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Copyrights

By WALTER WINANS

The Art of Revolver Shooting.

Royal 8vo. New Edition, Revised
and Enlarged. Fully Illustrated

net, $5.00

The Sporting Rifle.

Royal 8vo. Fully Illustrated

net, $5.00

Hints on Revolver Shooting.

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Practical Rifle Shooting.

161110. Illustrated net, 50 cents

Q. P. PUTNAM'S SONS

NEW YORK LONDON

THE ART OF REVOLVER SHOOTING

THE ART OF
REVOLVER SHOOTING

TOGETHER WITH ALL INFORMATION CONCERNING THE

AUTOMATIC AND SINGLE-SHOT PISTOL, AND HOW

TO HANDLE THEM TO THE BEST ADVANTAGE

WALTER WINANS

CHEVALIER OF THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN ORDER OF ST. STANISLAUS

OLYMPIC CHAMPION FOR DOUBLE-RIFLE SHOOTING IN 1 008

REVOLVER CHAMPION, FIVE YEARS NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION OF GREAT BRITAIN

SEVEN YEARS OF THE SOUTH LONDON RIFLE CLUB AND TEN YEARS OF

THE NORTH LONDON RIFLE CLUB

ONE YEAR DUELLING PISTOL CHAMPION AT GASTINNE-RENETTe's, PARIS

VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION OF GREAT BRITAIN

MEMBER OF THE UNITED STATES REVOLVER ASSOCIATION AND OF LE PISTOLET CLUB OF PARIS

PRESIDENT OF ASHFORD RIFLE CLUB, ETC.

NEW EDITION, REVISED AND ENLARGED

HEAD AND TAIL PIECES DRAWN BY THE AUTHOR
ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPHS BY
ROUCH, FRY, PURDEY, PENFOLD, AND OTHERS

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
NEW YORK AND LONDON
XTbe IRntcfterbocfeer press

191 1

WALTER WINANS

Ube ftatcfecrbocltcr iprese, ftcw v;ort;

©CI, A 2 sr, 0 0 3

REEACE

I constantly receive letters from all parts
of the world asking my advice on pistol and
revolver matters. It seemed, therefore, that
there was a want of information on this sub-
ject. I tried to supply this information in
the book I wrote in 1901 called The Art of Revolver Shoot-
ing, in which I gave further and fuller details than could
be given in separate letters to those who have done me
the honour of consulting me.

My book was, therefore, of some use to beginners who
have no one at hand to show them how to set to work,
but since then many improvements have been made in
pistols and revolvers, so that the time seemed to have
come for me to write a second edition of the book, in which
all the information given would be brought well up to date.
This I have done, adding a chapter on automatic and
duelling pistols, there not having been any previous work
published which deals with the latter.

Working a thing out for yourself is always a much
longer process than being started in the right way at first ;
and you may get into a bad way of doing things, which

iv Preface

it is hard later to unlearn. Also, you may be working on
a line which has already been tried and found wanting,
and which therefore renders your labour a mere waste of
time.

I do not think that anyone who takes up pistol and
revolver shooting — for other than man-killing purposes —
will ever regret it. It is not only morally and physically
a healthy sport, but it teaches self-reliance, coolness, and
the control of one's temper, which last such amusements
as croquet and golf, for instance, certainly do not. Pistol
shooting is also an accomplishment always useful and
sometimes of vital importance. It is thus unlike croquet,
cricket, lawn-tennis, golf, and all other games which
develop skill only in forms that cannot be of practical use.
It may be objected that the games I condemn are useful
as exercises for the development of the body ; but there are
plenty of forms of sports — shooting, hunting, swimming,
polo, bicycling, and so on — which give just as good, or
better, exercise, yet at the same time teach skill in some-
thing useful instead of in mere play fit only for boys.

If men spent in seeking to attain proficiency with the
rifle, the pistol, or even the shot-gun, a twentieth part
of the time they at present devote to playing useless
games, they would make their country invincible. Well-
ington is said to have declared that battles were won on the
playgrounds. That may have been the case in times
when men shot with "gas-pipes" and needed only to
"loose off," the direction of the bullet having little re-
lation to the aim taken. With modern arms of precision,
however, the battles of the future will be won in the forest

Preface

and at the rifle-range. The difficulty of finding sufficient
rifle-ranges in a densely populated country is one that will
increase as time goes on, but meanwhile it should be borne
in mind that, with gallery ammunition, a five-yards' range
in any odd corner or cellar is ample space for pistol prac-
tice. It may moreover fairly be claimed that the greater
difficulty of pistol shooting makes it a valuable training
in the use of the rifle, though the converse by no means
holds. The nation that is not a "shooting nation" will
"get left" in war time. I hope, however, that as
countries become more civilised they will pay greater heed
to the idea of arbitration in place of war, the idea which
was so nobly inaugurated by His Imperial Majesty the
Emperor of Russia (my fatherland), and that by the
time the pistol becomes obsolete there will be no need
of a weapon to take its place, but that the revolver and
war will die out together.

W. W.

surrenden park,

Kent, England, 1910.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. — Personal ....... i

II. — Personal (Continued) .... 7

III. — Evolution of the Revolver . . .10

IV. — Selecting a Pistol ..... 20

V. — Ammunition ... . . . -33

VI. — Cleaning and Care of Weapons . . 42

VII.— Sights .46

VIII. — Learning to Use the Pistol 55

IX. — Pistol and Revolver Clubs . , . 85

X. — Practice and Training .... 109

XI. — Gallery Shooting . . . . .116

XII. — Gastinne-Renette's Gallery in Paris . 126

XIII. — Le Pistolet Club . . . . .144

XIV. — Competitions with the Devilliers Bullet 146

XV. — Duelling . . . . . . .154

XVI. — The .22 Calibre Single-Shot Pistol . 167

XVII. — National Rifle Association Meeting at

Bisley . . . . . . .176

viii Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

XVIII. — Bisley Continued — Disappearing Tar-
get . . . . . . . .190

XIX. — Bisley Continued — Rapid Firing . . 208

XX. — Bisley Continued — Traversing Target . 217

XXI. — Bisley Continued — Advancing Target . 225

XXII. — Bisley Concluded — Stationary 50 Yards

Target . . . . . . 229

XXIII. — Team Shooting and Coaching . . . 232

XXIV. — General Remarks on Shooting in Com-
petitions ...... 238

XXV. — -Automatic Pistols ..... 241

XXVI. — The Revolver in War .... 247

XXVII. — Stage Shooting 255

XXVIII.— Trick Shooting 266

XXIX. — Blank Ammunition for Stage Purposes . 270

XXX. — Big-Game Shooting with the Revolver . 273

XXXI. — Target Shooting off Horseback . . 290

XXXII. — Small-Game Shooting .... 294

XXXIII. — Pigeon Shooting with the Pistol . . 296

XXXIV. — Clay-Pigeon Shooting with the Pistol 299

XXXV. — Shooting in Self-Defence . . . 302

XXXVI. — Pistol Shooting for Ladies . . . 315

Contents

CHAPTER

XXXVII.— Shooting from a Bicycle
XXXVIII. — Revolvers for the Police
XXXIX. — Killing Disabled Animals
XL. — Shooting in the Dark
Appendix
Index

PAGE
320

323
326

330
336

345

ILLUSTRATIONS

FULL PAGE
The Author ...... Frontispiece

The Four Principal Revolvers .....

Smith & Wesson ("Winans* Model")

"Bisley" Colt

"Target" Webley

Smith & Wesson Military

The Author's Shooting Position .

Badges Won by the Author

The Gastinne-Renette Challenge Trophy

Position for "Attention" ....

Position when Shooting ....

The Author .......

The Position of some Duellists at the Word "Atten
tion" . ......

The Author's Position at "Attention"

Correct Position at the Moment of Firing

Pistols by Gastinne-Renette

Bisley Prize Certificate ....

115
138
148
150
152

155
157
159
163

175

xii Illustrations

Position for Shooting at an Advancing Object

PAGE

Some of the Author's Championship Badges . . 177

Some of the Revolver Prizes and Championship Badges

Won by the Author ...... 193

The Author's Championship Diploma Awarded at

Olympic Games in London, 1908 .... 233

Diagrams of Twelve Highest Possible Scores Made
by Author in Revolver Competitions at 20 Yards

in 1895 235

Shooting on Horseback — Pursuing Shot . . . 249

Shooting on Horseback — Retiring Shot . . -251

Shooting with Revolver Upside Down . . . 257

Deer Shooting off Horseback — A Running Shot . 275

Deer Shooting off Horseback — Two Hit . . . 277

Deer Shooting off Horseback — "One, Two, Three" 279

Deer Shooting off Horseback — Breaking up the Herd 281

Deer Shooting off Horseback — Overtaking the Herd 283

Deer Shooting off Horseback — "Riding out" a Buck 285

Deer Shooting off Horseback — "A Right and Left" . 287

Shooting off Horseback — Charging . . . .291

Self-Defence — At Bay ...... 305

309

[The Author takes this opportunity of recording his appreciation of the great pains taken
by Mr. W. Rouch, of 191 Strand, London, in connection with the series of horse
studies in the above list.]

IN THE TEXT
Original Colt Revolver ...... 4

"Troika" in a Snowstorm ...... 6

The Author with his Cat " Matty " .... 9

Ancient Flint-lock Pistols . . . . .11

Illustrations xiii

PAGE

Ancient Flint -and -Steel Revolver — Age, 170 to 200

Years . . . . . . .12

Bow-Pistol — 1300 . . . . . . 13

Match-lock — 1525 ....... 14

Wheel-lock— 1625 . . . . . . .15

Flint-lock — 1776 ........ 16

Percussion-lock — 1830 . . . . . 17

Revolver — 1865 . . . . . . . .18

Extension Stock as Applied to .44 Single - Action

Revolver ........ 19

Dick Turpin's Ride ....... 19

Smith & Wesson New Solid - Frame Revolvers for

Smokeless Powder . . . . . . .21

Engraved .38 Smith & Wesson ..... 22

Engraved Russian Model Smith & Wesson ... 22

Section of Cylinder, Showing Hardened Steel Shims,

Unfinished ........ 22

sldeplate of military revolver, showing raised steel

Bosses ......... 22

Elaborately Carved Revolvers, Owned by the Author 24

Smith & Wesson .44 Double-Action Revolver . . 26

Smith & Wesson Military Revolvers .... 29

Cartridges 34, 35, 36

Smith & Wesson Self-Lubricating Cartridge . . 37

Cut Showing Details of Construction of the Self-
Lubricating Bullet ......

XIV

Illustrations

Automatic Shell Extractor as Applied to all Jointed-
Frame Models of the Smith & Wesson Revolvers

Reloading Tools

Target Sights ....

Special Target Sights

Winans' Revolver Front-Sights

Olympic Target ....

Patent Safety Butt

How to Cock a Revolver

The Correct Way to Hold a Revolver

The Correct Position for the Thumb

Two Systems of Ejecting, Smith & Wesson

Author's "Best-on-Record" Score, at 20 Yards —
Stationary Target — Eleven Shots

Author's "Best-on-Record" Score, at 20 Yards —
Stationary Target — Ten Shots ....

Author's "Best-on-Record" Score, at 20 Yards — Nine
Shots ......

Twelve Shots at 20 Yards, by the Author

Shot by Author, Sept. 22, 1892

Ten Shots at 20 Yards by the Author

Standard American Target

Belgian Single-Shot Pistol — Saw-Handle

Styles of Smith & Wesson Engraving .

Styles of Smith & Wesson Engraving

Smith & Wesson Single-Shot Target Pistol

38
39
47
50
53
56
61
64

67
68
76

117

119

121

123

Illustrations

PACE

Gastinne-Renette's Gallery . . . . .128

Underground Gallery for Heavy Charges . .129

Gastinne-Renette's Gallery — Firing Points . . 130

How Some Hold the Duelling Pistol — Figure 1 . . 131

The Author's Way of Holding the Duelling Pistol —

Figure 2 ........ 132

How Some Hold the Duelling Pistol (Another View) —

Figure 3 133

The Author's Way of Holding the Duelling Pistol

(Another View) — Figure 4 . . . 134

Silhouette Showing Spots Made by the Author in Com-
petition AT THE GASTINNE-RENETTE GALLERY, APRIL

7, 1910 136

Duelling Pistols by Gastinne-Renette — The Property

of the Author ....... 137

The Gastinne-Renette 16 Metres Target . .139

Duelling Pistols by Gastinne-Renette . . 141

How to Hold the Duelling Pistol with Guard for

Shooting Devilliers Bullet .... 147

.22 Calibre Target Pistol by Leeson . . . . 149

Pistols by Gastinne-Rennete . . . . .168

Wurfflein Pistol . . . . . . .169

Smith & Wesson Pistol . . . . . .169

Stevens Pistol — Gould Model . . . . .169

Stevens Diamond Model Pistol . . . . .170

.22 Smith & Wesson Pistol with Interchangeable

.32 Barrel ........ 170

xvi Illustrations

PAGE

How to Hold the Gastinne-Renette Modification of

the Stevens . . . . . . . -171

Stevens " Offhand Target " . . . . . -171

Stevens "Lord" ........ 172

Stevens Vernier New Model Pocket " Rifle " . . 172

Stevens New Model Pocket or Bicycle "Rifle" . 172

Stevens "Tip-up" ........ 173

Stevens "Diamond" ...... . 173

Webley Man-Stopping Bullet . . . . .181

Author's "Best-on-Record" Score, 20 Yards Disap-
pearing Target . . . . . . .195

Author's "Best-on-Record" Score, 20 Yards Disap-
pearing Target ....... 200

Author's "Best-on-Record" Score, 20 Yards Disap-
pearing Target ....... 204

Author's " Best-on-Record " Score, 6 Shots in 12 Seconds 209

Rapid Firing — Author's "Best-on-Record" for Military

Revolver and Sights . . . . . .211

Author's "Best-on-Record" Score, 20 Yards Rapid-

Firing Target . . . . . . .213

Police Target — Double- Action Colt Revolver . .215

Author's "Best-on-Record" Score for 3-inch Bull's-
eye Traversing Target, 20 Yards . . . .219

Author's "Best-on-Record" Score for 2-inch Bull's-
eye Traversing Target, 20 Yards . . . . 222

Bisley Camp by Night ...... 224

Author's "Best-on-Record" Score, Advancing Target . 227

"Best-on-Record" — Made by Author — 50 Yards Target 230

Webley-Fosbery Automatic Revolver . . . 242

Colt Automatic Pistol, Pocket Model, Calibre .32 . 242

Colt Automatic Pistol, Calibre .32 ... 243

Illustrations

XVH

Colt Automatic Pistol, Military Model, Calibre .45

Colt Automatic Pistol, Military Model, Calibre .38

Lugar Automatic Pistol ....

New Army Colt Double-Action Revolver

New Navy Colt Double-Action Revolver

New Service Colt Double-Action Revolver

Russian Model Army Revolver, Smith & Wesson

Shooting with Revolver Upside-Down — Figure A

Shooting with Revolver Upside Down — Figure B

Revolver Half Canted to the Right— Figure C

Revolver Half Canted to the Left — Figure D

Extension Stock, as Applied to .44 Single-Action
Revolvers ........

How to Hold the Shot Pistol . ....

Smith & Wesson Hammerless Safety Revolvers — .38
and. 32 Calibre .......

Mechanism of the Smith & Wesson Hammerless Safety
Revolver .....

Colt Derringer, .41 Calibre, Rim Fire

Automatic Extractor ....

Smith & Wesson Bicycle Revolver

Statuette Designed by the Author

The Greener Killer — Manufactured by W. W. Greener

The Pocket Pattern Killer

Pocket Colt Double-Action Revolver

Police Colt Double-Action Revolver

Winans' Patent Electric Sight ....

PAGE
244

244

245
248
250
252

253
260
26l
262
263

288
297

303

304
312
321
321

323
327

328

331
332

333

WORLD'S CHAMPIONSHIP GOLD MEDAL
OLYMPIC GAMES 1908

THE ART OF PISTOL
AND REVOLVER SHOOTING

CHAPTER I
PERSONAL

S probably no one has done more
pistol and revolver shooting,
or shot with pistols and revolv-
ers on a more systematic and
experimental basis, than I have,
the rough notes in this book
may be of use to those who
desire to take up this class of
shooting as a pastime. I had
the further advantage of the
instruction, advice and help of the greatest revolver and
pistol shot who has ever lived, — the late Chevalier Ira
Paine.

Sir Joshua Reynolds, when asked with what he mixed
his colours, replied: "With brains." I found that Ira
Paine's secret of success was that he shot "with brains."
He thought out everything, and in consequence got from
the pistol results which, until he did so, had been con-

2 Art of Revolver Shooting

sidered beyond the possibilities of the weapon, and some
of his scores constitute, to this day, world's records. The
gold medal revolver score framed at Gastinne Renette's
gallery, for instance, is by far the best score there.

When I first began revolver shooting I read in a
standard book on shooting that to hit, at a distance
of ten paces, a mark the size of a man, was about as much
as anyone could expect to do with a revolver! To-day
if a man at that distance cannot hit the pip of the ace
of hearts he has only himself to blame.

The nature of this work — the book contains practically
an account of my personal experience with pistol and
revolver — renders it almost imperative to use frequently
the pronoun "I," which, though certainly egotistical,
enables me to put my thoughts and instructions in ex-
actly the way I want to. Also by giving diagrams of
my "best on record" scores I enable the pistol shooter
to compare scores when he himself shoots.

I do not, except in the chapter on Self-defence — on
which subject I am glad to say my personal experiences
are nil — quote from other writers. Therefore I cannot
say, " Pistol shooters do so-and-so." All I say is, "I do
so-and-so." Also I ask to be excused for using shooting
and other slang, for often it is possible to express in one
word of the kind what might otherwise require a whole
paragraph of description.

Other ways of getting at results with the revolver may
perhaps be, and probably are, better than those which I
recommend; but I have been fairly successful with my
way, and this is my excuse for describing it. A man is

Personal 3

born a pistol shot, just as he may be born an artist, a
mathematician, or a horseman. The expert is there in
embryo and needs only to be developed. All the same,
most men can learn to shoot fairly well with a pistol if
they have not a trembling hand and if their eyesight is
not too bad. A little shakiness in a beginner is not of
consequence, and it may come from gripping the "hand"
of the pistol too hard. But I have never known a man
do much good with the pistol who was more than a very
moderate smoker or drinker.

My advice to all pistol shots is: Never fire a shot
carelessly or at random. If you are getting tired, stop
shooting. A few shots fired carefully are worth hundreds
"blazed away."

Think out the reason for any shot not having struck
"plumb centre"; find out the reason for the failure, and
never rest satisfied until you know why the bullet went
wrong. Discover if it was inevitable, as, for instance, in
the case of a gust of wind catching your arm, or a bad
cartridge, or, in the case of a muzzle-loading duelling
pistol, if the bad shot was due to a variation in the powder
charge. If it is remediable, remedy it with the very next
shot, and make up your mind that that mistake at any
rate shall not occur again. I always presuppose the use
of an accurate weapon. Practice with any other is waste
of time.

Many people say: "Oh, pistol shooting is such a use-
less accomplishment; such a waste of time!" Is it?
How often is a man's life — or a woman's, for that matter
— saved by knowing how to shoot a revolver? I do not

4 Art of Revolver Shooting

mean necessarily a man's own life, but that of someone
dependent upon him. There is no necessity to be a
bully, or, in most cases, to take human life; it is the mere
knowledge that you have the upper hand that often
gives the safety, and puts a physically weak person on
an equality with the strongest. Also there are cases
where money damages are out of the question, and
resort to the duelling pistol the only possible thing to
be done.

I remember, many years ago, my father was travelling
to St. Petersburg from the frontier, before the railway was
completed. It was winter; the driver lost his way, and
the sledge got off the road in a snow-storm at night.

ORIGINAL COLT REVOLVER

The driver began unharnessing the horses (it was a
"troika"), intending to ride off and abandon my father
and his sister, who was with him, to their fate. My father
happened to have in his pocket one of the first Colt
revolvers ever made, presented to him by Colonel Colt,
and he took it out and asked the driver to reharness the
horses and remain in the sledge. They waited thus all

Persoital 5

night, and in the morning found their way back to the
road. That is a case in which a revolver saved two lives
without its being discharged.

As they say in the States: "You seldom need a revol-
ver, but when you do you need it mighty badly."

Others say: "What is the use of learning revolver
shooting? Anyone can use a revolver at the short range
required for self-defence without special training. " Can
he? To begin with, many revolvers shoot almost a yard
too high; besides which a "duffer" with a revolver and
especially an automatic pistol is one of the most dan-
gerous persons to himself or his friends, and about one
of the safest things that a man who is a good pistol
shot can tackle.

Being able to shoot with gun or rifle does not neces-
sarily enable a man to hit even a large object with a
pistol. It is very important that anyone who is armed
with the shorter weapon should learn how to handle it,
and not trust to his skill with other firearms as an excuse
for not studying the peculiarities of the one-handed
"shooting-iron."

I find confirmation of my contention that ordinary
shooting does not teach revolver shooting, in a letter from
Mr. G. D. Giles, Special Correspondent of the Daily
Graphic, dated February 28th, 1901, from Koodoosberg
Drift. He writes:

" Having got the rations, in the shape of live-stock, the next
thing is to kill it, and this, in the absence of butchers, is not such an
easy thing as might be supposed. . . . An officer, armed with a
revolver, tries to get into a favourable position for a shot. The

6 Art of Revolve?" Shooting

cattle will not stand still, and the officer with the revolver walks
round them, the muzzle occasionally pointed in the direction of the
spectators. Suddenly there is a bang, followed by the ping of the
bullet as it flies across the camp, and the bullock turns unconcernedly
away. Then one of the men says: 'I think it dropped in the
Lancers . They shouted ! ' "

This exactly corroborates my statement that a
"duffer" with a revolver or an automatic pistol is more
dangerous to spectators and himself than to the object
which he wants to hit.

The man who knows nothing about a revolver will,
most likely, carry it in his pocket with the hammer down
on the cap of one chamber; then the slightest jar may send
it off. Or, thinking he "knows all about it," he carries it
at half-cock; then, when he draws in a hurry, the hammer
catches in his pocket, and he shoots himself. With an
automatic pistol there is even greater danger, especially
in returning it to the pocket after one shot has been fired.

Another advantage in pistol shooting as a sport is that
it is a " clean ' ' sport. There is no gambling or rough play.
No man who drinks or smokes heavily can possibly shoot
a pistol accurately. If he wishes to excel, he must get into
training as strict and regular as if he intended to row in
a boat race.

■■

TROIKA IN A SNOW-STORM

CHAPTER II

PERSONAL {Continued)

$ jfvs' *ft-

'i /[tT,

T is a fact that I became a pistol shot because I
was forbidden to shoot. My parents natur-
ally, but, as I thought at the time, most
unreasonably, forbade me to have
firearms when I was a very small
child. As a shot-gun or even a
gallery rifle would have ' ' given
me away," I was reduced to
smuggling in a French Flo-
bert pistol. But as I
found that the Flobert car-
tridges made too much
noise, and would be likely to attract attention, I got
the breech caps with only fulminate in them and then
filled them up with bread. The bread pellet, driven
by the fulminate of the cap, had just sufficient power
and penetration to go through paper targets and
the "running deer" which I made. Also I used to
"snuff" candles with it, and knock over tin soldiers.
In fact I was always playing with this pistol. I re-
member one day how my cat Matty, and I, were after
a mouse. I got a shot at the mouse, using a bulleted cap,

8 Art of Revolver Shooting

but I do not recollect hitting it. I think this constant
familiarity with the pistol made shooting with it become
second nature to me.

In taking aim, I do not close the left eye; indeed I
am physically unable to close one without shutting both,
but I can ignore what I see with either eye, being able to
look through a telescope with both eyes open, though all
the time seeing only with the one that I happen to put
to the eyepiece of the telescope. My eyes are equal as
to sight and strength, which is, I understand, unusual,
most men having a "master eye."

When travelling from the frontier to St. Petersburg,
a revolver which was hanging in our six-horse travelling
carriage would have come in useful ; but at that time I was
only six years old. I was with my aunt, nurse, and
brother, the last named an infant. It was a pitch-dark
night, and we had just changed horses. The driver, in
getting up, swung his cloak; the horses started, the man
fell, and we were off into the darkness! My aunt opened
a door, lowered the folding step, and, kneeling on it, tried
to get hold of the reins of the galloping horses but could
not reach them. She then got back, shut the door, and
prevented the nurse throwing herself and us children
out. All the time, the revolver instinct being latent
within me, I kept calling out : ' ' Take the pistol and shoot
the horses ! ' ' But nobody paid attention to me. Finally,
some mounted men overtook us, one or two of the horses
fell, and this stopped the rest.

Now, thinking the matter over, the course that I then
suggested is what I still consider would have been the

Personal 9

best thing for a revolver shot to do under the circum-
stances. Had he lowered the front window and broken
the backs of the prestashki (outside horses) , these would
have dragged their hind quarters under the front wheels
and so stopped the carriage without upsetting it. He
would then have had time to kill other of the horses if
necessary.

•

S^k

jjflTi^hL

_. r- - - ^

KuM%~- f T

®^ c.

^NH^

THE AUTHOR WITH HIS CAT " MATTY "

CHAPTER III

EVOLUTION OF THE REVOLVER

HE single-shot pistol, as soon as
rifling and the copper cap
were invented, quickly at-
tained great accuracy. In
fact the modern duelling
pistol, the most accurate up
to the present time of large
calibre pistols, is practi-
cally identical with the Joe
Manton pistol, though the
revolver is still being improved upon. For accuracy it is
to-day ahead of automatic pistols. The revolver is by no
means the embodiment of a modern idea; some of the very
earliest firearms involved the principle of a revolving
cylinder or of revolving barrels, but none was practicable
with flint-, wheel-, or match-locks. The introduction
of the copper cap enabled Colonel Colt to make the first
practical revolving pistol, and "fixed" ammunition made
possible the production of breech-loading revolvers.

There have been a few attempts to improve on the re-
volver by going back to modifications of the old "pepper-
box," or many-barrelled pistol, but the mechanical

Evolution of the Revolver

difficulties of making so many barrels shoot "together"
do not hold out much hope of success in that direction.
Before Colonel Colt took up the problem of designing a
practical revolver, many such attempts had been made
on wrong lines, and even the purpose of a revolver was
misunderstood. Even now this is not clearly grasped

ANCIENT FLINT-LOCK PISTOLS

by some, for only a few years ago a man gravely
assured the public, in letters addressed to various news-
papers, that a revolver was of no use because he did not
consider that it shot accurately at two hundred yards and
upwards! Imagine anyone wanting to shoot at such
distances with a revolver ! Still, up to four hundred yards
it is possible to hit a "second-class" rifle target.

Owing to the shortness necessary to make a revolver

Art of Revolver Shooting

a portable arm, the barrel cannot be made to shoot as
accurately as a long rifle-barrel will shoot. Also, owing
to the sights on a revolver being necessarily so close
together, at long ranges the accuracy of aim

VIEW SHOWING BARRELS HALF REVOLVED 1

BARRELS IN THE FIRING POSITION I

Colonial flint-and-steel revolver. Age, 170 to 200 years

attainable with a rifle cannot be Obtained with
a revolver, even supposing that the barrel of the
latter could be made to shoot as well as a rifle-barrel.
Match rifle-shots have, for this reason, their hind-sights

1 By permission of the Scientific American.

Evolution of the Revolver 13

placed at the end of the stock instead of on the breech
end of the barrel, in order to have the sights as far apart as
possible, while the modern Belgian match pistol, described

later, is sighted on a somewhat similar principle. The
adjustable butt shown here is intended to enable the
revolver to be shot accurately at its extreme limit of
range.

Art of Revolver Shooting

Colonel Colt, however, knew better than to think that
a revolver should shoot well up to two hundred yards.
He understood that there was need for a very small,

compact arm, which could be fired very rapidly for self-
defence at close quarters, still more at "half-arm distance,"
when a rifle would be useless. The single-shot pistols
left a man defenceless after he had fired his one shot,

Evolution of the Revolver

unless he stuck his belt full of pistols like a stage pirate.
At first some curious attempts were made to trans-
form a five- or six-chambered revolver into a ten- or

^hmsi

twelve-shot one by loading each chamber twice over; that
is to say by putting one charge in and then another on the
top of it. The front charge was fired first, then the one
behind it, — that is, when the two charges did not go off

16 Art of Revolver Shooting

simultaneously and burst the revolver! This naturally
was found to be an unpractical and a dangerous system ;
indeed that any sane man could have thought out such

a combination seems almost incredible. I have often
found, however, when rummaging among old patents,
harebrained devices of this nature. I have also seen a
fourteen-shot revolver with two barrels, one below the

Evolution of the Revolver

other, the cylinder having a double set of chambers, the
inner set for the lower barrel ! !

I have had one or two revolvers made with the ' ' saw-

handle ' ' of the old duelling pistols. I have won with them
at Bisley and found such stocks very good for deliberate
shooting, or rather, when only one shot has to be fired.
But it is necessary to use both hands for cocking, as the

18 Art of Revolver Shooting

projection which comes over the fork of the thumb
prevents one-handed cocking. It would be suitable
for double-action revolvers. Most likely Colt also

*"VjSl*,

EVOLVER

found this difficulty, and that is the reason for his having
invented the typical revolver handle, which, with slight
modifications, is used in most revolvers. A Dutch friend
of mine invented a very good handle grip for deliberate

Evolution of the Revolver

shooting. He put a lump of modelling wax on the handle,
gripped it hard till it took the impression of his fingers

EXTENSION STOCK AS APPLIED TO .44 SINGLE-ACTION REVOLVER

and palm, and then had it cast in metal. It makes a
very "hot" grip, but this can be partly overcome by-
having it hollow, open at the bottom, and pierced with
holes.

DICK TURPIN's RIDE

CHAPTER IV

SELECTING A PISTOL

O not buy a cheap revolver or

pistol by an unknown maker.

Not only is it very dangerous

to the shooter to use a weapon

'II ; \ j of the kind, but nobody can

|» Mfll I make any shooting with it.

If you do not wish to pay a
long price for your pistol,
rather buy a second-hand one
by a good maker than a new
one of inferior pattern. It is of importance, however,
to ascertain that the rifling is still perfect, that is to say
that it has not suffered deterioration from neglect or
wear.

You must first decide for what purpose you want the
pistol; a "general utility" weapon is of about as much
use as a hunter that is also a harness horse— not much
good for either purpose. If you want a hunter, buy an
Irish one; if a harness horse, get an American trotter. In
the same way, for whatever purpose you want a pistol,
buy one, if by any means you can do so, especially for
that purpose. Anyhow, it is useless to compete with a

Selecting a Pistol

short-barrelled pocket revolver, or with an automatic
pistol, against duelling pistols, .22 single-shot, or target
revolvers.

f=\

SMITH & WESSON NEW SOLID-FRAME REVOLVERS FOR SMOKELESS POWDER

The former class of revolver is intended only for self-
defence at short range, and has no pretensions to accuracy;
but a good single-shot pistol can beat almost any revolver.
I should have left out the word "almost" had I not seen
Ira Paine's Gold Medal score at sixteen metres at
Gastinne Renette's which beats any single-shot pistol
score that I have as yet come across.

Art of Revolver Shooting

Read the chapter carefully which describes the par-
ticular purpose for which you want the pistol, and buy
accordingly.

I think that six and
a half inches in the bar-
rel, exclusive of cylin-
der, is about the most

SECTION OF CYL-

INDER, show- practical length for a

ING HARDENED

steel shims, revolver ; of course, a

SIDE PLATE OF MILITARY
REVOLVER, SHOWING
RAISED STEEL BOSSES

UNFINISHED

longer barrel theoretically gives greater
accuracy, especially at long range, owing to there being
more length to burn the powder in, also owing to the

ENGRAVED .38 SMITH & WESSON

sights being set farther apart,— the last-named feature
minimises error in aiming. This advantage, however,

ENGRAVED RUSSIAN MODEL, SMITH & WESSON

is more than counterbalanced by its making the revolver

Selecting a Pistol 23

heavy at the muzzle, in consequence of which it must
balance badly. The duelling pistol has the barrel fluted
forward, which allows the barrel to be twelve inches long
and yet balance well, and the fourteen-inch size pistol
projects backward over the hand and thus balances.
The balance ought in every case to be as near the trigger
as possible. For a pocket revolver, a short barrel may
be an absolute necessity for portability. At Bisley some
men use very long barrels, and I believe seven-and-a-half-
inch barrels are not unusual in their revolvers; but I
prefer six and a quarter inches, exclusive of chamber,
and I do not consider — although the Bisley rules allow
it — that anything over that length in the barrel is a
"Military" revolver or should be permitted to be used
in military competitions.

See that the trigger-pull is "sweet," and that it has
no "drag." Also, have your trigger-pull not over four
and a half pounds. The pull is often left very heavy,
so as to be alterable to suit customers, and the shopman
may forget to have this altered. If you are not hampered
by rules, about three or three and a half pounds is the
best trigger-pull for general purposes. Have the thumb-
piece of the hammer slightly roughed to prevent slipping.
For rapid cocking, a rather long thumb-piece is an ad-
vantage, if it is a single-action revolver. But revolvers
are now made with such good double action that the latter
is preferable except for extreme accuracy.

I disliked a double-action revolver, except for a
pocket revolver, as with the older makes one could not
do accurate shooting when cocking with the trigger; but

24 Art of Revolver Shooting

the Smith & Wesson double-action .38 Military shoots
very well, and with the French regulation revolver, with
the former action, I have put the six shots in a two-

ELABORATELY CARVED REVOLVERS

Owned by the Author

and-a-quarter-inch space at twenty-five metres in
twelve seconds.

For a man whose hands are apt to get moist,
roughing the trigger may prevent its slipping. It
will, however, also make the finger sore if roughed

Selecting a Pistol 25

too sharp; it can be covered with rubber with ad-
vantage.

Some pistols have too narrow a trigger, almost like a
piece of wire. A wide, spoon-shaped trigger is best, as
less likely to cut the ringer, especially with the regulation
English heavy trigger-pull.

Get a pistol which, when you grip the stock properly,
has the barrel and your arm as nearly in a horizontal line
as possible. Many makes of revolvers, and all the auto-
matic pistols so far produced, have the stock much below
the level of the barrel, and the chambers and barrel are,
consequently, far above the hand. This makes shooting
more difficult; you are apt to cant the weapon to one side,
and the recoil is more severe on your wrist. The French
duelling pistol has the handle ideally placed, which
makes it much easier to shoot than the average revolver.
Most of the .22 calibre single-shot pistols have the
trigger too near the hand. Do not get a revolver with a
big stock, "specially made for the English market."
These big stocks spoil the balance, and are clumsy. A
man who holds a revolver properly does not need a big
stock, even if he has a big hand.

Writing of revolvers reminds me of an incident that is
said to have occurred during the Franco-Prussian war,
showing the advantage of a revolver over a sword in
battle.

A French cavalry soldier during a melee with Prussian
cavalry kept several of the latter's troopers at bay by
pointing his revolver at them in turn, although the re-
volver was empty, the cartridges it contained having all

26 Art of Revolver Shooting

been discharged. Then, thinking he would be safer with
a sword than with an empty revolver, he suddenly threw
away the latter and drew his sword, with the result that
he was at once cut down by the nearest Prussian.

SMITH & WESSON .44 DOUBLE-ACTION REVOLVER

On page 27 are given illustrations of the four principal
makes of revolvers : Smith & Wesson (" Winans' Model ") ,
"Bislcy" Colt, "Target" Webley, and Smith & Wesson
double-action Military.

I won my championships the first few years with a . 45
double-action cavalry Colt, using Eley's .45 black
powder ammunition. Since then I have shot with the

THE FOUR PRINCIPAL REVOLVERS : SMITH & WESSON (" WINANS

MODEL "), " BISLEY " COLT, " TARGET " WEI3LEY, AND SMITH

& WESSON MILITARY.

28 Art of Revolver Shooting

Smith & Wesson revolvers, either the . 44 calibre Russian
Model, the .45 Winans' Model, the .32 and .38 calibre
in Russian Model frame, the .38 Military double-action
Smith & Wesson, and the Dutch and the French army-
revolvers. The first I use with gallery ammunition,
U. M. C. cartridges, French revolver powder, as my
sixteen-metres, twenty-five-metres, and twenty-yards
"Any" or target revolver; the same revolver with full
charge as " Military" for fifty yards; the Winans' Model
sometimes both as "Military" and "Any" alternative
revolver at twenty or fifty yards, the .32 being my
fifty-yards "Any" revolver; the .38 Military Smith &
Wesson for rapid firing in the French Competitions at
twenty-five metres, and the Dutch for competing at
thirty metres in that country.

One of the reasons why the Smith & Wesson revolver
is so accurate is because so much care is taken by the
makers to have cylinder and barrel in perfect alignment ;
and it is not too much to say that I have never shot any
revolver of any other make which I can so safely trust not
to give me a wild shot.

To secure this result, the stop and stop -notch, which
arrest the momentum of the cylinder and hold it in position
during discharge, play the most important part. In all
cheap revolvers the notches are made in the soft steel of
the cylinder, and in consequence these notches soon wear,
putting the alignment out, which prevents accuracy.
When the notch gets too much worn, this makes firing the
revolver even a positive danger. In the Smith & Wesson
revolver this is obviated by a piece of hard steel being

Selecting a Pistol

fitted into the side of the notch which comes in contact
with the stop when the motion of the cylinder is checked.
This is a special patent of the firm.

SMITH & WESSON MILITARY REVOLVERS

This make of revolver also has steel bosses, or collars
fitted into the frame, to keep the hammer, trigger,
etc., from coming in contact with the sides of the frame.
Lately this firm have an additional arrangement for secur-

3° Art of Revolver Shooting

ing perfect concentric joining of the bore of the chamber
and barrel.

