damage.
I had a bullet come through a too thin leather stock and hit my throat.
I do not think the body need be protected except by a piece of leather low
over the abdomen and this can be worn under the trousers.
It is as well to wear old clothes or a thin black blouse as the bullets
leave greasy marks.
The object of having the blouse black is that the bullet marks should be
more easily seen by the umpire, and scored.
Wear as tight fitting things as you can as long as your right arm is free,
it gives your opponent a smaller target to score on. If he hits some
flapping part of your blouse it scores him a hit even if it did not touch
your body.
In shooting in a competition it may be as well to stand sideways so as to
give the opponent as small a target as possible, but in a real duel
standing sideways increases the risk of being killed if struck. Always
have a doctor present, as a wound from this bullet may be septic if not
properly dressed at once.
In a real duel a bullet, if the chest is hit when facing the adversary,
only goes through one lung, whereas if the man struck is standing sideways
the bullet will pierce both his lungs and so make recovery from the wound
much more doubtful.
In winter be very careful that the bullets do not freeze, if frozen they
penetrate deeply.
The bullets are loaded into the special cartridges as follows:
The cartridge must not contain any powder.
The bullet must not be squeezed into the cartridge, this would distort it
as it is soft.
The bullet must be very lightly inserted in the cartridge.
Open the pistol, keeping the muzzle elevated, insert the cartridge in the
breech, lower the muzzle, put on the cap and close the pistol.
The inventor recommends that only the special cartridges of his invention
be used, these have no cap but only a nipple, and you do not put the cap
on till the cartridge is in the breech of the pistol.
Competitions take place with this bullet as in an actual duel, the
shooting is in pairs until only one competitor remains, the one of each
pair who hits his opponent first is the winner of that pair.
The bullets hit too hard for it to be an amusement suitable for ladies.
Great care must be taken to be sure to shoot Devilliers bullets and not
lead bullets, by mistake.
They are useful for galloping practice on horseback, shooting at an air
balloon fixed to posts, where lead bullets would be dangerous to use.
The cartridges can be reloaded and used many times.
When the cartridge has been fired there may be difficulty in removing the
exploded cap. A wire pushed into the cap through the mouth of the
cartridge dislodges the cap, but care must be taken that the cap is an
exploded one.
These bullets are very apt to ricochet from walls so spectators must take
care.
A canvas sheet hung loosely behind each shooter is the best stop-butt, as
it gives to the blow of the bullet and stops ricochets. A bullet once
fired is too distorted to use again.
CHAPTER LIX
KILLING INJURED ANIMALS
Unless in the hands of a very skilful shot the pistol is most unsuitable
for killing injured animals with.
They will probably be hit many times before a vital spot is struck and so
be horribly tortured.
This remark applies especially to small animals like cats and dogs.
The best weapon for this purpose is a 12-bore shotgun loaded with No. 5
shot but even as small as No. 7 shot is very deadly if fired at a range of
not more than four or five feet off.
With the shotgun a shot directed behind the ear into the top of the neck
kills instantly.
The forehead shot is not suitable for a shotgun on large animals as the
strength of skull prevents the shot penetrating, and the animal is only
stunned.
With a pistol the spot to hit is between the eyes where the hair curls in
the middle of the forehead in horses.
It is better to hit too high than too low in the forehead shot as a low
shot misses the brain.
Load both barrels of the shotgun and be ready to fire the second barrel
instantly if the horse does not collapse at once at the first shot.
The head shot at a few yards off is the place to shoot a cat or dog with
the shotgun but do not attempt to shoot them with a pistol unless you are
a good shot, able to shoot into the ace of hearts at five yards’ distance,
aim at the top of the head, or you may break the jaw instead of killing
the animal.
People have sometimes been wrongly prosecuted and convicted for torturing
a dog when they were trying to kill it instantly and painlessly, but
lacked the skill and nerve.
When an animal is in pain, especially if it is crying out and struggling,
a man is very apt to lose his nerve and be unable to kill it properly, but
will strike wildly.
In killing an animal, in order to do it as painlessly as possible, it is
necessary to treat the matter quite calmly and in what looks to be a
cold-blooded manner, and to know the vital spots.
Decide the exact spot to shoot at, heart or brain, and hit it in that
exact spot and be ready to repeat the shot, if the animal is not instantly
dead.
With a horse I find it is best to put some hay or grass down in front of
it, and when it puts its head down, with its forehead vertical, it gives a
good chance to shoot. There is no use trying to pull the horse’s head into
position and get struggling with it. To shoot a horse, do not use a pistol
of smaller calibre than .44 with full charge.
If properly done the horse feels no pain.
If several horses have to be shot, do not let them see each other shot, or
see the dead bodies or smell them.
A shotgun cannot be used in a crowd, nor for that matter can a pistol.
As soon as a horse is injured everyone runs up to enjoy the sight and they
crowd round, so great care must be taken not to shoot until the people are
cleared away from the line of fire.
If possible get the horse into a yard with a high wall round it before
shooting and be sure boys are not perched on the wall.
I saw a man kill a small dog instantly as soon as it was run over by a
motor car by picking it up and dislocating its neck by stretching, like
wounded hares and rabbits are killed.
But this requires great skill, knack, and nerve.
Otherwise not only would the dog be further tortured but he would bite.
Nobody can understand his fellow creatures or be judged by them. Each
human being from birth to death is absolutely alone, everyone is
misunderstood as to his motives and thoughts, he is as separated from
others, even when in a crowd, as if the Atlantic Ocean were between them.
He is praised for what does not deserve praise, and blamed for what he is
not guilty of.
He cannot understand why another finds pleasure in what he himself hates.
One man likes to get soaking wet crawling all day to shoot a stag, which
another thinks is folly, as a stag already shot, can so much easier and
cheaper be bought at the poulterer’s shop.
I cannot understand the pleasure of sitting up all night playing cards,
smoking and drinking, when it is much more comfortable to be sleeping in
bed; another man thinks cards, drink, and gambling Heaven on earth.
To give an instance of how one’s motives can be misunderstood:
A poor old worn-out white horse, after struggling on slippery
cobble-stones to pull a cart load of stones, fell and could not get up
again.
An eager crowd at once collected watching the owner thrashing the horse
over the head and kicking it.
The horse was struggling desperately to rise and kept falling and groaning
and was bleeding at the mouth where the man was kicking it.
I rushed up to remonstrate. A man, a stranger to me, called out “I can’t
stand this, let us buy the horse between us.”
The owner of the horse made us pay much more than the horse was worth.
We got a vet. who said the horse was so injured that it must be killed, so
he killed it.
Next day a paragraph appeared in the local paper.
Two well-known visitors to our beautiful town performed a very
graceful act yesterday.
A poor man lost his horse, his faithful dumb friend who had been his
constant help and companion for years. These kind gentlemen took
compassion on the hard lot of this man in his grief and presented him
with a handsome sum to buy himself a new horse.
The brute made quite a good thing of it, as the paragraph brought him
various sums from sympathisers, and he was able to buy a heavier whip, and
a stronger pair of boots, and a new horse, to thrash and kick.
Possibly the historian who wrote that Nero fiddled whilst Rome was burning
was mistaken and poor old Nero was doing his best telephoning for the
County Council Motor fire-escapes to come and save the Christians from the
burning houses.
I misunderstand others. I did not appreciate a man’s piety when he refused
to help me rescue a dying horse because it was Sunday.
The best instrument of all for killing injured horses is what is
obligatory in all Belgian slaughter houses, not only for cattle but for
sheep and pigs. (See Plate 18.)
It consists of a short pistol barrel of .38 bore with a bell-shaped muzzle
which is applied to the forehead of the animal to be slaughtered.