I merely designed the Winans' Model revolver to suit
former Bisley rules as to " Military " revolvers, and would
have used the Russian Model in preference, had the rules
permitted; but the Russian and United States army
revolvers were not considered " Military " revolvers by
those rules.

Ornamentation in a revolver is a matter of taste.
Personally, I prefer my "tools" to be as plain as possible,
without any engraving. All projecting screw-heads, etc.,
should be filed down flat to prevent their chafing the
hand; the trigger and thumb -piece of the hammer may
also be cross-filed to prevent slipping, butnotfiled" sharp"
enough to make one's thumb or finger sore; and I prefer
a chequered rubber stock.

I have my revolvers gold-, silver-, or copper-plated
all over, not for show, but to prevent a man's using one
of mine and saying, "So sorry — thought it was mine,
don't you know!" if in a competition I inadvertently
leave a revolver of mine on the firing ledge.

By having the colour of the plating varied, you know
at a glance if you have the right revolver for the par-
ticular work in hand: your "gold" for twenty yards;
"copper" for rapid firing; "silver" for fifty yards, and
so on.

For rough work, and in strong sunlight, a revolver
is best blued. I temporarily paint the rib, etc., with
"sight black," when competing on sunny days. The
pearl stocks, though looking slippery, really give one a

Selecting a Pistol 31

very good hold; when one's hand gets warm they stick
to the skin as if they were resined. Ira Paine always
used pearl stocks.

The most ornamental revolver I have ever seen is the
one shown in the lower illustration on page 24, which
was presented to me. It is in silver and carved ivory,
decorated by Tiffany, and was the main attraction in the
Revolver Section of the Chicago Exhibition. It is, I
believe, the most costly revolver that has yet been made.
The other has a silver handle bearing deer-heads modelled
by myself, the screw-heads forming the eyes of the deer.

I also have a very artistic pair of revolver "stock-
plates." These I had made in ivory and sent to Japan
to be inlaid with gold and coloured stones. I left the
design to the native artist, and he put a Japanese hawk-
ing scene on one, and on the other a picture of duck-
shooting with bow and arrow.

Of single-shot pistols by far the best, though also the
most expensive, is the Gastinne - Renette, a .44 calibre
muzzle-loading duelling pistol, shooting a round ball and
French smokeless powder. The same makers' .22 calibre
single-shot pistol, the Stevens, and Leeson .22 are also
very good. They are described in later chapters.

Of course, the revolver in its present form will have
to give place to something better. I rather think the
multi-shot pistol of the future will be on the revolver
principle, but with a means of making a tight joint, at the
moment of firing, between the cylinder and the barrel;
or that the cartridge will be automatically pushed out
of the cylinder into the barrel and fired from there ; also

32 Art of Revolver Shooting

that the cartridges, containing some condensed powder,
will be much shorter, so that the cylinder can also be
shortened. Likewise the cocking and the cylinder-
revolving will be done automatically by the recoil.

In prices revolvers vary greatly. The Smith &
Wesson costs about £5. The Webley solid frame
averages £3 in blue, and £3.ios. in nickel. The "Ex-
tractor," Mark III., .38, by the same makers, comes
to £4. 1 6s. Morris Tubes for revolvers (not less than
.320) costs from £1. 5s. 6d. to £1. 10s. 6d. The Morris
Tube Co.'s Trajectory Target (steel, for fifty yards)
costs £3. 3s., and their Safety Mantlet (7 feet x 3 x 3)
costs £10, and Butt (7 feet x 3) £2. 10s.

CHAPTER V

AMMUNITION

?p^»^o

Y aim throughout this work is
to make the book as com-
plete as possible on the sub-
ject of pistols, — single-shot
pistols, revolvers, and auto-
matic repeating pistols.

It was my original in-
tention to give illustrations
and minute descriptions of
all modern pistols and am-
munition, taking both black and smokeless powders; but
I found that this would tend to make the chapters on
pistols and ammunition resemble gunmakers' catalogues.
Therefore I illustrate only typical instances, and those
pistols and ammunition with which I have won prizes
and that, having used constantly, I know to be good.

Revolver ammunition is usually made in the following
calibres: .32, .38, .41, .44, .45, .455, and .457. Most of
these can be had loaded with various smokeless powders,
as King's semi-smokeless, Rirlite, Cordite, Walsrode,
French Revolver, etc.

The Union Metallic Cartridge Company, U. S. A.,
3 33

34 Art of Revolver Shooting

have supplied me with great quantities of .44 "gallery
ammunition," loaded with both round and semi-round
bullets. These have a small charge of black powder,
and I preferred this ammunition out of a Smith & Wesson
Russian Model revolver for self-defence, as well as for
competitions up to twenty-five yards, and I found it the
most accurate of any for exhibition shooting. I believe

■ 32-.44 is a special target
cartridge, containing II
grs. of powder and 83 grs.
of lead. Bullet seated even with mouth
of shell. Penetration, 5 J^-in. pine boards.
Gallery charge, 6 grs. of powder and 50
gr. round ball loaded in same shell.

,38--44 is also a spec-
ial target cartridge,
containing 20 grs. of
powder and 146 of lead, either self-lubri-
cating or grooved bullet. Bullet is seated
even with mouth of shell. Penetration,
6 ^-iri. pine boards. Gallery charge,
6 grs. of powder and 70 gr. round ball
loaded in same shell.

Ill WINCH£5TEP. ' . I

.3S Winchesterrifle
cartridge, contain-
ing 40 grs. of pow-
der and 180 grs. of lead. Penetration,
7 ^j-in. pine boards.

.44 Russian Model
is a cartridge for
long - range target
work. It contains 23 grs. of powder and
256 grs. of lead. Bullets are either self-
lubricating or the regular grooved. Pen-
etration, lYz ^i-in. pine boards. Gallery
charge, 7 grs. of powder and no gr.
round ball loaded in same shell.

.44 Winchester is
the regular model
73 Winchester rifle
cartridge, and contains 40 grs. of powder
and 217 grains of lead. Penetration, 6^
J^-in. pine boards.

.-f-^

.450 cartridge contains
13 grs. of powder and
226 grs. of lead. Eng-
lish or American cartridges can be used.

most professional stage- shooters use it for revolvers and
the .22 shot for single-shot Stevens pistols. I now have
found an even better load, which is the French smoke-
less powder. This does not foul, or lead, and one can
shoot hundreds of shots without cleaning. I only use
that now in U. M. C. shells for the .44 Smith & Wesson
and the .38 Army Model Smith & Wesson revolvers.

Ammunition

I suppose the various English makers of ammunition
could supply "gallery" charges in any of their various
calibre cartridges, but I know of none and should not
advise the beginner to try loading this sort of ammu-
nition in English cartridge-cases for himself. The dome
of the cap is generally higher than in American cartridges ■
if, therefore, a very small quantity of powder be put in
the case and the bullet pressed down, the bullet will come
down on the dome, stop up the flash hole, and cause a
misfire. The way to obviate this is to take a wad of

ft ^^^^^^. j

Powder, 5 gr. ; bullet,

40 gr. ; exact cal.,

0.223

Powder, 3 gr.; bullet,

30 gr. ; exact cal.

0.223.

|5:i2w.

Powder, 10 gr. ; bullet,

88 gr.; exact cal.,

0.313-

Powder, 13 gr.; bullet, 1 00 gr. ;
' exact cal., 0.313.

=32 GObfT':
'■NEW' POLICE.

Powder, 13 gr. ; bullet, 100 gr.
exact cal., 0.313.

suitable calibre, make a hole in the centre, and push the
wad down to the bottom of the cartridge before putting
in the powder, so as to fill up the base of the cartridge
and let the bullet "seat" on the powder, higher than the
dome. Makers can do this properly, but an amateur
may put the wad in too loosely, and a grain or so of
powder may get under the wad. The result would be
that, on the shot being fired, the wad would be driven
half-way up the barrel, and might at the next shot cause
an accident.

Art of Revolver Shooting

Be sure to use only low-pressure powder, if you use

smokeless, as high-pressure

powders are dangerous in a

revolver.

The .38 smith & Wesson special Many people do not un-

con tains 21 % grains of black pow- ^erstand this difference in

der and 158-grain solid base _ .

bullet. Penetration, eight and powder pressure, and injure

one-half "s-inch pine boards. This ^ revolyers b experiment-

is a very powerful charge and ex- J

trcmely accurate. Gallery charge [ng with what become practic-

6 grains of powder and 70-grain . ,, - f

round ball loaded in same shell. ally "blasting instead of

propelling charges.
For the twenty-yards "Military" competitions at
Bisley , in which one is not allowed
to use less than thirteen grains of
black powder (or its equivalent
in muzzle velocity of smokeless),
and 2163^ grs. of lead in the bullet,
or less than .45 calibre, I have used
Eley's .45 black powder cartridges
and the Union Metallic Cartridge
Company's similar ammunition in
most of my competitions. I think

The regular .38 United
States service cartridge (listed
as .38 long Colt) is used in
the same revolver and is very
accurate, but not so powerful
as the special. It contains
18 grains of black powder
and 150-grain hollow base
bullet. Penetration, six and
one-half Ji-'mch pine boards.

the Union Metallic Company's

gives rather less recoil and

The .32 Winchester is the reg- fewer " unaccountables " than

ular Winchester repcating-riflc . , T

cartridge. It is very accurate and the English equivalent ; 1 SUp-

powerful and gives good results

up to 200 yards. It contains 20

grains of black powder and 115-

grain bullet. Penetration, six and

one-half ^-inch pine boards.

to the use of it.

pose it has a slower-burning
powder. That is why, of late
years, I have confined myself
They also load these cartridges with

Ammunition

King's semi-smokeless powder, which I have used, and
with which I have made my "bests-on--record" in the

CUT SHOWING DETAILS OF
CONSTRUCTION

complete self-lubricating A, Lubricant; B, Plunger; C, Ducts;

cartridge D, Metal Lining

Explanation. — At the moment of explosion, the lead plunger (B), being
driven forward, forces the lubricant contained in the cavity (A) out through the
ducts (C) in front of the bullet, and at a point most effective.

The ducts being completely closed by the plunger, all escape of gas and loss of
force is consequently prevented.

rapid-firing competitions at twenty yards. At twenty-
five metres my record score made in Paris, April 6th
1909, was with French smokeless powder in U. M. C.
shells, and at thirty me- j - 1

tres with Dutch smokeless,
and for the fifty-yards com-
petitions I have used these
two makes of .45 calibre
ammunition (with black
powder) ; but my ' ' best-
on-record" scores at this
distance were made with
the Union Metallic Car-
tridge Company's .44 calibre
and .32 calibre cartridges, L-
loaded respectively with twenty-three and twenty-six
grains of black powder, with the Smith & Wesson "Self-
lubricating bullet."

f'MBWHWfc

38 Art of Revolver Shooting

I have also done very good shooting with the ordinary
Union Metallic Cartridge Company's .44 Russian Model
ammunition, twenty-three grains of black powder, and an
ordinary bullet.

I find that in competing at fifty yards one must, if
physically strong enough to stand it, shoot a big charge

AUTOMATIC SHELL EXTRACTOR AS APPLIED TO ALL JOINTED FRAME
MODELS OF THE SMITH & WESSON REVOLVERS

in the larger calibre revolvers to get the greatest accuracy;
with a .22 calibre single-shot pistol this is not necessary.
The charge of twenty-three grains of black powder has
a very heavy recoil, heavier than the English army .457
ammunition. I do not think that any other competitor
at Bisley uses such a heavy load. The .32 with eleven
grains powder charge has not an unpleasant recoil. It is

Ammunition

not nearly as heavy in the .32 Smith & Wesson Russian
Model (.44 "frame," .32 calibre) as the .45 with thirteen
grains powder in a .45 calibre, and is venr accurate at fifty
yards; but by the Bisley rules it cannot be used in
"Military Revolver" competitions, though it is allowed
in Continental military competitions. The solid frame
Smith & Wesson revolvers with smokeless powder are an

RELOADING TOOLS

improvement on their old black powder "break-down"
models.

Never use any ammunition different from that recom-
mended by the makers of the particular revolver you are
using, without consulting them. I have had several
narrow escapes (in one case having a bullet stop half-way
in the barrel) when experimenting with various powders
suitable for rifles but not for revolvers.

4° Art of Revolver Shooting

The new model Smith & Wesson cartridge with "Self-
lubricating bullet" (see diagram) is specially designed
to prevent fouling and so do away with the necessity
of constantly cleaning a revolver whilst shooting black
powder. The bullet is self-lubricating, instead of carry-
ing its lubricant in canilures. In this bullet a better
lubricant is used (or perhaps it lubricates better) than
that which can be held in canilures; and it is forced by
the explosion into the grooves of the barrel in front of,
instead of behind, the bullet. This is, of course, the
more correct principle, for the bullet, being smooth with-
out any canilure, gets an easier bearing on the rifling.
It is made in regular .32, .38, and .44 calibres, also in
.32 long, and special .38. Bullets are also sold separately.
I made my record at Bisley at fifty yards with this bullet
and twenty-three grains black powder.

Messrs. Smith & Wesson do not guarantee their
"break-down" action revolvers. They guarantee their
new solid-frame revolvers when used with smokeless
powder (smokeless powder cartridges are now made for
the .44 Russian Model revolver) and I would warn my
readers to be very careful when trying experiments with
such powders in revolvers ; to use only those recommended
by the makers of the revolver used ; and not to try loading
them themselves. Such powders also need special primers
and pressures. The French smokeless powder I consider
the best of all for gallery ammunition, and you can shoot
hundreds of shots without cleaning. Moreover in a
double-action it does not jam the revolver as powders do
which foul more.

Ammtmiiioii

The average cost of revolver ammunition is 2S. 6d.
for fifty cartridges. Kynoch's solid-drawn brass car-
tridges (for Smith & Wesson and Webley revolvers) run
to about £2. 15s. a thousand for .44; £2. 7s. 6d for .38;
and £1. 1 6s. 8d. for .32.

CHAPTER VI
CLEANING AND CARE OF WEAPONS

LWAYS clean your pistol the
moment you have finished
shooting. If you leave it over
till the next day you may as well
throw it away as expect to win
prizes with it.

The larger the calibre, the
easier it is to clean and the less
chance is there of spoiling the
rifling by jamming the rod in
it. I prefer wooden rods as less apt to spoil the rifling,
but the very narrow calibres require a metal rod (soft
metal for preference) , as the wood would have to be too
thin, and would be liable to break in the bore.

Clean from the breech, not from the muzzle end, ex-
cept of course the muzzle-loading duelling pistol; the
last fraction of an inch at the muzzle is where the rifling,
if damaged, spoils the shooting most. For the same
reason it is as well to have the rifling "reamed off " at the
mouth of the muzzle so that the edge of it is protected.
If you use nitro-powders, examine the interior of your
barrel at frequent intervals after cleaning, to see if there
is any damage going on.

Cleaning and Care of Weapons 43

Use the cleaning fluids recommended for the particular
powder you are using, as what may be good for one powder
is of no use for another. I use Hillias' cleaning fluid,
finishing up with Marlin gun-grease, but there are special
mixtures for cleaning after using cordite. Where nickel-
covered bullets are used a special chemical dissolves the
nickel left in the barrel.

The great thing is to clean thoroughly. I use cotton-
wool of the best quality rather than tow, and I do not
use boiling water unless in very exceptional cases, for fear
of overlooking a spot in drying, and getting rust in con-
sequence. If necessary to use water to remove fouling,
let it be as hot as possible.

Do not try to oil the lock, or put it right ; send it
occasionally to the maker to be seen to. It is also well
to have a cleaning kit with wooden, not metal (except for
calibres of .32 or less) cleaning rods, cotton-wool, cleaning
fluids, screw-drivers, etc., all in proper compartments,
and put back when used. See that the cotton-wool is
absolutely dry and clean before using it. Throw away
such pieces as are used. " Selvit " cut to proper size
like shot-gun wads is a good finish to push through the
barrel. Do not use too big a piece on your rod, such as
would get the latter jammed in the barrel, as you may
ruin the shooting qualities of the barrel by using force
to remove it. Have the cleaning rods long enough or
you may bark your knuckles.

I also do not like the cardboard cases in which Ameri-
can pistols are usually packed, for permanent use ; they
are not strong enough and are apt to injure the sights,

44 Art of Revolver Shooting

especially fine sights. A holster, again, is not the thing
in which to keep a revolver habitually, as the sights get
knocked about; also if the holster is used out-of-doors it
gets damp inside and rusts the weapon. Great care should
always be taken to see that the holster is absolutely dry in-
side before placing a revolver therein. To dry the inside
of a holster, make some oats very hot in a saucepan, and fill
the holster with them, emptying them out when cold.
Some Amercian holsters are made of india-rubber, to
prevent perspiration from the body rusting the revolver,
but such are very liable to retain dampness inside. The
holster which I prefer (for wearing, and not as a pistol-case)
is a cowboy holster, without any button to the flap. If
you fasten the flap, you cannot get the pistol out in a
hurry. A lining of rabbit fur is useful to keep out sand
or dust.

My pistol-cases are good, strong, and solid, made of
leather, with brass corners like gun-cases. Each case
holds four, placed either side by side, each pistol in its
own compartment, or, with a tray, two in the tray and
two below. If you have only two, they can be put in a
case without this upper tray, or the tray can be used for
cartridges. Under all circumstances use a good lock, —
not the sort that any key fits, — keep the case locked, and
wear the key on your watch-chain so that you may be sure
nobody will be able to get at it. Keep the case in a dry
place, and look at the pistols occasionally, when they are
not in constant use, to see that they are not rusting.

Keep your cartridges, if not in the same case as the
revolvers, locked in a good leather case. This may be

Cleaning and Care of Weapons 45

fitted with compartments for various calibres and loads.
The word "loaded" may with advantage be inscribed
inside the lid of the pistol-cases. People then feel less
encouragement to meddle with the contents.

CHAPTER VII

SIGHTS

TGHTS are made in many forms. Some
suit one man best; others another.
You cannot decide which suits your
individual case without trying each
sort for yourself.

When you find one form which
suits you, it is a pity to risk spoiling
your shooting by changing to others;
a beginner should never do so, or he
will get into an uncertain way of taking his sights,
instead of using always the same, the only way to make
reliable, consistent shooting. Of course, all your sights
may be of no use if you are going to shoot in a com-
petition, owing to the authorities making some new rule
as to "fit for rough usage." In such a case it will be
necessary for you to shoot with whatever sights are
allowed by the rules.

My patent sight has, so far, complied with every
rule, and it can be used even for hammering nails and yet
not surfer damage.

The main point is to have a front sight that is at once

easily seen, and of which you see each time the same

Sights

amount, and not more at one time than at another. Un-
less this is the case you cannot keep your elevation.

Also the "U" in the back sight should have bevelled
edges, in order to give a sharp edge; otherwise it looks
"woolly."

Again, if you are not able to see daylight each side
of the front sight when it is in the "U," you cannot be
sure that you are not covering, on one side or the other,

Side view End view

ELEVATING REAR-SIGHT

Side view End view

" PAINE " FRONT SIGHT

^ i

Side view End view Side view End view

ELEVATING REAR-SIGHT FRONT SIGHT

End view of rear
target sight

Side view of front
target sight

TARGET SIGHTS

Front Rear

LYMAN SIGHTS

part of the front sight. Consequently you cannot tell
whether your aim is or is not in horizontal axis with your
barrel.

The reason I prefer a "U"- to a "V "-shaped notch in
the hind sight is because in the "V" you do not see this
daylight so well.

The greater distance between the pistol hind-sight and
the eye enables a man with normal power of vision to shoot

48 . hi of Revolver Shooting

a pistol without the aid oi spectacles up to a more ad-
vanced ;>Kix than is the case with rifle shooting. A healthy
eye Loses only with age its elasticity or its capacity to
adjust the focus to near objects. A rifle hind-sight is

oi course very near the eye by comparison with the
distance of a pistol hind-sight when the arm is at full
stretch.

The same principle is involved when an elderly man
has to hold a newspaper a long way from his eyes if he
wants to read without glasses. 1 know several men who
have come to need glasses for reading, who yet do not need
them for pistol shooting.

As soon as you can shoot well enough to know whether
bad shots arc the fault of the sighting of the pistol, or
oi your own holding, you can sight the pistol properly for
yourself; and in this way you can do the sighting much
more accurately, and with greater nicety, than by taking
the weapon to a. gunmaker and saying: "Alter the sights
to shoot three inches higher, and two inches to the left
at twenty yards, open the 'U ' a little," and so on. In-
stead, have front and hind sights made oi horn, (put
in temporarily A without any "U" in the hind sight, and
set both hind and front sights a little higher than you
think necessary. Then go to the range with your pistol,
ami take with you files oi various sizes, including some
that arc round. Make a slight "U" in the measured
centre of the top edge oi the back sight. Shoot a few-
shots at the range you want to sight for -taking care
that you do not shoot right over the top of the butt,
owing to being sighted too high and then keep working

Sights 49

with the files, first at one sight, thou at the other, until
you get both approximately right.

Do not cut the "U" down too close to the barrel, for
if you do it will give you a "blurry " aim, especially when
the barrel gets hot. If you find you shoot too high owing
to the "U" not being cut down, rather than file the "U"
unduly low take out the front sight and put in a higher
one. The French duelling pistol has very low sights,
and the front one is a stalkless bead, like the sight of a
shot-gun, according to French rules these must not be
altered or painted. For rapid firing this sort of sighting
is very good till the barrel gets hot.

When filing, remember the following points:

First, filing the bottom of the "U" makes you shoot
lower.

Secondly, filing the top of the front sight makes you
shoot higher.

Thirdly, filing the side of the "U" or the front sight
makes you shoot towards the side you have filed.

Therefore by filing only a very little at a time where
filing is needed you can gradually get your sighting perfect.
I repeat, be sure to file only a very little at a time, or you
will overdo it. As in sculpture, you can easily remove, but
you cannot replace. If you do remove too much any-
where you may be able to counteract the fault by filing so
as to alter the direction of the aim. For instance, you have
been shooting too much to the right. This you can correct
by filing the left of the front sight, or the left of the " U, "
— whichever makes the more symmetrical job, — but if,
in doing so, you make the front sight too small or too

5° Art of Revolver Shooting

narrow, or the "U" too wide, the only thing left to be
done is to put in a new front or hind sight as the case
may be, and then begin shooting and filing again.

When you have got the sighting perfect, work carefully

SPECIAL TARGET SIGHTS

with your file (taking great care not to spoil the edge of
the "U" nearest to the eye when aiming), and give a
chamfered or bevelled edge to the far side of the "U,"
so that it has a knife-edge. This is to make the "U"

Sights 51

look clear and yet allow the back sight to be strong. On
this principle you can let the hind sight be strong, and
over a quarter of an inch thick, and yet have a nice, clear
"U." Do not have the "U" deeper than a semicircle.
If the "U" is too deep it hampers your view of the
object aimed at. In fact it really should be a semicircle
and not a "U" at all. You can also file all round the
front sight, giving it a taper towards the muzzle, but keep-
ing unaltered the silhouette that you see when aiming, so
that the outline shall stand out clear to the eye.

A gunmaker's vise, padded in order that it may not
injure the weapon held in it, is a useful thing, as it of
course leaves the operator's two hands free to use the files;
also it proves convenient to hold the pistols in when
they are being cleaned.

I cannot tell you how much you may undercut the
front sight, assuming you intend to use it on a revolver at
Bisley, as the rules alter so from year to year. I have an
undercut bead- sight which in some years was allowed at
Bisley as a "Military Revolver, " and in other years was
not. If you are in any doubt as to your weapon's being
allowed, the best plan is to send it to the Council of the
National Rifle Association for their approval in plenty
of time before the Bisley meeting, so that you can alter
it if it be not passed.

When you have finished, and have had a final shoot
in order to make sure that this finishing has not spoilt
your elevation, etc., send your pistol to the maker and
ask him to make your sights precisely like your model
ones, and to fix them permanently on the revolver —

5 2 Art of Revolver Shooting

without screws if for Bisley use, so as to comply with the
rules. If when you get the pistol with, these new sights
the work has been properly done, very little more filing
will set everything to rights.

Should you not be shooting at Bisley, or at any of
those clubs which shoot under Bisley rules, you can, of
course, get a pistol with Smith & Wesson's "Ira Paine"
adjustable sights. Carry a miniature folding gilt screw-
driver and sight-case on your watch chain, as I do, and
you will then be able to shoot in any light, at any range,
or in any style of shooting, by merely giving a slight turn
to the adjusting screws to alter your elevation or direction ;
or if a sight breaks, or you want one of a different size
or shape, you will be able to produce one from your
little case of sights.

EXTRACTS FROM SPECIFICATION OF WALTER WINANS'
REVOLVER FRONT-SIGHT

"Great difficulty has hitherto been experienced in seeing the
same amount of front sight each time aim is taken, unless the base
of the sight is sufficiently undercut to form a ' bead sight ' ; such
undercutting being, however, detrimental, as it weakens the 'sight'
and renders it very liable to injury, and is not permissible in Bisley
revolver competitions. The object of my invention is, therefore,
to overcome this difficulty, and to this end I make the 'sight'
of metal, horn, wood, or other hard substance, with a strong, wide
base, preferably of the 'barleycorn' or triangular section.

"The face of the upper part of the 'sight' facing the marks-
man (as much of it as it is desirable to see in aiming) is made
vertical, or inclined slightly towards the marksman, so as to cause
it to appear black, as it is in shadow. The visible part of the sight
below the face inclines forward from the marksman, and downward,

Sights

so as to reflect the light and enable the face of the sight to be
at once distinguished by its difference of shade from the lower
part. It may be polished or plated to assist in reflecting the
light, while, as a contrast, the vertical face is cross-filed, or 'rough-
ed,' or may be hollowed out, so as to be in shadow, and give it a
' dead ' black appearance.

"In the accompanying drawing I have shown what I consider
the best means of carrying this out. Fig. I is a side view, full size

f/g /

Fic.S

Fic3i

& <*>

F/c4.

FicS

Ficd Fic7

FicV

WINANS' REVOLVER FRONT-SIGHTS

of a portion of a revolver barrel fitted with my improved 'front-
sight.'

"Fig. 2 and Fig. 3 are sections of the barrel at A B, showing
two forms which the sight may assume in section, one having
straight sides, the other concave. I show in Figs. 4 and 4*, on a
larger scale, for the sake of clearness, a side and plan view of the
sight shown in Fig. 1, and in Fig. 5 a modification of this shape.
Figs. 6 and 7 are end views, showing two sectional forms of the
sight, and corresponding in size with Figs. 4 and 5. In Figs. 1 and
4 it will be seen that a is the vertical face of the sight, which is

Art of Revolver Shooting

designed to present a dark appearance to the marksman; and b is
the polished, inclined surface, which takes a rounded form. In
the modification, Fig. 5, the face a is slightly inclined towards the
marksman, and the bright or polished surface b takes the form of
a flat incline."

^'^

s*r=~

CHAPTER VIII

LEARNING TO USE THE PISTOL

^ ''T is assumed that you have procured an
>F\iS*, accurate pistol, properly sighted.

First, open it, or, if it is a muzzle-
loader, put in the loading rod and
note if it goes in to the chamber, to
make sure that it is unloaded. Always
do this before handling a pistol.

Take a bottle of sight-black, and
paint both sights over with the liquid.
I have seen men try to compete, even at
Bisley, with their sights in a shiny state, which made it
impossible for them to make good shooting on a white
target with a black "bull." On the Continent the paint-
ing of sights is not allowed in competitions, and very
rightly so in my opinion.

For game shooting, or for military purposes, of course
a ' ' dead ' ' white (ivory for choice) tip to the front sight
is preferable, or my patent military front-sight which
answers the purposes both of a light on dark, or dark on
light, sight. For the French duelling pistol the front
sight must be silver, by the regulations, not black.

With a pistol the first thing to consider is safety.

56 Art of Revolver Shooting

It is, owing to its shortness, one of the most dangerous of
firearms to handle. Even an expert must exercise great
care, whilst in the hands of a beginner or of a careless
person it may become fearfully dangerous. I have when

OLYMPIC REGULATION 50 METRES PISTOL TARGET

teaching men how to shoot had many very narrow escapes
from being shot. Indeed in some instances it was not
safe even to be behind them, for they would turn round
with the pistol at full- cock, and pointing at one, and then
perhaps ingenuously remark, "I can't understand why

Learning to Use the Pistol 57

the thing won't go off; look, I am pulling the trigger
as hard as I can. " ( !) Then, a safe background is indispens-
able. Some people think that if the target is fastened to
the trunk of a tree all must be well, since — so they
argue — the bullet cannot go through the tree. This may
be so if the tree be hit, but the bullet will, very likely, go
past the tree when the beginner fires, or — and this is just
as dangerous — it may graze the tree and then go off at a
tangent. Also, in shooting with round bullets, and with
light gallery ammunition, the bullets may rebound from
a hard tree and strike the shooter or someone near him.
This I have seen actually happen.

I also remember, many years ago, a servant being
told to take an old Colt house-protection muzzle-loader
out into the garden, and to empty the chambers there.
They had been loaded many years, and the weapon needed
reloading to avoid a possible misfire. He fired only one
shot, then came back to us limping badly. Asked why
he had not fired the rest, he replied that he had "no use"
for another shot. It seemed that he had fired at a
brick wall, distant only a few feet from him, with the
result that the bullet had come back and hit him in
the knee.

A good background is a high, sandy bank, a thick pile
of fagots, or, if not closer than fifty yards, a high brick or
stone wall. The target may be placed fifteen or so yards
out from the wall in order to prevent any possible danger
through a bullet's coming back on the shooter, who will
in any case then be far enough away from the wall for
safety. If a lot of shooting be done, and many shots hit

58 Art of Revolver Shooting

the wall at the same spot, a hole may gradually be made
in it. This happened in the first year that I shot at
Wimbledon, when the butt consisted of old "sleepers."
Iron butts are expensive, especially with the large surface
required by beginners at twenty yards, for a beginner
cannot, in my opinion, shoot with safety at a background
less than twelve feet high and about ten feet wide. Even
then there should not be anyone within a distance of
half a mile beyond it, for a novice may let off his pistol by
accident. Shooting out to sea is safe, if a good lookout
be kept for boats. The glare from the water, however, is
not conducive to accurate marksmanship. A sand- or
a chalk-pit is a good place to shoot in ; also a high chalk
cliff makes a good, safe background. It is of course
dangerous to shoot anywhere where people may cross
unexpectedly.

A pistol should never under any circumstances be pointed
in any direction where it would matter if it went off by
accident. This rule should be observed even with an
empty pistol, because so many " I-did-not-know-it-
was-loaded" accidents have already occurred. Any
child seen to point a firearm, even a toy one, at anybody
should immediately be given a severe whipping.

The butt which for years I have used for disappearing
and stationary targets is an old-fashioned third-class
iron rifle target, six feet by four, with a sheet of thick
lead one foot square hung in the middle. It is the latter
that is struck ; the rest of the butt is there merely in case
a pistol might be let off unintentionally, say owing to the
hammer slipping, or some such cause. The bullets,

THE AUTHOR S SHOOTING POSITION

60 Art of Revolver Shooting

burying themselves in the lead, do not splash, and the
lead falls off in clusters and can beremelted. A beginner,
however, would not be able to keep all his shots on the
lead alone, so that a butt of this kind is suitable only for
a man to use who may be depended upon implicitly,
even in rapid firing, to place every bullet on the lead
plate, or, in the event of the pistol's being fired uninten-
tionally on the iron butt.

1 n order to make pistol- and rifle-ranges safe, in 1895
I took out a patent for a safety butt, of which I give
a diagram. The following is a description of it: —

\\\ order to diminish the number of ricochets from bullets
striking the earth short of the target butts, it is usual to build, at
intervals across the range, walls of turf, so that a bullet dropping
short of the target will bury itself therein. If, however, a bullet
grazes the lop of one of these walls, it will ricochet as badly as ever,
particularly if the turf wall or bank is faced with timber, as is
sometimes the ease.

To render the turf walls more efficacious than heretofore, I furnish
them at their top with a structure from which the bullets will not
glance so as to be diverted from their course and caused to assume
a dangerous direction.

1 apply to t lie summit of the turf walls or banks a line of planking,
the front of which, towards the firing-point, is perpendicular, while
the back is chamfered off to a knife-edge at the top. The inclined
back of this planking is covered with a layer of felt, india-rubber,
or similar soft material, the edge of which projects above the knife-
edge of the planking, in a slightly forward direction, towards the
firing-point.

In the accompanying drawing 1 have shown, in end view, a
turf wall furnished, in accordance with my invention, with the
non-deflecting planking and fell. A is the wall or bank of earth

Learning to Use the Pistol 6*

covered with turf, which will slop all bullets fired in I lie direction
of the arrow which fairly strike it. B is a, wooden rail or plank
mounted on the summit of the hank- and having a perpendicular
face toward the shooters, and an inclined or chamfered back as

\ ^> ft 31

IP \ "km

PATENT SAFETY BUTT

shown. Cis the strip of felt, india-rubber, or other flexible material,
attached to the back of the planking B, and projecting slightly
above the top edge of the said planking in a forward direction.
In practice, a bullet grazing the top of the turf wall would be

62 Art of Revolver Shooting

prevented by the planking from glancing away in a dangerous di-
rection, although the said planking would not stop its course in the
direction of the target. In the same way if a bullet touches the
topmost edge of the planking, the felt or india-rubber will prevent
an upward ricochet; while the bullet, if merely touching the felt
or other soft material only, will not be appreciably diverted from
its course.

Having got a butt, the learner should take a firm,
narrow wooden table and place it some ten yards from the
target. This target is preferably a "Bisley fifty -yards
target," four-inch bull's-eye. The Bisley cardboard
targets are cheap, and, by pasting white patches on the
white, and black on the bull's-eye bullet-holes, one target
can be used for a long time. I refer to the fifty-yards
target because this four-inch bull's-eye is very easy to
hit at ten yards' range. The Bisley revolver ' ' bull's-eyes "
count, at all ranges, seven points; the concentric rings
counting one point less, each, till the outermost one,
which counts two points. The highest possible score,
therefore, for the six shots is forty-two, or six times seven.
It is best to shoot at this very big bull at ten yards, as
making bull's-eyes encourages the beginner. As he be-
comes more proficient the two-inch twenty-yards "bull"
can be substituted. This I think preferable to going
back farther from the target as your skill increases;
also it is safer, for the nearer the shooter is to the butt,
the wider his shots would have to be for him to miss it ;
whereas, if he goes back to fifty yards he may easily
shoot over a very high butt.

I am for the moment teaching "bull's-eye" shooting,

Learning to Use the Pistol 63

but, as I explain in my books on rifle shooting, I consider
it preferable, if practicable, instead of target shooting
to shoot at an object which has no bull's-eye.

Place your empty pistol on the table, the weapon
lying on its left side with the muzzle towards the target.
The table is preferably a narrow one, so that during the
process of loading the pistol the muzzle points to the
ground beyond the table and not at the table itself, an
accidental discharge being thus immaterial. A table a
foot wide is about right ; the length does not matter pro-
vided the table be long enough to hold your glasses,
cleaning implements, etc., and cartridges.

Position. — The position for shooting, which I am
now going to describe, is one in which I shoot and the
one which I have found from experience suits me best.
This position, however, will have to be modified according
to the build of the shooter (I am five feet ten inches tall,
and weigh 168 pounds) ; a man stouter or shorter-necked
than I am, might have to stand more sideways. I
remember once, on the first day of a Bisley meeting,
the non-commissioned officer in charge of my target
saying: "Excuse me, sir, you are standing wrong."
I said: "What am I doing wrong? Show me." He
took my revolver — it was empty (I had been merely
looking along the sights at the target to see if they needed
blacking) — and showed me the regulation, conventional
position — right side to the target, right arm bent, head
and neck bent down to look along the sights, little finger
under end of stock, etc. The position he showed me not
only cramps one, strains the eyes (from having to look

64 Art of Revolver Shooting

' ' round the corner ' ' to the right) , and prevents one from
being able to shoot at moving objects, but in addition
one is very apt to be hit in the face by the revolver from
the recoil of a heavy charge. A beginner almost in-
variably stands in this awkward, sideways position; it
is also the conventional position with all artists, just as

HOW TO COCK A REVOLVER

raising the right arm in jumping a fence (see the right-
hand figure in tail-piece on page 108). I suppose the
origin of it is the conventional duelling position — trying
to give your opponent a narrow target to aim at — but
this is wrong even for duelling, as I explain in the chapter
on that subject. From the shape of some men's figures,
though, I am of opinion that there are men who would

Learnmg to Use the Pistol 65

present a narrower mark — especially in the region of the
belt — when facing an enemy! But this is a digression.

Stand facing the target, the right foot pointing straight
for the target, or perhaps a shade to the left (if the ground
be slippery this gives you a firmer foothold) ; the left heel
distant from six to nine inches to the left of the right
foot, according to your height (my distance is eight
inches), and about an inch farther back; the feet turned
out about as much as is natural to you when standing.
Nails in the boots, or corrugated rubber, give a firmer
hold, especially in short, dry grass.

Stand perfectly upright, not craning your head for-
ward; the left arm should hang down straight, and close
to the side, in the position of "Attention." Some people
bend the left arm and rest the hand on the hip; but I
think this looks affected, and it is not as workmanlike as
if the arm hangs straight down.

If you are trying to "hold" an especially important
shot, and find yourself wobbling off your aim, it is a
help to grip your thigh hard with your left hand; this
especially applies in a gusty wind.

Now lift the pistol with your right hand (the weapon
is empty, remember) and cock it. There are two ways
of cocking: one using both hands and one using only the
shooting hand. I do not refer to the double-action cock-
ing by pulling back the trigger for the moment.

This single-handed cocking is done by putting the
thumb on the hammer, and by the action of the thumb
muscles alone bringing it to full-cock. Take particular
care that the first finger is clear of the trigger, or else

66 Art of Revolver Shooting

you will either break or injure the sear notch, or have an
accidental "let-off." With practice, this way of cocking
becomes very easy, and can be done with great rapidity.
I personally can also let the pistol down to half-cock
(manipulating it with one hand, with the trigger finger
and thumb) ; but I would not advise a beginner to try
this, except with an empty pistol, and even then only
with one that he does not mind the chance of spoiling,
as he is very apt to break the nose of the sear if he
bungles it.

By practice, the thumb and forefinger muscles {abduc-
tor pollicis and adductor indicis) develop enormously, so
you need not mind if at first this work of cocking seems dif-
ficult; but stop as soon as the muscles feel tired, or you
may strain them. Pistol shooting is good also for the flex-
ors of the forearm and for the dorsal muscles. A small
hammer with short "fall" is easiest to cock, as well as to
make good shooting with, for such a hammer takes less
time in falling, and the aim is, in consequence, less likely
to be disturbed.

The beginner will find that it assists the cocking to
give the pistol a slight tilt to the right and upwards,
taking great care to bring it back with the hind sight
horizontal afterwards, as holding the sights tilted is one
of the chief causes of bad shooting.

In double-handed cocking, assist the right hand by
taking the revolver behind the chambers with the left
hand, so as not to get burnt if it should go off by accident;
with a pistol it is handier to grip farther forward;
keep the barrel horizontal and pointed at the target, not

Learning to Use the Pistol 67

(if you are competing) towards your left-hand neighbour,
as is often done; and, while it is thus steadied, cock the
revolver gently, not with a jerk, bringing the hammer
well beyond full-cock, so that it sinks back into the bent
with a well-defined " click," keeping the first finger clear
of the trigger.

Now, stand with the pistol in your right hand, just
back clear of the table; right arm full stretch; thumb

THE CORRECT WAY TO HOLD A REVOLVER

stretched out along the revolver (see illustration), but
the first finger must be outside the trigger-guard (not
touching the trigger) during this stage. The duelling
pistol has to be held differently, as will be seen in that
chapter.

Some Englishmen shoot with the second finger on the
trigger and the first along the revolver; but this is a
clumsy way, and the first finger is apt to be burnt with
the escape of gas from the cylinder. I have never seen

Art of Revolver Shooting

men of any other nation do this. The habit was acquired
from shooting the Martini rifle, the clumsy "grip" of
which made this manner of holding necessary.

The great thing is to have your grip as high as you can
on the stock, in line with the axis of the barrel, or as near
this as is practicable. With the Smith & Wesson Russian
Model I have it is as shown in the diagrams, actually
in line with the bore- of the barrel.

THE CORRECT POSITION FOR THE THUMB

Some American revolvers for the British market often
have specially long, big handles, or stocks, because of the
habit (or is it the Regulation Position?) of holding the
stock low down with the little finger beneath, prevalent
in England. Now, this sort of position makes the recoil
come at an angle to the wrist, throws the barrel up at the
recoil, spoiling the accuracy, and puts more strain on
the wrist than is necessary. I remember a very strong-

Learning to Use the Pistol 69

wristed man firing one of my heavily charged fifty-yards
revolvers and, owing to holding it in this way, spraining
his wrist at the first shot; yet I have fired hundreds of
rapid-firing shots straight on end with it without hurting
myself. I take the recoil just as a man catches a hard-
thrown ball, letting arm, hand, and wrist fly up all
together.

The pistol-barrel, hand, and arm should all be nearly
in one line, the thumb along the left side, so as to prevent
jerking to the left in pressing the trigger (in the same
way as the left arm is fully extended in shooting with
the shotgun) , and not crooked, as all beginners insist on
holding it.

You must be constantly on the watch that you do not
crook your thumb, until the extended position becomes
second nature to you. Some makes of revolvers have the
extractor lever in a position which renders this grip with
extended thumb impossible, and then it has to be held
with the "duelling grip." This applies also to most
double-action revolvers.

For the benefit of beginners who are not target rifle-
shots, the following explanation may be necessary.
The target, for the convenience of locating shot-holes, is
supposed to represent the face of a clock. The top of
the bull's-eye (which we term "bull" for brevity) is
called XII o'clock, as that is, of course, where the numeral
XII appears on a clock face, and so on for all the other
numerals : half -past four, for instance, is half-way between
where the numerals IIII and V appear on a clock. I was
once shooting in the presence of a German naval officer,

70 Art of Revolver Shooting

and, when I made a "half-past four" "bull" shot, he said,
"South-east," his professional instinct making him
liken the target to the face of a compass.

First take a deep breath, and fill your lungs. Now
slowly bring your right arm to the horizontal, keeping
your eyes fixed on the bottom edge, — at "six o'clock" of
the "bull"; whilst you are doing this, put your forefinger
inside the trigger-guard, and gradually begin to feel the
trigger and steadily increase the pressure on it straight
back, not sideways. Whilst you are doing all this, also
gradually stiffen all your muscles so that you are braced up,
especially about the right shoulder, as though you were
walking along the pavement and saw a man coming towards
you whom you meant to shoulder out of your path.

You may breathe naturally until the revolver is
levelled, then hold your breath; if you cannot get your
aim satisfactorily before you feel you want to take a
fresh breath, lower the pistol, take a deep breath, and try
again. If you have followed these instructions carefully,
you will find, when the hind sight comes to the level of
your eyes (closing your left eye or not, as you find best,
without any movement of the head), the front sight will
be seen through the middle of the "U" pointed at the
bottom of the bull's-eye, the top of the front sight just
touching it at "six o'clock." If everything has been
done perfectly, at the moment this occurs, the pressure
on the trigger will have been increased sufficiently to
cause the hammer to fall, and, after it has fallen, you
will see the top of the front sight still just touching the
bull's-eye at its bottom edge.

Learning to Use the Pistol 7*

If the pistol had been loaded (assuming, of course, that
it was an accurate-shooting one and properly sighted),
you would have had a central bull's-eye for your shot.
Most likely, however, you will find that the pistol came
up all of a tremble, and that, as the hammer fell, the
front sight was jerked to one side of the bull and perhaps
even hidden by the hind sight.

Do not be discouraged, but cock the pistol and try
again. By the way, it is best to have a "dummy"
cartridge or an exploded one in the pistol whilst do-
ing this "snapping" practice, as otherwise the jar may
do damage to the pistol and perhaps break the main-
spring. There are dummy cartridges, made with a rub-
ber "buffer," for this practice. Preliminary practice with
the duelling pistol is slightly different, and is explained
later.

If you still find your hand shaky (and it is not naturally
so), it most probably arises from your gripping too hard.

The action of " letting-off " should be like squeezing
an orange — a squeeze of the whole hand. Start with a
light grip when your hand is down, and gradually squeeze
as you come up, the trigger-finger squeezing back; the ham-
mer will then fall without your having the least tremor
and without the sights moving off the point they covered
during the fall of the hammer. The main thing of all in
pistol shooting is to squeeze straight back. Whenever you
find yourself shooting badly, see if you are not ' ' pulling
off to one side," or snatching; and in nine cases out of
ten you will discover that this was the cause of your bad
shooting.

72 Art of Revolve?' Shooting

Some men can never squeeze the trigger straight back,
and have to allow for this by getting the hind sight ' ' set
over" to one side to correct it; but this is a slovenly way
of shooting, and, as the pull to one side may vary accord-
ing to the "jumpiness" of the shooter, it prevents his
being a really first-class shot.

Keep the hind sight perfectly horizontal ; beginners are
prone to cant it on one side, which puts the bullet to the
side towards which you cant.

After a little practice you will be able to "call" your
shots, that is to say, you will be able, the moment the
cartridge explodes, to say where the shot has struck the
target, as you will know where the sights were pointed
at the moment of the "squeeze-off."

After six shots, make a pencil-cross over each bullet-
hole, so as to know where your former shots hit. After
twelve hits it is best to take a fresh target. At the end
of the day's shooting you can cover the holes by pasting
black patches on the bull's-eye holes and white on the
rest, and use the target again.

I will now say why I insist upon the importance of a
table being set before the shooter. The usual procedure
for a beginner with the pistol is this: He cocks the pistol,
using both hands, pointing it at the spectators on his
left whilst doing so ; he then holds it with his right arm
close to his side, pointing it towards the ground and at his
right foot. He then brings it up with a flourish, high
above his head, and lowers it to the target, jerks the trig-
ger and "looses off." Of course he does not hit the
target, but makes a very wild shot. After a few more

Learning to Use the Pistol 73

shots on this principle, getting more and more wild, and
making bigger flourishes with his pistol, he finally lets it
off by accident whilst his arm is hanging by his side ; and
he is lucky if he does not make a hole in his right foot.

I remember a man once telling me (he professed to be
an expert with the revolver) that I was wrong in keeping
my revolver pointed in front of me towards the target
when preparing to shoot. "You ought to hold it like
this," he said, letting his right arm hang close to his side
and keeping the revolver pointing downwards; "then it
is quite safe." At that moment it went off and blew a
big hole in the ground within an inch of his foot !

By my system of having a table in front of the shooter,
close to which he stands, and from which he lifts the
revolver, he cannot shoot down into his feet. But he
must never turn round or leave the table without first
unloading the revolver and placing it on the table; nor,
on any account, must he let anyone go up to the target
or be in front or even get level with him whilst the revolver
is in his hand. In France one must, by the rules, keep
the pistol pointed to the ground in competitions and not
raise it from a table. But one learns not to point it at
one's foot.

Now, as to the trick of lifting the revolver above
one's head before firing: I cannot understand why people
want to do this. It only frightens spectators; besides
which the shooter is running the risk of shooting himself
through the head; and in competitions or in self-defence
time is too valuable to waste in such antics. What would
be thought in covert-shooting of a man doing "Indian-

74 Art of Revolver Shooting

club exercises" with his gun before firing each shot?
Just as, when you see a man wet the point of his pencil
with his lips, you know that he cannot draw, so, if a man
flourishes his revolver, you may wager that he cannot
shoot. I have often been asked, "How do you shoot
your revolver? Do you bring it up or down on your
object?" I reply: "What is the use of lifting it up above
your head merely to bring it down again?" For self-
defence, you take it out of your pocket or holster; in com-
petitions you take it from the table; in duelling you
bring it up from your thigh. In all cases it is brought up
from the level of your hips or lower. Why, then, should
you lift it above your head and lower it again? No;
bring it up straight on the object by the shortest and quickest
route. In a case of self-defence, you would have your
man down before he had finished flourishing his revolver
round his head.

When you are pretty confident that you can keep your
sights properly aligned at the bottom edge of the bull
while the hammer is falling, you can try a few shots with a
loaded pistol. It is best to load only some of the chambers,
and irregularly if using a revolver, — that is to say spin the
cylinder round, after the revolver is closed and at half-
cock, so as not to know which chambers are loaded, and,
every time you find you jerk off a shot, return to the
snapping-empty-cartridges practice. This latter is good
practice, even when you become a finished shot. I often
have a few minutes of snapping practice in my room.

Place the box of cartridges beside, and to the right
of, the pistol. Use only a very small charge (gallery

Learning to Use the Pistol 75

ammunition for choice, or the .22 short in the single-shot
pistol) at first, as nothing puts a beginner off so much as
the fear of recoil. Stand behind the table, the revolver
being between you and the target, and take the revolver
by its stock in the right hand. Do not turn the muzzle
to the left, but keep it straight towards the target. Put
the revolver in your left hand, then :oad it. This pro-
cedure varies with different makes; with the Smith &
Wesson Russian and Winans revolvers you lift the catch
with your left thumb and press the barrel down with the
same hand till it (the barrel) is perpendicular, pointing
to the ground. With the Colt, and with the Smith &
Wesson solid frame revolver, you push the catch and then
push the chamber out to the side. But, whatever the
mechanism, the barrel should be pointing downward
when the revolver is open for loading, yet in line with the
target.

If a cartridge projects too much, remove it, it is
dangerous as it may explode prematurely from friction
against the breech of the revolver. In loading of course
have the pistol at half-cock, and not at full-cock. Close
it by elevating the breech with the right hand, and not by
raising the barrel with the left, as in the latter case the
cartridges may drop out. This rule applies also to the
hand-ejecting revolvers; two types of action are here
illustrated. Another is the Colt solid frame, where a gate
opens and the cartridges are put in, revolving the cylinder
as each cartridge is inserted. When this revolver is
loaded see that the snap, or other fastening, is properly
closed. If your shot goes wide of the bull, be sure, before

76 Art of Revolver Shooting

you alter your aim for the next shot, to ascertain whether
it was not your "squeeze-off" that was to blame.

A practised shot can correct the shooting of his revolver

TWO SYSTEMS OF EJECTING
SMITH & WESSON

by "aiming-off" enough to rectify any error in sights.
But the beginner had better not attempt this: he will find
enough to do in trying to hold straight under the bull.

Do not mind if your score is not a high one; those
who do not understand shooting judge the goodness of

Learning to Use the Pistol 77

a score by how much it counts, or by how many shots
are in or near the bull's-eye. In reality, it is the group
which constitutes a good shoot. One score may consist of
the highest possible, — forty-two points (all six shots
bull's-eyes), — and another may only count twelve points;
and yet the latter may be by far the better "shoot."

I will explain. In the first case the shots may be
"all over" the bull, "nicking" the edges; they would
require, therefore, a circle of more than four inches (on
the target you are at present shooting at) to cover them.
The other score may consist of all six bullet-holes cutting
into each other at an extreme edge of the target, but
making a group which could be covered with a postage-
stamp. The first "shoot" is a wild, bad shoot for ten
yards' range at a four-inch bull, although it counts the
highest possible in conventional scoring. The other is a
magnificent shoot, one that anyone might be proud of;
the fact of its being up in the corner merely showing that
the sights were wrong, and the shooter's "holding" was
not to blame. A few touches of the file, or knocking over
the hind sight, will put this error right. Never mind,
therefore, about scoring many points; merely shoot for
group. You will gradually find your groups getting
smaller and smaller as you improve; it is then merely a
matter of filing to get good scoring.

As your four-inch bull's-eye is too large for real shoot-
ing at ten yards, you must remember that the sighting of
the pistol should put the bullets into one inch only in this
size bull at "VI o'clock," and not into the middle of it.
The reason is that the trajectory of a pistol is practically

78 Art of Revolver Shooting

the same at twenty as at ten yards; and, as the English
regulation bull at twenty yards is two inches, for revolver
shooting you want the twenty-yards sighted revolver to
put the shots into the centre of the two-inch bull when you
aim at the bottom edge. In other words, you want it to
shoot an inch higher than your aim at that distance.
Therefore, if with your four-inch "Bull," aiming at the
bottom edge, you go into the bull one inch up, it means a
central bull's-eye if shot on a two-inch bull. In France
an inch bull at sixteen metres is regulation, so, if practising
for French competitions, the pistol must shoot only half an
inch into the bull. The reason I recommend aiming at the
bottom of the bull's-eye instead of at the middle of it is
that if you try to put a black bead in the middle of a
black bull's-eye you cannot see either properly; while if
you whiten the bead of the fore sight you cannot see it
clearly against the white of the target in "coming up" to
the bull. Nobody can hold absolutely steady on the bull
for more than a fraction of a second ; you have to ' ' come
up" from below and "squeeze off" as you get your sights
aligned.

For real shooting — I mean at game, or in self-defence,
or in war — a white sight is best, as it shows more clearly
against the objects most likely to be met with. It is for
this reason that I think white targets are a mistake for
practical revo ver practice. In France you must use a
white metal front sight. This is all right on the black
"man" target, but it is bad for the bull's-eye target.
The French, however, lay more stress on "real" shooting
than on target shooting.

Learning to Use the Pistol 79

If you want to learn pistol shooting for practical
purposes only, and do not desire to compete for prizes,
use, for the foregoing lessons, a black target with a white
bull's-eye. Use a white front sight, and, as soon as you
become moderately proficient, take to practising at mov-
ing, disappearing, rapid-firing, traversing, advancing and
retiring targets, directions for which I give under their
proper heads in my Bisley chapters. Take care, however,
instead of Bisley targets to have black targets with white
bull's-eyes at first and then dispense with the "bull"'
and shoot for centre hits, using a white front sight.

In all your shooting take a full sight in a widely open
" U," so that you see daylight all round the front sight. This
is the only way to get quick aim in all lights. A finer
sight may do for target-potting in bright sunlight, in
deliberate shooting at a stationary target, but it is useless
for practical purposes. Unless you want to be a winner of
prizes for that style of shooting do very little shooting at
stationary targets.

It is best to have your cleaning appliances on the table,
or otherwise handy, as in a drawer, when shooting, and
every now and again to take a look through the barrel
and then give the barrel a wipe out ; otherwise you may
be inclined to attribute to bad shooting what is in reality
caused by leading or by hard fouling in the barrel. I have
a little cupboard under my table, with a lock and key to it,
in which I keep my cleaning apparatus, cartridges, etc.
(but not the pistol) , in order to save the trouble of carrying
all this paraphernalia to the range.

With the French smokeless powder, however, cleaning

80 Art of Revolver Shooting

during shooting is unnecessary, though the cylinder of a
revolver may occasionally need a little oil.

Always clean a revolver as soon as possible after
shooting with it, and clean thoroughly.

A revolver shows signs of wear first at the breech end
of the barrel, when it gets to look as though rats had been
gnawing at it there. I am inclined to think that at first
this makes the revolver shoot "sweeter," but when it
gets too bad it affects the accuracy of the weapon for
target work. For real work, I prefer a revolver when it
is half worn out, as everything then works smoothly and
there is less dangerof jamming. But rust in the rifling may
entirely spoil accuracy, as, if you work it off, the bore gets
enlarged and then the bullets "strip." I never like to
compete with a perfectly new revolver; all revolvers have
their peculiarities, and it is necessary to get used to one,
to "break it in," so to speak, before trusting it to obey
one's slightest hint.

Details for target-shooting, in competition, at a fifty-
yards' stationary target, I treat of in the proper place in
the Bisley chapters. I do not see much use in practising
at the regulation four-inch bull at fifty yards for improv-
ing one's shooting for practical purposes. The bull is
too small for the accuracy of a revolver and for sighting
on, and causes one to get slow and "polly"; also fifty
yards is not a revolver distance, it is a .22 pistol distance.

When the present Bisley targets were designed (I was
one of the committee) , it was decided to have a two-inch
bull at twenty yards. It will be noticed that I have since
modified my opinion and that I now think it ought to be

Learning to Use the Pistol 8l

smaller for a twenty-yards stationary target; but I con-
sider, nevertheless, that it is about right for moving
targets. I then suggested five inches as right for the
bull at fifty yards. It was, however, decided to make
it four inches, which I thought then, and still think,
much too small.

If two inches be right for twenty yards, five inches is
the rule-of- three proportion for fifty yards. The barrel of
a revolver is so short, and the sights are so close together,
that the four-inch bull is too small for the "natural error"
of holding of even the best of shots. The longer single-
shot pistol is a different matter, and the strength of the
shots does not vary from escape of gas at the chambers
as it does in revolvers.

For practice at fifty yards and over, for practical pur-
poses, you should have a white bull on a black ground, six
or seven inches in diameter at fifty yards, and a foot in
diameter at a hundred yards. Use the same big, coarse
sights that you use at the shorter range, and aim high or
low, according to distance, instead of raising the hind
sight or using different revolvers sighted for special
distances.

At Bisley, owing to the small bull and to the great
accuracy required, very minute front sights have to be
used. But I am talking of practical shooting; and at
fifty yards, and over, a revolver would be used only to hit
something at least as big as a deer.

At a hundred yards one ought to get into, or close to,
a tweve-inch bull. Shooting, of a sort, in the standing
position has been done up to four hundred yards with a

82 Art of Revolver Shooting

heavy-charge revolver ; but at more than a hundred yards
one cannot depend on much accuracy and can only use
the revolver for ' ' browning. ' ' I have shot at one-hundred-
and-ten yards at the "running deer" at Bisley with the
revolver, but it is too far to do much good. At fifty yards,
at the "deer," one can do really good shooting and get
three shots into it in one of its runs. Fifty yards I con-
sider a good distance at which to make sure of a crossing
horse, galloping, and one hundred yards for a standing one.

In all competitions the revolver must be held in one
hand only, although one sees so-called "dead shots" on
the stage hold their pistols with both hands. The revolver
can be held steadier by some people when both hands are
used, the hand which does not hold the stock being rested
against a tree, or other rest, and the barrel of the revolver
clasped to steady it, much as a telescope is held. The
left hand may also clasp the right wrist, or vice versa.
Another way is to clasp the shooting arm with the other
hand and rest the revolver below the biceps muscles ; but
a heavily charged revolver is apt in this position to strike
the face. Moreover this style of shooting is about upon
a par with holding on to a horse's mane, or to the pommel
of the saddle, and calling it riding.

Lying on the back and resting the revolver alongside
one of your knees, the legs being crossed, is a very steady
position. Sitting down with the arms folded, and shoot-
ing off one arm, is another steady position.

Never leave a pistol, loaded or unloaded, where anyone
can touch it. Keep it locked up, unless actually in your
own possession.

Learning to Use the Pistol 83

One of my ornamental revolvers used to lie as a
decoration on the writing-table in my Bisley hut. Of
course it was unloaded, and there were no cartridges near.
Some visitors chanced to drop in, one by one, to lunch.
First came an elderly lady. She sat down near the table
and her eye fell on the revolver. Instantly she snatched it
up, and pointed it straight at me, exclaiming with a laugh,
"I '11 shoot you!" I made her put it down, and was
explaining to her how unwise it is to point a revolver at
anyone, how it might have been loaded, and so on, when
in came a parson. He sat down and began talking
pleasantly. Presently he caught sight of the revolver.
Grabbing it, he shouted: "Now then, I '11 shoot you!"
and he too pointed it at me, roaring with laughter.
Carlyle's famous remark about the world's population
recurred to me, and I decided in future to keep the
revolver locked up.

It is sometimes useful to be able to shoot with the left
hand; as, for instance, if the right hand should become
disabled, and for an officer with a sword in his right hand
the advantage would be considerable. If the novice has
determination enough to divide his practising, from the
beginning, between both hands, he will come to shoot
nearly as well with his "left" hand as with his right. I
have put quotation marks round "left," as I mean by
this the hand not usually employed; a left-handed man's
right hand being in this sense his "left."

I have also noticed that a left-handed man can shoot
more evenly with both hands; that is to say, he is not
much better or much worse with either hand, not being

§4 Art of Revolver Shooting

so helpless with his right hand as a normally handed man
is with his left. In all directions given for shooting, for
left-handed work merely change "right leg" to "left
leg"; "right arm" to "left arm," and so on.

CHAPTER IX

PISTOL AND REVOLVER CLUBS

| HE only association devoted
exclusively to the revolver
is the United States Re-
volver Association. The
Paris ' ' Pistolet " Club shoots
both duelling pistol and
revolver under very practi-
cal conditions, discouraging
bull's-eye shooting at sta-
tionary targets and confining the competitors to rapid
firing. Their whole object, indeed, is to encourage
rapidity in shooting, whereas in British clubs rapidity is
to all intents ignored, excepting at the Wilkinson gallery
in Pall Mall, which I believe is the only pistol shooting
club or gallery in England where rapid pistol shooting
is encouraged. There are also several rifle and revolver
clubs in England. The principa club of this kind in
England is the North London Rifle Club, which shoots
once a week at Ilford, Essex, during the summer, having
competitions, a championship, and so forth, for military
(not target) revolvers. Particulars can be obtained by
writing to the Honorary Secretary.

86 Art of Revolver Shooting

There are also in England several territorial regimental
revolver clubs ; and it is not difficult (as far as expense goes)
to get up local pistol clubs either for outdoor or indoor
shooting. The councils, committees, and revolver rules
of the clubs above-named are as follow:

RULES AND REGULATIONS GOVERNING THE CHAM-
PIONSHIP MATCHES OF THE UNITED STATES
REVOLVER ASSOCIATION

1. General Conditions. — Competitors must make themselves
acquainted with the rules and regulations of the Association, as the
plea of ignorance will receive no consideration. The rulings and
decisions of the executive committee are final in all cases. These
rules are for general application, but will not apply in cases where
the special conditions of any match conflict with them.

2 . Classification of A rtns. — (a) Any revolver. A revolver of any
calibre. Maximum length of barrel including cylinder, 10 inches.
Minimum trigger pull, 2^ pounds. Sights may be adjustable but
they must be strictly open, in front of the hammer and not over
10 inches apart.

(b) Any pistol. A pistol of any calibre. Maximum length of
barrel, 10 inches. Minimum trigger pull, 2 pounds. Sights may be
adjustable but they must be strictly open, in front of the hammer
and not over 10 inches apart.

(c) Military revolver or pistol. A revolver, or a magazine pistol,
that has been adopted by any civilised government for the arma-
ment of its army or navy. Maximum weight, 2% pounds. Max-
imum length of barrel, 7 Yl inches. Minimum trigger pull, 4 pounds.
Fixed open sights. Rear sights of magazine pistols may be ad-
justable for elevation only.

(d) Pocket revolver. A revolver having a maximum weight of 2
pounds. Maximum length of barrel, 4 inches. Minimum trigger

Pistol and Revolver Clubs 87

pull, 4 pounds. Sights and model must be such as not to hinder
quick drawing of the weapon from the pocket or holster.

3. Loading, Firing, Timing, and Cleaning. — In all revolver and
pistol matches the weapon must not be loaded until the competitor
has taken his position at the firing point. The barrel must always
be kept vertical or pointed towards the target. After a match or
record score has been begun, in case of an accidental discharge or
of defective ammunition, if the bullet comes out of the barrel it will
be scored a shot. The timing in matches C and D will be as follows :
The competitor standing at the firing point with the arm loaded,
not cocked, and the barrel pointing downward in a direction not less
than 45 degrees from the target, will signify to the scorer when he is
ready to begin each string. The scorer, stop watch in hand, will
then give the command, "Fire," and exactly fifteen seconds later
announce, "Time." Misfires will not be scored except in matches
C and D. Competitors may clean weapons in matches A and B,
and in the Indoor Championships, but no time allowance will be
made for time spent in this way. All competitors will be required
to finish their scores within the time limits specified, except in
cases of accident, when the time may be extended at the option of
the executive committee. Blowing through the barrel, to moisten
it, will be considered cleaning.

In revolver matches the arm must not be used as a single loader
or loaded so as to use a limited number of chambers in the cylinder.
The cylinder must be charged with the full number of rounds for
which it is chambered, and these must be shot consecutively. If
scores are shot in ten shot strings, the cylinder shall be charged first
with six rounds and then with four rounds. If the cylinder only
contains five chambers, then the ten shot strings may be shot in
two strings of five each. In matches C and D, and in the indoor or
gallery events, the arm shall in all cases be charged with five rounds.

4. Position. — The position shall be standing, free from any sup-
port, the pistol or revolver being held in one hand, with arm ex-
tended, so as to be free from the body.

Art of Revolver Shooting

5. Arms. — Any revolver or pistol which in the opinion of the
executive committee complies with the conditions specified in the
various matches will be allowed to compete in those events. Re-
volvers or magazine pistols that have been adopted by any govern-
ment for the armament of its army or navy, or such as in the opinion
of the executive committee are suitable for military service, will
be allowed in matches C and D. Among the arms which may be
used in these matches are the .38 calibre Smith & Wesson or Colt
military ; .44 Smith & Wesson, Russian model ; .44 Colt New Service ;
.45 Smith & Wesson Scofield ; .45 Smith & Wesson New Century ;
.45 Colt, and the following magazine or automatic pistols: Colt,
Borchardt, Luger, Mannlicher, Mauser, Mors.

6. Sights. — In open sights, the notch of the rear sight must be
as wide on top as at any part. Aperture or peep sights or any cov-
ered or shaded sights will not be allowed. The use of a notch for
the front sight will not be permitted. Sights may be smoked or
blackened if desired. Sights on military arms, if modified to suit
individuals, must remain strictly open, strong and substantial, and
suitable for military use.

7. Trigger Pull. — The trigger pull as specified in the various
events shall be determined by a test weight equal to the minimum
pull applied at a point three-eighths of an inch from the end of the
trigger and at right angles to the pin through the trigger.

8. Ammunition. — In matches C and D, and in the medal com-
petition, where full charge ammunition is required, it may be the
product of any reputable manufacturer. It must in all cases be
brought to the firing point in unbroken boxes, with the label of the
manufacturer intact.

9. Targets. The 200-yard Standard American rifle target No. 1
(containing the 4 ring), with an eight-inch bull's-eye, shall be used
in all matches at 50 yards. The diameters of the rings are as fol-
lows: 10 ring equals 3.36 inches; 9 ring equals 5.54 inches; 8 ring
equals 8 inches; 7 ring equals n inches; 6 ring equals 14.8 inches;
5 ring equals 19.68 inches; 4 ring equals 26 inches; rest of target

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90 Art of Revolver Shooting

28 inches by 28 inches counts 3. The same target reduced so that
the bull's-eye or 8 ring is 2.72 inches in diameter and the 10 ring 1.13
inches in diameter, shall be used for all matches at 20 yards.

10. Marking and Scoring. — In all matches new paper targets
shall be furnished for each competitor. Not more than ten shots are
to be fired on any target at 50 yards, and not more than five shots
on any target in matches C and D and for all shooting at 20 yards;
the shot holes in all cases to remain uncovered and left as shot.
Bullets touching, striking, or within a line on the target are to be
scored the count of that line. The eye alone shall determine
whether a bullet touches a line or not.

11. Ties. — Ties shall be decided as follows: (1) By the score at
the longest distance ; (2) by the score at the next longest distance ; (3)
by the fewest number of shots of lowest count; (4) by firing five
shots each under the same conditions as the match and these rules
in regard to ties, until decided.

12. Supervision. — The shooting in all the U. S. R. A. events
must take place in the presence of at least two witnesses, one of
whom must be an authorized officer of the local club, or shooting
organization, or a governor appointed by the U. S. R. A. This officer
shall certify that each contestant has complied with all the U. S.
R. A. regulations as to distance, weapon, time, ammunition, etc.,
noting same on the blank spaces provided on the score cards and
signing the score cards in duplicate for each contestant.

13. Protests. — Any person who believes that an injustice has
been done, or who dissents from the decision of any authorised execu-
tive officer of the association, may enter a protest on depositing
$1 .00 with the cashier or acting treasurer of the club or organisation
under whose auspices the matches are held. Such protest must be
in writing, in duplicate, and must be made within 24 hours after
the incident on which it is based. One copy to be handed to the
executive officer of the club or organisation conducting the matches
and the other copy to be mailed to the secretary-treasurer of the
U. S. R. A. All protests will be investigated and passed upon by

Pistol and Revolver Clubs 9*

the executive committee, and, if sustained, the protest fee will be
returned; otherwise it will be forfeited.

14. Records. — The shooting for records shall, when practicable,
be done on the grounds or in a gallery of a regularly organised shoot-
ing association, military organisation, or club, and in the presence
of at least two witnesses, one of whom shall be an officer of the
U. S. R. A., of such shooting organisation or club. The foregoing
rules and regulations and the conditions governing the champion-
ship matches of the U. S. R. A. must in all cases be observed and
followed. The record score shall begin with the first shot after the
shooter has announced his intention to shoot for record; only the
first ten shots will apply to the ten shot record; the first twenty
shots to the twenty shot record, and so on to 50 or 100 shots, as the
shooter may desire. Such scores for record must in all cases be
completed within the same proportional time limit as is specified
for the corresponding championship match. After finishing the
record score, the target shall be identified and signed by the wit-
nesses as above designated. The witnesses shall also prepare and
sign a certificate of prescribed form, which, with the detailed score
and all targets, shall be forwarded to the U. S. R. A., addressed to
the secretary-treasurer. If all the conditions, rules, and regulations
have been complied with, the scoring correct, and if the score is
higher than or equal to any previously made under the same con-
ditions, it will be declared a new record. The score will then be
entered as such in the record book of the association, and the
shooter formally notified to that effect.

LE PISTOLET

Presidents d' honneur — MM. Daniel Merillon, avocat generale
a la Cour de cassation, president de 1' Union des Societes de tir de
France; M. H. de Villeneuve, Conseiller d'etat, president de la
Societe d' encouragement de 1' Escrime.

Vice-Presidents d' honneur — MM. Lt. -Colonel Derue, Maurice
Faure.

Membre d' Honneur — S. M. Alphonse XIII, Roi' Espagne.

92 Art of Revolver Shooting

BUREAU

President— M. le Comte Justinien Clary.

Vice-Presidents — MM. Baron Henri dc Castex, Pierre Perrier.
Secretaire General, Tresorier — M. le Baron Jules Evain.
Secretaire General, Fondateur — M. Gustave Voulquin.

LIST DES MEMBRES DU COMITE

MM. Comte Jules de Bonvouloir, Brincourt, Baron Henri de
Castex, Comte Justinien Clary, Comte de Crequi-Montfort, Comte
d' Elva, Baron Jules Evain, Comte Julien de Felcourt, Baron
Jaubert, Joseph Labbe, Andre Lebey, Leon Lecuyer, Pierre Leve,
Paul-Albert Martin, Roger Niviere, Pierre Perrier, Comte de
Rochefort, Baron Andre de Schonen, Comte de Vanssay, Gustave
Voulquin.

MEMBRES D' HONNEUR

MM. A. Perivier, Comte Potocki, Walter Winans.

MEMBRES HONORAIRES DU COMITE

MM. Ernest Arthez, Comte Herni d' Havrincourt.

STATUTS

Article Premier. — Sous ce titre: "Le Piste-let," il est fonde
entre les adherents aux presents Statuts, une Societe ayant pour but
de developper le gout du tir au Pistolet et au Revolver, et d' organiser
des poules en plein air autant que les saisons le permettront.

Art. 2. — Tous les membres inscrits au 8 mai 1894 sont de droit
membres fondateurs.

Art. 3. — L'Assemblee generale annuelle a lieu dans le premier
trimestre de l'annee; les Statuts ne peuvent etre modifies que par
1' Assemblee generale.

Art. 4. — Le Comite du Pistolet sc compose de 20 membres elus
par 1' Assemblee generale annuelle au scrutin de liste et a la majority
des votants.

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94 Art of Revolver Shooting

Le Comite est ineligible et renouvelable tous les ans par quart,
soit par suite de demission, soit par voie de tirages au sort successifs
de facon que chaque membre du Comite ne soit soumis a la reelec-
tion qu'une fois en quatre ans. Le vote par correspondance pour
la nomination des membres du Comite" est admis. '

Tout membre du Comite qui n'assistera pas a un tiers au moins
des reunions du dit Comite" dans l'annee, hors le cas de force
majeure, sera consider^ comme demissionnaire ; 1' honorariat pourra
lui etre decerne" par le Comite.

Le tirage au sort des cinq membres du Comite" devant 6tre
soumis a reelection sera fait par le Comite a la reunion dans laquelle
il fixera la date de 1' Assemblee g£n£rale.

Art. 5.— Le Comite choisira dans son sein: Un President; Deux
Vice-Presidents ; Un Secretaire General ; Un Secretaire ; Un Tr£sorier.

Cette derniere fonction pourra §tre cumulfe avec l'une des
prdc^dentes.

Le Comity a le droit d' elire des Presidents, Vice-Presidents et
Membres d' honneur de la Societe.

Art. 6. — Le Comite soumet tous les ans a 1' approbation de
l'Assembiee generale les comptes de l'annee et fait un rapport sur la
situation de la Societe.

Art. 7. — Les despenses de la Societe sont couvertes par le
proditu des cotisations, par les dons qui pourraient lui £tre faits
et par le produit des poules.

Art. 8. — La cotisation est fixee a 10 francs par an, chaque
membre paye en outre, au moment de son admission, une entree
de 20 francs.

Art. 9. — Toute personne desirant faire partie du Pistolet doit
£tre presentee par deux membres de la Societe.

Les membres du Comite peuvent servir de parrains et les
candidatures doivent £tre connues de tout le Comite trois jours
au moins avant sa plus prochaine reunion.

Le Comite vote au scrutin secret et recoit a la majorite des
presents.

Pistol and Revolver Clubs 95

Cinq membres du Comite doivent prendre part au vote pour
qu' il soit valable.

Art. io. — Le Comite est charge de la redaction du reglement
interieur general; il fixe les dates des reunions, decide les conditions
des poules, ainsi que les endroits ou elles auront lieu; il reste juge
absolu de toutes les contestations qui pourraient s'elever sur 1' in-
terpretation du reglement, sur son execution et sur tout ce qui
peut s'y rattacher; il a toujours le droit, au cours de l'annee, d'ap-
porter pour 1' organisation et les conditions des poules au pistolet
et au revolver, tous les changements qu'il croirait necessaires.

II est charge de 1' organisation des championnats annuels entre
membres du Pistolet et des tournois internationaux au pistolet et au
revolver avec inscription libre; mais il doit soliciter 1' autorisation de
1' Assemblee generale si les frais de ces tournois doivent etre imputes
sur le budget annuel de la Societe.

Art. ii. — Dans le cas ou il y aurait, a la fin de l'annee, un
reliquat actif , le quart sera constitue de droit en fonds de reserve,
les autres quarts pourront etre employes en achats de prix de differ-
ente nature et affectes soit a desconcours publics nationaux ou inter-
nationaux organises par la Societe, soix aux concours organises par
la Societe entre ses membres, soit aux concours organises paries Soci-
etes d' encouragement pour le Tir ou pour l'Escrime en France, soit
a une ceuvre de bienfaisance.selon le voeu du Comite, apres delibera-
tion et vote par plus de la moite de ses membres.

Art. 12. — -En cas de dissolution, les fonds en caisse seront
distribues selon le vceu de l'Assemblee generale.

Art. 13. — Dans le cas de diflerend d' honneur entreles Societaires
(au cas ou le diflerend aurait pris naissance a une des reunions de
la Societe), 1' affaire devra etre soumise a un jury de trois personnes
pris parmi les membres du Comite, etdont deux seront choisis par
les interesses et le troisieme par les deux arbitres.

Art. 14. — L'annee de la Societe date du ier Janvier; les cotisations
annuelles sont dues a la meme date.