A tap with a mallet fires it and the bullet goes through the brain and
spinal column of the neck causing instant death. Its fault is that it may
go off by accident if dropped on its plunger.
No Belgian race or horse-show can begin till a veterinary is present with
this instrument, to be used in case of accident.
One can do very little to alleviate the torture of a horse standing with a
broken leg, or lying with a broken back in the London streets, owing to
the regulations.
[Illustration: PLATE 18. THE GREENER KILLER
This illustration clearly shows the position in which the Killer should be
placed. It is advisable to have the barrel in a line with the pith, but so
long as the “medulla” is pierced, instantaneous death is assured.]
Thrice, within a few months, I have stood by a horse for hours unable to
do anything for it, but to put a rug over it as it was shivering so from
the cold (having been injured when in a profuse sweat), and moisten its
mouth.
I was not allowed to kill the horse, only a licensed slaughterer is
allowed to do that, and then only if the owner can be found, and gives his
consent for the horse to be killed.
I have since seen one of the principal horse-slaughterers of London and
got his telephone number, and arranged with him to send immediately to any
part of London, at any time of the day or night, if I telephone to him.
But even then if we cannot communicate with the owner of the horse we will
have to stand doing nothing, possibly for hours, beside the suffering
animal.
The poor old worn-out, half-starved horses in London are not only worked
to death, but when injured, they are not even allowed to die, without
further torture.
There is another form of humane killer which I am not able to endorse,
although the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals seem
to think highly of it.
I refer to the instrument which consists of a pistol fixed at right angles
to a pole called, I believe, the Humane Killer.
The pistol is fired by pulling a wire which runs down the pole to the
hand.
I consider this instrument very dangerous to use for slaughtering animals
but it would be very useful in trench warfare.
An ordinary firearm is dangerous enough if it happens to be pointed in the
direction of the spectators. But what will be thought of a pistol which,
when you carefully keep what corresponds to the barrel (_i. e._, the pole)
from pointing at anyone, you find it shoots at right angles to your aim.
Several of us stood round a man demonstrating the operation of this weapon
when unloaded. I said to him, “You cannot bring that pistol on to the
forehead of that stuffed ox’s head without pointing it at one of us during
the process.”
He was not able to do so. Each time he tried one of us called out, “You
are pointing it at me.”
I will explain by analogy the reason of this difficulty.
Some men, in defiance of the conventions, cut cheese into small cubes,
stick their knife into them and convey the cheese into their mouths,
without cutting their mouths, and acquire great skill by long practice.
Take a sharp knife-blade, fasten it firmly at right angles to the handle,
and ask an expert cheese eater to cut cubes of cheese and transfer them to
his mouth with this safety (?) knife. He will cut his mouth before he has
eaten half a dozen pieces of cheese.
CHAPTER LX
COMPETITIONS
The duelling clubs at Gastinne-Renettes’ have very practical and
interesting competitions.
These clubs exist for duelling practice, there is no shooting with
deliberate aim to make highest possible scores, all is conducted on actual
duelling lines.
The word duel means _single combat_, so all these competitions are
conducted in pairs, the winners again competing in pairs and so on till
finally only one remains, as in cock-fighting.
Each participant in such a pool, when putting down his name, pays a
nominal sum which goes to provide a medal for the winner.
In order that each competitor shall compete against each other competitor,
there are printed scoring-cards on the lines of longitude and latitude in
maps, so that by running the finger down the list of names and then at
right angles down the spaces for results, it can instantly be seen when
any particular pair must compete and at which target each will stand.
Each competitor alternately stands to the right or to the left of whoever
is his opponent.
Only the pistols supplied by the range are allowed to be used, and these
are given so that each shooter uses each pistol in turn and as all are
purposely varied as to trigger-pull it requires a really good shot to win.
He never knows if he is going to have a light or heavy trigger-pull.
This is the chief difficulty in these competitions, as also in actual
duels. When a pair of competitors are each facing a separate man target,
the director of the combat gives the word “Attention, feu, un, deux,
trois.”
If they both hit anywhere on the figure, the one who fired first is the
winner of that pair.
It is usual to have a timer, to decide who fired first.
The director cannot fulfil both offices effectually.
After all have fired in pairs, each with each of the other competitors,
the totals are added up and the one who has won the most combats is the
winner of the medal.
If two or more have an equal score then these again shoot against each
other to decide the winner of the medal.
It is not good scoring but quick hitting which wins.
A good hit counts no more than a bad one; a hit in faster time than the
other shot, wins.
Winners are not the same men who win at deliberate shooting. Target shots
seldom win, it is the lightning quick shot who wins, even if he cannot hit
a smaller target than one eighteen inches broad by five feet high.
The whole art of this shooting is to be able to keep from missing by more
than three inches either side of your aim, not caring what your
trigger-pull is, or how it varies for each shot.
As to elevation, that needs no attention; you cannot miss over or under a
five-foot target.
Bring up at top speed putting all the attention on not jerking to the side
should your trigger-pull happen to be one of the heavy ones; aim slightly
more to the right than the actual centre of the figure to allow for an
occasional pull to the left with an extra heavy trigger-pull.
It is the very hard pulling pistols which give almost all the misses.
Men in constant practice in such competitions are in the best training for
a duel or for self-protection.
With Clubs which use the Devilliers bullet the competitions are conducted
on exactly similar lines, except that the competitors fire at each other
instead of at iron targets.
Theoretically this is even better practice. It gets a man used to seeing
his adversary actually before him and being able to study his movements
and note if he is active, and try to be a shade the quicker of the two.
The inaccuracy of the Devilliers bullet as compared to the lead bullet
(with a powder charge) is a great disadvantage.
You feel that there is an element of fluke in the shooting. You may make a
very good shot and the bullet being too soft or the barrel too hot that
bullet does not take the rifling properly and gives you an unmerited miss.
Seeing your adversary raise his arm as you do yours and trying to
anticipate his let-off by hitting him before he can hit you, is the great
advantage of the Devilliers bullet as training for a duel.
In snapping practice with an empty pistol, it is well to practice facing
your reflection in a mirror to get used to the adversary’s arm rising.
When first trying it this necessity to get used to anticipating your
adversary’s movements is very apparent, a man who can shoot very quickly
and coolly at an iron target when standing side by side with his opponent
does not see the other man, he is thinking only of time.
When facing his opponent and shooting at him he watches his opponent’s
hand and tries to time him, that, is to say fire just before the moment
his adversary’s arm is absolutely level to shoot, just as you time a
pigeon out of a trap for when he is well clear and yet before he can make
his dart.
A well-known pigeon shot said, “I do not understand all this talk about
easy and difficult birds, all birds are easy if you time them right.”
The same with duelling, if you take your opponent just _before_ he can get
his swing on to you he is properly “timed” and “an easy bird.”
CHAPTER LXI
POLICE PISTOLS
I modelled a statuette of a mounted cowboy and gave it as a challenge
trophy to be shot for with revolvers, open to all citizens of the United
States.
It was won first by Dr. Louis Bell, then after two others had won it, it
was finally won in 1894 by Roundsman Petty of the New York Police Force,
who twice successfully defended his title to it, and thus it became his
own property.
Since then the police in several states have regular police competitions.
I also gave a statuette modelled by myself as a challenge pistol trophy to
the State of Maryland (my native state).
For years I tried to induce the police authorities of London, England, to
let me give a challenge cup for the police to shoot for, but without
success, till, by perseverance, I, in 1915, induced them to do so.
In 1917 an automatic pistol won it, till then it was shot for only with
revolvers.
I am sure the better the police can shoot, the less apt they will be to
draw a pistol unnecessarily; they are confident in their skill; it is the
man who is given a pistol for the first time who looses off and hits the
wrong man.