Tout candidat admis est tenu au versementimme diat de sa

96 Art of Revolver Shooting

cotisation et de son entree, par le fait meme de son admission et
alors meme qu'il rcfuscrait d'en profitcr.

Les parrains sont responsables de ce paiement.

Art. 15. — Tout Societaire qui n'aura pas notifie par ecrit au
President de la Societe, avant le 31 decembre, son intention de ne
plus faire partie de la Society, reste debiteur de sa cotisation pour
l'annee suivante.

GENERAL REGULATIONS OF " LE PISTOLET "
DUELLING PISTOL

1. Shooting at the Word of Command. — Distance not less than
twenty -five metres. Targets: a white or black silhouette of a
man. The word of command is given at the minimum rate of
seventy metronome beats to the minute.

The competitor must keep his arm at full stretch along his body,
the butt of the pistol touching his thigh. The order to fire is given
to two or four competitors, as the case may be, who are placed in
the same line and who shoot simultaneously, each at his respective
silhouette. Any competitor raising his arm before the word "fire,"
or firing after the word "three," will have a zero scored against
him.

2 . Each hit on the silhouette counts one point ; a quarter of a
point will be allowed to the competitor who makes the first hit if the
pool consists of five competitors ; if it consists of eleven competitors
a tenth of a point, if there are fifteen shooters a fourteenth of a
point will be added.

In case of a tie for points, the number of hits will take prece-
dence over "time. "

In case of a tie between two competitors (equal points and hits)
the tie will be shot off.

If there be a tic between a greater number of competitors than
two (equal number of points and hits) the tie must be shot off until
one of the competitors has beaten the rest.

98 Art of Revolver Shooting

3. In the case of a misfire, the competitor must fire again and
his opponent at the same time also. If the competitor whose pistol
did not misfire should fail to hit, a zero will be scored against him.
If, however, he made a hit, his point will be scored even should he
fail with his second shot — but priority of time will not be credited
to him unless he hits with his second shot.

4. If two pools are shot for at the same time the same competitor
can only enter for one, unless the two pools are shot for under dif-
ferent conditions or with different weapons. An infringement of
this rule will entail a fine of five francs.

5. A bronze medal will be given to the winner of each pool of
not less than five competitors at ordinary meetings.

6. One bronze medal only is given per year for each class of
weapon (pistol or revolver) to each winner.

Each competitor can be placed first once only at a meeting for
each class of weapon (pistol and revolver).

Where a competitor has been placed first for the medal at several
different meetings, the dates shall be engraved in order on his medal
for the pistol or revolver, respectively.

Each competitor may win several pools at the same meeting,
but can win only one medal for each class of arm, pistol or revolver.

Each competitor having made top score four times at various
meetings during the year will receive a silver medal for each class
of weapon (pistol or revolver).

Every competitor having made ten top scores at different meet-
ings during the year, either for revolver or pistol, will have the
right to an additional special silver gilt medal.

7. As the Society has for its object the training and improve-
ment of all its members, and the development of their skill in shoot-
ing, the Committee reserve the right of framing a special handicap
or several forms of handicap, as they may deem necessary.

8. The Committee will nominate each year, after the Annual
General Meeting, a Shooting Committee composed of members
selected from their number and from such members who consistently

Pistol and Revolver Clitbs 99

attend the periodical shoots. They are eligible for re-election.
These officials are specially empowered to judge the pools and to
enforce the rules and regulations governing the competitions. Their
decisions shall be final.

9. If no member of the Shooting Committee or any executive
officer be present at a meeting, the competitors present shall
appoint a range officer for each pool, whose duty shall be to judge
the speed and report to the secretary the score made by each
competitor. His decision to be final. If the range officer himself
takes part in any of the competitions he must appoint a substitute
to judge such competition. Should he omit to do so, the point for
speed will be credited to the score of his opponent.

No one is allowed to speak to the officer in charge.

10. Any competitor having entered for a pool, who for any
cause whatever (except where beyond his control) shall not finish
his shoot, shall be subject to a fine of ten francs. A similar fine
will be imposed on any competitor who goes to examine his tar-
get unaccompanied by the executive officer or a member of the
Committee.

No competitor shall inspect the score book whilst taking part
in a pool, under a penalty of five francs.

REVOLVER

1. Stationary Silhouette. — Distance not less than twenty -five
metres. Six shots to be fired in the shortest possible time.

Competitors have not more than twenty seconds allowed for
their six shots. If this time be exceeded the score fails to count.

2. Single Action Revolvers. — The competitor may cock his
revolver before his first shot. He must keep the muzzle of the
weapon pointed to the ground, his arm at his side and the butt of
the revolver touching his thigh.

At the word "fire" he will begin shooting and continue without
interruption, cocking the revolver for each shot.

3. Double Action Revolvers. — Shooting is done in the same way,

ioo Art of Revolver Shooting

with the difference that the competitor must not cock his revolver
previously — unless contrary to service conditions.

4. — Misfires. — In case of a misfire, the competitor may fire his
remaining shots or begin again.

Time will be taken.

NORTH LONDON RIFLE CLUB

President — Col. J. H. Cowan, R.E.

Vice-Presidents— Lt.-Col. A. W. Bentley, V.D., 1st V.B. Middle-
sex Regt.; Mr. W. J. M. Burton, L.R.B., Hon. Sec. 1892-1896;
Lt.-Col. C. R. Crosse, Secretary, N.R.A.; Col. The Right Hon.
Earl Dunraven, K.P.; Col. W. Evans, H.A.C.; Col. R. M. McKer-
rell, V.D., J.P., 1st V.B. Royal Scots Fusiliers; Major Henry
Munday, H.A.C.; Major P. W. Richardson, 2nd V.B., N.F.; Col.
Sir H. Roberts, Bart., V.D., London Irish, V.R.C.; Mr. Gus
Rosenthal, Hon. Sec. 1 884-1 890; Lt.-Col. The Right Hon. Earl
Waldegrave, V.D., L.R.B.; Mr. Walter Winans.

Trustees— Major P. W. Richardson, 2nd V.B., N.F.; Lieut. T. F.
Parkinson, Civil Service, R.V.

Hon. Treasurer — Major S. A. Pinley.

Hon. Secretary — Mr. Walter C. Luff, 11, Haymarket, S. W.

REVOLVER COMPETITIONS

SERIES

Series I. — Six shots to be fired with the right hand at a station-
ary target at 20 yards.

Series II. — Six shots to be fired with the left hand at a station-
ary target at 20 yards.

Series III. — Six shots at a stationary target at 50 yards, either
hand allowed.

Series IV. — Six shots at a disappearing target at 20 yards,
interval three seconds, either hand allowed.

Pistol and Revolver Clubs I01

Time allowed for each Series of I., II., and III., three minutes
for six shots.

N.B. — If two members shoot together by agreement, the time
allowance will be six minutes for the pair.

CLASSES

Members are divided into three classes, viz., I., II., and III.

SPOONS

One Spoon will be awarded for each complete 15 entries in each
Series. All classes will compete for the same Spoons in each Series.

The scores fixed by the Committee from which handicaps are
calculated are as follows:

Ri 20 yards deliberate right 42

R2 20 yards deliberate left 40

R-3 5° yards deliberate 38

R4 20 yards disappearing 38

Class II. receiving a handicap of 3^ of the points dropped.
Class III. " " " %

The prizes in Class II. and Class III. will be awarded on the
scores made in the qualifying competition should the competitors
fail to get into the final stage.

TIES

Ties for the Jewels and Prizes in the final stage will be decided
by shooting 12 more shots at 20 yards and 12 more shots at 50 yards
under Whitehead Cup Conditions.

Ties for prizes awarded to those who do not qualify, and also
for places in the final stage, will be settled by the addition of the
next best score in each Series, and so on until decided.

REVOLVER SERIES JEWELS
Open to all members.
Entrance Fee 2s. 6d. in each Series.
Series Ri — Aggregate of six best scores at 20 yards, right
hand. Deliberate.

102 Art of Revolver Shooting

Series R2 — Aggregate of six best scores at 20 yards, left hand.
Deliberate.

Series R3 — Aggregate of six best scores at 50 yards, either
hand. Deliberate.

Series R4 ■ — Aggregate of six best scores at 20 yards, either
hand. Vanishing.

WEAPON AND AMMUNITION

i . — The revolver competitions shall be open to only one class
of revolver.

2. — Revolvers admissible to the competitions shall be such as are
suitable for military purposes.

3. — The description of revolvers and ammunition admissible
to competitions shall be as follows :
Revolvers:

(a) Weight — Maximum, 2 lbs. 10 ozs.

(b) Barrel — Maximum length, 7^ ins.

(d) Pull of trigger — Minimum 4 lbs.

(e) Fore sight — To be incapable of vertical or lateral adjustment.
The barleycorn may be fixed to the fore-sight block by means
of a screw or a rivet, the intention being to prevent the fore
sight being moved or adjusted during the practice. The
bead sight is allowed, but the "bead" must not be less than
.08 in. in diameter, and .4 in. in length, nor must it be longer
than any other portion of the sight ; the narrowest part of the
neck must not be less than half the diameter of the "bead,"
and generally to be in the opinion of the committee of suf-
ficient solidity and strength to withstand rough usage.

(/) Back sight — To be without screw adjustment and of some
simple pattern of sufficient solidity and strength to withstand
rough usage ; it may consist of a sliding bar, or of leaves affixed
to the barrel by hinges, or of interchangeable bars fitted into

Pistol and Revolver Chibs I03

a slot, and it may be a plain open V, or open half-circle or
section of a circle, or of buckhorn pattern, or a plain bar; the
interchangeable bars fitting into a slot may be adjusted with
the aid of a hammer, but such interchange of bars and such
adjustment of bar, with or without the aid of a hammer,
shall not be permitted at the firing-point.

Ammunition:

As issued at the ranges, but members may bring and use their
own, provided it conforms to the following conditions, viz. :

(a) Charge of powder — Minimum, 13 grains of black, or its
equivalent in smokeless powder.

(b) Bullet — Minimum weight, 225 grains.

MODE OF FIRING

"Single practice" (that is, cocking the hammer before each
shot), or "continuous practice" (that is, without cocking the
trigger), at the option of the competitor.

In case of any misfires, the competitor will continue to fire the
remaining chambers, and afterwards reload as many chambers as
may be necessary to complete his firing.

POSITION

Standing, but no rest of any kind, natural or artificial, will be
allowed. Nor will the competitor be permitted to support himself
on any part of the gallery or table from which the firing takes place.
The whole of the arm with which the firing is carried out must be
clear of the body.

TARGETS

As for N. R. A. Bisley.

104 Art of Revolver Shooting

REGULATIONS

In addition to the ordinary by-laws and conditions, as far as the
same are applicable to revolver shooting, the following regulations
will be observed:

1 . No revolver shall be loaded until the target is ready, and the
competitor has taken his place at the firing-point.

2. The competitor may load his own revolver, keeping the
muzzle pointed towards the ground or towards the target,. unless
the executive officer, or his deputy, or member of the com-
mittee in charge shall give orders to the contrary, in which
case it shall be loaded for the competitor by some competent
person.

3. Whenever a competition shall be suspended for the ex-
amination of the target, or other cause, the register-keeper shall
give the order " Cease fire" ; the revolver shall be at once placed on
the table, and shall not be touched by any person until the word
"All clear" is given.

4. All questions shall be settled by the executive officer or
other person in charge, subject to reference to the committee if
demanded by the competitor.

5. All doubtful shots shall be decided by putting a bullet which
has passed through the barrel of a revolver of the same calibre into
the bullet-hole, and if on examination with a magnifying-glass the
edge of the bullet is found to cut the line, the higher value shall
be attributed to the shot.

6. Any members infringing any of the above conditions, or
in any way disregarding the instructions of the executive officer,
or indulging in any dangerous practice, shall be at once suspended
from all further practice or competition by the executive officer,
his deputy, or member of the committee in charge, and shall not
fire another shot on the range until he has obtained the sanction of
the committee.

7. Any member may enter in the revolver competitions as often

Pistol and Revolver Clubs I05

as he pleases, subject to the conditions thereof, and to these
Regulations.

8. Practice on the revolver range is allowed under the pre-
scribed conditions.

9. No member shall compete or practise twice in succession
while a member shooting in competition is waiting to fire.

10. The committee reserve the right to alter or add to these
Regulations.

REVOLVER COMPETITIONS

SERIES

First Series — Six shots at a fixed target at 20 yards.

Second Series — Six shots at a fixed target at 20 yards, viz.,
first three shots with the right hand, and then three shots with the
left hand.

Third Series — -Six shots at a disappearing target at 20 yards —
interval three seconds.

Fourth Series — Six shots at a fixed target at 50 yards.

Time allowed for each of Series I., II., and IV., three minutes.

N.B. — If two members shoot together by agreement, the time
allowance will be six minutes for the pair.

CLASSIFICATION

In the spoon competition members will be divided into three
classes, and in each class one spoon will be given for every eight
entries.

AMMUNITION

Ammunition loaded with black or smokeless powder to accord
with the foregoing regulations may be obtained on the ranges by
purchase, at the rate of 3d. per six rounds for black, and 4d. for
smokeless powder.

io6 Art of Revolver Shooting

ENTRY FOR SPOONS

Unlimited entries allowed at an entry fee of is. id. for the 20-
yards series, and is. 2d, for the 50-yards series, including a target but
exclusive of ammunition.

RE-ENTRY

Members in Classes II. and III may also enter in the higher class
or classes, but can only fire them simultaneously with or after
competing in their own class, as in rifle competitions. Only the
best score made in their own class will count for the championship
and aggregate prizes.

PENALTIES

Winners will be penalised one point for each spoon won, but not
more than six points altogether, in each class or series.

PRACTICE

Practice tickets will be issued at a uniform price of 4d. each for
either 20 yards or 50 yards, exclusive of ammunition. Unlimited
practice allowed.

REVOLVER CHAMPIONSHIP

Entrance Fee, 5s.

The details of the best score made by each competitor in each
spoon competition, which may be good for the championship, shall
be written in ink or indelible pencil, on the face of the target it-
self, and signed by the competitor and the register-keeper ; and the
targets shall be preserved by the secretary for verifying the scores
for the championship.

CONDITIONS

The championship will be decided by the aggregate of six scores
in Series I., one score in Series II., one score in Series III., and of
two scores in Series IV., made on separate days.

Pistol and Revolver Clubs io7

First Prize — Gold championship jewel.
Second Prize — Silver championship jewel.
Third Prize — Bronze championship jewel.
The above are open to all members.
N.B. — A member can take only one prize.

TIES

Ties for the championship jewels will be decided by a special
shoulder-to-shoulder shoot of 30 shots in Series I. If still a tie, by
single shots until decided.

Ties for the extra prizes will be settled by the addition of the
next best score, and so on, until decided.

HANDICAP TOURNAMENTS

If sufficient entries are received, there will be two handicap
tournaments — one in the summer, and one in the autumn, com-
mencing on dates to be announced.

Entrance Fee 3s. each

N.B. — In all tournaments the entrance fees will be returned in
full as prizes.

THE RIFLE AND REVOLVER CLUB

The Rifle and Revolver Club has been built and equipped by a
member of the Stock Exchange to provide facilities for the
members of the Stock Exchange Rifle Club to practise at miniature
targets, during the evenings of every Tuesday and Friday, from the
1st of October to the end of June in each year until the expiry of
the ground lease in 1952.

Members may introduce their friends by simply entering their
names in the visitors' book, and they can practise with either the
rifle or the revolver by taking out a visitors' ammunition ticket
for a few pence.

108 Art of Revolver Shooting

Competitions and private matches can always be arranged
by communicating with the Staff-Sergeant Instructor in charge

Application forms for membership and all further information
will be furnished by Mr. 0. F. Austin (c/o Messrs. McAnally and
Inglis), 3, Adams Court, Old Broad Street, E.C. ; or of Staff-Sergeant
M. J. Moriarty, at the Club House, 2, Borers Passage, Devonshire
Square, E.

CHAPTER X
PRACTICE AND TRAINING

'HAT amount of practice is
necessary in order to keep
a man at his best, varies
in different people. It is
evident that he cannot
be always at his best, any
more than he can at all
times be in perfect con-
dition for any other class
of contest, athletic or otherwise. If he tried to become
so he would only become "stale."

If you are going to shoot in a competition, do your
preliminary work so that you come to your best at the
time you need it, and not before, as so many do. Some
practise so that they are shooting their best some time
prior to the event for which they are training, and then
they get "stale" and go off their shooting just when they
want to shoot well. It is the better plan to be hardly at
one's best when the competition opens, but to be "coming
on."

Get into as good general health as you can. Take a
dose of something which acts upon the liver, if needful.

109

no Art of Revolver Shooting

You cannot shoot well if your liver be not in perfect
order. Shoot very little at first. Gradually do more and
more every day; but slacken, or even stop, for a day or
two if you find you are overdoing it. Stop smoking
if you are a smoker; and be very abstemious in what you
drink. Personally, I have been a water drinker and a
non-smoker all my life.

Some men, like myself, can never do as good work in
practice as when entered for an uphill competition that
will need to be hard fought. They need the stimulus of
competing to wake them up. I do not remember ever
making so good a score in practice as I have done in
competition, except one single score at rapid firing.
With some, a hard tussle, instead of making them pull
themselves together and bracing them up, has just the
opposite effect; they go all to pieces when "pushed" or in
a tight place. I am afraid such men can never do any
good in shooting competitions. To win, a man, like a
trotting horse, should, as Ira Paine used to say, have a
little "devil" in him. If a man is "soft," or too good-
natured and easy-going, and of a "never-mind" disposi-
tion, he is no good in shooting competitions; while on
the other hand if he be excitable or irascible he will ' ' get
shaking" and upset himself just when he ought to keep
cool. Some even brood over a coming match until, when
the struggle commences, their nerves are all unstrung.
Others again work themselves into a fever of excitement
by exclamations of impatience each time a shot or any-
thing else goes wrong.

When getting ready for an important shoot, I begin

Practice and Training

some months before, shooting once on each day and then
dismissing from my mind for the rest of the day all thought
of shooting. Gradually I work it up to an hour and a half
daily, during which time I fire from two hundred to four
hundred shots. For an average man this is too many

STANDARD AMERICAN TARGET

Diameter of Circles

io circle .

. 3.36 inches \

. 5.54 " [■ Bull's-eye

6 circle .

. 14.80 inches

9 "

5 "

. 19.68 "

8 "

. 8.00 " )

4 " •

. 26.00 "

7 "

. 11.00 "

Rest of target 28X28

inches

shots a day. Three days before the time, I stop shoot-
ing, so as to come fresh to it and avoid being "stale";
but some men find it better to work right up to the day
itself.

You ought not to shoot quite alone; I mean you ought
to have a competitor and an audience, and, if possible,

112 Art of Revolver Shooting

a hostile (or feignedly hostile) one. It is advisable to
get people to stand behind you and make remarks about
your shooting; laughing when you make a bad shot;
telling each other anecdotes (this latter is very disconcert-
ing ; the former only makes you set your teeth and shoot
all the better), and occasionally letting something drop
with a bang, just at a critical moment in your shooting.

This will accustom you to shoot in competition before
spectators, and prevent your becoming disconcerted by
their presence. I do not mean to say that you will be
so treated at Bisley or at the clubs, for the range officers
at Bisley are very strict in making anyone who is not
shooting stand well back and not talk loudly, and in
France the strictest etiquette is observed in this con-
nection. But with the above training you will come
not to mind even a buzz of conversation and movement
behind you when you are competing, or, indeed, the sudden
silence which denotes that you are about to fire a shot
on which much depends. Had you, however, practised
always in solitude, you would, when shooting in public,
be far less composed and self-possessed.

I think that anyone who is really an expert pistol
shot can, for a few shots, shoot well at any time (when in
normal health), without any practice. Once I did not
have a pistol in my hand for nearly a year, and then I
made a highest possible score at my first attempt. But
one cannot keep it up for any number of shots, the muscles
being out of training and the thumb and trigger-finger
getting sore, and even cut.

Be careful when training not to get a "raw" or

Practice and Training IX3

sprain anywhere on your shooting hand; if you feel
one coming, rest that hand till it is healed, and grad-
ually you will get a "corn" where the friction existed.
If you shoot with a ' ' raw ' ' you will be liable to
flinch, and so find it harder to shoot in good form.
I shot all through one Bisley meeting with my right
wrist sprained; and at another with my right thumb
partly out of joint. But I had to keep on shooting,
as my championship depended on winning. There is
one great charm of the Pistolet Club, and all pistol
shooting in France; you shoot with light charges
and so do not get knocked about, and deafened, as you
do in England where one is compelled to use heavy
charges. If only for this reason I think that pistol
shooting will never become popular in England under
existing rules.

In reference to practice not being necessary to a
seasoned shot, it is much better not to have practised at
all than to be "stale. " I remember one of the best shots
at the "running deer" range telling me he never took a
rifle in his hand except during the Wimbledon fortnight
(we used in those days to have the N.R.A. at Wimbledon) ;
but then he was always using a gun the rest of the year,
and this was better practice than using a rifle at stationary
targets, hence perhaps his invariable success in beating
the target shots.

On a wet, windy, or otherwise unsuitable day, it is
best to keep entirely away from open-air pistol ranges.
You will not have wasted time; you will, most likely, do
better shooting the next time; and the others will probably

IX4 Art of Revolver Shooting

all be " shot out " without having anything to show
for it.

Above all things, do not stand behind a good shot and
watch him beating your best score; this is fatal to your
nerves.

It is advisable to have a good leather case, with a lock,
and your name on it, for your ammunition at Bisley. If
you use the ammunition from the boxes in which the
cartridges are sold, you are very apt to find yourself using
someone else's cartridges by mistake — often bad ones.
I recollect an orderly at one Bisley meeting collecting all
the odd lots of revolver-cartridges lying about the firing-
points. He placed them in a box, and a competitor used
them by mistake!

BADGES WON BY THE AUTHOR

115

CHAPTER XI

GALLERY SHOOTING

^Y this term I mean shooting under cover as
distinct from shooting in the open air.

Some people say of gallery shooting,
"This is not sport," just as those who
have never tried "tame deer" and "drag"
hunting say that these are not sport. One
can, however, get a lot of fun out
of both, under circumstances in
which anything that people call
"legitimate" sport would be impossible.

Nobody can make good shooting with a pistol in a
wind. When I say this, I am generally told: "You ought
to be able to shoot in any weather." I do not mind shoot-
ing a match in a gale of wind if my adversary is also
exposed to it, as that is good sport. But, I repeat, it is
impossible, except by a fluke, to make a really good score
in a wind, or to do any shooting which is useful as practice.
You may shoot hard all day long whenever a wind is
blowing, and, instead of improving your shooting, it will
entirely spoil your "form" and "timing." The reason
is this: With a rifle, especially if you use the "back"
position, you can "hold" steady in quite a strong wind,

BELGIAN SINGLE-SHOT PISTOL. — SAW-HANDLE

BELGIAN SINGLE-SHOT PISTOL. SAW-HANDLE

Showing breech open

117

118 Art of Revolver Shooting

and the wind only lends interest and brings science
into play in "allowing for wind." With the pistol,
on the contrary, you have to stand up, the wind
blows your arm and body about, you have only
one arm to steady the pistol, and that is being
buffeted about at full stretch. How would you shoot
if someone took hold of the sleeve of your shooting arm
and kept twitching it as you tried to aim, and at
the same time pushed you? This is what the wind
practically does.

As it is impossible to shoot to any advantage in a
wind, the summer months are generally the only ones
when pistol competitions are practicable in the open air.
A pistol-shot cannot get any practice out-of-doors on
boisterous winter days, especially if he is busy all day and
the light fails just at the time he is free. This is when
the indoor gallery comes in useful.

I do not know of any good public pistol-shooting gal-
lery in England at the present moment, although there
are several clubs where heavy charges are shot and where
no light trigger-pull is allowed, or light charges. In Paris,
Gastinne-Renette's, 39, Avenue d'Antin, is furnished
with all the latest modern improvements and it has the
very great advantage that the shooting is by daylight and
in the open air and sheltered from the wind. There is at
the Gastinne-Renette Gallery an annual competition dur-
ing March, April, and May, with prize pistols, revolvers,
and medals. For ordina^ practice, the revolver sub-
scription is at the rate of 55f. per 500 shots, or 3of. per
250 shots. I will give fuller details of the matches shot

Gallery Shooting

119

there in my chapter on the duelling pistol, and some
particulars about the light charges.

A private gallery can easily be fitted up in the cellars
of large country houses, or even of town houses. All that

STYLES OF SMITH & WESSON ENGRAVING

is needed is a gallery of moderate length — ten yards will
suffice at a pinch, though in mine it is possible to shoot up
to thirty- three yards — with targets and butt, such as I
describe in the chapter on Stage Shooting, at one end.

120 Art of Revolve?' Shooting

The targets should be lighted from above, in daytime
preferably by a skylight, and by gas lamps or electric lights
at night. When artificial light is used, it should be
screened, so that from the firing-point the targets are
distinct and the source of the light is invisible. At the
firing-point it is difficult to get a satisfactory light at
night. If this gallery is not made in a green-house,
which, of course, would give ample light to sight by in
the day, I think there is no use in trying to get the
light to shine on your sights at night. If it is be-
hind you, you stand in your own light. If enough
above you to prevent this, the light only shines on
the top edges of your sights, and is thus worse than
useless. I find it best to have enough light behind me to
enable me to load, etc., and to trust to seeing the sights in
a black silhouette against the target. You may, for this
reason, have to alter your sights from the elevation which
suits you out-of-doors.

You should have a ventilating shaft straight above the
muzzle of your revolver, and, if possible, a fan to draw off
the fumes and smoke; this can be worked by electricity
or by water-power.

It is expedient to use only the lightest gallery am-
munition, and it deadens the sound if you have the walls
covered with some sort of thick material hung loosely.
Boiler-felt is very good for the purpose. Also if you shoot
through a hole in a partition screen it helps to deaden
the sound.

I prefer a big-calibre revolver, as it gives a better
chance to score; a shot which would be just out of the

Gallety Shooting

121

bull with a small bullet may just cut the bull with a large
ball. The bullet-hole is also more easily seen, but the
bullet must be round so as to be as light as possible or

STYLES OF SMITH & WESSON ENGRAVING

you will have to use too heavy a charge of powder to
propel it.

The self -registering targets, such as are used for

122 Art of Revolver Shooting

m'niature .22 calibre rifles, I do not find very satisfactory
at ranges under 20 yards; those, at least, that I have
tried ; the larger size of the revolver bullet makes it liable
to strike two compartments at the same time, giving you
a double score. The impact of the bullet is, moreover,
too heavy for the mechanism. I prefer card targets for
short ranges, and at 25 yards Gastinne-Renette's self-
registering targets. Do not have targets that necessitate
anyone's going down the range, or coming out from a
mantlet, to change. Have the card targets made to
draw up to the firing-point for examination and change,
and never let anyone turn round with a revolver in his
hand. In fact, observe all the rules as to table to fire
from, etc., which I give in the chapter on Learning to
Use the Pistol. All these rules apply equally to gallery
shooting.

As the gallery is generally narrow, it may be difficult
to have traversing targets, but you can have disappear-
ing or rapid-firing at my cinematograph targets.

Such a gallery will be an endless source of amusement
in the winter evenings, after dinner; and the ladies can
shoot as well as the men.

It is advisable to handicap the good shots, so as to
give all an equal chance.

I have lately devised a cinematograph target that
should afford good practice, especially in ranges where
miniature small-arms are used.

According to my invention I provide a plain target,
preferably painted white, and I project on to the same
by means of cinematograph apparatus representations of

Gallery Shooting I23

animals or men running and doubling across the surface
of the target.

The target is so constructed and arranged in con-
nection with the cinematograph apparatus that when
struck by the bullet the traverse of the cinematograph
film will be momentarily arrested so that the representa-
tion remains stationary on the target. During this brief

SMITH & WESSON SINGLE-SHOT TARGET PISTOL

period while the film is stationary it will be possible to
see the result of the shot. The travel of the film will
then be resumed and the practice may continue.

The target may be of any suitable material and may be
made in several separately mounted parts if desired so as
to more readily respond to the impact of the shot and
arrest the film.

It is obvious that a much greater variety of running

I24 Art of Revolver Shooting

and moving objects may be provided for shooting practice
by means of the cinematograph than can be afforded by
the mechanism usually employed for providing moving
targets.

Gallery shooting is by far the most scientific style
of revolver shooting, if you use a very light load, fine
sights, and hair trigger; therefore you can have smaller
bull's-eyes and subdivisions than the Bisley ones. The
American and the French targets are better subdivided
for this purpose. Messrs. De La Rue make me special
"ace of hearts" packs of cards for use as targets, also
one with a blue-bottle fly as a bull's-eye, natural size.
Also for experimental work a gallery is much more
reliable than shooting out-of-doors.

When shooting with gallery ammunition in which the
bullets are "seated" low, look into the cartridges before
putting them into the chambers, as a bullet may have
worked itself up, which would cause a weak, low shot.
Push the bullet down with a loading rod, or a pencil,
before you insert the cartridge into the chamber, if you
find the bullet has shifted. Also if for any reason after
firing a few shots with this ammunition you stop, and
want to reload the chambers which have been fired, it
is as well to take out all the cartridges that have not
been fired, and examine them, as the jar of firing
may have started some of the bullets. They need re-
seating.

If you can possibly get some of the French smokeless
powder, as used at Gastinne-Renette's Gallery, this is
much the best powder to use for this purpose, as it shoots

Gallery Shooting

125

evenly, does actually not make smoke, gives very little
smell (and that not unpleasant), and shoots so "cleanly"
that you can fire hundreds of shots without cleaning the
pistol.

CHAPTER XII
GASTINNE-RENETTE'S GALLERY IN PARIS

THE DUELLING PISTOL

:N regard to galleries where one

can get pistol practice, that of

Gastinne-Renette in Paris

stands easily first, as not only

is it lit up in the best style for

all sorts of shooting, but the

weapons supplied are the best

in the world. Founded in 1835,

it has recently been refitted.

The usual shooting gallery

in England is lit by artificial

light, and badly at that, and what in my opinion is

the chief cause of English galleries of this kind being

so little patronised is that they are run on the principle

of "All pay, nothing receive."

No matter how well you shoot, — you may, indeed,

be beating all the records in the world, — when you have

done shooting you simply pay so much for every shot you

have fired, and get nothing in return.

Naturally a man soon gets tired of this, and, so far

126

Gastinne-Renette s Gallery in Paris I27

as practice is concerned, it is better and comes far cheaper
to fix up a private range.

At Gastinne-Renette's, on the contrary, if you make a
good score you receive a gold, a silver, or a bronze
medal, or plaque, or an objet d'art is given to you,
while in addition your score is inscribed in a permanent
register. When the target is an exceptionally good one it
is framed and set up in the gallery, your name being
inscribed in gold letters in the "Roll of Honour" on a
slab on the wall.

There are scores there that have been made by almost
all the best pistol-shots in the world who have visited
the gallery at various times. They date, I believe, from
seventy years back. There are some very good scores by
the late King of Portugal.

Also you can subscribe for practice, and then your
shooting costs very little.

While there are plenty of competitions and medals to
be won at deliberate shooting, most of the shooters prefer
the more practical practice of rapid firing.

I suppose it is a matter of national temperament.
Again, whilst in England it is the hardest thing possible
to get men to shoot at anything but stationary
targets and do deliberate shooting, either in rifle or
revolver competitions (they have no pistol competi-
tions), in France it is the minority who go for deliberate
shooting. Very many go in for the rapid- shooting com-
petitions with pistol and revolver.

In consequence, whilst one could count on the fingers
of one hand all the Englishmen who can shoot well at

128 JLrt of Revolver Shooting

moving targets or who are expert in rapid firing with a
revolver, in Paris there are several dozen very brilliant
shots, over and above plenty who can shoot really well.
I do not remember ever seeing at Gastinne-Renette's
the name of an Englishman who had won even a bronze

GASTIXNE-RENETTE S GALLERY

medal in the rapid-firing or moving-object competitions,
and the only American name there is my own.

If anyone, therefore, wants to become a first-class
pistol- or revolver-shot I would strongly recommend him
to do his practising at Gastinne-Renette's.

The gallery, warmed by hot water pipes in winter,

Gastinne-Renette s Gallery in Paris I29

has a series of openings into the outer air, in which the
shooters and their assistants stand. These being shut off
by glass doors from the main gallery, spectators can watch
the shooting without their being annoyed by the noise of
the reports. The targets stand out in the open court.
The shooting is all done with light charges and with

UNDERGROUND GALLERY FOR HEAVY CHARGES

a light trigger-pull — unless otherwise specially desired, in
which case one can get knocked to pieces and half
deafened by shooting with heavy charges in a gallery
beneath.

In none of the competitions is one forced to use heavy
charges or a heavy trigger-pull, and this makes the shoot-
ing far more enjoyable. The heavy trigger-pull obligatory
in England has caused many a man to discontinue
revolver shooting, for this heavy pull requires a lifetime

x3o Art of Revolver Shooting

to master. And when it is mastered it is of no earthly-
use, as no man in his senses would use a heavy trigger-

GASTINNE-RENETTE S GALLERY FIRING POINTS

pull if his life depended upon his skill in shooting.

As this chapter deals with the duelling pistol, I will
begin by describing how this weapon is used in practice.

Gastinne-Renette s Gallery in Parts J3i

In a subsequent chapter I will explain how it is used in an
actual duel.

The duelling pistol is a single-shot muzzle-loader of
.40 calibre.

The best make is Gastinne-Renette's. He makes
two other sorts of breech-loading duelling pistols as well,

Fig. 1. How some hold the duelling pistol

but as the muzzle-loader is the regulation duelling
pistol, I will describe it first.

It has, as will be seen by the illustration, a straighter
grip than a revolver, also it has a spur on the trigger-
guard.

One way of holding it is to put the second finger round
this spur (see fig. 1), but most of the best shots hold it as
in fig. 2.

r32 Art of Revolver Shooting

Whilst for a revolver I advocate holding the thumb
along the top of the grip (as explained in Chapter VIII),
the stock is too straight for this hold with the duelling
pistol, and the thumb must therefore be turned down, as
shown in fig. 4 (also in fig. 3).

How far you hold up the stock must be determined

Fig. 2. The Author's way of holding the duelling pistol

by practice. If you hold very high up, and you have a
muscular or fat hand, the flesh between your thumb and
forefinger will hide your hind sight. Hold it as high up
as possible, however, and do not get too much of the fore-
finger round the trigger ; also remember to squeeze straight
back.

The assistant — you are not allowed to load your own

Gastinne-Renette s Gallery in Pans 133

weapon or to shoot without an assistant being with you —
loads the pistol as follows:

He has, on the ledge before him, a bowl of smokeless
powder, a bowl of caps, and a bowl of round bullets.

He first puts on a cap and snaps it, to clear the nipple
(generally a pair of pistols are used, he loading the one

Fig. 3. How some hold the duelling pistol (another view)

whilst you shoot the other) ; then he puts in, with a small
scoop, a load of powder; and lastly he puts on a cap. All
this time the pistol has been kept "muzzle up," to
prevent the powder from running out. This charge of
powder he also shoots off to clear the nipple.
Now the pistol is ready for loading.

J34 Art of Revolver Shooting

He puts in the powder, then puts a bullet on the
muzzle, taps it down with a wooden mallet, and then
drives it home with a wooden loading rod and the mallet.

Next he puts on a cap, and then he hands you the
pistol at half cock, his thumb on the cap.

There are two distances for the duelling pistol, namely

FlG. 4. The Author's way of holding the duelling pistol (another view)

sixteen metres and twenty-five metres; the former is for
deliberate shooting, the latter is for rapid firing under
duelling conditions.

A number of medals and plaques are offered to be
shot for at both distances, either at targets, eggs, figures
in plaster of Paris, plates, figures of running men or

Gastinne-Renette s Gallery in Pains 135

running rabbits, and, at the longer range, at the black
silhouette of a life-sized man.

The bronze medals and plaques can be won by any
moderately good shot; to win the silver medals needs
very good shooting; and to secure the gold ones the
competitor must be a brilliant marksman.

It will be found — at least I find it so — that in the
deliberate shooting better scores can be made with a duel-
ling pistol than with a revolver, and the scores that have
won the gold medal with pistol and revolver respectively
bear me out in this. I give at the end of this chapter
details of what scores have to be made to win these
various events.

As the special use of the duelling pistol, however, is
for duelling, I will now describe how to become pro-
ficient with it in that style of shooting, leaving for a
later chapter the points to be observed in an actual
duel.

The metronome to beat 100 to the minute. You
cock the pistol and stand with the left foot behind the
line of the opening, — the right foot may be outside on
the mat, — your elbow touching your hip, the butt of the
pistol touching your thigh, and the pistol pointing at the
ground.

Be very careful not to touch the trigger, as the pull is
so light ; be careful also not to point the muzzle at your
right foot, for in that case you might put a bullet through
your foot in the event of an accidental discharge.

The assistant, speaking at the speed of the metro-
nome, says: "Attention! Feu! Un — deux — trois!" At

J36 Art of Revolver Shooting

the word "feu" you raise the pistol, which must be fired
before the word "trois." This is called
shooting "Au Commandement."

The target consists of a steel black
figure of a man in profile (see figure) . The
various parts count 5, 4, 3, and 2, respec-
tively, the highest count being the oblong
in the middle of the body, and the lowest,
the legs. The head counts 3.

This figure is connected electrically with
a small indication figure at the side of the
firing-point, a bell ringing and a numbered
disc appearing on the latter figure in the
section struck by the bullet in the original.

The marker then goes out — after calling
out "plaque" to ensure all being clear — •
and paints over the bullet mark.

This competition is shot very much on
the lines of the "disappearing target"
competition at Bisley, described later,
and you had better read that chapter in
connection with this one.

There are some differences, however.