I think it is a mistake to arm police with a .38 or .32 pistol instead of
a full-size .44 or .45 military one. A policeman has often to face great
odds and a mob will not, like enemy soldiers in battle, spare him when
down. A mob will kick him to death. It is wrong therefore to give him a
less powerful weapon than a soldier is given.
I suppose he is given the smaller pistol, as in some countries the police
do not carry a pistol openly as part of their equipment so when they do
carry pistols they have them concealed.
I think also this concealment is a mistake; if a pistol is carried openly
and the carrier is known to be a good shot, he can keep order without
shooting, whereas a man with no visible pistol may be ill-treated because
he appears unarmed and therefore harmless; and he has to draw in order to
maintain his authority or in self-defence.
In the case of my Challenge Trophies given in the United States, the
competitions are changed from revolver into automatic pistol competitions
as the revolver is obsolete.
If a policeman is unarmed, he cannot be expected to keep as cool and have
as good judgment in an emergency when his own life is in danger as he can
be when armed with a good large calibre pistol that he knows how to shoot
to such good effect that he is in no personal danger.
If, when a riot starts, he can instantly drop a ring-leader each time the
crowd attempts a rush, or break the arm of any man trying to throw a
stone, he can get the mob under control with much less bloodshed than if
they get out of hand with impunity and the military have finally to be
called out.
A cool deadly shot can keep a big mob at bay. It is when police shoot and
miss that the crowd begin to jeer and lose all fear of the police.
It is a great mistake to fire over the head of a man to stop him, it only
makes him think you are a bad shot.
My servant got me out of a very nasty predicament when we were travelling
one pitch dark night through a forest we had never been in before. We were
being led by a guide who we felt sure was taking us in the wrong direction
in order to lead us into an ambush and rob us. We had been walking away
from where the compass told us was our proper direction for hours.
My servant without a word loaded my rifle and handed it to me.
The guide immediately turned and in half an hour we were back at our
lodgings.
He had seen me kill a galloping bear in thick high cover a few hours
before, and he did not like the look of my double-barrel rifle pointing at
his back.
CHAPTER LXII
INVENTORS
There are several types of inventors of firearms, including those who
invent real improvements, and those who delay invention by making all
sorts of things which are not only useless but are even dangerous.
Inventors, to do any good work, must be conversant with their subject,
and, if possible, skilled mechanics as well.
This is the difficulty when shooting experts, who are not gunmakers, try
to invent anything.
The shooter knows what is necessary, often far better than the gunmaker.
The shooter has to use the firearm, and often finds details in them, which
are very beautiful perhaps, from a mechanical point of view, but which are
very awkward or even impossible from the practical shooting point of view.
A noisy bolt action for example.
The shooter knows what he wants but cannot put it into practical shape;
the gunmaker, if he is not a shooting man as well, does not know of this
want.
The best way out of the difficulty is for the shooter to collaborate with
the skilled mechanic and then between them they can evolve something
really useful. This is the way most improvements are evolved, the shooter
constantly testing the invention and pointing out its _faults_ to the
gunmaker who alters till the thing works well.
If an expert mechanic (even if he is a gunmaker), who is not a shooting
man tries to invent a firearm improvement by himself, and he finds it
works in the workshop, he thinks that is all that is necessary, and the
invention is a failure as no shooting man will use it.
The expert shot who is unmechanical, cannot put his ideas into practical
shape, and if he does not go to a gunmaker and ask his help, the invention
never takes shape; in this way some invaluable inventions never see the
light, for want of a little mechanical knowledge.
But there is a third type of inventor, who is absolutely hopeless and the
despair of any shooting man he shows his invention to.
This is the man who knows nothing about shooting but he has his own ideas
as to how shooting is done, and is too conceited ever to try to learn
anything.
He is the type of man who says “Oh, we will muddle through.”
Such a man has a vague idea that, as he himself cannot shoot, therefore
his own individual difficulties if he tried to handle a firearm are the
difficulties which all shooting experts labour under.
He does not know that an expert laughs at the difficulties of a beginner,
which never trouble a man when he has become expert.
As well might a man the first time he is put on a horse imagine that,
because he has to fly up and down off the saddle at each movement of a
cantering horse, that the expert also has to take care not to fall off.
The expert can sit on a cantering horse without the least lifting from the
saddle, whereas the beginner flops up and down.
In the same way the expert shot has passed the stage which the inexpert
inventor tries to invent against.
A horseman would not buy a saddle with straps to tie down the rider,
invented by a man who did not ride.
The non-rider thinks such things absolutely necessary to keep from falling
off, the expert horseman not only knows such things are unnecessary, but
would be a danger in case the horse fell, as the rider could not fall
clear.
In the same way inventors of firearms, if they are not shooting men,
invent dangerous things for overcoming dangers which do not exist except
in their own imaginations.
This would not matter so much if they would listen to experts but they
refuse to learn, and actually try to instruct experts.
I had a man come in recently to show me a terribly dangerous pistol he had
invented.
He was pointing it about in all sorts of dangerous directions and finally
put the muzzle against his own body whilst he tried to cock it.
I suggested to him he had better first see if it was loaded.
He smiled at me in a pitying superior way, but opened the breech and took
out a loaded cartridge.
“Why it is loaded,” he casually remarked, re-inserting the cartridge and
beginning again to fumble with the lock, whilst he held the muzzle against
his body.
I said, “Don’t you know you can _kill_ yourself if it goes off,”--“that is
the great beauty of my invention,” he informed me radiant with delight, “I
have made this thing,” pushing the trigger with his left thumb, “so that
it only moves at a pressure of fourteen pounds so it is quite safe.”
These know-alls work up through all the steps man has gone through in
perfecting firearms, instead of taking up the work from the highest it has
come to.
Most likely the first inventor of firearms found he shot people
accidentally when “pulling at this thing” (as my friend the inventor
called the trigger), then discovered by experience that, however heavy the
trigger-pull is made, it is sure to kill somebody accidentally if pulled
hard enough, and finally came to the conclusion that it is safer to have a
light trigger-pull if the muzzle is not pointed in a dangerous direction,
than to have a half-ton trigger-pull and keep the muzzle pointed against
one’s body.
[Illustration: PLATE 19. WINANS’ REVOLVER FRONT SIGHTS]
In the matter of sights an optician, even if ignorant of firearms, may be
able to give a valuable hint to an inventor, but this usually applies to
sights for accurate aiming at distant stationary objects; for a pistol it
is more often expert shooting knowledge which is useful in designing
sights.
It was my combination of sculptor and shooter which gave me the idea of my
front sight, any one not a sculptor would not be apt to stumble on the
idea of undercutting the sight so as to give a deep shadow below and so
make the top stand out light against a dark lower portion. (See Plate 19.)
In the same way some entirely distinct branch of learning may be of use to
the inventor of firearms; but in all cases, this must be subservient to
practical shooting knowledge; the man who tries to force his ideas onto a
shooter, against the shooter’s expert knowledge, makes a mistake.
The highest authority can always learn something new from an expert; but
the man ignorant of a subject who tries to teach an expert merely exposes
his ignorance, like a politician who tells a general how to conduct a
campaign.
CHAPTER LXIII
SIMPLIFICATION
It is human nature to keep on in the same old groove, to try to avoid
change, even if that change is for the better. This habit is owing to it
being so much easier not to have to think for oneself but merely to do as
you see others do.
But following convention is not progress.
Convention is the deadly enemy of progress. Simplification is the twin
sister of progress. All improvements are the result of simplification, not
of elaboration.
The public when they see some very elaborate invention say “how clever,”
but the really clever inventor is the one who can make a simple apparatus
do the work that formerly could be done only by a much more complicated
apparatus, or even took several apparatuses to accomplish.
The Universe appears to consist of endless variety, but the more it is
studied (whatever else remains a mystery), this one fact becomes plainer
and plainer.
Everything acts in unison.
The Universe is One Perfect Whole.
The Universe can, even with our limited knowledge, be reduced to a few
simple elements, governed by a few simple “laws.”
It is, from a solar system, to a sub-microscopical organism, subject to
the same “laws” and working as one whole.
Probably, it will be ultimately discovered that there is only one “Law”
and one Element in the Universe.
All has to obey this “Law,” there is no such thing as “luck,” “chance,” or
destruction. All has always existed through incessant permutation; and
will exist, from all eternity, through all eternity.
The ancients, and the modern Mahometans knew this. The ancients called it
_Fate_, the Moslems call it _Kismet_. If a man tries to make an automatic
pistol contrary to the Laws of Nature, it naturally will not operate
properly, he loses his temper, says it is just his luck, but he reasons
wrongly.
If he studies the laws of mechanics, which are one form of the Law of
Nature, and complies with them, his pistol will act properly; if not and
he is ignorant of the laws of mechanics, his pistol will not act properly;
it is not his “hard luck” but simply that he is trying vainly to work
against Nature, and Fate holds him in a steel grip.
If he obeys the Laws of Nature, which are another name for Fate, he can go
on like a train following its rails, but he can no more make a pistol
constructed on wrong principle function properly than he can stop the sun
in its course.
Simplification is the goal to be striven for in pistol shooting as it is
in sculpture.
I saw two men, as I was writing the above, mowing a field.
One, an elderly man, was working in the conventional manner, cutting short
deep swaths with a half blunt scythe set at the wrong angle to the handle,
working in a cramped position.
The other, a young man, was examining his scythe.
He altered the blade at an acuter angle to the handle and gave it a twist
sideways so that the cutting edge should lie horizontal when in use.
Then he sharpened the blade as carefully as he would strop a razor.
Putting himself into a firm position so that he could swing from the hips
as an athlete about to throw the discus would, he made long clean sweeps
with his scythe, taking a short depth, but this with a clean cut, and the
cut grass thrown clear to the side, his return being only just clear of
the grass, like a good sculler feathering.
At the least sign of bad cutting, he re-sharpened the scythe.
Although I know nothing of mowing, I could see at once that this was an
artist and a workman at his job, and one who used his brains and took a
pride in doing good work.
I asked if he was not the champion mower of the district. I was answered
“not at all--he is only the carpenter.”
This is the sort of man who invents.
He diagnoses faults and thinks out how to correct them. He did not, like
the other man who had been mowing all his life, work as his father and
grandfather had done, because it was the conventional manner. He thought
out for himself and improved by simplification.
It is evident that the cut should come on gradually, not jump into a thick
bunch of grass all at once, so he set the blade at an angle which made its
entry into the grass deeper progressively, and so on with all the rest.
The inventor who knows his business, when he has made something to
accomplish its object, does not rest there. This is only the “blocking
out” as we sculptors call it.
Then he begins to simplify.
Anything not absolutely necessary is eliminated; he sees if some member
cannot be dispensed with by making another fulfil two or even more
functions.
This is how Nature works, many organs have several functions; the function
of our tongues is not only speech but to help swallowing, to judge if what
we put into our mouths is too hot or too cold to swallow, if it is fit for
food, or corrosive, etc.
The automatic pistol is still capable of great improvement.
All the recoil is not made use of, some is wasted and diverts the aim by
jumping the pistol about.
The noise of the discharge is an evil, it ought to be made to do work, not
deafen.
To invent a sound-deadener to put on the pistol is working on wrong lines;
it is not simplification but it is complication.
Instead of first making a noise and then inventing something to destroy
that noise, why not avoid making that noise?
The idea that ugliness does not matter is also a fallacy.
I was objecting to a pistol a man was shooting (and of which he asked my
opinion), on the ground that it was so ugly. “What has ugliness to do with
a pistol?” he said. “In my opinion, everything,” I answered.
Nothing correct mechanically is ugly, that is the Law of Nature.
The early, impractical, automatic pistols were extremely ugly; the best at
present, the U. S. Army Colt, has graceful lines, and the perfect one will
be beautiful.
The essence of architecture is beauty in utility.
Look at a first class hand made gun built by an Artist; it has the
graceful lines of a classical piece of sculpture.
An automatic pistol should be as simple as possible, the simpler the less
likely to go wrong.
The supposed antagonism between Art and Mechanics, between Science and
Religion are imaginary.
If we simplify Art to its essential essence and perfection as the Ancient
Greeks did--what do we find?
Sculpture is proportion and the essential planes.
What else is mechanics?
Science reduces all to the ONE UNIVERSAL FIRST CAUSE, and this is also the
foundation of all religion.
In pistol shooting, all resolves itself into aligning the pistol and
discharging the bullet.
The shortest distance from one point to another is the straight line.
Therefore do not “flourish” or “brandish” the pistol up and down before
discharging it.
Merely bring it to alignment and discharge it in so doing.
Time is wasted if the trigger is pressed after alignment. Therefore begin
pressing the trigger as the pistol is coming to the level.
This is the whole art of pistol shooting.
The way to advance any art, however humble, is for each to help the other
with his experience.
Nothing is so inimical to success as convention.
All progress is made on the lines of pruning off all not absolutely
essential, in other words by simplification.
APPENDIX A
I think it advisable to give the following World’s Records made by myself
with revolvers and black powder as they are now unbeatable, the weapons
and cartridges being obsolete.
They stand in the same category as the “high wheel” trotting records.
If there were similar records, diagrams, and details of scores made with
sling, long bow, crossbow, Persian bow, American Indian bow, blow pipe,
javelin, matchlock, wheellock, etc., available, of what inestimable value
they would be to the historian and archeologist.
Instead, for want of such records, all knowledge of the capabilities of
these weapons is vague and legendary.
Under each diagram I give all details. Most of diagrams are the actual
size and all have the position of each bullet-hole accurately shown.
[Illustration: DIAGRAM 1. AUTHOR’S WORLD’S RECORD SCORE.
Stationary, 20 yards, 10 shots, South London Rifle Club, May 21, 1889; .45
Colt Cavalry Revolver, Military sights, Eley ammunition. Black powder.
(Full size.)]
[Illustration: DIAGRAM 2. AUTHOR’S WORLD’S RECORD SCORE.
Stationary, 20 yards, 11 shots, South London Rifle Club, August 21, 1888;
.44 Smith & Wesson Revolver, U. M. C. gallery ammunition. Black powder.
(Full size.)]
[Illustration: DIAGRAM 3. AUTHOR’S WORLD’S RECORD SCORE.
Nine shots at 20 yards, North London Rifle Club, May 5, 1897. Black
powder; .44 Smith & Wesson Revolver, gallery ammunition.]
[Illustration: DIAGRAM 4. AUTHOR’S WORLD’S RECORD SCORE.
Twelve shots at 20 yards, at the North London Rifle Club, Sept. 4, 1895.
Black powder; .44 Smith & Wesson Revolver, gallery ammunition.]
[Illustration: DIAGRAM 5. AUTHOR’S WORLD’S RECORD SCORE.
Nine shots at 20 yards, at South London Rifle Club, Sept. 22, 1892. Colt
.45 Target Revolver. English “Mark I” regulation ammunition. Black
powder.]
[Illustration: DIAGRAM 6. AUTHOR’S WORLD’S RECORD SCORE.
Ten shots at 20 yards, at South London Rifle Club, July 3, 1888; Smith &
Wesson .32 break-down model. Black powder.]
[Illustration: DIAGRAM 7. AUTHOR’S WORLD’S RECORD SCORE. TWENTY YARDS
DISAPPEARING TARGET.
“Military” target, Wimbledon, 1888; .45 Smith & Wesson Revolver. Eley’s
ammunition. Black powder. (Full size.)]