Besides the grip and balance of the
duelling pistol being different from those
of the revolver, the pistol has to be raised
from pointing to the ground, instead of
from the hip level. This has a tendency
to make you shoot low, as the time taken
in raising the arm has to be hurried.

Silhouette show-
ing spots made by
the author in com-
petition at the
Gastinne-Renette
Gallery, April 7,
1910

Gastinne-Renette s Gallery in Paris *37

The sight is a shiny silver bead instead of a black one ;
the target has no visible "bull," and the divisions of the
target have to be judged, as they do not show from the
firing point.

It will be noticed that the middle oblong, counting
five, is not absolutely central. The figure's chest pro-

DUELLING PISTOLS BY GASTINNE-RENETTE

The property of the Author

jects to the right, and its waist comes in on the left side.
If the figure were made of parallelograms you could
judge the centre (horizontally) all the way up ; but, with
the shape it is, if you shoot for the centre of the bull you
are apt to get out to the right as the "bull" is at that
point to the left [i.e., there is more inner on its right; and

THE GASTINNE-RENETTE CHALLENGE TROI'HY

138

Gastinne-Renette s Gallery in Paris 139

conversely, if you hit low for the bull you are apt to get an
inner to the left]. The best way is to come up a trifle to
the left of the centre of the figure, otherwise you will
spoil a "possible" by two or three inners on the right of
the bull.

THE GASTINNE-RENETTE l6 METRES TARGET

This target has a i f(, black. The ring is to facilitate judging

If you find, that you are shooting low it is much easier to
hit the figure just below the bull than anywhere else, for
which reason I have advised that place to shoot for in a real
duel. One gets there so much quicker and more surely.

Keep your head well up, and look at the head of the
figure instead of at the middle of the bull.

140 Art of Revolver Shooting

This is a rule: if your last shot was low, look higher;
if it was high, look lower.

If you are careful to squeeze, instead of jerking, you
are almost sure always to hit the figure, the only misses
allowable being a graze of the waist to the left, or under
the chin to the right.

In order to make "possibles" (twelve shots make
a score and not six, as in England, which increases the
difficulty enormously) you have to be very careful of
your lateral direction; the vertical direction is compara-
tively unimportant.

The Gastinne-Renette duelling pistol is made in three
styles (see page 141).

The top one shows the breech-loading model ; the mid-
dle one the muzzle-loading model; and the lowest one the
semi-breech-loading model.

This last is intended to combine the accuracy of the
muzzle-loader with the ease of loading of the breech-
loader.

The powder is poured down the muzzle in the same
way that the muzzle-loader is loaded; then the barrel is
slid forward by the lever connected with the trigger-
guard, the muzzle of the pistol being held vertically in
order that the powder may not be spilled.

The powder is now found to be tilling the thimble-
like breech. The bullet is placed on the top of this
thimble, and the barrel is closed by returning the lever
to its place.

Finally a cap is placed on the nipple, and the loading
is complete.

Gastinne-Renette s Gallery in Paris H1

Though this of course takes longer than does the load-
ing of a breech-loading pistol, it is easier for an amateur to
accomplish than is the loading of a muzzle-loader.

DUELLING PISTOLS

(By Gastinne Renette)

I doubt, however, whether with expert loaders it is
as quick as loading a muzzle-loader.

J42 Art of Revolver Shooting

Breaking "plates" (i. e., large saucers) "Au Com-
mandement" is easy; but to break a hundred of them
in order to win a gilt medal requires care, also a certain
amount of strength and condition.

The gold medal for shooting at sixteen yards with a
duelling pistol at the target shown on page 139 is com-
peted for both in deliberate shooting and "Au Com-
mandement." In the former, twelve shots must be in,
not touching the five ring ; in the latter in the four ring.

In former years the "Au Commandement " was shot
for with slow counting, but with the metronome at 100
it is the most difficult of all the medals shot for.

The revolver is also shot a great deal at this gallery;
the usual one is the Smith & Wesson, with gallery charge
of French powder and a round bullet, either the .44
Russian model or the .38 Army model double action, which
is also a Smith & Wesson.

I have described, in my chapters on gallery and stage
shooting, how to use the former.

At Gastinne-Renette's there are many medals to be
shot for with it, and a gold medal similar to the one for
the duelling pistol in deliberate shooting can be shot for;
but there is none for rapid firing or for shooting a revolver
with double action, which I think is a pity.

The double action .38 calibre is used in the yearly
competition at the twenty-five metres man figure, when
six shots are fired in twenty seconds, and then a second
series of six, constituting a total score of twelve.

It is not permissible to cock the pistol, or yet to raise
it, until the word "feu" is called.

Gastinne-Renettc s Gallery in Paris J43

Two scores of 12 shots each to count (not necessarily
consecutive scores.)

It is one or two points easier than the "Au Com-
mandement" with the duelling pistol.

The first shot takes a long time to get off, but twenty-
seconds gives plenty of time for the six shots. I generally
get mine off in from fifteen to seventeen seconds.

The great thing is to draw back the trigger so as not
to jerk off; this is rather tiring to the trigger-finger and
cannot be long continued.

Another form of shooting this is to fire at two men
figures alternately ; in doing so six hits in four seconds have
been scored.

CHAPTER XIII

LE PISTOLET CLUB

/HIS is a Paris club which holds
its meetings at Gastinne-Ren-
ette's Gallery for competitions
especially with the duelling pis-
tol under duelling conditions,
but there are also occasionally
competitions with the revolver.
The usual competitions con-
sist of:

Shooting "Au Commande-
ment " at the "man " at twenty-
five metres, in pairs. Each competitor shoots once against
every other competitor, and the greatest number of hits
wins. A hit anywhere counts only one point, but half
a point is added to the one to shoot first of each pair.

Raising the pistol before the word "feu," or shooting
after the word "trois," counts as a zero even if the target
be hit.

There is an elaborate table that indicates which
members (the competitors' order of shooting) shoot
against each other, and which has the right-hand stand,
so that each has an equal chance.

144

Le Pistolet Club *45

A fee of a franc only is charged, and the winner gets
a medal.

Another form of shooting is as above, but hits count
according to their value, as in ordinary competitions.
A third is "le tir au pigeon," in which the rule is "first
miss out," the one who can keep in longest without a
miss, winning.

Sometimes there are competitions at the "running
rabbit," or rapid firing at the "man " with revolvers.

This club has among its members the very best pistol-
shots in the world, under duelling conditions, men who
can get their shots off instantaneously and with extreme
accuracy.

Shooting against another man and trying to get your
shot off before he does is much more difficult to accomplish
than shooting by yourself and merely trying not to be
later than "trois."

This is a very exclusive club, only men of a certain
social standing being admitted.

They never shoot big charges, or use a heavy trigger-
pull, though in England, as already stated, this is deemed
necessary.

If a man can hold his own in these competitions he
may consider himself a first-class shot, and all the shooting
is practical, and not target shooting.

The counting is quicker than ioo to the minute.

CHAPTER XIV

COMPETITIONS WITH THE DEVILLIERS
BULLET

'EVILLIERS has patented a bullet
for practising duelling, the com-
petitors shooting at each other.
The bullet is useful also for in-
door shooting where a leaden
bullet would be dangerous.

The composition of the bullet
is a secret, but the bullet is
light, and, when propelled by a
cap with fulminate only, gives a
hard rap where it strikes.
When shooting with it at a man the following precau-
tions must be observed, according to the inventor.

i. "Don't shoot at less than twenty metres." It
is useless to shoot with it at more than twenty metres,
as the bullet rapidly loses its accuracy beyond that dis-
tance ; the blow at twenty metres distance is not severe
if one is properly protected.

2 . " Wear goggles , a fencing mask , and gloves . " Th e
goggles are now made part of the mask, and are of very

thick glass, while, instead of the shooter's wearing a glove,

146

Devilliers Bullet

a metal shield is affixed to the pistol (see illustration).
The hand must not be lowered before your opponent fires.
I once shot against a friend who omitted this precaution,
and my bullet cut away the flesh at the lower part of
his thumb.

3 . " Wear a black linen blouse. ' ' This may be neces-

HOW TO HOLD THE DUELLING PISTOL WITH GUARD FOR SHOOTING

devillier's BULLET

sary to prevent your clothes being soiled, but it makes
you a bigger target for your opponent. Therefore a tight-
fitting coat is better. I shoot with no body protection.
4. "In winter be careful that the bullets do not
freeze." I find it best to keep the loaded pistols on ice
for some time before shooting — not letting them freeze,
however — and not to let the pistol get too hot, for if the

POSITION FOR ATTENTION

I48

Devilliers Bullet x49

bullet gets warm it loses its accuracy through not taking
the rifling properly.

5. " In summer cool the bullets as much as possible."
This I quite agree with.

The bullets are loaded as follows. First you get from
the maker some empty cartridge cases, also caps. Then
you put the bullet lightly into the mouth of the cartridge,
taking care not to press it in or, by squeezing it with your
fingers, put it out of shape. Next you insert it into the
breech of your pistol — keeping the muzzle up so that the

.22 CALIBRE TARGET PISTOL BY LEESON

(Made according to author's specifications)

bullet may not drop out owing to its not fitting the
cartridge tightly. Finally you lower the muzzle of
the pistol and insert the cap, and then close the breech.

When the cartridge has been fired there may be
difficulty in extracting the cap for reloading the cartridge.
If that be so, push out the cap by inserting a wire into the
mouth of the cartridge and pushing inside the cap. But
don't attempt to do this with a loaded cap !

The competitions take place like Pistolet Club com-
petitions or like a real duel, and preferably in the open air.

POSITION WHEN SHOOTING

150

Devil Hers Bullet r5i

Naturally spectators must not stand behind either
of the shooters, and in places where there is not a clear
space of about a hundred yards behind each, a white
linen sheet hung behind each of them will stop the bullets.
This makes a distinct background, but the effect is bet-
ter, and the practice too is better, when such sheets are
dispensed with.

This kind of shooting makes an amusing game to play
at garden parties, fetes, and so on. Also it comes as a
novelty after the everlasting round of tennis and croquet
parties.

Another form, one very useful for cavalry, is to have
a fight on horseback, with revolvers. In such matches
the horses' eyes must of course be protected, and a rug and
hood should be put on if the animals are nervous or thin-
skinned, for a blow at a distance of a few feet would be
very severe.

The bullet is also useful for shooting at a paper target,
when galloping past. It easily penetrates a playing card
and a Bisley target behind it, at five yards.

In fact the invention of this bullet practically solves
the problem of how to teach shooting from horseback,
if only the barrel of the pistol could be kept cool
enough. Perhaps having several pistols and using them
alternately is the best way to get over this difficulty.

The bullet is also useful for stage shooting when
shooting objects off persons' heads, or out of their hands
or mouths, especially if the fingers of the assistant are
protected by steel thimbles under his gloves when he
holds cards to be shot at, of if a steel skull cap be worn

THE AUTHOR
152

Devilliers Bullet

153

under false hair when the object to be shot at is placed
upon his head.

It must be remembered, however, that the bullets are
not as accurate as leaden bullets propelled by powder.

Never have any other bullets lying near when shooting
Devilliers bullets, as one of the former might be used by
mistake and so cause a fatal accident.

CHAPTER XV

DUELLING

'HE mere word duelling ap-
pears to shallow minds
a subject for so-called
"humour," like mothers-
in-law and cats, but a mo-
ment's thought will show
that, in certain circum-
stances, the duel forms
the only possible solution
to a difficulty. And it is
not an unmixed blessing
that duelling is abolished in England as "Vanoc" in
The Referee truly says. "For some reasons," he writes,
"the abolition of duelling [he means in England] is a
mistake. Insolent and offensive language is now too
frequently indulged in with impunity. . . . The best
rule of all is never to take liberties yourself, and never
to allow liberties to be taken with you, and to remember
that self-defence is still the noble art."

I think, though, that the still nobler art is the defence
of others, and there are cases — which need not be gone
into here — when a man must fight.

154

THE POSITION OF SOME DUELLISTS AT THE WORD " ATTENTION

155

J56 Art of Revolver Shooting

One of the reasons for this "humorous" attitude in
the English mind (it does not exist abroad) is because
sometimes young men, wishing to advertise themselves,
or their political ideas, fight duels, all the time never
intending to hit each other, and in fact intentionally
firing in the air.

When two good shots "mean business," a pistol duel
is a very deadly affair, as is shown by the number of men
who have been killed in them.

A duel with swords gives more advantage to a
younger or a taller man, or to a man in the pink of
condition, but a pistol duel will enable a much older
man to hold his own.

The challenged has the right to chose weapons, and
if he choose pistols it is understood that the meeting should
be conducted with single-shot duelling pistols.

The British public are accustomed to confuse the
words "pistol" and "revolver," and most pistol duels
are described as "duels with revolvers" by those not
understanding such things; but the revolver is not
recognised as a duelling weapon, and any fight with
revolvers would on the Continent lead to a trial for murder
if anyone were killed.

In challenging, the person considering himself aggrieved
asks two of his friends to act as his seconds, and these he
sends to his adversary. The latter at once appoints two
seconds for himself, and the four seconds then make all
the necessary arrangements.

First they call upon a gunmaker — combatants in a
duel are not allowed to use their own weapons — and two

THE AUTHOR'S POSITION AT " ATTENTION

157

J58 Art of Revolver Shooting

single-shot muzzle-loading duelling pistols of regulation
pattern are chosen.

In the presence of the seconds these are loaded by
the gunmaker and put into a case, which is then sealed.

This case is taken to the duelling ground by the
gunmaker and the seal is not broken until everything
else is ready, the reason of course being to prevent
tampering with the pistols, or loads, or obtaining practice
with that particular pair of pistols.

A doctor is present at the duel with all necessary
appliances.

On the ground the seconds draw lots for where their
men are to stand, it being of advantage to have sun and
wind at one's back, or left rear.

The distance is twenty-five metres, marked by canes
stuck in the ground, and the shooters stand facing each
other.

When all is in readiness, the seconds break the seal of
the pistol case, then the director of the duel takes the
weapons out, holding them by the barrels, one pistol in
each hand, and presents the butt ends to the duellist to
whom the lot has fallen to have first choice. The
other pistol is handed to his adversary.

If shots are exchanged without result, the duellists
exchange places for the next shot.

It is not permissible to try the trigger-pull by cocking
and lowering the hammer, but about how light or heavy
the pull is can be ascertained to some extent when cocking.
A light click indicates a light pull, and a loud click a
heavier one.

CORRECT POSITION AT THE MOMENT OF FIRING

159

160 j{rt 0f Revolver Shooting

It is usual, especially if the duellists are good shots,
and if they happen to be very angry with each other,
to give them a very heavy trigger-pull in order to make
it more difficult for them to hit each other. Therefore
it is well always to give a good strong pull back when
firing, so as to avoid pulling off to the side if you have
been given a very heavy trigger-pull.

For the same reason the words of command in such
cases are given very quickly. This prevents getting aim.

Finally the duellists cock their pistols, the seconds
stand clear, and the director of the fight stands midway
between the duellists and about six metres back of the
line between them.

The duellists stand with their right elbows touching
their right hips, butt of pistol to thigh, and their pistols
pointing at the ground.

The director calls: "Attention — Feu! Un — deux —
trois!"

If either is not ready at the word "attention," he says
so, but otherwise after the word "feu" he raises his
pistol and must fire before the word "trois" is spoken.

If he does not have his elbow to his hip, and muzzle
to ground ; or if he raises his pistol or even moves it before
the word "feu"; or if he fires after the word "trois"
has been spoken, and he kills his man, he is liable, if
his adversary's seconds lodge a complaint, to be tried for
murder.

The usual speed at which these words are spoken is
a hundred words to the minute, but, as I have said, the
director often hurries the words in order to baffle the

Duelling l61

duellists and prevent their injuring each other
fatally.

Whether the duel should continue if neither com-
batant is sufficiently injured after the interchange of shots
to prevent his going on shooting is a matter that the
seconds have arranged between them before the duel
begins. It depends chiefly upon the gravity of the reason
for which the duel is fought.

The position to stand in, in my opinion, should not
be quite sideways.

Of course one should, theoretically, make as small a
target as possible for one's opponent, and therefore the
coat should be buttoned close. But whereas if standing
quite sideways one makes a smaller mark, if hit when in
that position the wound will probably prove more
dangerous.

A bullet which would perforate both lungs of a man
standing sideways, will most likely go through one lung
only if he be standing more full face. Several other
internal organs are also safer when the shooters stand
full face; by leaning forward the ribs are closer together
and afford protection to the heart and lungs, also from a
shooting point of view, one can make much better practice
when standing more or less facing the object to be hit,
than when craning one's head round to try and look over
one's right shoulder, and so hampering one's right arm.

It is generally considered that one should look as
dark as possible to one's opponent, and turn up one's
collar to avoid showing a white mark. But with this I am
not sure that I quite agree. Personally I should prefer

1 62 Art of Revolver Shooting

to shoot at an entirely black target without a white collar
or white patch anywhere diverting one's eye, unless that
white was at a place one wanted to hit.

For instance, if a very bad shot were going to fire at
me, I should prefer his trying to hit my collar, as he would
then be more likely to shoot over my head, or to miss me
by shooting past me, than if he tried to hit me in the
middle of the body.

The white collar would, however, be hidden by the
right hand and pistol as soon as the pistol was raised, if
aim were taken at an opponent's head.

The position safest for yourself is to aim at your op-
ponent's head, and to get on to that position immediately
after the word "feu," keeping your own head low.

Your right hand and the pistol-butt protect your
throat and a good deal of your face and head if you lower
your face as much as possible.

Some men stand in the position of lunging in fencing,
which makes a still smaller target of the body, but then
this exposes them to a more raking fire, and a shot which
would only pierce the thigh of the right leg, if the duellist
were standing upright, might glance along the thigh and
penetrate the abdomen if he were standing in a lunging
attitude.

A level-headed man, however, would never agree to
fight a duel unless he deemed it justifiable, and then most
likely his whole attention would be concentrated upon
killing his opponent, and considerations, of personal safety
would be neglected ; in the same way that a steeple-chase
rider thinks only of winning and not of his personal

PISTOLS BY GASTINNE RENETTE

I. Muzzle-loading duelling pistol. 2. Muzzle-loading duelling pistol of higher

finish. 3. Chased muzzle-loading duelling pistol. 4. Sliding-action

duelling pistol. 5. Higher-finished sliding-action duelling pistol

W 163

l64 Art of Revolver Shooting

safety — if it is otherwise he is no good as a cross-
country rider.

As the great object is to hit an opponent before he
hits you, — as, if he hits you first, even slightly, he may
spoil your aim, — it is better to hit him as low as possible,
provided the bullet strikes high enough to injure him.

It takes time to raise the pistol to the level of his head,
or even of his armpit, whereas with practice you can flip
the wrist up and hit him in the thigh or hip without
raising the arm at all, and almost before the word
"Un."

If you hit him in the thigh it would not be of much use
in a serious duel, so the hip level is the point to try for.

An instance of perfect timing was that of a recent
fatal duel where one man killed the other immediately
after "feu," before his adversary had time to raise his
pistol.

In the report of a certain duel which took place in
France recently, several of the English papers made
humorous reference to one of the duellists not firing his
pistol (he placed it behind his back) at the word "feu."
The writers seemed to think he had forgotten to fire,
because, when questioned as to his conduct, he said,
" J'ai oublie.' ' Of course anyone conversant with duelling
must have known that by acting thus he meant that he
did not desire to kill or to wound his adversary. A good
shot who for any reason did not wish to hit his adversary
would always put his pistol behind him rather than shoot
wide and get credit for making a miss. It is more digni-
fied to do this, if one does not want to shoot an adversary,

Duelling l65

than to miss on purpose. Moreover, the latter act might
be misconstrued into an attempt to kill.

By French law, if a man is killed in a duel, the body-
must be left where it fell, the police informed at once.
The police then make an investigation. The adversary
is arrested and tried subsequently at the Court of Assizes.
He ought, of course, to stop by the body and give him-
self up. He and his seconds may be condemned to
imprisonment.

Not wanting to kill an adversary is also the reason
so many duels are bloodless. Men, in the heat of an
argument, challenge each other. In cooler moments,
they see that the cause of quarrel was not of sufficient
importance to warrant their killing, or attempting to
kill each other. Yet neither likes to apologise lest this
should look like cowardice; so the two exchange a shot,
and both miss on purpose.

In this connection I may mention that the American
law does not apply in the case of a duel fought by a
citizen of the United States outside the geographical limits
of that country ; for, according to Mr. R. Newton Crane,
no offence is committed by the fact that an American
citizen has participated in a duel beyond the jurisdiction
of the United States. The citizenship of the combatant
is, in such circumstances, immaterial.

On the other hand [he continues] sending, knowingly bear-
ing, or accepting a challenge, in England or America, renders the
sender, bearer, or accepter liable to punishment by the laws of
England or America as the case may be, whether the duel is sub-
sequently fought or not, and whether it is fought in England or

1 66 Aft 0f Revolver Shooting

America or abroad, and whether the offending party is an English-
man, American, or a foreigner. Provoking a man to send a chal-
lenge is also an indictable offence.

The law applicable to the punishment for actually fighting the
duel is, on the other hand, the law of the place where the duel is
fought, and that law only applies to the offence.

Provocation, however great, is no excuse, though it might weigh
with the Court in fixing the punishment. Under the English law
the punishment for sending, bearing, or accepting a challenge is fine
or imprisonment without hard labour, or both. Each of the States
of the United States has penalties for the offence, which though
differing in detail are practically the same in substance as those
provided by the English law.

CHAPTER XVI

THE .22 CALIBRE SINGLE-SHOT PISTOL

HE .22 calibre long-bar-
relled single-shot pistol is
used for target and small
game shooting.

There are several
American and Continen-
tal makes of the .22 cal-
ibre single-shot pistol. I
give illustrations of some
of them, but they are
all more or less similar.
In the United States these pistols are used for target
shooting up to fifty yards, also for taking out on shooting
trips where the rifle is used for big game, and the .22 pistol
for shooting small game for food where a shotgun would
alarm more important game.

On the Continent it is little used, but the Olympic
Games fifty-yards pistol championship led to a certain
amount of practice with it, as it is the weapon for that
range.

Up to sixteen metres I consider the .4 calibre duel-
ling pistol (muzzle-loader) the most accurate of all pistols

167

1 68 Art of Revolver Shooting

for stationary target shooting, as the slightly greater
accuracy possessed by the .22 calibre, shooting long rifle
ammunition, is more than counterbalanced by the

PISTOLS BY GASTINNE-RENETTE

I. Shooting Smith & Wesson, .44 cartridge. 2. Modified Ira Paine to shoot

.44 or .22 ammunition. 3. Saloon pistol, .22 bore, weighing

and balancing like a duelling pistol

larger hole cut by the duelling pistol, a .22 bullet
often missing the bull, whereas the larger ball cuts
into it.

The .22 Calibre Single-Shot Pistol l69

From twenty yards upward the .22 beats both the

WURFFLEIN PISTOL

10-inch barrel; weight, 2 lbs. 2 oz.; .22 cal.

SMITH & WESSON PISTOL

10-inch barrel; weight 1 lb. 8 3-4 oz. ; .22 cal.

STEVENS PISTOL, GOULD MODEL

I O-inch barrel; weight 1 lb. 12 oz.; .22 cal.

l7° Art of Revolver Shooting

duelling pistol and the revolver in the order named; at

STEVENS DIAMOND MODEL PISTOL

6-inch barrel; weight, S 3-4 oz.; .22 cal.

.22 SMITH & WESSON PISTOL WITH INTERCHANGEABLE .32 BARREL

fifty yards the .22 comes first, the revolver is a bad
second, and the duelling pistol is nowhere.

The .22 Calibre Single-Shot Pistol lll

The .22 is often made with a rear sight capable of

HOW TO HOLD THE GASTINNE-RENETTE MODIFICATION OF THE STEVENS,
SHOWING TRIGGER WELL FORWARD

STEVENS OFF-HAND TARGET

elevation and of lateral movement by a screw adjustment.
It is always made with a very light trigger-pull.

STEVENS " LORD "

172

The .22 Calibre Single-Shot Pistol J73

The trigger is very close to the grip so that one has to
pull with the second or even with the third joint of the
trigger-finger.

STEVENS "TIP-UP "

Peep Kear Globe Front

STEVENS " DIAMOND "

This is, in my opinion, a very grave fault. I have not
found any pistol of this calibre with the trigger sufficiently
far forward to suit me, but I do not take enough interest
in a .22 pistol to have one specially made.

J74 Art of Revolver Shooting

It is only a toy, and except for a special competition,
such as the one at the Olympic Games, it is not worth
practising with. For ladies, however, it is well suited on
account of its small cartridge.

y*B\

BISLEY PRIZE CERTIFICATE

175

CHAPTER XVII

NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION MEETING
AT BISLEY

THE REVOLVER COMPETITIONS

JsjN re-writing the following chapters on
Bisley, from the first edition of this
work, I have been confronted with
so many difficulties that I have been
almost compelled to abandon it.

In former years a few of us en-
thusiasts at Bisley drew up a series of
competitions for rapid firing, moving
targets, and so on, which were of
the utmost use in developing good
shots at practical revolver shooting.

Now, unfortunately, owing to lack of support in such
competitions, they have all been dropped out of the
programme, and only the stationary targets are retained,
what is now called the "disappearing target" being shot
at without lowering the arm between shots and having
become in consequence practically a stationary -target
competition as it allows six seconds for each shot instead
of three as formerly.

I therefore had either to cut out my instructions as to

rapid firing, and shooting at moving targets, so as to bring

176

SOME OF THE AUTHOR'S CHAMPIONSHIP BADGES

177

J78 Art of Revolver Shooting

the work up to present Bis'ey conditions, or else retain
them as instruction for revolver shooting for home
practice only.

I have decided on the latter course, the more so as the
"disappearing" competition is the best of practice for
competitions with the duelling pistol at the Paris Pistolet
Club and for the rapid firing series for the revolver
competitions at the same club. The only difference is
that the trigger-pull can be lightened and the powder
charge reduced, both making the shooting easier and
pleasanter.

Pull of trigger is the principal difficulty in revolver
competitions at Bisley. I think the Bisley regulation pull
(four pounds, minimum) is too heavy for getting the best
shooting out of a revolver. It means having a pull of at
least four and a half pounds, so as to be sure that it does
not get too light during the shooting, and it discourages
many by unnecessarily increasing the difficulty of shoot-
ing, and necessitating a great deal of training to avoid
jerking off the aim. A minimum of three pounds would,
in my opinion, be a much better pull. A man accustomed
to lugging at a heavy pull is also much more likely to
" let off " by accident ; whereas a man who is used to a light
pull keeps his finger off the trigger until he means to shoot.

I also venture to think, although I know I am in the
minority, that the National Rifle Association (and, in
consequence, all the affiliated English revolver clubs)
is mistaken in making rules excluding light charges, and
in confining competitions to the use of ' ' Military re-
volvers" only, their definition of "Military" excluding

National Rifle Association at Bis ley J79

some revolvers and ammunition which are regulation
in other countries. This deters many from taking up
revolver shooting, as it is not everyone who cares, or who
is physically able, to stand the "punishment" of a heavily-
charged large-bore revolver; and it does away with the
niceties of accurate work in shooting, reducing these
competitions — to borrow an expression from the boxing
ring — to mere slogging matches, and makes them a
test of physical endurance rather than of practical skill.
The light-charge "Any revolver" competitions corre-
sponded to the Match Rifle competitions, and were very
useful also for experimental purposes, but these have been
discontinued the last few years.

On the Continent, on the other hand, in all competi-
tions, even a weak, delicate man can shoot in comfort and
do really accurate work, as a light charge and trigger-pull
are there allowed. For duelling, a light charge is used;
and a small calibre, with a charge giving very little
recoil, is regulation in all armies but the British army.

BISLEY TARGETS AND MARKING

REVOLVER

Distance, 20 yards. — Target, circular, on a square card, sub-
divided as follows :

Bull's-eye 2 inches in diameter, counting 7 marks.

3 inches diameter

ring \ inch wide

6 '

1 it a
4?

" 3 "

It t

5 '

6i "

« j «

tl t

' 4 '

9 "

" T 1 "

1 4

it t

3 '

12 "

'< Tl "

tl t

2 '

Corners not to count.

i So Art of Revolver Shooting

Distance, 50 yards. — Target, circular, on a square card, sub-
divided as follows:

Bull's-eye 4 inches in diameter, counting 7 marks.
6 inches diameter ring 1 inch wide " 6 "

9 " " " il " " " 5 "

13 " " " 2 " " " 4

18 " " " i\ " " " 3 "

24 " " " 3 " " " 2 "

Corners not to count.

TWENTY- YARDS STATIONARY TARGET. (KNOWN AS " THE
SHORT RANGE SERIES")

Competitions at this range are more numerous than
at any other. Pool shooting also takes place at this
range.

I have already described how to stand and shoot at a
stationary target. There are a few points to be observed,
however, which specially apply to this range when shoot-
ing at Bisley. Before competing at any one of the
limited-entry competitions it is well to be sure that you
are shooting up to your proper form, as mistakes cannot
be corrected after once commencing.

Personally I think it best (if shooting every day or
on most of the ten days) not to enter in a limited-entry
competition until after the first two days of the meeting,
as one gets steadied down by then and grows more
accustomed to the surroundings.

As sighting varies from day to day, and even from
hour to hour, it may be as well to have a pool shoot for
sighting purposes first; but I personally never do so, as I

National Rifle Association at Bisley lSl

think it is a pity to chance wasting a good score in pool.
The moment you have "found the spot," leave off pool;
do not stop to finish a score.

I prefer doing my sighting on an "unlimited-entry"
competition ticket, so that in case I make a "good score"
that score is not wasted.

I have often had a man come to me to show me a
"possible," and when I have congratulated him and
asked him in what competition it was made, he has an-
swered: "Oh, only pool; I have been getting my hand in,
and am now going in for competition." When I saw him

Fig. i Fig. 2 Fig. 3

webley man-stopping bullet

Fig. I. Bullet and case before being fired. Fig. 2. Bullet after it has

entered the flesh. Fig. 3. Section of bullet after expansion

later, and asked him how he had got on he has said:
"Gone all to pieces; I had shot myself out at pool." So,
unless a man is "possible hunting," or a "gunmaker's
shooter," and wants to have diagrams of easily "pos-
sibles" published in the papers, my advice is to leave pool
alone and try to make "possibles" where they count
as records and require nerve to make. Unfortunately,
the general public does not differentiate between these
two classes of "possibles," and thinks them equally
meritorious.

The morning, from 9 to 11, is the best time for

1 82 Art of Revolver Shooting

shooting; and then, perhaps, late in the evening. One
should watch for a good time when the light is favourable ;
often the wind will drop late in the evening, half an hour
before "gunfire," after blowing hard all day.

There is often a good light after rain. Personally I
rather like shooting in the rain, if there is no wind,
and have made some of my best shots in it. The
light is generally good; there is no glare on the
target; and bullets make very big, ragged holes on a
wet target; and sometimes a shot which would not
cut the bull on a dry target may do so on a wet one,
owing to its making a larger hole.1 The Webley "Man-
stopping" bullets make very big, "clean" holes, and there
is a new flat-ended bullet made which punches holes in
the target as clean as a railway ticket punch, but it key-
holes at fifty yards.

If you have a target with a doubtful shot, that is to
say one for which you think you are entitled to a higher
count than the range officer gives you, do not touch it,
or thrust anything (your finger or a pencil) into the hole
to demonstrate that the shot cuts into the bull's-eye or
the line you claim. If you push anything into the hole
you will spoil its outline and destroy all evidence of the
point at which the bullet did cut. In doubtful cases the
range officer puts a bullet of the same calibre (which has
been pushed with a rod through a revolver barrel pre-
viously) into the hole, and examines it whilst in this
position with a magnifying-glass, or uses a piece of trans-

1 At Bisley and in France a bullet must cut the bull to count; at the
English clubs if it touches it scores a bull.

National Rifle Association at Bis ley l83

parent tulle with a bullet-hole outlined on it which he
places over your bullet-hole.

Accept the range officer's decision as final; never
protest against any decision he comes to.

Look at the target to see that it has no bullet-holes in
it before you begin to shoot; and refuse to shoot at a
patched target, except at pool. A patch may fall off a
shot made by a previous competitor and confuse your
score, besides making the target indistinct and throwing
doubt on a record score if you should happen to make
one on such a target. See also that the bull's-eye is black ;
some are badly printed, and the bull grey and indistinct.

Shoot very slowly and deliberately. There is no
hurry. The time limit of two minutes would be ample
within which to fire twenty-four shots — and you have to
fire only six.

If you are dissatisfied with your aim, or your arm is
getting tired, or a gust of wind comes, put the revolver
down without firing. Look down on the grass to rest
your eyes, and wipe your hands ; a little sawdust is a good
thing to rub them with on hot days.

When it is gusty, putting up the revolver just as you
think a lull is coming, instead of waiting for the lull, gives
you a better chance of being "up" when the lull does
come, and you can then "snap" the shot before the next
gust.

If you have to shoot in a very high wind — as in a match,
or in shooting off a tie — it is best to "snap" your shots
(see chapter on Rapid-firing Series) and not try to hold
against the wind.

1 84 Art of Revolver Shooting

If a shot strikes a little too high, or too low, or too
much to either side, aim "off" the bull the next shot to
correct it.

Do not keep altering the amount you see of your front
sight if you hit too high or too low ; you will never make a
good score in that way. If you are out half an inch at
"X o'clock," and you had a good "let-off," aim your next
shot at half an inch off "IV o'clock"; if you hit half an
inch above the bull at "XII o'clock," aim an inch below
" VI o ' clock ' ' with your next shot ; do not take a ' ' coarser ' '
sight. This is where a practical shot has the advantage
over a mere "target shot."

If a shot is in the bull (I assume that at twenty yards
you can easily see shots in, or partly in, the "white" —
personally I can see them at fifty yards) and you are not
sure of its exact locality, examine it with your glass.

If you are "holding" exceptionally steady, and have
shot well into the bull, though not actually central, do
not aim differently to try to get the actual centre with the
next shot; as a rule, if you are anything more than half
in the bull, it is better to let well alone and "hold" the
same as before. I remember on one occasion I had five
shots in one ragged hole at "V o'clock" in the bull on the
sliding target, and for fear of putting my last shot through
the same hole and having it counted as a miss, I tried to
hit the bull at "IX o'clock," and clear of the group. I
went just outside the bull.

If you have several bullets in one ragged hole, it is
advisable, if there be time, to draw the range officer's
attention to this before you fire the next shot, so that

National Rifle Association at Bisley l85

in case you go into the same hole or group again he may
record it and not think it a miss. If he watches the target
whilst you shoot, through his glasses, he will see where
your bullet goes, even if you go into the group.

Do not lend anyone a revolver you care about, any
more than you would a horse.

At stationary targets, and at those only, it is advisable
to use both hands in cocking. In cocking, if there is not a
distinct click, or if the action feels "woolly" or soft, put
it back at half-cock, then open the pistol and see what is
the matter. Most likely a bit of fouling, or a piece of
metal from a cartridge or a bullet, or a cartridge with too
thick a head or with a protruding cap, is the cause.

When a revolver is at full-cock, take the cylinder
between the forefinger and thumb of the left hand, still
holding the stock in the right hand and keeping the muzzle
towards the target, and gently try to revolve the cylinder
towards the right. This, at least, is the normal direction,
though some makes of double-action revolve to the left.
You will, perhaps once in a dozen times, find that it goes
over an appreciable amount till it locks.

Any revolver, even the best, may sometimes not
bring the cylinder round quite true to the barrel; and, if
it does not coincide, the shot will not be accurate, owing
to the bullet not going into the barrel true, and thus
getting a small shaving taken off its side. A bit of
fouling, metal from cartridges or from a bullet, "proud
cap," or thick cartridge-head may cause this. By at-
tending to the cocking in the elaborate way I have indi-
cated, this cause of inaccuracy is avoided. (This is very

1 86 Art of Revolver Shooting

important in cases where a miss would be dangerous: as
when shooting objects off someone's head, or those which
are held in the hand or mouth ; or for the last shot on which
everything depends in a match or a record score.) Also,
every time you open the revolver, look to see whether the
caps have been hit absolutely true in the centre.

By my way of cocking, even if the revolver is not
acting quite perfectly, the chambers ought to come true.
If they do not, clean it very carefully. If, in spite of
this, the caps are still hit on the side, it is useless to con-
tinue with that revolver until the maker has put it right.
The above remarks do not apply to the new Smith &
Wesson solid-frame revolvers, which have a special device
to ensure correct alignment between cylinder and barrel.

Shoot with the smallest charge, lightest bullet, and
largest calibre the rules allow, as it is easier to shoot with
a small than with a "kicking" charge, and the bullet of
larger calibre is more apt to cut into the bull. This ap-
plies to all competitions at ranges not over twenty yards ;
beyond that distance a big charge or small calibre is more
accurate. (See chapter on Fifty-yards Target.)

Smokeless powder will, of course, be the powder of the
future; but I have not got such accuracy out of any
smokeless, except the French, as I have with black.
They give more "unaccountables." But for rapid firing,
smokelessness and less recoil more than counterbalance
the comparative want of regularity, even with the other
makes.

I do not like too small a front sight. I think that one
which, in aiming, looks about a quarter the diameter of

National Rifle Association at Bisley l87

the bull, is best. The semi-circular " U " of the hind sight
should be wide enough to enable you to see all round the
bead of the front sight.

In revolver shooting the chief difficulty is in "holding"
and "squeezing off" without disturbing your aim. There
is no need to strain your eyes with a microscopic front
sight when shooting at so large a bull as two inches at
twenty yards.

Another fault of too fine a front sight is that it is
liable to get bent, just enough to spoil your aim, yet not
enough to be noticeable until too late. If you try to
straighten it, the odds are that you break it off and then
have to waste a day or more in getting another fixed,
which most likely does not suit when done.