[Illustration: DIAGRAM 8. AUTHOR’S WORLD’S RECORD SCORE. TWENTY YARDS
DISAPPEARING TARGET.
North London Rifle Club, May 29, 1895; .45 Smith & Wesson Revolver, U. M.
C. ammunition. Black powder. (Full size.)]
[Illustration: DIAGRAM 9. AUTHOR’S WORLD’S RECORD SCORE. TWENTY YARDS
DISAPPEARING TARGET.
“Any” Revolver, Bisley, 1896; .45 Smith & Wesson Revolver, U. M. C.
ammunition. Black powder. (Full size.)]
[Illustration: DIAGRAM 10. AUTHOR’S WORLD’S RECORD SCORE. SIX SHOTS IN 12
SECONDS.
“Any” Revolver, Bisley, 1895. Rapid firing; .44 Smith & Wesson Revolver,
U. M. C. gallery ammunition. Black powder. (Full size.)]
[Illustration: DIAGRAM 11. AUTHOR’S WORLD’S RECORD SCORE FOR MILITARY
REVOLVER AND SIGHTS.
Bisley, 1895. Six shots in 12 seconds at 20 yards; .45 Smith & Wesson
Revolver, U. M. C. ammunition. Black powder. (Full size.)]
[Illustration: DIAGRAM 12. AUTHOR’S WORLD’S RECORD SCORE. TWENTY YARDS
RAPID-FIRING TARGET.
Bisley, 1895. .45 Smith & Wesson Military Revolver, Winans sights. U. M.
C. smokeless ammunition. Black powder. (Full size.)]
[Illustration: DIAGRAM 13. AUTHOR’S WORLD’S RECORD SCORE. FOR 3-INCH
BULL’S-EYE TRAVERSING TARGET, 20 YARDS.
Wimbledon, 1888; .45 Smith & Wesson Revolver, Eley ammunition. Black
powder. (Full size.)]
[Illustration: DIAGRAM 14. AUTHOR’S WORLD’S RECORD SCORE. FOR 2-INCH
BULL’S-EYE TRAVERSING TARGET, 20 YARDS.
Bisley, 1896. .45 Smith & Wesson Revolver, U. M. C. ammunition. Black
powder. (Full size.)]
[Illustration: DIAGRAM 15. AUTHOR’S WORLD’S RECORD SCORE ADVANCING TARGET.
“Any” Revolver, Bisley, 1896; .44 Smith & Wesson Revolver, U. M. C.
gallery ammunition. Black powder. Target advanced from 50 yards to 20
yards. (Full size.)]
[Illustration: DIAGRAM 16. AUTHOR’S WORLD’S RECORD SCORE FIFTY YARDS
TARGET.
Bisley, 1894. Twelve consecutive shots: Six with .44 Smith & Wesson
Revolver, six with .38 Smith & Wesson Revolver. Smith & Wesson
self-lubricating bullet. Black powder. (Half size.)]
[Illustration: DIAGRAM 17. TWELVE HIGHEST POSSIBLE SCORES MADE BY THE
AUTHOR IN REVOLVER COMPETITIONS AT 20 YARDS IN 1895.
English regulation mark ammunition. Black powder. The diameter of the
original bull’s-eye is 2 inches.]
APPENDIX B
THE LAW RELATING TO REVOLVERS AND REVOLVER SHOOTING IN GREAT BRITAIN AND
IRELAND
It is perhaps advisable to explain something about the right of carrying
revolvers in England, and the using them in cases of necessity, and first
it should be explained that a revolver is a gun so far as the Gun License
Act of 1870 (33 and 34 Vict. c. 57) is concerned, and that a license fee
of 10/ per annum has to be paid for the privilege of carrying or using
one, though a license to kill game includes the lesser gun license. In
fact it has ever been held that a small toy pocket pistol is a firearm for
the purpose of the Act. There are various exceptions to the necessity of
taking out this license, and it may be as well to enumerate them,
especially as many people keep revolvers in their houses and would be
astonished if they thought that a gun license was necessary for the so
doing--but it is not, so long as the revolver is kept or used in a
dwelling house, or the curtilage of a dwelling house. This is one of the
exceptions to the Act, and a very proper and necessary exception it is,
for it would be most unreasonable to enact that the mere keeping a
revolver for the purposes of protection should compel one to take out an
annual license. Moreover the enforcement of such a restriction would be
almost impossible without an inquisitorial search through every house.
Probably because there is very little reason for carrying a revolver about
with one in this country the exception does not apply to the so doing, and
the mere taking a revolver across the street would technically compel the
taking out a license. The curtilage of a house is much the same as its
courtyard, and would no doubt include a yard and garden adjoining the
house, but not a field beyond.
Further exceptions are that no penalty is to be incurred by any person in
the naval, military, or volunteer service, or in the constabulary or other
police force, but it should be noted that this exception applies only
where the person claiming it is in the performance of a duty or in target
practice, so that the policeman or volunteer off duty would still be
subject to the obligation of having a license.
Another exception is that of any one carrying a firearm belonging to a
person having a license or certificate to kill game or having a gun
license, if he is carrying it by order of, or for the use of, such
licensed or certificated person, only he is bound to give his name and
address and the name and address of his employer if called upon.
The occupier of lands using or carrying a firearm for the purpose only of
scaring birds or killing vermin on such lands is exempt too, as also any
one using or carrying a firearm for the same purpose on any lands by order
of the occupier, if the latter has a game license or certificate, or a gun
license. Again, a gunsmith or his servant carrying a firearm in the
ordinary course of trade, or testing it in a special place, need not have
a license.
Lastly, a common carrier carrying a revolver in the ordinary course of
business is exempt.
To show how strict the law is, it may be added that the killing of vermin,
which, as above mentioned, is allowed without a license does not include
rabbits.
As the penalty is £10 for carrying firearms without a license, I have
thought it advisable to enlarge somewhat fully on the above topic.
There are also various penalties and punishments which may be imposed upon
persons misbehaving while in the possession of loaded firearms, or
wantonly discharging them. Thus any one who is in possession of a loaded
firearm and is found to be drunk, may be apprehended, and is liable to a
penalty not exceeding 40/, or, in the discretion of the Court, to
imprisonment with or without hard labour for not more than one month.
Then, any person who in the streets of a town wantonly discharges any
firearm to the obstruction, annoyance, or danger of the residents or
passengers, is liable to a penalty not exceeding 40/ for each offence, or,
in the discretion of the justices, to imprisonment for not more than
fourteen days (no hard labour).
It is hardly necessary to say that the wrongful use of a revolver as an
offensive weapon is very heavily punished, it being provided that any one
who shoots at a person or attempts, by drawing a trigger or in any other
manner, to discharge any kind of loaded arms at a person with intent to
commit murder, is guilty of felony and liable to penal servitude for life,
or any less term, or to imprisonment for not more than two years with or
without hard labour and solitary confinement.
Again, any one who unlawfully and maliciously wounds, or causes any
grievous bodily harm to any person, or who shoots at any person, or who by
drawing a trigger or in any other manner attempts to discharge any kind of
loaded arms at a person, with intent in any of these cases to maim,
disfigure, or disable any person, or to do some other grievous bodily harm
to any person, or with intent to resist or prevent the lawful apprehension
or detainer of any person, is liable to penal servitude for life or for
not less than three years or to imprisonment for not more than two years
with or without hard labour and solitary confinement. “Loaded arms” are
defined as “any gun, pistol, or other arms which shall be loaded in the
barrel with gunpowder or any other explosive substance, and ball, shot,
slug, or other destructive material, although the attempt to discharge the
same may fail for want of proper priming, or from any other cause.”