The rules at Bisley as to sights vary from year to year.
I have one revolver with a bead front sight on a very
strong stalk, which I was for several years allowed to use
and win with as a military revolver ; it was in subsequent
years declared "unmilitary" and unfit for rough usage;
and then it was again allowed to be used. The front sight
already shown, which is a patent of my own, has never
yet been objected to under any rule; and, personally, I
would as soon use it as any bead sight, except for stage
shooting. Indeed, I prefer it to a "bead" in a bad light
or wind. There are also rules as to "no screw adjust-
ment"; "sights must be fixed," etc.

I always have my Bisley sights made solid with the
revolver, without any screws, and have some made to
shoot higher, others lower, each on a separate revolver.
If I find that the light, or my shooting, does not suit one

1 88 Art of Revolver Shooting

sort of sight, I take another revolver. I have some fifteen
revolvers prepared in this way.

The permission to have a hind sight adjustable by-
being hammered to one side is worse than useless. The
sight works loose, gets knocked askew, and when you
begin shooting you find it is constantly shifting, and spoil-
ing your shooting. I do not call it by any means a practi-
cal military sight although the rules consider it so. If
you have only one revolver for Bisley have it with my
front sight, sighted to your normal or average shooting,
at twenty or fifty yards, to whichever you decide chiefly to
confine yourself, and both back and front sights made
fixtures. It is best sighted for fifty and you can aim a
little low at twenty yards.

I take it for granted that you have your revolvers,
sights, and ammunition all in perfect order before you
come to Bisley. This may seem an unnecessary remark,
but I have noticed the average revolver-shot come more
or less unprepared. He starts pool shooting, to see if
the new sights he ordered suit him, "as I have not tried
them before "; wants to buy ammunition on the spot, or
uses that provided by the Association; or even wants to
hire, or borrow, a revolver!

The record Twelve-shot score at this range is mine, of
eighty-three out of a possible eighty-four. For six shots,
almost everyone who can shoot at all has made more or
less "possibles." I have some twenty-four, made in
competitions, but I do not trouble to make "possibles"
at pool.

In my opinion, if it is thought advisable to have a

National Rifle Association at Bis ley l89

twenty-yards stationary target, the present one is too
easy; the bull ought either to be reduced to one inch, or a
one-inch ring "carton" made in the two-inch bull,
counting eight points, if a one-inch bull is deemed too
small to aim at.

Wear nailed boots, or those with corrugated rubber
soles, so as not to slip. The rubber, however, is rather apt
to get cut in standing on spent cartridges. A broad-
brimmed cowboy hat, or sombrero, is the best headgear,
except in a wind, as it keeps the glare off your eyes. I
took to using these years ago, and now I see them in use
by nearly all shooting men, as well as in the English army,
though (unlike in the U. S. army) often rendered less
serviceable by having the brim looped up on one side. I
keep some of various widths of brim, and use the one most
suitable for the occasion. Also a Swedish leather jacket
is very good when it gets chilly, as it is very light and
does not hamper your right arm as a heavier coat would
do. If you do not possess one, an extra waistcoat will
serve, as this will leave your arm free. An overcoat or
mackintosh hampers your right arm. You are freer in
a flannel shirt with turn-down collar, loose round the
wrists, and no braces. A silk handkerchief tied loosely
round the neck, cowboy fashion, keeps the sun off the
nape of your neck.

CHAPTER XVIII

NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION AT BISLEY

{Continued)

DISAPPEARING TARGET (KNOWN AS "THE BOBBER ")

HIS target, which has the
two-inch bull's-eye, like
the twenty-yards station-
ary target, appears and
disappears at intervals
of three seconds — three
seconds in sight and
three seconds invisible —
and is shot at from a
distance of twenty yards*
The rules used to forbid the revolver being raised from
the firing-table before the target appeared; and it had to
be lowered to the table after each shot. The present rules
allow the revolver to be pointed at the spot where the
target will be, which entirely destroys all interest in this
competition and reduces it practically to a stationary
target competition. The disappearing target practice
is good also for the duelling practice described in a later
chapter. My record targets, therefore, made under the
old rules must not be compared with those since made
under easier rules.

190

National Rifle Association at Bisley x9i

Shooting in this competition used to be the ground-
work of all the competitions other than those at stationary
targets ; so I shall go very fully into the way of becoming
proficient at this, as the other competitions should then
become comparatively easy. I therefore retain this
chapter from the earlier edition of this book, although it
no longer applies to Bisley.

In order to do the best possible work, you ought for
practice to have an exact copy of the disappearing
mechanism used at Bisley; also (this is very important),
the range I should orientate as at Bisley and have a back-
ground of the same colour.

At Bisley at one time in the afternoon the shooting is
against the setting sun ; at which time the wise shot takes
a rest and lets others waste their entries, as it is im-
possible to make good shooting under these circumstances.
By having the points of the compass the same as at
Bisley, you will soon find out which sort of light suits you
best, and at what hour of the day it comes. Personally,
I find the light from 9 to about 11 a.m. (during which
time it is more or less over one's left shoulder) the best
for shooting in July. As the sun comes round, you will
find that the point to aim at varies gradually as the light
strikes the front sight more or less on the side.

As the sights may not, by the rules, be moved laterally,
it is as well to have several revolvers for each competition,
with the sights set to make the revolver shoot more or
less to the right or left; also some sighted lower than
others to use as the light varies.

Variations in elevation, owing to varying intensities

J92 Art of Revolver Shooting

of sunlight, can also be remedied by having several pairs
of spectacles with plain glass (unless, of course, you need
optical glasses to see clearly with), of different tints of
smoke or orange colour. You can then, when you find a
certain strength of light best for your shooting, keep to
this strength artificially, whatever the real light may be,
putting on glasses of a shade sufficient to modify the light
as required. The glasses should have round, and not
oval, frames, and these should be a good two inches in
diameter, so that the rims do not interfere with your
view. Most opticians make the glasses too small in
diameter. Large, round goggles, with plain window-
glass, are a great protection against particles of burnt
powder, especially in a head wind; and, after a hard
morning's shooting, the surface of the glass will be found
covered with adhesive black spots. It is as well to have
one pair of plain white glass (i.e., ordinary window-glass) ,
and to wear either these or one of the smoked or orange
pairs whenever shooting or even looking on at shooting,
as the powder blowing back constantly into the eyes
irritates them ; and a sudden dab in the eye may even spoil
a score by making one flinch at a critical moment. I
have known a man to be for several days incapacitated
from shooting through getting his eyes inflamed owing to
smoke and powder blowing back into them in a head
wind, and from the irritating fumes of the nitro-powders ;
and the look of many competitors' eyes towards the end
of the shooting shows how it affects them. A solution of
boracic acid and rosewater (of course you must get a
chemist to dispense the right quantities) is a very good

J94 Art of Revolver Shooting

thing to bathe the eyes with during and after a hard
day's shooting, and it makes the eyes feel very comfortable
the next day.

Also it is important to protect the ear-drums from the
constant banging, else you get your ears "singing" and
finally become more or less deaf. A revolver is worse
than a rifle or a gun in this respect, owing to the shortness
of the barrel and the consequent proximity of the con-
cussion to the ear. The left ear is more apt to suffer than
the right, which is more sheltered by the arm, and a
neighbour's shot, for which the ear is unprepared, affects
it more than one's own. This is particularly noticeable
if your neighbour stands slightly behind you.

Some use cotton-wool in the ears. I find it apt to
mix with the natural wax in the ears, a small amount of the
cotton-wool remaining behind each time the wool is
removed; and, what is more, it does not sufficiently
deaden the sound. For .practising in private, a pair of
small down pillows tied over the ears deaden the sound
best, but these cannot be worn in public. Messrs. Lynch,
chemists, of Aldersgate Street, London, make a very
good sound-deadener which I always use when shooting.
It consists of a hollow rubber flesh-coloured plug, filled
with sawdust. This reduces the sound of a revolver shot
to a slight thump, like the blow of a fist on a table, and
is practically invisible when worn — much less conspicuous,
at any rate, than white cotton-wool. It will also prevent,
your neighbour's shooting from disturbing you. Men
whose ears are very sensitive should take some pre-
caution against cold when these sound-deadeners are

National Rifle Association at Bisley J95

removed.1 The concussion of revolvers, bad at all
times, is of course aggravated by the use of the heavy
military ammunition obligatory at Bisley, as well as by
the deafening echoes from the wood partition of the
stall in which competitors have to shoot. It is said
that keeping the mouth open moderates the concussion,

AUTHOR S BEST ON RECORD SCORE. 20- YARDS DISAPPEARING TARGET

"Military " Target, Wimbledon, 1888; .45 Smith & Wesson Revolver,
Eley's Ammunition. (Full size.)

but the remedy is surely worse than the disease. I
should think the caps with projections in front of the
ears, used by racing motorists, might be useful as
sound- deadeners .

1 Excellent ear protectors or sound-deadeners in several sizes are also made
by Messrs. Mayer & Metzler, of 71 Portland Street, London, and by Mr. J. A.
R. Elliott, of New York.

196 Art of Revolver Shooting

The action of cocking, particularly in rapid firing,
with a single-action revolver, throws a great strain on the
muscles of the thumb, and the tendon running over the
second joint of the thumb is apt to be displaced if sub-
jected to too much work without preparatory practice.
The thumb and forefinger may be strengthened by the
use of a small apparatus that will, on the principle of the
old-fashioned well, lift a weight of a few pounds, operated
by the thumb and forefinger with the same action that
would wind a keyless watch. The wrist and elbow are
also apt to get sprained if got into work suddenly without
previous training, but my way of holding these throws
very little strain on the wrist. I have several walking-
sticks of gradually increasing weight, up to three pounds,
which I carry for a few weeks, before any important
match. For some men, those more particularly with a
tendency to varicose veins, even the long standing
about may be bad, and care should be taken not to
catch cold when shooting in a wind, or in the evening
following a hot day.

To return to the target, if you cannot get a copy of
the Bisley disappearing-target mechanism, the next best
thing is to have the target hinge over and be brought up
again by some mechanical means. If this is not practi-
cable, a stationary target may be made to answer, as I
shall presently show.

My reason for wanting the actual Bisley arrangement
is because that comes up with a jerk (some of the men
operating it are very jerky), and the target "wobbles"
for a fraction of a second, both just as it gets upright and

National Rifle Association at Bis ley l97

just before it disappears, and this is apt to disconcert
anyone not used to it.

Next, get a metronome, with bell attachment. Set
it to beat half-seconds (be very particular to get the time
absolutely correct) , and set the bell to ring at every sixth
beat. You have now intervals of three seconds marked
with a "ring" at the end of each. Count the beats to
yourself when the metronome is working: "One, two,
three, four, five, six"; "one, two, three," etc.

Get your man to work the lever which actuates the
target (the lever in every case being a yard or two behind
you, so that there is no danger of shooting the man or of
burning his eyes with the side flash from the chambers
of the revolver). Let him, at the stroke of the bell,
bring up the target sharply, so that it comes with a bang,
and lower it at the next ring in the same way, and keep
it down till the next ring, then jerk it up, and so on;
jerking it as roughly as the mechanism will allow.

If you have to practise on a stationary target, pretend
to yourself that it disappears at each alternate ring of the
metronome. The firing-point must be like the Bisley
one; it will not do to stand with the revolver hanging at
your side; it must rest on a ledge the same height as at
Bisley, or else your practice will be useless for Bisley, as
quite a different way of working the muscles and resting
them between shots is in use in the two styles of shooting,
and it takes less time to "come up" from a ledge than
when the arm is hanging by the side. Owing to the slope
of the ground at Bisley, some of the ledges are higher than
others ; choose the one that suits you best, and have your

198 Art of Revolver Shooting

practice ledge that height; and, when shooting at Bisley,
do so from the ledge you have previously chosen.

Stand squarely, well behind this ledge. You will
only get disqualified if you get into the way of resting
the lower part of your body against the ledge; or even if
you stand close to it and your coat happens to hang in
front; or if you happen to have a "corporation" some
competitor may have you disqualified as resting against
the ledge.

The position of the legs and body is as for the twenty-
yards stationary target, except that the rod which works
the target is best kept between the feet, and these have
to be a little wider apart. (N.B. — If you are a short
man, it is better to stand to one side of the rod.)

Stretch your arm out to its full length, and, holding
the revolver with the sights uppermost, rest the lower side
of the barrel lightly against the ledge. The part of the
barrel adjacent to the chamber is the part to rest on the
ledge, as it is less likely to slip. There is a notch between
the barrel and lower part of the frame of the revolver,
and when this is resting on the edge of the table, and the
arm is straight, then you are standing at the right distance
from the table.

If you have to stretch too much or to lean forward,
move slightly closer until you are comfortable; if your
arm is bent, move backward till it comes straight. (All
this is done with an empty revolver.)

Now stand in this position, watching the target go up
and down, and counting all the while, "One, two, three."
etc., to yourself, till you get the rhythm of the thing.

National Rifle Association at Bisley x99

Keep your eyes all the time fixed on the bull's-eye when
it is vertical to you; do not follow it down with your eyes;
but keep a mental picture of it, while it is away, on the
background. You will gradually be able to know exactly
where it will be, and when it will be there, and you will
then be able to aim at the imaginary spot ; so that when
the target appears the sights will not have to be shifted
to the bull's-eye but the bull's-eye will come to the sights.

Now, cock the revolver, of course using only your
right thumb, and not shifting your left hand, body, or
revolver in the slightest.

(If you cannot do this neatly, cock the revolver first,
and then "set" yourself at the ledge.)

Now, at the word "one," slowly (i.e., without hurry or
jerk) bring your arm up, quite straight, till the revolver is
level with your eye, and you are looking through the sights.

If you have been following the above directions care-
fully, you will find you are aiming at the bottom edge
of the bull's-eye, without having had to shift your hand
or to align the sights ; the sights and also the target have,
in fact, "come up" to your eye, not your eye to them.
The speed with which you raise your arm should bring
the sights touching the bottom edge of the bull at the
word " two " ; but it is better, at first, to be slower; as long
as you get the sights touching the bull before it disap-
pears, it will do — for the present. At the word "six"
lower the revolver to the table, but keep your eyes on the
imaginary spot at which the "bull" disappeared. Keep
the revolver down while you count six, and then raise it
as before. After a few minutes of this drill, begin to

200 Art 0J~ Revolver Shooting

squeeze the trigger slightly while the revolver is resting
against the ledge. With practice you will be able to
regulate the squeeze so that it will require only half a
pound more pressure to fire the revolver. Then as you
lift the revolver, gradually tighten the squeeze, and keep
gradually tightening it, never diminishing the pressure, but

AUTHOR'S " BEST ON RECORD " SCORE. 20-YARDS DISAPPEARING TARGET

North London Rifle Club, May 29, 1895; .45 Smith & Wesson Revolver,
U. M. C. Ammunition. (Full size.)

not increasing it if your aim is getting wrong, and begin-
ning to increase it again as you correct your aim. If you
are increasing the squeeze properly, you will find, just as
your aim is perfect, and a fraction of time before the word
"six," the hammer will have fallen and you will not have
jerked or moved off your aim.

National Rifle Association at Bis ley 201

The instant the hammer has fallen, cock quietly with
your right thumb, and lower your revolver to the table
as before. I mean it to be understood that all cocking
must be done with one movement of the right thumb,
the finger well clear of the trigger so as not to break or
wear the sear-notch, and the left arm, left hand, and body
not moved in any way, as already illustrated. After you
have done this a few times, and have confidence, you may
load several chambers of the revolver, having exploded,
or empty, cartridges in the other chambers, so as not to
injure the nose of the hammer or the mainspring. The
cartridges, loaded and unloaded, should be put in in
irregular order, and the barrel spun round, so that you do
not know when you have a loaded one to fire.

Now, go through the same drill as before ; most likely,
if the first cartridge is an empty one, you will be surprised
to find you jerked it off instead of squeezing, owing to
fear of the recoil; but if this is so, expecting your next
shot to be also an empty cartridge, you will give a nice,
smooth, gradual "let-off," with the result that you will
get a bull, or be close to it. The following shot, in con-
sequence of your being too eager, will almost certainly
be a very wild one, most likely below the target. This
is caused by jerking the trigger, which results in bobbing
the muzzle down. It is curious that, contrary to the
usual idea that in firing quickly with the revolver one
is prone to "shoot over," the exact reverse is the case,
and that snatching at the trigger generally gives a low
left shot. With a duelling pistol, owing to the different
way of holding, the miss is generally to the right. I

202 Art of Revolver Shooting

have my revolvers for rapid-firing competitions sighted
to shoot higher than the others, to counteract this.

After a little of this sort of practice, you can get to
loading all the chambers. Now the great thing is "time."
Time and shoot like a machine. At Bisley one sees
men fire one shot directly the target appears; the next
too late — after the target has begun to go down; and,
whenever a shot goes wide, they dance about, stamp, or
swear, and shift their position constantly, half raise the
pistol and lower it again, and more antics follow in the
same fashion. A man who shoots in this style may as
well go home, for all the prizes he will win. I never
trouble to look at his target; seeing his "form" tells me
what his target must look like.

By your constant practice with the metronome, you
ought to get the "time" so impressed on your mind that
you could work the target at the proper intervals, without
any metronome to indicate the time. Your hand "comes
up ' ' simultaneously with the target ; you fire just before it
disappears (some of my highest possibles were made
with the target just on the "wobble" of disappearing as
I fired each shot) ; every instant must be utilised for the
aim, and there must be no hurry or flurry. In fact, you
become a "workman."

Do not get into the trick of "coming up" too soon
before the target appears. There is nothing to be gained
by it, and you might be disqualified. As I said above, the
new Bisley rules allow you to "come up" when you like
or even to keep up, and this does away with all neces-
sity of timing or swing and spoils the use of the

National Rifle Association at Bisley 203

competition. If a shot goes wrong, or there is a
misfire — you are allowed another shot for a misfire —
keep on just as though nothing had happened; pay no
attention to the number of shots you have fired in the
score, or how many more have to "go." I have often
started to "come up" again for a shot, not knowing that
my sixth had already "gone," so mechanical had my
shooting become.

In practising, never fire if you feel you are "off" the
bull; better "come down" with the target, without
shooting, and fire the next time the target "comes up."
In this way you will perhaps "come up" ten times for
your six shots; but you will have good shots for those
that you have fired, and will be encouraged much more
and get better practice than by firing a lot of wild shots,
which, as you fired, you knew were badly aimed.

At Bisley I used to find this the easiest competition
of any, more so, if there is no wind, than the stationary
twenty-yards target, but one can keep it up only for a
short time. Some of the other competitors, however,
find it so difficult that they have had it altered to practi-
cally a stationary target, as I have explained, not seeing
that this is the groundwork of all practical shooting. One
gradually gets into the swing of it, till one can "throw"
each shot right into the bull's centre. This keeps up for a
few entries; as one's arm tires, one begins to lose the
absolute precision. It is then useless to continue shooting,
and it is time to take a rest.

The records for this competition are several "highest
possibles" made by myself, both with military and target

204 Art of Revolver Shooting

revolvers, and I have made many in practice. The pos-
sibles made for the last few years are not comparable
to mine as the hand is not lowered between shots, so
mine stand as world's records.

You need a large front sight and open "U, " so as to
get your aim quickly. My favourite revolver has very

AUTHOR'S " BEST ON RECORD " SCORE. 20-YARDS DISAPPEARING TARGET

"Any" Revolver, Bisley, 1896; .45 Smith & Wesson Revolver
U. M. C. Ammunition. (Full size.)

coarse sights, — a front sight which, in aiming, seems large
indeed.

I like the sun as much behind me as possible for this
and any other quick-firing or moving-object competition,
as you can then at once see the hit on the target and can
correct it, if necessary, at the next shot. At a stationary

National Rifle Association at Bis ley 205

target this seeing the hit at once does not matter, as you
have plenty of time to locate your shot.

In any competition in which unlimited entries are
allowed, it is best to give up shooting an entry at your
first bad shot, and to start a fresh entry instead of shooting
out the full six shots. Many men will say, "It is better
to keep on, as it is practice." In my experience I find
that everyone has strings of better shots than his average,
and these may commence at any time. If you have a
three, for instance, as your second shot of a score, you
may have four sevens to finish up with; then your next
score may begin with two sevens and then a two. There
are thus two scores spoilt, whereas, if you had retired at
the shot counting three in your first score, and started
another score, you would have had a string of six sevens in
your second score, making a highest possible score of
forty-two. I have so often seen this sort of thing happen
to others (although I have never allowed it to happen to
myself), that I am sure it is false economy, except in the
limited-entry series, not to stop and begin afresh the
moment you get a shot out of the bull.

As already stated, another thing men do is to keep
shooting pool to "get practice," as they call it, till they
shoot themselves out, and make bad scores in competition.
The place to practice is at home; there is no economy
in paying half-a-crown for every six shots at Bisley,
when you can shoot as much as you like at home for
nothing.

The rapid-firing and fifty-yards competitions being
more difficult, you may allow yourself one or two sixes

206 Art of Revolver Shooting

in a score before beginning again; but stop at the first
shot scoring less than six points.

If possible, choose a time when there is no one shooting
at the target next you; as, even if you do not find yourself
"letting loose " at the sound of his firing, — he, most likely,
timing himself all wrong, — the smoke from his shots may
drift across you and spoil your view of the target.

Do not shoot whilst a man is "arranging his things,"
or "bringing up his target" next you; it will distract your
attention.

Shoot one entry in each series of competitions, — dis-
appearing, rapid-firing, etc., — and then take the com-
petition in which you have done worst (comparatively
worst, should be said, as thirty-six in the rapid-firing is
as difficult as forty-one at the stationary twenty-yards)
and beat that score. The moment you have beaten
that sufficiently for one of your scores in another series
to be the worst, go at that one; and so keep pushing the
worst along. This gives you a better aggregate than any
other system, and prizes are given for aggregates.

Be sure to look through your barrel after each entry,
and wipe it out frequently, cleaning the cylinder, etc.
Quick shooting with black powder, especially in hot, dry
weather, cakes and leads the barrel and spoils accuracy.
If the pistol sticks or grates, however slightly, it is apt to
spoil one's "time"; and if a chamber, from dirt, etc., does
not come quite round, it will entirely spoil that shot. At
Bisley you must not "wipe out" during the shots of an
entry. Where, however, there is no rule against it,
"wipe out" after every shot at stationary targets, and use

National Rifle Association at Bisley 207

only one of the chambers. When you open the revolver
after each entry look carefully to see if the caps were
struck in the centre, especially if you have made a bad
shot. Should they be hit on the side, clean the revolver,
and oil the spindle; if this still continues, take another.
It is useless to keep on while this is happening.

Be very careful to see that you are using your own
ammunition, the proper sort for each particular revolver,
and not taking some other that happens to be lying about.
Also be very particular to have your revolver "passed,"
the trigger-pull tested, and ammunition examined by
the official appointed for the purpose by the National
Rifle Association, before shooting. This should be done
every day, morning and afternoon, — as the trigger-pull
may have altered, — so that there shall be no chance of
disqualification after a good score has been made.

Although it is, as a rule, best to finish your shooting
at one class of competition, either moving or stationary,
the change from one to the other gives a rest if you find
yourself getting tired or discouraged. Moreover, as
above explained, you secure a better "aggregate" by
shifting from one series to another, though such chang-
ing would easily confuse a beginner. For the beginner,
therefore, it may be as well to study one particular
competition and only compete in it the first year. This
will probably place him high in the prize-list, and en-
courage further perseverance another year.

CHAPTER XIX

NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION AT BISLEY

{Continued)

RAPID FIRING

[Note: — Target appears for twelve seconds at twenty yards.
All six shots must be fired during that time. Known
as " The Rapid.'" This competition has also been dis-
continued, as competitors consider it too difficult.]

APID firing is, in my opinion, the
/; most practical of all competitions,
for, as previously mentioned, a
revolver is not a weapon for
deliberate shooting, but for light-
i ning rapidity at short range.
\ Some years ago, when several of
\ us were drawing up schemes for
revolver competitions at Bisley, I
experimented with rapid firing,
and found I could shoot, with accuracy enough for practi-
cal purposes, the six shots of a single-action revolver in
from seven to ten seconds, at twenty yards. This was be-
fore the invention of automatic pistols and revolvers, with

which weapons I can now do it in from five to seven

208

National Rifle Association at Bisley 209

seconds. Thinking that this might be too difficult for the
average competitor at Bisley, and that it might deter him
from trying, I suggested twelve seconds as ample time to
fire six shots with a fair amount of aim. This idea was
adopted. As rapid firing is so important for practical
shooting, I give below a few useful hints for learning it,

AUTHOR'S " BEST ON RECORD " SCORE. 6 SHOTS IN 12 SECONDS

"Any " Revolver, Bisley, 1895; Rapid Firing; .44 Smith & Wesson
Revolver, U. M. C. Gallery Ammunition. (Full size.)

although unfortunately it is not now included in the
Bisley competitions.

The record is forty for the "any" and two scores of

thirty-nine for the "military" revolver, both made by

myself ; but I have made forty and forty-one respectively

out of a possible forty-two in practice at this "rapid,"

210 Art of Revolver Shooting

with black powder. The smoke hung so when I made this
forty-one that I did not see where my shots were hitting,
or even the bull's-eye in the last two shots, which only
shows how one can learn to shoot by "sense of direction."
These scores were made cocking with the thumb after
each shot. With a double-action or automatic revolver
possibles should be made in twelve seconds.

In a single-action revolver it is necessary to get one
which works as loosely and as easily as possible. A half-
worn-out revolver is best, as it works freer. Next, file
the mainspring as weak as it is possible to have it without
risk of too many misfires. If it has one misfire in every
twenty or so shots, it does not matter, the great thing
being to have it cock easily. If the mainspring is weak
enough, and an extra long thumb-piece is made to the
hammer, one can put it almost to the full-cock with an
upward flick of the revolver. A very big front sight and
a big " U " in the back one are advisable.

Stand as for disappearing target.

It is impossible — at least I find it so — to count the
half -seconds up to twelve seconds. I count half -seconds
in fours — "one, two, three, four" — for each shot; thus
giving each of the six shots two seconds out of the twelve.

As the target rises, "come up," as in the disappearing
series, but more quickly, increasing the pressure on the
trigger as you "come up," so that the revolver goes off
the moment it is horizontal and the sights are about right.
I say about, because there is not time to correct the aim.

Your shot ought to go off before, or as soon as, you get
to the word "two"; but be sure to squeeze back — not to

National Rifle Association at Bis ley 2I1

jerk off. It is possible, with practice, to get this "snap
shot " into the bull or touching it. As this first shot goes
off, instantly flick the hammer up to full-cock, with your
thumb — the recoil will help you in this. Be especially
careful to taks all pressure off the trigger whilst doing so.
Unless you are very careful you will keep a slight pressure

RAPID FIRING. AUTHOR S BEST ON RECORD FOR MILITARY REVOLVER

AND SIGHTS

Black Powder. Six shots in 12 seconds at 20 yards; .45 Smith &
Wesson Revolver, U. M. C. Ammunition. Bisley, 1895. (Full size.)

on the trigger with your first finger, which not only will
prevent the revolver from cocking properly, but may
break off the sear-notch, or cause what you may think is a
"jam " but what is really your own fault in fighting the
trigger against the hammer. This applies also to double-
action revolvers where you must be sure to release the

212 Art of Revolver Shooting

trigger before again applying the pressure for cocking
and discharging it.

You are very likely at first to have constant supposed
"jams" of this sort, or until you learn never to draw up
the hammer without your trigger-finger being clear of the
trigger. (I have more than once repeated this warning, as
it is important to impress it on your memory.) With a
double-action revolver be sure not to pull to one side in
cocking by the trigger, but pull straight back.

Your right arm — in fact, your whole body — should
during the last five shots be immovable. You merely
use your right hand and wrist to do the cocking and
trigger-squeezing. Your aim during the cocking ought
not to be disturbed enough to be more than a few inches
off the bull. It assists cocking with the single-action
revolver to cant slightly to the right and back again as
you cock it.

After each shot — and the instant the revolver is
cocked again — begin a steadily increasing pressure straight
back, and without a jerk, trying at the same time to get
your sights as near the bull as you can before the revolver
goes off again. The instant a shot is "off," begin to count
afresh — "One, two, three, four."

You can fire as quickly as you can get your aim,
without waiting to count to "four"; but do not wait,
if possible, longer than "four," except if needful for
your last shot.

By the time you have got five shots off, there will be
a vague sort of idea in your mind that each shot went off
before the full two seconds were counted for it, which will

National Rifle Association at Bislcy 2I3

very likely be the case. Therefore, take deliberate aim jar
your last shot.

From your previous practice at the disappearing
target, you should have got used to the sort of tremor
and grating sound which is apparent immediately before

AUTHOR S BEST ON RECORD SCORE. 20 YARDS RAPID-FIRING TARGET

Bisley, 1895; .45 Smith & Wesson Military Revolver, Winans' sights.
U. M. C. Smokeless Ammunition. (Full size.)

the target actually disappears. Do not count during this
last shot, but make certain of a bull, even if you have to
wait until the target is almost disappearing.

If the target is actually disappearing before you fire,
you may, by jerking down, "rip" a shot into the bull
across the target, even if the latter has got down to an

2I4 Art of Revolver Shooting

angle of thirty degrees. In my record score I think I
must have spent over three seconds for this last shot ; but
it was worth it, as it turned out a central bull.

I have seen innumerable instances in which a man
thought he was "late," and therefore hurrried his last
shot, making a miss; and then the target remained up for
some time afterwards, showing that there had been no
need for any hurry.

The rules to observe are: Snap the first; be quick over
the next four (in case you cannot get quite on to the bull
in one of these, take a shade longer over it and save on the
remaining) ; and be deliberate on the last shot. It is better
to chance not getting off the last shot in time than to
spoil a winning score by hurrying it.

If using an automatic pistol or revolver, all this be-
comes much easier, as no time is then wasted in cocking
and re-aligning the sights. All that you have to do is to
release the pressure on the trigger the moment each shot goes
off, and instantly begin to squeeze again as you get your
next aim. A good double-action revolver is also easier.
Do not keep on too long in this competition : half a dozen
entries or practice scores are ample at a time. One
only gets erratic and wild if one continues too long, also
the revolver gets hot.

Any shot not outside the five-ring is a good one at
this competition, except for the last shot, which should
be a bull.

The sighting may have to be different in this from that
required for slower shooting. Some men shoot up in one
corner when snap-shooting with the heavy Bisley trigger-

National Rifle Association at Bis ley 2I5

pull : but of course, for practical use, a revolver with such
a trigger-pull should not be used, and it is preferable to
have the sighting so that one can aim straight under the
bull, instead of having to make allowance for the jerking
off. The trigger-pull should be as light as is deemed
compatible with safety. I fancy the Fosbery-Webley
Automatic revolver will stand as light a pull as an
ordinary revolver, but the automatic pistols as yet on
the market have a very heavy trigger-pull.

It is a good plan to have the name of the competition

POLICE TARGET DOUBLE-ACTION COLT REVOLVER

for which the revolver is sighted engraved on the stock,
so as to prevent using the wrong revolver for it; also to
have the revolvers for each series plated, as I have already
suggested, a different colour, — silver, copper, gold, etc., —
for the same reason.

A good time to shoot is when the shadow of the parti-
tion falls diagonally across the target, bisecting the bull;
it gives one a line instantly to get an aim by, even if the
bull is obscured by smoke. This of course does not apply
to smokeless powders.

It is useless to shoot except in a dead calm at most

216 Art of Revolver Shooting

of the moving and disappearing targets, as a wind blows
the aim crooked; but at this competition, if you can get
to leeward of the partition, so as to get shelter for your-
self, a little wind to blow the smoke away, if you are using
black powder, is rather an advantage. Wearing glasses
to protect the eyes is very important at this game.

CHAPTER XX

NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION AT BISLEY

( Continued)

THE TRAVERSING TARGET

Known as " The Slider." Target moving across the line of
fire at the rate of quick-march; range twenty yards.

LTHOUGH this competition is not
now shot at Bisley, I describe
it as it is a practical shoot and
it is a great pity it should have
been abolished. Although harder
than the disappearing series, this
was not so difficult as the rapid-
firing one; in fact, it counted
as about the second most diffi-
cult of the series of compe-
titions at moving targets. The chief difficulty was
that when your aim was right horizontally, you might
be wrong vertically, and vice versa.

There was no necessity in this series to count, as you
could see when the target was about to disappear.

Every range officer had his own idea of what speed

constituted "at the rate of quick-march," so there was

217

218 Art of Revolver Shooting

nothing to be gained by timing the "run" and setting the
metronome bell to indicate that time for your man who
ran your private target.

It used to be especially important not to shoot in this
series until the Bisley meeting was several days old.
For the first day or two the men who took it in turns to
"run" the target (which is done by turning the handle of
a big wheel, over which runs a wire rope) were new to
the job, and ran it irregularly, jerkily, and with unequal
speeds. Under such conditions, it was impossible to
judge allowance of aim in front of the bull's-eye.

The "holding," or "allowance," in front, which made
your last shot a bull, might at your next either land you
behind the bull, or the man might slacken speed just as
you squeezed off, and so put you in front. I used to watch
these men carefully, and decide who ran the target best.
Then I chose my opportunity in a dead calm, and when
he ran the target well and evenly (the speed did not
much matter, and personally I can shoot better when the
target is going moderately fast) I used to make my entry.
I did not shoot if the man was running the target badly,
either through his own fault or owing to the cord or wire
being, from rain or other causes, too slack or too tight.

When first practising for this competition, have a
target made with a black band two inches wide running
down the middle of the target, instead of the usual
bull's-eye. Begin your practice at this, having it put
up first with the black band vertical, and then with it
horizontal. Shooting at it vertical will show you if you
are getting the right allowance in front in your aim.

National Rifle Association at Bis ley 2I9

When it is horizontal, it will show you if your elevation is
correct. This can be elaborated by having black bands
painted or pasted on the back of an ordinary target and,
with its back towards you, shooting at them. Then, by
turning it over after the six shots have been fired, you will
see what score you would have made on a regulation

AUTHOR'S " BEST ON RECORD " SCORE. FOR 3-INCH BULL'S-EYE
TRAVERSING TARGET, 20 YARDS

Wimbledon, 1888; .45 Smith & Wesson Revolver, Eley's
Ammunition. (Full size.)

target. The reason for this practice is that there are two
things to attend to. One is the "allowance" in front, the
other is the "elevation' '; if a beginner tries to think of
both at once he will get confused.

If, after you have got pretty certain of your "allow-
ance," you go to "elevation," you will most likely lose

220 Art of Revolver Shooting

your "allowance," and have to go back to the vertical
band; and so on, alternately, until you can trust yourself
at the regulation bull.

Most people, unless they use alternate hands, find the
"run" one way easier than the other. If you have any
preference, begin your competition with the run from the
more difficult side, which will ensure your having an easy
run for the last shot ; whether your score wins or not often
depends upon your last shot, and it is best to make that
as easy as possible.

I prefer higher elevation in sights for this competition.
Instead of aiming to touch the bull at "VI o'clock" to get
a central bull, the aim should be at the actual elevation
you want the bullet to go, so as to enable you to aim off
at "III o'clock" and at "IX o'clock" for right and left
runs respectively.

Some people who are slower on the trigger — that is,
who take longer to give the order to the trigger-finger
when their eye says the aim is right — may need more
allowance.

There is in astronomical work a technical term, ' ' re-
action time," for the process of timing first contact in
eclipses, and each observer deducts his own "personal
error," which seems constant to him when in normal
health. This allowance varies in revolver shooting with
different men. I personally need very little allowance
when the target is running to the left — half an inch out
at " IX o'clock" ; and even less (about a quarter of an inch
out) at "III o'clock," when running to the right. Taking
stimulants makes this slower, but as I never smoke or take

National Rifle Association at Bis ley 221

stimulants I cannot speak from personal experience. Mr.
Victor Horsley, however, in a lecture delivered on April
27, 1900, at St. James's Hall, on "The Effects of Alcohol
on the Brain," spoke to the following effect:

Increased "Reaction Times"

The time occupied by the nervous system in observing
and recording the simplest thing was, he said, called "the
reaction time," and was so appreciable that in all minute
and accurate records astronomers had to measure their
reaction period, and to account for it. The lecturer then
demonstrated by an experiment the method of measuring
the reaction time. This plan in all forms and varieties
had been very largely employed by Professor Kraepelin,
whose investigations had been so thorough and complete
that they explained the somewhat contradictory results
obtained by Warren and other observers, and had es-
tablished on a thoroughly scientific basis the direct in-
fluence of alcohol on the higher centres of the brain.
The effect was that very speedily after taking the dose of
alcohol the reaction time was shortened, but this shorten-
ing, that is to say, this apparent quickening of the cerebral
act, lasted only a few minutes, and then marked slowing
set in, and for the rest of the time during which the
alcohol acted, varying from two to four hours according
to the individual, the cerebral activity was diminished.
The diminution was shown by a noteworthy lengthening
of the reaction period — in other words, it took longer for a
person who had had a small quantity of alcohol to think.

222 x4.rt qf Revolver Shooting

The evidence, therefore, was overwhelming that alcohol in
small amounts had a most deleterious effect on voluntary-
muscular work.

Some men aim at a spot, and wait for the target to

AUTHOR'S " BEST ON RECORD " SCORE. FOR TWO-INCH BULl/S-
EYE TRAVERSING TARGET, 20 YARDS

Bisley, 1896; .45 Smith & Wesson Revolver, U. M. C.
Ammunition. (Full size.)

come up to it; but this is useless, as anyone knows who
has shot moving game with a gun.

Stand absolutely square to the front, or perhaps a
little more towards the side on which you find it most
difficult to follow the target. Plant the feet slightly
farther apart than for the other competitions, and swing
the whole of the upper part of the body from the hips. Do

National Rifle Association at Bislcy 223

not swing your right arm, keeping the rest of the body-
still. The shoulder-joint does not give so smooth a
horizontal swing as swinging from the hips. Moreover,
if you swing the arm, you have to turn the head, or else
have to look out of the corners of your eyes, instead of
straight before you.