Finally, any one who unlawfully and maliciously wounds or inflicts any
grievous bodily harm upon any person with or without any weapon or
instrument, is liable to penal servitude for three years, or to
imprisonment for not more than two years with or without hard labour. The
words “unlawfully and maliciously” are difficult to construe, and
therefore it may be well to state that a man who fired in the direction of
a punt, in order to deter the occupant from fowling in a particular
locality, and wounded him in so doing, was convicted of malicious
wounding; and generally that if a wound were to be caused mischievously
and without excuse the person who inflicted it would probably be found
guilty under this enactment.
So much for the strict offences caused by the improperly carrying or
making use of revolvers. Before, however, leaving this subject it will be
advisable to enter at a little length into the rights which any one has
of using a revolver in self-defence, or in some other analogous manner.
Supposing a man has passed through the ordeal of the Gun License Act and
is properly and legally carrying a loaded revolver, in what cases of
emergency would he be justified in using it? Well, this is a very
difficult question to answer, and one which in each event would depend
entirely on the circumstances of the particular case. It is therefore
impossible for me to lay down any exact principles governing every event
of the kind which might happen, and I will content myself with stating a
few hypothetical instances and what course of conduct might be adopted in
each instance.
There is no doubt on this point, anyhow,--that one is justified in using a
loaded revolver in self-defence, where an attack of such a murderous
character is made as to threaten one’s own existence, or the infliction of
serious bodily harm; and, if the assailant should be killed, yet the using
of the revolver and so disposing of him would be deemed as having been
justifiable. The same rule would apply to shooting an assassin who was
attempting to kill someone else. For instance, if while standing on a
railway platform I were to see a man shooting at someone in a railway
carriage, and at such distance that I could not actively interfere except
by shooting, I should be right in firing at the assailant, and though my
shot should prove fatal, still no blame could be attached to me.
How far one is justified in using a revolver in beating off or capturing
burglars in one’s house is, as already mentioned, a matter which can only
be decided by the facts of the particular case. Assuredly where a man is
awakened in the night by the noise of burglars breaking into or already
in his house, and seizes his revolver and confronts the robbers, he would
be justified in firing if the robbers threatened to attack him, and it is
assumed that he would also be right in firing at a robber making off with
booty who refused to stop when challenged to do so, if there were no
reasonable chance of arresting him in any other way; though in the latter
event he should endeavour so to shoot as to cripple rather than kill.
Indeed it may be said, extraordinary though the statement may seem, that
even in the hurry and skurry of a conflict with burglars the mind should
remain calm and collected, so as to judge whether a mortal shot is
required, rather than one which will only “wing” the opponent.
In connection with this branch of the subject, the justification of a
fatal shot may to some extent depend upon whether the robber was himself
armed. If he were, then the killing him would be more easily justifiable
than if he were unarmed. This is somewhat instanced by the law regarding
an assault and battery in self-defence, which is that where there is an
assault the person resisting must show that his assault committed in
self-defence was not more violent than he in good faith believed to be
necessary and committed on reasonable grounds, so that it would not be
right to inflict a heavy beating on a person who had only committed a
slight assault upon one. So when all danger is past and a man strikes a
blow not necessary for his defence, he commits an unjustifiable assault
and battery,--and this principle would apply to the preventing of crimes,
so that though one might be acting correctly in firing at and killing a
man who was murderously assaulting a third person, yet, after the assault
had been committed, it might be wrong to kill the murderer if he were
only discovered when running away, unless that was the only means of
arresting him.
Another point which has sometimes exercised the minds of those in the
habit of carrying revolvers is whether they are justified in using such a
weapon to put an end to pain on the part of dumb animals where recovery is
almost impossible. It may be said generally that no one can with safety
interfere in such cases, even with the most benevolent intentions, so that
if a horse, dog, or other animal has been so injured as to be suffering
extreme agony, yet it would not be legal to put the poor creature out of
its misery, unless with the consent of the owner.
The exception has been made by the Injured Animals Act, 1894, but that
only empowers a constable to kill a horse, mule, or ass which is so
severely injured that it cannot be led away, when the owner is absent or
refuses to consent to its destruction, after a certificate has been
obtained from a certified veterinary surgeon that the animal is mortally
injured or so severely that it is cruel to keep it alive.
The exception that has been introduced by the Act of Parliament passed in
1894 and called “The Injured Animals Act, 1894,” provides for the
slaughter, without the owner’s consent, of horses, mules, or asses, in
cases of injury so serious as to make it cruel to keep them alive. It does
not apply to animals other than those enumerated above, and is hedged
round with such restrictions as to render it of little avail. These in
brief are as follows: A constable must find the animal so severely injured
that it cannot without cruelty be led away, the owner must be absent or
refuse to consent to the destruction of the animal, and the constable
must obtain the certificate of a veterinary surgeon that the animal is
mortally injured, or so severely that it is cruel to keep it alive. After
doing all this the constable may kill the animal.
The foregoing statements as to the law are not exhaustive, but they are
made with the intention of helping the revolver-carrying section of the
public to know what they may be responsible for and on what occasions or
emergency they may safely use their weapons. To make sure that no legal
error has crept in, these statements have been submitted to Mr. C.
Willoughby Williams, of No. 1 Brick Court, Temple, Barrister at Law, who
is of opinion that the law as set out is correct.
It will be seen, from what is said above, that if a gun or a game license
is obtained, it is not illegal to carry a loaded revolver, so that if any
one had to go along a lonely road, or had received a threatening letter
which had alarmed him, he would be quite in his right in taking about with
him a loaded revolver. It would even be quite right for any one to carry
about a loaded revolver in his pocket merely as a protection in case he
should be unexpectedly attacked, but any one carrying about with him such
an article should be prepared to use it only in cases of great emergency,
and should keep a clear head on his shoulders.
Another example of the advantages of carrying a revolver would be if one
were attacked by a mad dog. In such a case, if the dog attacked in a
ferocious manner, it would be permissible to shoot the dog, but it would
not be allowable to shoot a dog on the supposition that he was mad, unless
he was attacking one; though, of course, if there were no doubt about the
dog’s being mad, then, for the sake of others, it would be wise to shoot
him.
Again, if while carrying a revolver any one were passed by a runaway
horse, and such horse were about to run over a child, it might be
permissible to shoot the horse in order to save the child, if one were too
far off to catch hold of the animal. These, however, are all matters of
degree, and what would be right and proper to do in one case might in a
case almost similar be quite wrong.
* * * * *
NOTE.--Since the first edition of this book was issued, the Pistols Act of
1903 has come into force. This Act stops the sale, by retail or by
auction, or the letting on hire, of any pistol (which would include a
revolver), unless the purchaser has a gun or game license, or is entitled
to use or carry a gun without such license, or unless the purchaser shows
that he purposes to use the pistol only in his own house or the curtilage
thereof, or that he is about to proceed abroad for a period of not less
than six months. The Act also prevents the sale or hiring out of a pistol
to a person under the age of 18 years, and places a very heavy penalty on
any one knowingly selling a pistol to a person who is intoxicated or not
of sound mind.
APPENDIX C
THE LAW OF CARRYING WEAPONS IN THE UNITED STATES
The statutes of the various States upon the subject of carrying weapons
are substantially similar, the main differences relating to the persons
exempted from their operation, and to the manner of carrying the weapon,
some making it an offence to carry the weapon at all, whether concealed or
not; others prohibiting the carrying of concealed weapons only.
These statutes have been held to be police regulations, and not to
conflict with the constitutional right of the people to keep and bear
arms.
Weapons are considered to be concealed, within the intent of the statutes,
when they cannot be readily seen by ordinary observation.
In some of the States, as in Kentucky, Louisiana, and Missouri, the
carrying of “deadly” or “dangerous” weapons is prohibited. Most of the
States, however, specify the weapons prohibited. Such weapons as pistols,
dirks, butchers’ or bowie knives, stilettos, daggers, swords, brass
knuckles, razors, slugs, etc., are usually specified in nearly all of the
statutes.