Let the whole of the upper part of your body be held
rigid, and swing only on the hips. Lift your revolver
from the table as the target appears, and swing with the
target, bringing up the revolver on a diagonal line (this
is the resultant of the vertical rise from the shoulder and
the horizontal swing of the hips). Let the sights come
horizontal to the eyes a little in front of the proposed
allowance; and, as you keep your arm moving in front
of the bull, gradually let the bull overtake you, till it is the
right allowance behind your sight ; and still keep on swing-
ing. All this time be gradually squeezing the trigger, so
that it squeezes off just when the aim is right. Be sure
not to stop swinging before the revolver goes off.

Some range officers made you "lower" after each shot;
others let you keep "at the present" between the shots.
I do not think the latter is of any advantage ; it tires the
arm, and you cannot make the diagonal swing up to your
spot in front of the bull.

At the firing-point of this range you cannot get shelter
from the wind, so choose if possible an absolutely calm
time for shooting.

My world's record score of a highest possible was made
at this target "coming up" each time from the table,
and was shot in a strong wind at 10 a.m.

224 Art of Revolver Shooting

I do not think it is of any use deciding to fire upon a
certain part of the "run" ; it is best to fire when you feel
you are aiming right, and you may get this feeling sooner
in the "run " on some days than on others.

There is a tendency to "follow" too long, and then,
owing to lack of time, to jerk off just as the target dis-
appears. I have made bulls when the target was almost
out of sight, in fact, I did so in my record shoot ; but this
is a bad habit to contract, and a risky sort of shot, as it is
almost sure to be too far behind, or even to be fired into
the shield in front of the target; though, of course, if
you have not a good aim, it is better to delay as long as
possible, rather than to shoot earlier with a bad aim.

Be sure in your private range that your shield is
bullet proof, or you may get into the habit of making
"bulls" when the target is "sitting" behind the shield,
by shooting through it. To economise space, you can
have this target run in front of your disappearing-target
apparatus, putting the latter out of the way when not
needed; this latter will also serve for stationary-target
purposes, and to hold the fifty-yards target. Do not have
a target which runs by gravitation, as shooting at a target
which is running downhill requires quite different sighting
from that needed with one running horizontally.

BISLEY CAMP BY NIGHT

CHAPTER XXI

NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION AT BISLEY

{Continued)

the advancing target (popularly known as
"burglar')

^URGLAR is the nickname by which
this competition was known,
though "The Attack" would be
more appropriate.

This competition is my own
invention. It was shot at a
fifty-yards target (four-inch
bull's-eye), which advances from
fifty up to fifteen yards — all six
shots to be fired during that
time, the revolver not to be raised from the ledge before
the target starts moving; but it is not now in the Bisley
programme.

This was one of the easiest series, though some men
seemed to get very flurried when the target got close to
them, and I have actually seen the whole target missed
when it was at fifteen yards, the target being some three
feet square! You must shoot as if it were a stationary
target, which it practically is. As it approaches, you

225

226 Art of Revolver Shooting

have constantly to change the focus of your eyes; this
is the only thing which hampers you. You do not count
in this, as you are able to judge by sight how much time
you have for shooting.

Raise your arm very deliberately, and take a very
steady, slow aim; be sure to put the first shot high enough,
especially if using gallery ammunition. The revolver
to use is the twenty-yards disappearing-target one; so
this shot must be aimed high, the sighting being for
twenty yards in your revolver, and varying according to
how heavy a charge you are using. If you find that
altering the elevation confuses you, this may be con-
trived artificially by having your cartridges loaded with
diminishing charges of powder.

The target is supposed to be going at "quick-march
time"; being rather heavy, it is most likely travelling a
little slower. At any rate, there is no need to hurry; by
the time the first shot goes off the target will be about
forty yards distant.

If you are a quick shot, and can get off your remaining
shots fast, let it come nearer before you fire this first shot:
the closer it is, the more certain you are to make a bull.
For the remaining five shots, as the bull is four inches in
diameter, and the distance decreases from about thirty-
nine to fifteen yards (averaging twenty-five yards at a four-
inch bull) , you ought to have no difficulty in getting all bulls.
The only thing is to be careful to take a slightly lower aim
each shot, to allow for the gradually shortening range, the
last two or three being aimed "well in" at "VI o'clock."
The last two shots are so ridiculously easy that one is apt

National Rifle Association at Bis ley 227

to become careless and to think that any aim will do ; with
the result that perhaps the last shot is jerked off the bull.
Treat the bull for these last shots as an old deer-stalker
taught me to do when stalking: "Don't aim at the deer as

AUTHOR'S " BEST ON RECORD " SCORE. ADVANCING TARGET

"Any" Revolver, Bisley, 1896; .44 Smith & Wesson Revolver, U. M. C.
Gallery Ammunition. (Full size.)

a whole, but pick out an imaginary spot on him and aim at
that." In the present case, if there is a bullet-hole "well
in" about "VI o'clock," use that to aim at; and even if
you "jerk off" that you cannot well miss the whole bull.

228 Art 0f Revolve?' Shooting

Best on record: A highest possible of forty-two, made
by myself; all the shots close in the centre of the bull.

With an automatic revolver or pistol this competition
is ridiculously easy, as you can wait until the target
approaches within twenty-five yards before firing your
first shot.

There is not yet a "retiring " target, although I sug-
gested one; but in such a case the procedure should be
reversed: get off the shots as quickly as possible, as each
moment makes the shooting more difficult; and aim
gradually higher with each shot.

To shoot at a target first advancing and then retiring,
three shots each way, let all your shots be fired whilst the
target is near, and utilise the first part of the "advance"
for aiming your first shot.

CHAPTER XXII

NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION AT BISLEY

( Concluded )

THE STATIONARY FIFTY- YARDS TARGET

O W we come to the fifty-yards

target.

To shoot in this series

(known as "The Long

Range"), you require the

smallest and finest sights

which you can see clearly

without trying your eyes.

There is no advantage in

having them smaller than you can see properly.

Also, it is well to have several revolvers with sights

of different sizes, and differently sighted: some high, some

low, some to the right, and some to the left, so as to suit

varying light.

By the Bisley rules, you are not allowed to adjust

your sights.

I have experimented with peep-sights. One cannot,

however, hold a revolver steadily enough to get the full

advantage of a peep-sight.

Have a Zeise glass and locate each shot, correcting the

229

23° Art of Revolver Shooting

next, if necessary, by altering your aim— as the rules will not
permit you to alter the sights. Shoot very deliberately ; rest
your eyes frequently ; stop at every breath of air, and only
fire when you are "dead sure." Clean after each entry.

Do not keep on too long at this range. A few entries
now and again are best, as it is very straining to the eyes
and trying to the muscles.

BEST ON RECORD MADE BY AUTHOR. 5O-YARDS TARGET

Bislcy, 1894. Twelve consecutive shots: Six with .44
Smith & Wesson Revolver, six with .38 Smith &
Wesson Revolver. Smith & Wesson self-
lubricating bullet. (Half size.)

Personally I prefer a heavy charge, as it gives greater
accuracy at fifty yards ; but one cannot stand many shots
with a heavy charge without feeling the consequences. I
do not like the flat-topped bullets at this range, as I have
found that they keyhole.

National Rifle Association at Bis ley 2$l

The best on record is eighty-two, out of a possible
eighty-four, made by the writer in twelve shots; the first
six shots (score forty-one) winning the military (with .44
Russian Model Smith & Wesson, full charge of twenty-
three grains of black powder, self-lubricating Smith &
Wesson bullets), the last six winning the "any" revolver
series (with a similar revolver bored to take a .32 calibre
long cartridge and similar ammunition) . The twelve shots
were fired consecutively, without any sighting shots be-
tween. In both these scores, the shot out of the bull was a
"nicker," almost touching the bull. I used the Smith &
Wesson self -lubricating bullet, which I describe elsewhere,
and which I think was responsible for the result, as it keeps
the revolver from fouling, which it would otherwise do
with so heavy a charge. I have fired one hundred shots
with this bullet in very rapid succession, without cleaning,
on a hot, dry day, without the revolver fouling to any ap-
preciable extent, or losing its accuracy. As no other twelve-
shot score at this range has ever come anywhere near this,
I think I am right in considering the bullet a good one.

CHAPTER XXIII

:eam shooting and coaching

HEN you are a member of a
team, do exactly what the
captain of the team directs
you to do. Never mind if
you think that he is wrong,
and that you could do better
work in your own way. It
is "his show," and he alone is responsi-
ble; merely shoot as well as you can in
his way. Of course, if he should ask your
advice, that is a different thing. Should another mem-
ber of your team ask advice, refer him to the captain.

If you are captain of a team, and have the choice of
men, select, preferably, men whose nerve can be relied
upon; a veteran who does not get "rattled," even if only
a moderate shot, is preferable to a brilliant beginner who
may go all to pieces at a critical moment.

The man I prefer in a team is one who always shoots
a good consistent score, — never brilliantly, yet never
badly; you can always rely upon him to shoot up to his
form. If you have two such men, let one of them shoot

the first score, — if possible, against your adversaries' best

232

234 Art of Revolver Shooting

man, — so as to give your team confidence that they are
likely to hold their own.

Reserve yourself — or your most reliable shot, who can
be trusted not to lose his head — for emergencies, such as
these: To shoot last, when everything depends upon
making a good score; when the light is bad and likely to
improve later ; if there is a wind that may drop later ; for
pulling up a score when the other team is leading; for
getting the sighting when you retire to the fifty-yards
range; to shoot "turn and turn about," against the most
nervous or dangerous man of the other team, and so on.

You should specially notice if any of your team are
getting nervous ; prevent their watching good shooting by
their adversaries, or looking at and comparing scores.
Encourage them to think that their own team is so strong
that their own individual shortcomings do not matter.
You can, in this way, "nurse" a man along who is on the
verge of ' ' going to pieces. ' '

If possible, do not let your men know how the scores
stand. If there is a wind, or rain or bad light, consult
your most "weather-wise" man, and decide how to
"place" your bad shots so as to give them the easi-
est "shoot." That is to say, if the wind is likely to
drop later, shoot your strong shots when the weather
is unfavourable.

It is also a good thing to have a reliable member of the
team stand behind each one who is shooting, to "spot"
for him, and keep time for him.

If there be a time limit, have a very good man, if
possible, at the left elbow of each shooter, with a stop

Full Sized Diagrams ofTwelve highest possible Scores made by WALTER WlNANSm Revolver Competitions

.if 20 Yards in 1895. These arc thc-Twelve best Scores of those he won the following Competitions willi

\ i) Revolver aggregate Bislcy Military Revolver aggregate i Bisley Revolver Grand aggregate

North London Rifle Clubs Revolver Championship -i South London Rifle Clubs Revolver Cliani|iionsbi(i

Swallow Street Revolver Gallery ChallengeCup + Also many Firsl FVizesin Individual Competitions

OJuneI5tt<\'ortK'UndonRifleClub ,^^^^k

first Prize- A First SrsSllolsof fl ^^B

Hie brat on Record 12 Sbot Score f -fl

countinc, 8.1 nut ot .. ^B
,Vkiu-i [?' September.?!* ^^^^

.-, \_ondon Rjfl »•. \_ondon Rifle

^^^7 v\,„,i<loi, R,// ..vU>n.lnn K'i/7,. , ^^V^

' - - <s\0<W ^^^^ C/'^ Q(j»W ^^^^ %/,

@ o

First Prize Fil-st Prize

I LI W^L^

first Prize • ,^^^H^ First Prize-

Winning Cliallenc,e Cup,

TV Norili London Stores are pari of tlic segregate of 411 points out ofa possible 420. which is the best on Record
mill lir won the Revolver Championship of Hie Club nil threeVears v The South London Rinc Club Score istllcbostp.il

..1 Hie ......rroali- ot '524-out of n possibtc336.two | its better lb.,.. Ins previous best on reiurd.and won Hl.c Championship

ol tin I Inl. for llie S'l! time lie also made top Score in the Team Shoot of the North Loudon Ride Clubs Revolver Match.
and ->on llie Smokeless IWdcr Revolver Competition, and numerous' Spoon" Competitions during the Year

DIAGRAMS OF TWELVE HIGHEST POSSIBLE SCORES MADE BY AUTHOR IN REVOLVER
COMPETITIONS AT 20 YARDS IN 1 895

The diameter of the original bull's-eyes is 2 inches

July 18ft

. V.cimlon Hit/ ^fc. ^W Ncv Rcvo/vCrn

iVuios! \si September*?!*

First Prize .VjUindon Riflfe- .v\.oi«lon ft/J,, , TheTopSconc

Best on Record Score

5erilcmbor«J ^^^ ^™ ' October 230

vVvV-ondou fty; lust Prize Rl-st Prize ,i,\jon<lou /,',,;

s\c>. ^ '-',,/, ^" ^^^ 'hi/,

235

236 Art of Revolver Shooting

watch. His business, if the time limit is, let us say, three
minutes for the six shots, to start his watch when the
signal to begin firing is given; to say "one minute" at the
end of the first minute; "two minutes" at the end of
the second minute; and then, "fifteen," "thirty," and
"forty-five," at the ends of the first three quarters
respectively of the last minute, and finally to count
"one," "two," "three," etc., for the last fifteen seconds.

This lets the shooter know exactly how much time he
has, and enables him to make the utmost use of lulls of
wind.

Also at each shot he must say, "bull," if the shot is
well in the bull, or "inch out seven" if under the bull to
the left, etc., thus enabling the shooter to correct his aim
for the next shot.

It is quite wrong to say the value of the shot. What
the shooter wants to know is how to correct his next shot,
if the previous one was wrong; the value of a shot does
not help him to know where he ought to aim.

For this reason a ' ' coach ' ' who is not properly drilled
is much worse than useless. He is a hindrance and
confuses the shooter. For instance, if he says, "Oh, only
a five," that conveys no meaning to the shooter as to
where his shot has gone, and he has to ask, "Is it high or
low ? " The coach answers, " It 's a long way off the bull ;
how did you come to make such a bad shot? It is to the
right." Probably the shooter then asks, "Is it low?"
and the "coach " answers, "Yes — no — it is n't. It 's right
on top," and so on, to the exasperation of the shooter and
the spoiling of the score. Shooter and coach should

Team Shooting and Coaching 2S7

practise together, so that their minds work together, and
instantaneously. Only the actual spot struck should be
told, and that instantly, and in the fewest possible words.

"Oh's," and all such exclamations, ought to be
rigorously avoided.

Coaching is allowed in team shooting, but not in
ordinary individual competitions.

Do not let any member of your team leave the range
on any account until the competition is over.

Have a man or two extra, in case of anything disabling
or preventing one of your team from shooting.

Do not let two men shoot with the same revolver, as
both men may be wanted to shoot at the same time.

Do not scold a man, however badly he may be doing;
you only flurry him, and it does no good.

Do not have any refreshments for your team until the
competition is over.

CHAPTER XXIV

GENERAL REMARKS ON SHOOTING IN
COMPETITIONS

'HEN shooting in competition, be
careful not to spoil your oppo-
nent's scores. Never approach
or leave the firing-point while
he is aiming or about to shoot.
If he is about to shoot, and there
be time, reserve your shot till
he has fired; and do not fidget
with your revolver or cartridges
or get your target drawn up
whilst he is aiming. Keep per-
fectly still and silent till his shot has gone off. Do not
speak to him at any time, except to answer some question
of his. If he is at all nervous, you might by a slight
movement or word ruin his score.

Read carefully, before shooting, the rules of the com-
petition in which you are about to engage, and be sure you
comply with every detail of them. If you find you have,
inadvertently, transgressed a rule, report to the range
officer at once, and get your score cancelled.

Write your name very distinctly on your score-card;
I have known a man to lose a prize owing to his name

238

Shooting in Competitions 239

being illegible on the score-card. See that your shots
have been entered properly and rightly added up and
the corrections initialled.

Have your target dated and signed by the range
officer, with the name of the competition also inscribed,
and keep it as evidence in case your card should get lost.
Be sure you do not by mistake have a score entered on a
ticket belonging to another series.

Before shooting at Bisley, I put a weight in a chemist's
scale equal to the average weight of one of my loaded
cartridges. I weigh each cartridge against it, put all of
the correct weight aside for Bisley, and keep the others
for practice. By this means I minimise the chance of a
weak or of too strong a shot.

When you are at the firing-point, pay no attention to
what anyone else is doing, or to what scores have been,
or are being, made, or to any of your scores being beaten ;
the great thing is to have the average all round high for
the aggregate prizes. If you are constantly watching the
scores of others, rushing from range to range as your
various scores are passed, you will have much less chance
of making good scores than if you keep plodding on,
constantly adding a point or two to your aggregate.
You can afterwards try to beat individual scores, if
necessary. Of course, if you at any time, in any one
series, get a score which you think is up to the limit of
your skill, you may let that series alone till you have
reached your limit in all other series. Never watch a good
man shooting ; it will only make you doubt if you can beat
him. It is also tiring your eyes uselessly.

240 Art of Revolver Shooting

Do not read or use your eyes any more than is ab-
solutely necessary. When resting, dark glasses will be
found to relieve the eyes. I find that if I am getting tired
of shooting, a half-hour's gallop on a horse that does not
pull freshens me up, and helps to divert my thoughts;
others may prefer lying quietly down and shutting the
eyes.

If you find yourself getting stale, drop the whole thing,
even for several days. It will not be time wasted, as you
will shoot better afterwards; and you will certainly get
worse if you keep on without rest.

Never protest or dispute a score or a decision. The
range officers are doing their best under very trying
circumstances. If you think any decision wrong, say
nothing about it and forget it; you will only spoil your
shooting if you worry about it. Just set your teeth and
make a score a point better than the disputed one ought, in
your opinion, to have been. The protesting man is a
nuisance to himself and to everyone else.

Should you see a man infringing the rules, leave it to
others to protest.

CHAPTER XXV

AUTOMATIC PISTOLS

[HERE have been various auto-
matic pistols made which load
and cock by the force of the
discharge of the previous shot.
The one with which I can
shoot best is the Webley-Fos-
bery Automatic Revolver here
illustrated.

The recoil causes the upper
part of the revolver to fly back,
a stud acting in a zigzag
groove in the chamber half turning the chamber as it
flies back, and completing the revolution as it returns to
its normal position by the force of a spring which has
been compressed by the discharge.

I can shoot very well with this, but I cannot try it
against the double-action .38 Smith & Wesson — with
which I made the record score of six shots in a two-inch
circle at twenty-five metres in seventeen seconds — as it
will not shoot gallery ammunition, there not being recoil
enough in that to operate the mechanism.

One made specially with a weaker spring for gallery

241

242 Art of Revolver Shooting

WEBLEY-FOSBERY AUTOMATIC
REVOLVER

ammunition would be an ideal weapon for rapid firing
at Gastinne-Renette's.

Another form of automatic is the Browning, but
this is not a target
pistol and I cannot C
make good shoot-
ing with it. In my
opinion having to use
both hands to cock it
for the first shot con-
stitutes a defect. One
ought to be able to

draw, cock, and fire with one hand any pistol intended
for self-defence.

Most nations have an automatic pistol of one make or
another as their regulation army weapon, but France and

the United States
keep to the double-
action revolver, and
they are not the
worst pistol shots
and they know what
a good pistol ought
to be.
Personally I should
never carry an automatic pistol for self-defence, for use
on dangerous game, or for target shooting, as the revolver
is so much more handy, shoots better, and it is safer after
one shot has been fired.

I have never seen any score made by any automatic

COLT AUTOMATIC PISTOL,
POCKET MODEL, CALIBRE .32

Automatic Pistols

243

pistol (except the Fosbery, which is really an improved
revolver rather than a typical automatic pistol) which
was any good.

One ought to be able to take a pistol out of its holster

COLT AUTOMATIC PISTOL, CALIBRE .32

Sectional view showing the automatic action

or the pocket, aim, then change one's mind and return
it to the pocket, all with one hand.

A double-action revolver you take out, half raise the
hammer with the trigger-pull as you level it, decide not
to shoot, release the pull, and drop the pistol in your
pocket, and it is safe.

With an automatic pistol you draw it, and have to

244 Art of Revolver Shooting

take hold of it with both hands so as to draw the bolt to
cock it ; when you aim and decide not to shoot you have
again to manipulate it with both hands, and in some in-

COLT AUTOMATIC PISTOL, MILITARY
MODEL, CALIBRE .45

stances to extract all the cartridges and put them again
in the magazine before it is safe to put in the pocket.
If you want to return it safely to your pocket after you

COLT AUTOMATIC PISTOL, MILITARY
MODEL, CALIBRE .38

have fired a shot, the process to be gone through is yet
more complicated.

Of course if you blaze away all your cartridges it is
quicker than any revolver, but I am talking of the much

Automatic Pistols 245

more frequent occurrence of firing only one or two shots,
or of not shooting at all after having drawn the weapon
on the chance of needing it, then finding there was no
necessity to shoot.

For a lady's use as a weapon of defence I should not
for a moment advise an automatic pistol.

In selecting an automatic pistol, as distinct from an
automatic revolver, care must be taken that it has an
efficient safety bolt.

LUGAR AUTOMATIC PISTOL

As the action for cocking the automatic pistol consists
in drawing back the barrel, if the pistol is dropped so that
the barrel strikes the ground with its muzzle the pistol is
very apt to be discharged.

I have heard of such a case which led to fatal results.
This seems to me one of the weak points of such pistols, as,
even if the pistol has an efficient safety bolt, such a bolt

246 Art of Revolver Shooting

is almost sure to have been moved when the pistol
is held in the hand ready to fire, and in such a case, if the
pistol is dropped, it will most likely explode. This fact
must be borne in mind when choosing between a revolver
and an automatic pistol intended for self-defence.

CHAPTER XXVI

THE REVOLVER IN WAR

NFORTUNATELY war, and not
target shooting, is the chief use
for revolvers up to the present
time.

As I am not a military man
I cannot go as fully into details
as I have done with regard to
some of the other uses of the
revolver; but I should say,
speaking as a civilian, that the
nearer the revolver approaches to that recommended for
big-game shooting (whilst fulfilling the necessary military
requirements and regulations), the more useful and re-
liable will it be found.

My hints as to shooting deer, or at targets, from horse-
back, would apply to chasing drivers of retreating guns,
or infantry; and my various suggestions for practising
rapid firing at moving objects would also apply. The
episode of the officers in the Boer War repeatedly missing
store bullocks with their revolvers illustrates the need

of practice with this arm, which not even an acquaintance

247

248 Art of Revolver Shooting

with the rifle (supposing the officers to have such) enables
one to dispense with.

It is useless to describe in detail the various patterns
of automatic pistols and revolvers used by the different
nations, as these not only constantly change, so that any
I now write about may be obsolete by the time this book
is published, but each nation has also its special needs, so
that the pistol suitable for one country might not be the
best for another.

For instance, in England there seems to be a greater

NEW ARMY COLT DOUBLE-ACTION REVOLVER

Adopted by Ordnance Department U. S. Army-
demand than in any other country for a pistol with "stop-
ping power. " In consequence, various more or less blunt-
nosed bullets have been invented, some of them almost
cylinders with cupped tops. Very good shooting is said to
have been made with some of these shapes of bullets:
personally, though it may be only fancy, I do not think
bullets of such shape can fly quite as accurately as those
which are pointed, although I have done good shooting
at deer with them at very short range. I myself have
never been able, in experimenting, to improve on the

25° Art of Revolver Shooting

conical shape for extreme accuracy, the spitzen form of
bullet being more suitable for arms of higher velocity
than for pistols.

The consensus of opinion, however, in all other armies
seems now to be in favour of very small calibres, as the
advantages of a small calibre over a large one in port-
ability, lightness, and amount of ammunition that can be
carried, are so great that they are considered to outweigh
the want of stopping power. A man who cannot hit
another in a vital spot at the short range at which a

NEW NAVY COLT DOUBLE-ACTION REVOLVER

Adopted by Bureau of Ordnance, U. S. Navy

revolver is used in war would not do any better with the
larger calibre.

I do not think that the advantages of a pistol over
a sword, or even a lance, for cavalry are sufficiently
appreciated. Going on the standard of the "Can't-
hit-a-haystack " shooting of the ordinary trooper with
a revolver, it is not realised what a squadron of cavalry,
which could "shoot," might be able to accomplish with
this weapon. In charging, which I suppose would very

2 52 Art of Revolver Shooting

seldom occur in modern warfare, each man could fire
several shots at opposing cavalry; whilst their adversa-
ries, if cavalry, with only lance and sword, could not have
a "go" at them until they got within a yard or two. A
lancer, and, in a lesser degree, a trooper, armed with a
sword, needs elbow room to wield his weapon; when
hemmed in by companions pressing close in on him he
cannot use it. An adversary can, moreover, parry, or
even clutch, the lance, and then he is quite helpless.

NEW SERVICE COLT DOUBLE-ACTION REVOLVER

Jointless solid frame, simultaneous ejection

A trooper who was through the Zulu campaign told
me that many of the men in his troop threw away their
lances and depended on their revolvers in a charge, as
Zulus dodged their lances and seized their horses, whereas
a revolver cleared the way in charging.

In hand-to-hand cavalry fighting the man with the
revolver would have the lancer or swordsman absolutely
at his mercy; while as for pursuing, the little bugler-boy

The Revolver in War

?53

in South Africa showed what can be done with a revolver.
From the standpoint of the pursued, a man with a lance
is helpless, and a swordsman is almost as helpless; but a
man with a pistol can keep loading and shooting back
at his pursuers all the time he is galloping away at top
speed.

An infantry soldier, if active, cool, and a good hand
with the bayonet, especially if he also understands the

RUSSIAN MODEL ARMY REVOLVER

(Smith & Wesson)

dislikes and fears of horses, can defend himself
against a mounted swordsman or lancer; by prick-
ing the horse on the nose, for instance, he can prevent the
rider being able to get his horse up close to him ; he also
can parry a swordcut or lance-thrust, or dodge the blow.
But a mounted man with a pistol could shoot at him as
he gallops past out of range of his bayonet-lunge, or
even stand still on his horse at thirty or forty yards off
and shoot him.

I believe that the cavalry on both sides in the
United States Civil War made more use of their re-

254 Art of Revolver Shooting

volvers than of sword or lance, and the revolvers routed
the lances.

A pistol needs much less physical strength to use than
either sword or lance, and is no more difficult to learn to
handle. Lances, besides, are conspicuous when cavalry-
are trying to conceal themselves, and are useless among
trees.

Artillery drivers are especially helpless when pursued,
yet if properly taught they could use a pistol whilst driving
their horses, and prevent the incident I have depicted
below, which is founded on fact, though I have, for
reasons that are obvious, used fancy uniforms.

Cavalry could be trained with the Devilliers bullet.

CHAPTER XXVII

STAGE SHOOTING

HIS subject can be subdivided into
two parts: real, expert, very ac-
curate work, requiring great skill and
nerve; and conjuring tricks, that is to
say, shooting assisted by apparatus and
the arts of the conjuror. The greatest
insult that can be offered to a professional
shot is to call him a conjuror.

To begin with the unaided shooting.
You must have a safe background to
shoot against. The best, in my opinion, is a steel
plate, leaning towards you at an angle of forty-five
degrees, and below it a shallow tray, filled with sand,
to catch the bullets, which flatten on the steel and
then drop into the tray. As only very light powder-
charges are used, and as the revolver bullets for this
purpose are round, or semi-round, this is sufficient.

It is usual to have something for the bullets to go
through before striking the steel plate. Green baize is
good for the eyes as a background; but it is dangerous,
being very inflammable; it gives off fluff, some of which
stands out from the baize, and the rest falls to the ground.

255

256 Art of Revolver Shooting

This is like tinder and liable to catch fire from burning
particles of powder. Some fabric dipped in a non-in-
flammable mixture should be used; either green, white,
or black, whichever you find suits your eyesight best.
The butt is either put "prompt" side of the stage (so
that the shooter's right arm is nearest the audience) , and
at a slight angle, in order that people may see the target ;
or it is placed at the back of the stage, the shooter standing
with his back to the audience. In either case, the shooter
keeps his "tools" on a side-table, and when he shoots he
stands quite clear of any table, so as to afford an unin-
terrupted view of all his proceedings.

The range is about fifteen feet. This may seem very
short, but it looks a long shot on a stage; and it must be
remembered that the shooting is at very small objects,
and no misses are allowable. The golden rule to be borne
in mind in stage shooting is, Never hazard a shot that is
not very easy to you, and which you cannot be practically
sure of successfully accomplishing. If you try a very
difficult shot and succeed once in three times — such as
hitting a very small object thrown into the air — hardly
any of the audience will think of you as aught but a bad
shot; whereas, if you hit six stationary glass balls — each
as big as an orange — they will think you wonderful !

WEAPONS

One or more .44 Russian Model Smith & Wesson
target revolvers; Ira Paine target sights; hair trigger;
Union Metallic Cartridge Co.'s gallery ammunition. I

*•

Photo by W. W. Rouch.
SHOOTING WITH REVOLVER UPSIDE DOWN
257

258 Art of Revolver Shooting

use the revolvers which formerly belonged to Ira Paine;
several front sights, the finest about the size of the head
of a small pin, the stalks as fine as a needle; hind sight
adjustable, both laterally and vertically, with screw
adjustment; trigger-pull so light that laying the finger
on the trigger almost sets it off. With such a revolver of
course extreme care must be taken never, for an instant,
to have the barrel pointed in any direction except that in
which it would be safe for the bullet to travel, and also to
keep the finger off the trigger till you actually want the
bullet to go.

Ira Paine, when shooting at objects on the head of an
assistant, used to "come down" from above, instead of
"coming up " in the usual way; so that if the pistol went
off by accident there would be no danger to the assistant,
as there would be if the muzzle travelled up his body to
his head in sighting from below.

I do not approve of shooting at objects on the head or
in the hands of an assistant; it is not, in my opinion,
justifiable to risk life in this way. But it may be chanced
with the Devilliers composite bullet and ammunition
already described, and, as also mentioned, a steel skull-
cap under the assistant's wig, and steel finger guards
under his glove, such as professional stage shots often
use. Yet even then the assistant's eyes may be in
danger from a bullet which does not happen to take
the rifling.

The other weapon is a Stevens, or Smith & Wesson,
single-shot .22 pistol, and a Gastinne-Renette duelling
pistol can be introduced with advantage as a change,

Stage Shooting 259

but do not shoot holding it with both hands, as a self-styled
champion professional shot does !

See that a narrow plank of wood — metal would, if
struck, make a bullet glance — is put in front of the butt
with slits and wooden clips in it for holding objects.

The following shots I recommend. Beginning with
the easiest we have:

Six stationary balls in a row. (The balls are cast
from a mixture of resin and whitening; they are very
brittle and break at a graze.) Take them as quickly as
you can be sure of them. With practice you can ' ' snap ' '
the six off in about four seconds, or in less time with a
double-action revolver.

Next extract the used cartridges, and have them put
in a row on the edge of the board, standing them on their
bases. Hit them in quick succession. This requires a
little more care, as they are small ; but their height pre-
vents your being likely to miss them vertically, and you
have merely to pay attention to keeping your horizontal
aim correct. Be sure not to shoot too low; for if you do,
and you hit the plank, you will jar them all off it. The
greatest applause I ever got was when at one performance
I made a very bad shot hitting the board and so knocking
off all my cartridge cases by the one shot!

This can be varied, if you are a really good shot, by
placing the cartridges on their sides with the cap end
towards yourself; but it requires good shooting.

Shooting at an object with a wineglass on each side,
without breaking the glasses, is a trick in which the
difficulty varies according to how close the glasses are.

260 jlrt 0f Revolver Shooting

Put up a piece of paper with a black pencil line ruled
vertically on it ; hit this line. This requires care not to
"pull off" to one side.

A similar line horizontal. This is more difficult, as
the elevation must be absolutely correct if you want to
hit the line.

Hit a swinging ball. Take the shot on the turn ; do

FIG. A

not follow, but aim at an imaginary spot just inside of
where the ball is at one end of its swing, aiming at "IX
o'clock," as the ball is momentarily stationary at its
farthest swing to the right, or vice versa.

Put six balls in a row; hit one with the revolver in the
right hand, a second with the revolver in the left hand ; a
third and fourth with the revolver upside down (A and B),

Stage Shooting

261

pulling the trigger with the little ringer and using alternate
hands. The remaining two shots to be made with the
revolver held half canted to the right (C), and then half
canted to the left (D). The unusual positions explain
themselves in the photographs. After a little practice,
none of these positions is difficult.

The upside-down shot, as soon as you get used to

FIG. B

aiming at the top edge of the ball instead of the bottom,
is a very steady, easy position. For the two side ones,
you aim at "IX" and at "III o'clock," respectively.

Hang your watch on a hook on the board, and place a
ball resting on this hook. Break the ball. This is easy,
as the ball is, comparatively, a big mark. Aim at the
top edge of the ball so as to break it by a grazing shot
near the top ; this is less risky for the watch.

262 Art of Revolver Shooting

Do the same with any watches lent by the audience.
A man once kept lending me his watch for this trick; I
found out afterwards that it would not go, and he had
hopes that I would hit it and thus be compelled to give
him another!

Borrow small objects from the audience, and hit
them. Stamps on envelopes, visiting cards, bits of pencil,
etc., are suitable; but do not shoot at anything which will
make a bullet glance, or you may hit some of your audience.

FIG. c

Thus a walnut is very dangerous, causing bullets to glance ;
an orange or an egg explodes beautifully when hit, but
both are rather messy. The coloured balls for Christmas
trees are nice to shoot at ; but a bullet sometimes makes a
hole without breaking them.

Put up the ace of hearts and hit it. It is usual to have
a pack composed of only aces of hearts. Have several ace
cards placed on top of each other, and, when the bullet
goes through the group, have the cards "dealt" among
the audience; or, if at a Charity Bazaar, sold singly.

Stage Shooting

263

Messrs. De la Rue make cards with coloured bluebottle
flies on them for me to shoot at.

Put up the six of hearts, and hit the six pips. This
requires some doing to get all six shots neatly in the
separate pips.

Put a card edgeways towards you and cut it in half.
This is a pretty trick and brings down the house when
well done. It requires the same skill as hitting the vertical

FIG. D

pencil lines. If you are not very sure of yourself, and you
succeed on the first shot, do not risk a second try. This
rule applies to all the difficult shots. My best score at
this game was five cards out of six shots, the cards
being placed edgewise at a range of fifteen feet.

Hit a string from which an object is hanging. Get
string which is weak, and have the object pretty heavy,
or else you may "nick" the string without its breaking.
Berlin wool, with a weight so heavy that it strains the

264 Art of Revolver Shooting

wool to nearly breaking-point, breaks with more certainty
than string or twine. There is an ingenious, though
scarcely legitimate, way of making this shot very easy.
You merely double a piece of string and tie a knot,
hanging it over two nails, the distance between which is a
fraction under .44 inch. Two hooks on the ball are the
same distance apart, so that the ball is thus hung by a
double string. If you hit between these, both strings are
necessarily cut by a .44 bullet, if your aim be true, while
one is cut even if you hit half an inch out either side.

Put a ball filled with red fluid on top of an empty
claret glass; break the ball, and the glass will be filled
with the fluid. See that the ball fits very loosely, that it
rests only slightly in the glass — which should have a
narrow opening like the old-fashioned champagne glass —
or the latter will break also.

Knock a cork off a bottle; an ordinary wine bottle or
a wooden or metal one is dangerous if hit, as causing the
bullet to glance; it is better to have a plaster of Paris
bottle, painted black.

Put up a bunch of six grapes, and take them off one
at a time.

Put up candles and snuff' them. To snuff a candle it
is difficult to aim at the flame as it dazzles the eyes; but
if you have the sight so that the pistol shoots an inch
high and aim that distance below the flame it is easy.

Hit two balls simultaneously, one swinging past a
stationary one, or both swinging from opposite ways.
You have to take them just as one is about to cover the
other.

Stage Shooting 265

Have a ball swung round horizontally at great speed
centrifugally from a small wheel spun by clockwork.
This requires very good "timing," you aiming at a side
and pulling when the ball is at the opposite side, or you
will be too late. Stand two balls with a steel knife-edge
between them, vertically towards you and rather nearer
to you than the balls. Hit the knife-edge in such a
manner as to split the bullet in two pieces, which fly off
and break the balls. The knife must be securely fastened,
and the precise distance between the back of it and the
balls (which varies according to the distance they are
apart) must be determined by experiment.

Hitting an object with a paper on the muzzle hiding
the mark. Cut a round hole, just big enough to slip over
the muzzle, in a piece of thick paper the size of an ordinary
envelope. Slip this over the muzzle, up against the front
sight. When taking aim, it will be found that with the
left eye closed, the paper hides the object. By keeping
both eyes open, however, shooting is easy, the right eye
working the sights and the left seeing the object. The
paper must not project much to the left, or it would hide
your view with the left eye.

Fix a nail slightly in a block of soft wood and drive
it home with a shot.

Put up the ace of hearts back towards you and hit it
by judging the centre; the back must be plain white, no
pattern.

If the audience is not an expert one, really difficult
feats are less appreciated than showy ones.

CHAPTER XXVIII

TRICK SHOOTING

E come now to the conjurer's
style of shooting, which I
would not advise anyone to
practise, even for a Char-
ity Bazaar; it will ruin his
reputation as a shot. How-
ever, I will describe here-
under some of the devices in
connection with this trick
shooting.
The chief apparatus — under different forms — is a
lever some twelve inches long. This lever is pivoted in
its centre ; one end has a steel disc about a foot in diameter,
or less, according to the shooter's skill, — of a size he is sure
of never missing, — the other end has a steel point at right
angles. The lever is placed vertically at such a height
that the steel spike is just opposite the middle of the ball
which is placed on the assistant's head. The steel disc
is some eight inches above the man's head; the whole of
this apparatus is hidden from the audience behind the

"back-cloth" of the scenery. The locality of the disc is

266

Trick Shooting 267

indicated to the shooter by something in the scenery, as a
pattern, or a trophy of flags, etc.