Officers of the law are usually exempted from the operation of the
statutes. The officers must, however, be duly appointed, and in the
discharge of their duties at the time of carrying the weapons.
Persons who are threatened with bodily harm or who have reasonable grounds
to apprehend danger or attack, are usually justified in carrying concealed
weapons. It is not every idle threat, however, which would justify one in
carrying concealed weapons. The threat must be such as to cause a
reasonable apprehension of danger. Examples of this exemption are found in
the statutes of Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, Texas, Maryland, and West
Virginia.
Persons on their own premises are frequently exempted from the operation
of the statutes. This is so in Arkansas, North Carolina, and Texas.
Some of the statutes exempt persons who are travelling. This is so in
Arkansas, Mississippi, and Texas.
The burden of proving exemption rests usually upon the accused. This has
been expressly decided in Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri,
Montana, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas. In Michigan, however, it
has been held that the prosecution must prove that the defendant does not
fall within one of the exemptions.
INDEX
A
Accidents, 10;
from loaded weapons, 21, 160;
how to prevent, 26, 33, 58;
on the stage, 282, 291
Africa, shooting in, 261
Alcohol, danger from use of, 4, 95, 140, 145
Allowance, 93, 243
Ammunition, 44, 251, 262;
blank, 282;
Eley, 334, 340, 346;
U. M. C., 335, 341, 342, 343, 344, 345, 347
Animals, killing wounded, 305
_Art of Revolver Shooting, The_, quoted, iii., 17, 81, 135, 191, 297;
changes made in, 25
“Au Commandemant,” shooting, 227
Author, duelling championship of, 61;
running deer championship of, 87;
snap shooting score of, 106;
member of London Royal Academy, 159;
author’s trotting horses, 210;
Sika deer shot by the, 271;
gold medals won by, 275;
trophies modelled by the, 317;
sights designed by the, 324;
world’s record scores by the, 333-350
Automatic pistol, accuracy of the, 1;
the Colt regulation, 2, 45, 80, 84, 133, 200, 212, 231, 233;
dangerous to handle, 3, 46, 129;
sole weapon in the U. S., 17;
how to hold the, 21, 286;
inventors of the, 22;
danger from recoil, 59;
the civilian, 84;
the police, 84;
the Savage, 84;
the Smith & Wesson, 84;
the German military, 84;
recoil of the, 59, 84, 96, 97;
shooting with the, 97, 113;
the safety bolt of the, 99;
powerful cartridge of the, 109, 251;
the U. S. army, 109;
description of the, 113, 118;
faults of the, 125;
the Colt new safety, 128;
cleaning and care of the, 152;
military automatics, 231, 248;
proper ammunition for, 251;
the Mauser, 252;
use on horseback, 258
Automatic gallery pistols, 260;
the Winans model, 263;
.22 long barrel Colt, 265;
.22 target Colt, 296;
capable of improvement, 329;
graceful lines of the Colt, 330
B
Balance, 50, 80
Balderston, John Lloyd, quoted, vi.
Barrel, length of, 48
Bavaria, alcohol tests in, 147
Bear, shooting, 261
Bell, Dr. Louis, 317
Big game shooting, 23, 213, 250;
in England, 154
Bisley, shooting at, 16, 94, 156, 209, 342, 343, 344, 345, 347, 348, 349
Boar, shooting wild, 228, 250, 261
Brains, shooting requires, 163
“Brandishing and Flourishing,” 3, 29, 59, 282, 330
Breech, the, 118
Bridge, playing at, 55, 140
Brookhart, Major S. W., quoted, 148
Bulleted caps, 50, 51, 52, 56
Bullets, soft lead, 72;
drop of, 247;
Devilliers, 300, 315
Burglars, frightening, 28;
shooting at, 214
Butt, the, 55
Byron, Lord, quoted, 34, 188
C
Carpentier, 188
Cartridges, obsolete types of, 45;
the proper, 97;
ejection of, 130;
cordite used in, 262;
duelling pistol, 264
Chantry Bequest, the, 159
Clay pigeons, shooting at, 73, 90
Cleaning, 27, 127, 152
Clip, cartridges in a, 120
Clubs, shooting, 75
Cocking, trials at, 42, 241
Colds, danger from, 218, 228
Colt, the regulation .45, 80, 84, 133, 200, 212, 231, 233;
the civilian, 84;
the police, 84;
new safety, 128;
the Derringer, 203;
.25 cal. automatic, 205;
.22 long-barrelled automatic, 265;
.22 target automatic, 296;
graceful lines of the, 330
Competitions, the way they are conducted, 9, 78, 266, 313;
entering for, 43;
Gastinne-Renette, 73, 313;
mounted pistol, 256;
duelling, 303;
police, 317
Condy’s fluid for colouring, 278
Cordite, cartridges of, 262
Crane, R. Newton, quoted, 192
Cuirass, a bullet-proof, 2
D
_Daily Mail_, letter to the, 151
_Daily Mirror_, the, quoted, 191
Deer-stalking, 71, 157, 260
Derringer, the Colt, 203, 252
Devilliers bullet, the, 300, 315
Devonshire, red deer in, 154
Disconnector, the, 128, 238
Distance, judging, 243
_Don Juan_ quoted, 34, 188
Dress, 207
Drinking, harm done by, 4, 95, 140, 145
Duelling, practised on the Continent, 16;
position to stand in, 78;
distance in, 108, 182, 274;
question of, 171;
remarks on, 176, 180, 185, 189;
swords used in, 177;
penalties for, 184;
laws on, 192;
preparations for, 194;
competitions in, 313
Duelling pistols, 16, 47;
the Flobert, 49;
the Gastinne-Renette, 50, 123, 263, 274;
the regulation French, 52, 62, 182;
author’s championship with, 61;
balance of, 80;
sights on, 234, 264;
recoil of, 239;
.44 used for rabbit stalking, 249;
cartridges for the, 264;
Sika stag shot with a, 271;
use of Devilliers bullet in the, 300
E
Ears, guarding the, 5, 215;
Elliott’s Protector for the, 217, 219
Ejection of cartridges, 130
Elliott, J. A. R., Ear Protector, 217, 219
England, revolver in use in, 17, 231;
shooting in, 154;
duelling in, 191;
open air ranges in, 227, 266;
law regarding firearms in, 360
English National Rifle Assn., 16, 156
Euclid quoted, 3
Exhibition shooting, 135, 291, 297
Eyes, protecting the, 215
Eyesight, 222
F
Falling bullets, danger from, 10
Faults, correcting, 165
Fencing, 59
_Field_, the, quoted, vi.
_Flanneled Fools_, 6
Flobert pistol, the, 36, 49
Francis, W., chauffeur, 234
Furlong, Dr. W. V., letter from, 151
G
Game shooting, 249;
rifle used in, 260, 287
Games, pistol shooting and, 13
Gastinne-Renette, duelling pistols by, 50, 123, 182, 263;
gallery of, 54, 267, 270;
competitions, 37, 313;
prizes, 73, 137, 170, 271, 273;
Ira Paine at gallery of, 137;
targets used by, 167
Gieve, Mathews & Seagrove, 217
Goggles, use of, 302
Golf, compared with shooting, 5, 55, 266;
time wasted at, 6;
temper shown at, 140
Grande Medaille d’Or, 73, 137, 170, 271
Greener Killer, the, 310
Grip, how to, 80, 84, 285
H
Hammer head attachment, 84
Hammer, positions of the, 33
Hammerless pistols, 43
High School of Riding, 254
Horse pistols, balance of the, 80
Horseback, shooting from, 253
Horsemanship, 254, 258
Horses, docking, 24;
runaway, 288
Horsley, Sir Victor, quoted, 147
How to hold the automatic, 21
Humane Killer, the, 311
I
Inventors of firearms, 123, 320
Irving, Sir Henry, 144
J
Jambing, 69, 84, 127, 153, 232
Jellicoe, Admiral, quoted, 146
K
Killers, the Greener, 310;
the Humane, 311
Kipling, R., quoted, 6
Kraeplin, report of Prof., 147
L
Landseer, Sir Edwin, 158
Languages, learning, 18
Law, relating to revolver shooting in Great Britain and Ireland, 351;
relating to carrying weapons in the United States, 360
Le Pistolet Club, 70
Lee-Metford, the, 24
Learning to shoot, 53
Literature, shooting in, 280
Lodge, Sir Oliver, quoted, 150
London Royal Academy, the, 159
Long-range shooting, 108
Long-sighted shooters, 20
M
Magazine, the, 97
Maryland, trophy given by the author to the State of, 317
Matador, 255
Mauser automatic pistol, 252
Metronome, the, 103, 272
Military rifles, trigger-pull of, 41;
pistol sights, 63;
sights of, 156
Moufflon shooting, 252
Muzzle-heavy weapons, 50, 69
N
National Rifle Association, 95
Near-sighted shooters, 20, 85, 222
North London Rifle Club, 336, 337, 341
O
Ogilvy, Captain, quoted, 136
Olympic Games, the, 72, 77, 87, 148, 255
_Outdoor Life_, the, 244
P
Paine, Chevalier Ira, 70, 136, 188, 275
Paris, shooting galleries in, 54
Pennell, Cholmondely, 208
Petty, roundsman, 317
Pigeon shooting, 40
Pistol shooting, unpopularity of, 13;
the way to learn, 25
Pistols, duelling, 16, 17, 49, 50, 52, 62, 80, 123, 182, 239, 249, 263,
264;
single-shot, 20, 31, 41;
American, 51;
the .22, 77;
shot used in, 73;
how to hold, 80, 286;
the Colt regulation .45, 80, 84, 133, 200, 212, 231, 233;
the civilian, 84;
the police, 84;
the Savage, 84;
the Smith & Wesson, 84;
the German military, 84;
rifle stocks for, 85;
the U. S. Army, 109;
description of, 113;
vest pocket models, 203;
military automatic, 231, 248
Police pistols, 49, 317
Position, the correct, 58, 92
Powder, use of black, 17
Practice, value of, 60, 61
Prizes, the Grande Médaille d’Or, 73, 137, 170, 271;
given for shooting roebuck, 157;
the King’s Prize, 209;
at Gastinne-Renette’s, 271, 273, 314
Purchasing an automatic, advice on, 125, 127
R
Rabbit stalking, 249
Rain, shooting in the, 226
Range, choice of a, 55, 266;
the indoor, 268;
the open-air, 276
Rapid firing, 100
Recoil, 51;
of automatic, 59, 84, 96, 120, 126, 239, 330;
of rifle, 261
_Referee_, the, quoted, 190
Revolver, the, 1;
no longer used, 56, 242, 318, 333;
the .32 pocket, 239;
world’s records with the, 333;
.45 Colt cavalry, 334;
.44 Smith & Wesson, 335, 343, 348, 349;
.45 Smith & Wesson, 340, 341, 342, 344, 345, 346, 347;
the .38 Smith & Wesson, 349
Ricochets, danger of, 279, 304
Riding, benefit from, 7;
expert, 322
Rifle, right kind of, 23;
pistol compared with, 111;
the military automatic, 119, 125;
shooting clubs, 158;
in game shooting, 260;
modern improved, 261;
the .44 Winchester, 262;
the .22 automatic Winchester, 265;
author’s record at shooting the, 275
Roebuck, shooting the, 157, 246
Royal Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, 311
Running deer, the, 93, 95, 125, 156
Running shots, 86, 92
S
Safety bolt, the, 98, 133, 238
Savage, the, 84
Savory & Moore, 217
Scotland, shooting in, 154, 198
Seer, damage to the, 42
Self-defence, shooting for, 132, 212;
pistols for, 200, 206
Shooting galleries, 9;
the unpopular, 14, 53, 64, 225, 267;
the Gastinne-Renette, 54, 267, 270;
pistols for, 263;
the ideal, 268
Shooting, the instinct of, 8;
unpopularity of pistol, 15;
big game, 23;
exhibition, 135;
brains required in, 163;
dress, 207;
use of spectacles, 215;
near-sighted, 20, 85, 222;
from horseback, 253;
trick, 135, 291
Shot, the No. 7, 74, 305;
the No. 8, 201;
the No. 10, 294;
the No. 5, 305
Shot gun, trigger-pull of the, 40;
shooting with the, 90;
as sporting firearm, 155
Sights, hind, 20, 21;
the U back, 56;
the black front, 56, 155, 232;
the white bead, 57, 232;
learning about, 62;
French duelling, 63;
the telescope, 250;
Winans’ front, 324
Simplification, 326
Single-shot pistols, bad shots from, 20;
how to handle the, 31, 41;
American, 51;
shot from, 73;
description of the, 113;
cleaning the, 152;
.22 used in United States, 249
Smith & Wesson, the, 84;
hammerless safety, 98;
Ira Paine’s, 188;
Russian model, 202, 285;
the .44, 335, 343, 348;
the .45, 340, 341, 342, 344, 345, 346, 347;
the .38, 349
Smoking, harm done by, 4, 95, 140, 142, 145
Snap-shooting, 104, 197, 236, 258
Somersetshire, red deer in, 154
South London Rifle Club, 334, 335, 338, 339
Sport, meaning of, 7
Spoons given as prizes, 13
“Sports,” worship of, 7
Squeeze, the, 99
St. Francis of Assisi, 172
St. George, cross of, 234
St. George Pistol Club, 270
Stock, shape of, 285
Stockholm, games at, 72, 77
Swing shooting, 88, 258
T
Targets, moving, 16;
rapid-firing, 16, 345;
disappearing, 16, 340, 341, 342;
stationary, 17, 86, 276, 334, 335;
shooting at, 29;
the man, 48, 71, 75, 77, 93, 132;
construction of, 56;
instruction regarding, 71, 268;
animal, 73;
mechanical stag, 75;
French duelling, 77;
the running deer, 93, 95, 125, 156;
painters of, 157;
the perfect, 166;
the Gastinne-Renette, 167, 274;
military, 340;
traversing, 346, 347;
advancing, 348
Temper, control of, 139
Tennis, shooting compared with, 5
Timing, 19, 88, 316;
apparatus for, 102
Tobacco, danger from use of, 4, 95, 140, 142, 145
Trajectory, flat, 23
Trick shooting, 291
Trigger-pull, 38;
for pistol, 48, 65, 188, 241, 314
Trophies, challenge, 17
Trotting, records, “high wheel,” 17, 333;
horses, 210
U
Union Society of London, 189
United States, automatic pistol in the, 17;
revolver and rifle teams in the, 148;
laws on duelling, 192;
.22 single-shot pistol used in, 249;
law regarding firearms in the, 360
Unload, how to, 129
V
“Vanoc” quoted, 190
Vise, shooting from a, 57
W
Waistcoat, leather, 208, 229
Walking, steps taken in, 245
Weight, pistol, 46, 49, 116, 240
Williams, Lord Justice Vaughan, quoted, 189
Wimbledon, shooting at, 156, 158, 340, 346
Winans, model automatic, 263;
front sights, 324, 345
Winans, Ross, 120
Winchester, the .44 rifle, 262, 294;
the .22 automatic rifle, 265, 298
Wind, shooting in the, 226
World’s record scores, 333
Z
Zeiss glasses, 223