The assistant stands with his back against the back-
cloth, and the ball is on his head so that the steel spike is
just clear of the middle of the ball and hidden behind the
back-cloth; the shooter then fires at the trophy of flags,
or what not (which is eight or more inches above the man's
head, and therefore an easy and practically safe shot) ;
the bullet hitting the disc drives it back, the other end of
the lever with the spike comes forward, the spike goes
through the scenery, breaks the ball, and at once returns
out of sight. The trick is varied by having the lever
inside a dummy figure, the performer shooting into the
figure to break small objects on its head or in its mouth.
A bellows is sometimes behind the back-cloth with the
nozzle at the flame of a candle and the flame is blown out
when the bellows is hit. The shooter is of course supposed
by the audience to have snuffed the candle.

This sort of shooting can be done at quite long range —
for instance, from the back of the gallery to the back of
the stage — but the lever has then to be lengthened so as to
minimise risk to the assistant.

Another way in which the candle trick is done is to
have each candle inside a large concave reflector; the
splash from the bullet comes back from the reflector
and puts out the candle.

Shooting at anything moving — swinging balls, etc. — ■
is done with shot ; the shooting in this case must be done
with a back-cloth over the butt, as the splashes on a naked
steel plate would betray the use of shot. This makes

268 Art of Revolver Shooting

very easy what in legitimate shooting requires nice "tim-
ing." The cartridge is either filled simply with special
shot even smaller than "dust" shot, or if the cartridges
are likely to be seen they are loaded with hollow wooden
black-leaded bullets, full of shot, which the rifling of the
barrel breaks, and these are substituted by "palming" for
real bulleted cartridges shown to the audience. Shot is
sometimes fired out of a smooth bore revolver.

Two balls are broken with a revolver in each hand,
shot simultaneously. This is always considered very
wonderful, the performer pretending to take a long time
over his aim, etc. One revolver is loaded with shot, the
other with blank ammunition. The one loaded with shot
is aimed between the two balls ; the spread of shot breaks
both balls.

Knocking ashes off a cigar smoked by assistant:
A long hat-pin is put into the cigar, the point just reaching
up to the ashes. On the shot — a blank cartridge — being
fired, the assistant pushes the knob of the pin with his
tongue, and dislodges the ashes.

Objects held in the fingers or resting on the shoulders
of assistants are shot with cork or Devilliers bullets, and
the assistant wears hidden steel epaulets and finger-tips.

Blindfold shooting is done by seeing down the side
of the nose on to a looking-glass fixed at an angle behind
the hind sight.

What is called shooting through a wedding-ring and
breaking a ball is done with the lever apparatus; the
bullet does not go through the ring, but above it.

Shooting at the trigger of a loaded rifle fixed in a rest,

Trick Shooting

269

the shot from the rifle breaking a ball on the shooter's
head, is also another form of the lever apparatus.

Lately trick shooters have been shooting at toy
balloons of a dark colour with a very small white spot
painted on them. The balloons at once collapse wherever
hit, and the audience thinks the small white spot has been
hit. When using a pistol they often hold it with both
hands, which, of course, is not real pistol-shooting. If
you see the barrel of a stage shooter's firearm wobbling
during aiming you can be sure there is no real shooting
being done.

I think that in stage performances there should be a
committee of shooting men appointed by the audience to
see that the shooting is genuine and not trick shooting.

CHAPTER XXIX

BLANK AMMUNITION FOR STAGE PURPOSES

■',.")

t3 p

LANK ammunition, known generally

as "Fourth of July" ammunition,

is usually made with a wad tightly

crimped over the powder so as

to make as loud a report as

possible.

There is a chance of 'a
piece of the crimped metal of
the cartridge coming out
of the barrel, and this may
do a fatal injury if it should hit anyone. Most peo-
ple using blank ammunition on the stage and else-
where think it harmless and frequently fire right into
each other's faces, at a distance of a few feet, or even
inches. It is extremely dangerous to shoot blank am-
munition at people — apart from the rule that one should
never, under any circumstances, point a revolver at any-
one, unless one wishes to hit him.

A boy ought to be whipped if he shoots blank ammu-
nition at anyone, or even if he points an empty or toy
weapon at anyone. I saw a man's two eyes permanently

injured on the stage, in a mock duel, through the

270

Blank Ammunition 271

wad and burnt particles of powder hitting him in the
face.

Some actors "blaze away" up in the air (under the
impression that they cannot thus do any damage), either
up into the ' ' flies," to the imminent danger of setting them
on fire or injuring the limelight man, or else into the grand
tier boxes, out of which most likely one of the occupants
is at that moment craning his head and risking getting
the whole charge full in his face.

There is a pneumatic imitation pistol which makes
the "bang" by breaking a piece of paper or rubber
stretched inside the barrel (on the principle of "popping"
a paper bag by first inflating it and then bursting it with
a clap of the hands) ; this makes plenty of noise, and is
much safer than blank ammunition.

There have been so many fatal accidents in stage
battles and duels that I think all stage arms should be
built on the last principle; it would also be an econ-
omy, as the ammunition gets used wholesale in these
battles.

Another great danger is the chance of a loaded cart-
ridge having been mixed up amongst the blanks at the
factory ; or (according to an inquest reported in the press)
when blank ammunition of different calibres is used (as
rifle and revolver) , of a cartridge of smaller bore dropping
into the barrel and being shot out by the next one that is
fired. The foregoing remarks apply also to shooting
blank ammunition for starting a foot-race, etc. In this
case the paper bag "bang" would not be loud enough,
and blank ammunition must be used.

272 Art of Revolver Shooting

I was standing behind the starter in a trotting race,
where the starting was done in the primitive way of
firing a pistol. The man put his hand behind his back
and fired into my feet !

CHAPTER XXX

BIG-GAME SHOOTING WITH THE REVOLVER

DO not think the revolver is of
much use for stalking deer or other
big game. Of course it is out of
the question for any of the thick-
skinned animals. But for shooting
from horseback, at very short range,
I think it is better than a rifle. One
can swing much better with it when
in a cramped position, or when both
the object aimed at and yourself are
moving, than with a rifle.

The revolver was a favourite weapon in "buffalo
running " in the old days. I should think it would be very
good for "pig" in India, as a change from spearing; but
I suppose this suggestion is a heresy. Anyhow, for a
leopard, or other animal too dangerous to be tackled with a
spear, it would be useful. I sometimes carry a revolver
when bear or wild-boar shooting on the Continent, in
case a boar gets me down, but I prefer to trust to my
rifle as long as possible.

When park-deer are killed, instead of the very tame

sport of following them around in a cart, or sitting up a
18 273

2 74 Art of Revolver Shooting

tree, a gallop round after them on a good horse with a
revolver is capital fun, and it is surprising what pretty
running shots one can get under these circumstances.
The first thing is to have a fast, smooth-galloping, quiet,
handy horse. Horses learn to stand fire very soon, if you
shoot a light charge some distance off at first, and then
come gradually nearer; the secret of the whole thing is,
never to shoot close past the horse's ears, or not, at any
rate, until he gets thoroughly seasoned. I know a Belgian
charger who lets a revolver be fired literally within three
inches of his nose.

It is useless to try to shoot off a horse unless both
you and your horse understand "school" riding. An
ordinary hunter, ridden in the ordinary hunting style
needing both hands to lug at his head, and requiring
half a field to stop or turn him in, is very dangerous at
this game.

The horse must turn, change legs, stop dead, and start
again under the control of one hand only. A smart polo
pony might do, but I prefer something bigger, — about
15.2, — so as to be "more over your work" (the mare in
the photographs is sixteen hands), as then one shoots
downwards and can often get a shot where it would be
dangerous to shoot more horizontally, as towards houses
and the like.

A horse that naturally leads with his near leg when
allowed to choose his own lead is preferable, as, having to
range up on the near side of the deer to shoot, you can
shoot better leading on the near leg, as this turns you
slightlv towards the deer. A horse is smoothest in his

276 Art of Revolver Shooting

natural lead, and is rougher and consequently more
difficult to shoot off when leading on the other leg.

One can wear the holster as the cowboys do — a belt
round the waist and the revolver hanging on the right
hip, not round the waist in front as army men carry it.
In front it is in the way of your bridle hand, and it is not
so handy to draw; but, worn on the hip, it is also danger-
ous in case of a fall, and is perhaps best in a saddle holster.

The revolver must fit loosely, so as to draw easily ; but
the holster must be deep enough, and must hang so as
not to drop the pistol out in galloping. The flap of
the saddle — where the hunting-horn is carried — is a good
place to hang the holster against, but this arrangement
might hurt one if the horse rolled over ; and when shooting
dangerous game one might be left defenceless by the
horse galloping off with the revolver.

The few cartridges necessary can be carried in the
right coat pocket; they are awkward to disengage from
loops in your belt or wristlet, and are apt to become
battered out of shape.

My favourite weapon for shooting fallow deer is the
one I have already described more than once, — the old
.44 Smith & Wesson, with gallery ammunition, or the .38
double-action Military. For red deer perhaps a heavier
Charge is better; a Smith & Wesson or a Colt "police"
.38 calibre, full charge. In a park it is important, for
safety's sake, to use as small a charge as practicable.

It is best to have the revolver in the holster, with one
chamber unloaded if a single-action, and to keep the
hammer down on the unloaded chamber till the actual

278 Art of Revolver Shooting

moment you want to shoot; and if you do not, for any
reason, fire instantly, put it at half-cock at once. I have
elsewhere explained how to do this one-handed. If you
cannot do it one-handed, on no account use both hands;
rather fire the shot into the ground at once. If you have
the reins in your left hand (with most likely an excited,
plunging horse to manage), and try to use both hands in
letting down to half-cock, you will, in all probability, let
off the revolver by accident.

When you have fired — unless you instantly want to
fire another shot — do not cock the revolver, but leave the
hammer down on the exploded case.

Never "follow" with your revolver at full-cock, for
in the excitement of the gallop, and in the wheeling about,
you may, without knowing it, be pointing your revolver in
a dangerous direction; or your horse may fall, and you
may let the revolver off in consequence. All this does
not apply to double-action revolvers.

Red deer generally give a faster and a longer run ; and
a stag during the rutting season may charge your horse if
you range up too close and hustle him too much.

Ride up to the herd at a slow walk, as though you
were out for a ride and about to pass them, going so as to
pass along the left-hand side of them. If you walk up
slowly, not looking at them (but watching the deer you
want out of the corner of your eye), you can get up
very close for the first shot and will, probably, get a
standing one.

When you get up to the herd, unless you at once shoot
the deer you want, it is astonishing how soon the one you

280 Art of Revolver Shooting

are after finds out your intentions. The stag, or buck, will
push the other deer aside with his horns, keep his head low
behind other deer, and always try to keep another deer
between himself and you. If you try to ride him down by
following him in all his windings through the herd, you
will most likely get a fall by one of the deer getting
between your horse's legs. A mounted horse has no
chance in a doubling match with a deer. The easier plan
is to get the herd running steadily in one direction, strung
out, and then gradually to get up level with the one you
want.

In deer-stalking, if a deer be wounded it is best to
keep well out of sight, and not follow him up for half an
hour, so as to "let him get sick" as the foresters say; but
when shooting with a revolver off horseback, if the ground
is at all rideable, or the deer are in a park, it is best to press
him as hard as possible; if he is hard hit he will at once
leave the herd and then it is a comparatively easy matter
to run him down and shoot him. I find that a wounded
park-deer hugs the park palings as a rule. This way of
shooting is in my opinion a much more humane way of
killing park-deer than with a rifle on foot, as a wounded
deer is so much more quickly put out of pain. On
foot a deer may be followed for hours before he can be
shot, or he may get into a hollow and not be found until
next day.

"The Lovat mixture" of grey-green (most people
wear too light a grey for deer-stalking) is the best colour
for one's clothes if after wild deer; but in a park I prefer
white flannels as being cooler, as it is very hard work on

282 Art of Revolver Shooting

a hot August day, and in this respect is not unlike a game
of polo.

I prefer a short-cheeked, single-rein curb with a loose
curb-chain, but the mare, Rose (shown in the photograph),
had a peculiar mouth and fought a curb, going best in a
Newmarket snaffle. With this she was as handy as a
Cossack horse; in fact I had hardly to touch her mouth.
The mere action of leaning back and touching her with the
calves of my legs, made her stop dead. She would shoot
off from a stand if I leant forward, and swing round sharp
with the pressure of my "outside" leg. N. B. — Why do
writers on riding so often talk of pressing with the knee
to turn a horse? One uses the knees to grip with and the
legs for turning and collecting, etc. She would also (and
this I have never seen another horse do) stand close up to
a man shooting a rifle in the prone position and not start
when he finally fired after aiming for half a minute. Rose
understood her business perfectly, and chased almost by
herself the deer I wanted. I do not recommend a martin-
gale if it can possibly be avoided, as it is apt to throw a
horse down. If you must have one, a fixed one is prefer-
able though more dangerous, but I have known a horse
win a steeplechase in a tight fixed martingale, a horse that
was unmanageable without one.

Unless you want "meat " very badly, it is much neater
to shoot through the neck or back of the head. I do not
like the side, brain shot, as if you are the least bit too low
you break the poor beast's jaw, and he may give you a
long chase, and perhaps go off and die of starvation.

Be careful that your horse does not whip out from

284 Art of Revolver Shooting

under you as the deer collapses, or, as is more usual, as the
deer stumbles or bounds out to one side in falling, scatter-
ing the other deer in all directions. Your horse is also
likely to swerve from a dead deer when he smells the
blood, on your going up to the deer on foot, and he may
jerk the reins out of \^our hands and gallop off.

After one or two such shots the herd will get on the
run; then, keeping on the inside of the circle as they race
along, press them fast, so that they get strung out; never
mind about getting a shot; first endeavour to get them
well strung out, so that if you make a miss you do not hit
another. If you can break them up into several lots by
riding through them, and thus get in a small lot the deer
you want, so much the better. Then when you have your
special deer galloping well clear and moving steadily and
evenly, — as he will after be becomes a little tired, — put
your horse on the near leg in his gallop, driving him well
up into his bridle and collected for an instant turn;
gradually edge as close to the deer as you can. With
care you can get within ten yards, both horse and deer
going at a good fast canter. If the horse is a very smooth
galloper, you can sit well down in the saddle; if he has
a high or rolling action, stand in the stirrups, but a rolling
galloper is very unsatisfactory for this work. Then, aim-
ing with a straight arm, swing either forward on the deer's
neck, or — and this is the neatest shot of all — between
his ears at the back of his head. Of course, this must be
a "snap" shot; you cannot hold your sight. Be careful
not to hit his horns, or the bullet may glance off and strike
you or your horse. If he is hit behind the ears properly,

• ' I

286 Art of Revolver Shooting

he turns over like a rabbit, and you flash past him before
you can stop, nothing remaining but for you to pull up,
dismount, and "gralloch." This shooting is for the
most part done rather by "sense direction" than by any
attempt to align the sights.

If you want more deer, you can take, in a few seconds,
one after another in this way, without stopping your horse.

If the buck is hit in the neck, he will, most likely,
lurch to one side, often coming round in a semicircle
before falling ; and you must be very careful he does not
then put your horse down, or, if you are at full-cock for
another shot, make you shoot your horse.

One of the advantages of shooting with the horse lead-
ing with the near fore is that at the shot, or at "charge,"
you can wheel to the left and get clear. The old "buffalo-
runner ' ' horses were taught to turn sharp at the report of
the shot, so as to avoid a lurch or a "charge " without any
hint from the rider.

If you try to get up too soon for a shot when the deer
are running, or come up too abruptly or too fast, they will
begin bounding in the air; but if you are cautious you can,
after some galloping, even stop and stand on the inside of
the turn, and they will slacken and trot past you, or stop
and stand preparatory to wheeling back; though in this
case they will almost invariably start off again as you
raise your arm.

When galloping alongside a deer, unless there is
another in front of him to lead him on, he may whip back ;
it is always best to let a few hinds or does keep in front of
the beast you wish to shoot. They will keep him moving

288 Art of Revolver Shooting

more steadily, and you will know the direction in which
he intends to travel, as he will follow the others.

The revolver is very handy for roe-stalking, as you
generally get close shots in covert. A revolver is also
very useful to wear when in a. deer forest. As everyone
knows who has done much stalking or deer driving, there
are occasions when a wounded stag is too active to "stick,"

££.

EXTENSION STOCK, AS APPLIED TO .44 SINGLE-ACTION REVOLVERS

and yet to shoot would disturb other deer. In this case,
a revolver with a gallery charge is much less apt to move
other deer than a rifle-shot, especially if you stand with
your back in the direction in which you do not want the
sound to travel, and place the muzzle of the revolver close
to the deer so as to deaden the sound of the explosion.
In shooting at game — in fact, in all revolver shooting

Big-Game Shooting with the Revolver 289

other than target competitions — it is best to aim high or
low according to distance, rather than to alter the sights
for different ranges.

Those who use a conical bullet for park-deer should give
the preference to an "express" or hollow-pointed one as
being less likely to glance off a tree, — no small advantage
in a populous neighbourhood with facilities for accidents.

Some French hunts use a .44 Smith & Wesson re-
volver, full charge, with a detachable stock for shooting
deer and boar when at bay, to save the hounds.

CHAPTER XXXI

TARGET SHOOTING OFF HORSEBACK

|Y instructions as to the sort of horse to
ride and how to ride him, given in the
remarks on big-game shooting, also ap-
ply to target shooting off horseback.
When shooting off a standing horse at
a stationary mark, turn the horse facing
to the left at an angle of forty-five
degrees. This is to prevent his flinch-
ing at the shots, as any but a very
seasoned horse would be sure to do if
you shot straight over his head or close past his ears.
Also if he were to toss his head when you were shoot-
ing over it you might both kill him and get either a
rearing backward fall, with the horse on top of you, or
else a "purler" over his head. If the horse shies
away from the outstretched arm, tie a handkerchief
over his off eye, as the bullfighters do, and stuff
cotton wool in his ears, until he is accustomed to the
noise and flash.

There should be a bar in front of the horse to prevent
his getting closer to the target than the distance for which

the match is arranged; but if the bar be low, and the horse

290

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Photo by W. W. Rouch.

SHOOTING OFF HORSEBACK CHARGING

29I

292 Art of Revolver Shooting

a good fencer, he is apt to jump at the bar. It is very-
difficult to get a horse to keep absolutely still, and for that
reason it is often more difficult to shoot when the horse is
fidgeting than when he is swinging along at a gallop.

For shooting at a gallop or a canter, children's balloons,
put up on the "heads and posts" principle, are very good
marks as they can be shot at with Devilliers bullets,
shooting alternately to the right and left. I can also
recommend a target on the principle of the Bisley "run-
ning deer," travelling on rails parallel to a railing, on the
other side of which the shooter gallops and which prevents
his getting too close to the target.

Firing blank ammunition at " lightning paper ' '
stuck in the cleft of a stick is very good practice, is less
troublesome than using the Devilliers bullet, which does
not stand rapid firing in a hot revolver, and is, moreover,
less dangerous to spectators. The paper flares up on being
touched by burning particles of powder, but of course the
shooting must be done at a distance of a few feet only.

I do not think there is much advantage in cantering
too slowly; the speed at which the horse goes smoothest,
without raking or boring, is the best.

For practical purposes, shooting behind one when
galloping is useful. It is an assistance, when first learn-
ing, to catch hold of the pommel of the saddle with the
bridle hand as you swing your body round to fire. When
shooting alternately to right and left, be sure to lift the
muzzle of the revolver clear of the horse's head as you
swing it from side to side, or you may shoot your horse in
the head if he should happen to toss it at that moment.

Target Shooting off Horseback 293

With modern, high- velocity, nickel- jacketed rifle-
bullets it is useless to try sheltering yourself behind the
body of your horse, when being shot at with a rifle; but
against a revolver-bullet it may be useful. To do this,
catch hold of the horse's mane with the bridle hand,
sink your body down along his neck on the side farthest
from your adversary, hook your left heel against the
cantle of your saddle, and shoot at him under your horse's
neck as you come quartering diagonally towards him.
A tall man on a small horse can get very well round the
horse's neck. As you pass, you can take a parting shot
diagonally behind you under your left arm past your
horse's quarters without shifting your position.

There is a lot of sport and practice to be got out of
shooting at each other in pairs with the Devilliers bullet,
having, besides the usual protection for the shooters,
the horses protected with horse clothing and their eyes
with thick glass. The shooting is done either by
charging past each other or circling round each other,
spectators keeping out of range.

CHAPTER XXXII

SMALL-GAME SHOOTING

HNE can get much amusement
out of a revolver, or a sin-
gle-shot pistol, at small
game or vermin. (I beg
that you will not shoot cats ;
they are my special pets,
and as I am doing my best
to instruct you in revolver
shooting you might do me
the favour of sparing them.)
Rabbits lying out are generally too long shots for the
revolver, but a .22 pistol, if held straight, — and therein
lies the difficulty, — shoots well up to fifty or sixty yards
with a long rifle cartridge; the revolver can be used
in ferreting where there is no danger from the bullets.
In waiting for rats, or shooting grouse or black game in a
deer forest where the noise of a shot-gun would disturb
the deer, a pistol is useful. I once shot with my revolver
a wild duck skimming over a lake.

The smooth-bore revolver, used with shot, is useful

for thinning off small, mischievous birds in a garden where

294

Small Game Shooting 295

a revolver shooting bullets would be dangerous ; but it has
not power enough for any but the very small birds.

At the beginning of the last century it used to be
considered a great performance to have "hit a swallow on
the wing with a duelling pistol " ; and the feat was always
held up as proof of extraordinary proficiency with the
pistol. As a matter of fact, besides being a piece of brutal
cruelty, it required no skill at all. The method of pro-
cedure used to be to go up into a belfry, or other place
where swallows nested, to find a nest with young ones in
it, then to hold the pistol with both hands, steadying the
barrel against the side of a window or opening in the
tower, the muzzle pointing at the mouth of the nest, and
only a few feet, or even inches, from the nest. When
one of the old birds came home with food for the young,
and fluttered for a moment, hovering at the mouth of the
nest before going in, the pistol was fired, and the great
feat accomplished!

Double-barrelled pistols are now extremely rare,
though they were in use before the revolver was perfected.

A big-bore, double-barrelled pistol would be of use for
some purposes, where portability is not of consequence, as,
for instance, as a smooth bore for shot, or as a last resource
when shooting dangerous game.

They are best made with the single-trigger arrange-
ment now used on some double-barrelled shot-guns, as it
is difficult to shift the finger from one trigger to the other
when holding a pistol in one hand. This may be the
reason why double pistols went out of use in the days
when the single trigger was unknown.

CHAPTER XXXIII

PIGEON SHOOTING WITH THE PISTOL

;NCE, as an experiment, Gastinne-
Renette, the Paris gunmaker,
made me a duelling pistol with
an interchangeable shot barrel,
.32 bore, ten inches long; shoot-
ing f ounce of shot, and i\ drams
of black powder. This shoots
wonderfully well. At twelve
yards it makes with No. 8 shot
about the same pattern as a 12
bore cylinder gun at forty yards with No. 6 shot.

I tried it at pigeons, twelve yards rise, three traps,
and got forty-four out of eighty. I had a man with a
gun, to kill any hit birds which flew out of bounds. I
found I could kill all, or almost all, crossing shots and
incomers at least as well as I can with a gun. One bird
coming straight over, which I shot leaning backwards,
just as it was past me, was a shot I do not think I could
have made with a gun.

Those going fast straight away I could not account
for very well, owing to the small charge. Most of my

"lost" birds were of this description; most of them

296

Pigeon Shooting with the Pistol 297

"feathered." but not hard hit enough to stop them within
bounds, and the scout shot them. The forty-four I scored

HOW TO HOLD THE SHOT PISTOL

Note handle extension over the thumb to counteract length of barrel

were not shot at by the scout, but killed fairly with the
pistol alone.

I should think such a pistol would be very good for
sparrow or starling shooting out of traps.

I have not tried a smooth-barrelled revolver with shot
at pigeons, as I do not think it would have enough pellets
or enough penetration; for sparrows it might perhaps
suffice.

In this sort of pigeon shooting the arm must be held

298 Art of Revolver Shooting

straight, and the pistol pointed just below the middle
trap; the eyes must watch the traps, not the sights, and,
as you follow the bird with your eyes, the pistol must be
brought up as for rapid-firing or traversing targets,
according as the bird is going straight or crossing you.
With a shot-gun you must have your stock the proper
length, bend, cast-off, etc.; with the pistol, if you keep
your arm straight, nature has provided you with a
"stock" of flesh and blood exactly your proper fit.

■ - ■-

t \

• i

Stiffen.

CHAPTER XXXIV
CLAY-PIGEON SHOOTING WITH THE PISTOL

T is useless, unless you are an ex-
ceptionally good revolver-shot,
to try to shoot clay pigeons out
of the ordinary traps with a
pistol. For shooting with a
bullet they go too fast; and for
the shot-pistol they are out of
range too soon. The best way
is to have them sprung over
your head from behind, and to
hit them as they skim overhead; but you must gen-
erally use shot, as, under ordinary circumstances, bullets
would be dangerous if fired into the air. If, in this style
of shooting, the trap throws a weak "saucer," the latter
may hit you a nasty blow.

My way of shooting clay pigeons is either to have
them bowled down-hill from beside me, which gives very
good practice for shooting at with a bullet, — it is too easy
for shot, — or else to have a trap which throws the discs
straight up.

One of my traps has a horizontal cylinder which con-
tains clay discs; these are pressed close against one end

299

300 Art of Revolver Shooting

of the cylinder by a spiral spring. A lever, which flies
up by a strong spring, is kept down by a string held
tightly by an assistant who stands behind me. When
the word "Pull!" is given, he loosens the string, the
lever is released and flies upwards through a slit in the end
of the cylinder, throwing the disc straight up in the air,
to the height of about ten feet, out of an opening at the
other side of the cylinder. The end of the cylinder is
towards you, so that the discs also are thrown with their
flat sides towards you. This gives one a nice shot for
the bullet, as the disc has to be taken just at the highest
point of its flight, and teaches one to "snap." When
the lever is pulled down again, the spiral spring in the
cylinder drives the group of discs forward, putting the next
in rotation over the slit, to be thrown in its turn. Hence
there is no necessity for the trapper to go forward. He
merely keeps pulling the lever down and releasing it
until the cylinder is emptied of its discs, and you can
shoot as fast as you please.

Another way is to have the old-fashioned Bogardus
trap, which throws glass balls, or, better still, composite
balls, as these do not mess up a lawn so. These are
rather harder to hit than the objects I have just described,
as they do not come up quite vertically, but in a parabola.
They are therefore more suitable, perhaps for the shot-
pistol or revolver.

The advantage of "saucers" for practising quick
revolver shooting is that there is no cruelty in it ; although
there was an old lady who said that the poor clay pigeons
suffer just as much as any other breed.

Clay-Pigeon Shooting

301

Shooting at a tin can laid on the ground and keeping
it hopping by shots just under it is a favourite shooting
trick. A child's rubber ball gives a great variety of
sporting shots, if hung by a string and kept swinging
by hitting, or if started rolling down a hill.

Clay pigeons also make good marks stuck on sticks
at unknown distances, and "snapped" at.

CHAPTER XXXV

SHOOTING IN SELF-DEFENCE

jHIS chapter is written entirely from
the technical point of view as a
branch of revolver shooting, while
the legal aspect of the question
is treated by law experts in the
Appendix. Whether there is justi-
fication, in self-defence, in kill-
ing anyone is another matter,
but of course cases occur when a
man must shoot in order to save
someone dependent upon him. Fortunately in the
great majority of cases the object of protecting oneself —
or, what is more important, protecting someone else —
is attained without actually shooting. The mere fact
of being armed is generally sufficient, and in many
cases wearing the revolver openly or having it in
one's hand, even unloaded, suffices. As Polonius says:
"Beware of entrance to a quarrel, but being in, bear 't
that the opposed one may beware of thee." But, if
shooting has to be done, everything depends on getting
the first shot.

As I said above, I am not dealing with the ethical

302

Shooting in Self-Defence 3°3

aspect of the case; and, putting that aside, if you can
take your adversary unawares, and "get the drop on
him" before he gets it on you, you have him at your
mercy.

A short-barrelled revolver is best if it has to be con-
cealed, but of as big a calibre as you can carry without its

t£^

SMITH & WESSON HAMMERLESS SAFETY REVOLVERS .38 AND .32 CALIBRE

being too bulky and showing in your pocket. If there be
no necessity for concealment, carry one six inches in the
barrel.

Some prefer a large-bore army revolver, with the
barrel cut down to two inches. I am assuming that the
shooting will be done at a distance of only a few feet, and
without aim in the ordinary sense of the word.

As elsewhere explained, it is very dangerous to carry
an ordinary revolver loaded in the pocket, even at half-
cock, especially if it be a self-cocker.

304 Art of Revolver Shooting

The proper way with a single-action revolver is to
leave one chamber unloaded and to lower the hammer on
that empty chamber.

The Smith & Wesson .38 calibre safety hammerless
pocket revolver obviates these risks. This revolver
cannot go off accidentally, even when all the chambers

are loaded, as there
is a safety catch
which prevents the
revolver from being
discharged unless it
is pressed at the
same time that the

MECHANISM OF THE SMITH & WESSON HAMMER-
LESS safety revolver trigger is pulled.
A, Safety Lever; B ^Safety Catch; C, Hammer; Anyone USed to

D, Trigger; G, Safety Latch Spring J

revolver shooting,
who holds it as I have described in my instructions
for revolver shooting, and squeezes the trigger, will be
able to shoot without thinking of the safety catch, for he
presses it unconsciously in gripping the stock. A person
not accustomed to a revolver cannot, however, fire
it ; in fact, if a man not an expert revolver-shot wrested
the revolver from you, it would be harmless in his
hands against you. Indeed, . the pistol could without
danger be given, loaded, to a small child to play
with, as it requires a stronger grip than a child's to
discharge it.

Most revolver accidents occur through the hammer
receiving an accidental blow, slipping from the thumb
or catching in something, or from the trigger being

r*3

306 Art of Revolver Shooting

touche unintentionally, or the revolver being left at
full-cock.

In the Smith & Wesson safety revolver all these causes
of accident are impossible, and it is always ready for
instant use. Its further advantages are:

i . There is no external hammer to catch in anything.

2. Pressure on the trigger cannot discharge the
revolver unless the stock is properly grasped at the same
time.

3. The revolver cannot be kept at full-cock.

4. Being hammerless, and having no projections,
it can be drawn more quickly than an ordinary
revolver.

5. It can be carried with absolute safety loaded in
the pocket, with the knowledge that a fall or blow will
not discharge it.

This revolver is also made in smaller calibre (.32),
with both 3 in. and i}^ in. barrel. In the latter case it is
called a bicycle revolver, and takes up less room in the
pocket.

This calibre might be better for a lady's use ; but for a
man I prefer the larger calibre, as being more powerful.
A .44 calibre made on this model would be best of all for
a man to carry.

The cocking by trigger action in this revolver is so
arranged that it can, with a little practice, be held at
full-cock whilst the aim is taken, instead of the cocking
and firing being a continuous action, as in other double-
action revolvers.

Carrying the revolver in the hip pocket is in my

Shooting in Self -Defence $°l

opinion a mistake, as the movement of putting back the
hand to draw will instantly put an adversary on his guard
and most likely draw his fire.

For a case where you are likely to be robbed, the inside
breast-pocket (where bank-notes are usually carried) is
a good place for the revolver, as, when you are asked for
your money, you can appear to be taking it out of this
pocket whilst you are really drawing the revolver ; or
the revolver can be shot from this pocket without
drawing it.

Usually the right-hand side-pocket of a jacket is the
handiest, or, rather, the pocket on the side of the hand you
can shoot with best.

Shooting through the pocket is as quick and unex-
pected a way as any ; another is to turn partly away, and
in doing so draw and fire from behind your back, or under
your other arm.

But, assuming that you would prefer, if possible, to
capture your assailant without shooting him, try whether
you cannot unexpected^ "get the drop" (i.e., an aim) on
him and make him hold up his hands before he can
draw his revolver

As in fencing and boxing, the great thing is never to
take your eyes off your opponent for an instant ; and if
by any subterfuge you can induce him to take his eyes
off you, or distract his attention to anything else, then is
the time to "get the drop" on him, or, as a last resource,
to shoot.

Knocking a chair over, throwing something past or at
him with your non-shooting hand, or calling out to some

3o8 Art of Revolve?' Shooting

imaginary, or real, person behind him may often have the
desired effect.

If he is a really "bad" man, and armed, the worst
thing you can do is to take a revolver in your hand — or
even make towards it — unless you mean to shoot in-
stantly; it will only draw his fire, or he may unexpectedly
disarm you in the way described below.

Supposing you are unarmed and your adversary has
a revolver, you may be able to render his weapon harmless
by ejecting his cartridges.

The way to do this varies with different makes of re-
volvers, but the principle in each case with a revolver
having a " break down" action consists in making a
downward stroke on the barrel of his revolver with
one of your hands, and in the same movement operating
the opening catch or lever with your thumb.

If you get an assistant to take an empty revolver and
point it at you, and you practise this trick, you will find
it very simple and effective ; but of course there would be no
use in trying it with an adversary who suspected you were
about to do so. The Smith & Wesson Russian Model can
be rendered harmless by seizing the middle of the barrel
with your thumb under the catch, you being to the left
and using your right hand, or vice versa. Simultaneously
with seizing the revolver give a quick quarter turn to your
wrist to the right, and all the cartridges will fly out.

With the Webley, you place your thumb over instead
of under the catch in seizing the revolver, and press your
thumb towards the palm of your hand in making the
wrench.

310 Art of Revolver Shooting

With solid frame revolvers, like the new Colt and the
Smith & Wesson, you operate the catch, and instead of
twisting your wrist you push out the cylinder with your
first and second fingers, at the same time pushing the
extractor plunger with your little finger. This make
of revolver, however, is more difficult to disarm suddenly
than those I have named above.

With any hammer revolver you can make it harmless
by slipping your thumb under the hammer, as Gastinne-
Renette's assistants always hand you a loaded duelling
pistol, or, if you are strong in the grip, by holding the
cylinder and preventing its revolving after the first shot
is fired.

I saw a very good suggestion in an article in an
American paper — the writer's name I unfortunately
forget — to the effect that it was an excellent thing, when
expecting "trouble,' ' to wear a big revolver ostentatiously
and to have a smaller one in your hand, concealed under a
cape, or otherwise; your adversary would think himself
safe as long as he watched your big revolver and saw that
you had not put your hand near it, whilst all the time
you would be ready to "hold him up" or shoot with the
other revolver, the existence of which he would not
suspect.

If a burglar is in your house, do not carry a candle,
as that makes you an easy target in case he should try
to shoot at you. If you can get to the electric light switch
unobserved, aim in his direction and then turn up the
light so that you have the drop on him as the light appears
and he will be at your mercy. The iron rails of banisters,

Shooting in Self -Defence 3n

especially if they are wide, ornamental ones, are a good
protection. A door is of no use (except for concealment
before the man has seen you) , as a bullet with an ordinary
charge will go through it.

Use a light charge (gallery ammunition by preference)
for house protection, or you may shoot some of your
family through a thin wall when "burglar-potting."

Out-of-doors, too, a lamp-post, or other narrow object,
will spoil a man's aim by making him try to hit that
part of you which shows on either side instead of his
having your full width to aim at, even if it is too narrow
or small fully to protect you.

It is better not to try to give him a small mark to aim
at by standing sideways, as then, if he hits you, he will
rake all through your vitals ; whereas if you are facing him
squarely he may put several bullets into you without fatal
effect.. Holding your bent arm across your heart, and at
the same time protecting your temples with the side of
your revolver, — which duellists do directly they have
fired, — may be of some use; but it is better to depend upon
hitting your adversary before he hits you. If he shoots
and misses you, drop at once, as if hit, and keep still,
when he will probably pause and give you a chance to
shoot.

If a man does not look desperate and capable of
continuing shooting until killed it may be sufficient if
you can break his shooting wrist : while if he should then
try to shift his pistol from the disabled hand to the other,
you can break the other also.

3i2 Art of Revolver Shooting

Should you be mounted and your adversary is on foot,
jumping off and sheltering yourself behind your horse
will protect you from a revolver-shot ; also galloping hard
at him and shouting may spoil his aim. If, on the con-
trary, he is cool, he may take an easy shot at you by
dodging and shooting as you pass.

If a man is running away from, or coming at you, and
has no firearm, you can make him helpless by shooting him
in a leg ; a long crossing shot in a bad light would make the
leg shot rather doubtful, unless there be time to have
several tries.

If a man absolutely has to be killed, it is better to

COLT DERRINGER

.41 calibre, rim fire

shoot where the white shirt shows in evening dress. This
is a bigger mark than the head, and he may, moreover,
duck his head as you pull.

The stomach shot is a murderous one, and would not
be justifiable except under very rare circumstances. A
charging man at very close range would have the wind
knocked out of him, and be stopped perhaps more
effectually by this shot than any other.

If your opponent is a bad shot, you can take a long

Shooting i7t Self-Defence 3*3

shot at him from a distance, say 120 yards, at which, if
he has a cheap revolver, he cannot hit you except by a
fluke, and it would not do much harm even if he did hit
you.

In fact a bad shot armed with a revolver is less
dangerous than a strong, determined man with a knife.
It must be remembered that a knife can be thrown some
distance, so it does not do to let a man with one in his
hand, or even suspected of having one, come too close,
especially in the dark.

A cartridge loaded with salt is a good man-stopper
for burglars and has the advantage of not endangering
life, but of course it is of no use against a determined man
unless he is shot in the face. In that case salt might do
even more damage to his eyes than a bullet, and a bullet
would be a more merciful load.

The pamphlet on Self-Defence, says that to put the
revolver beside the head of the bed, or under the pillow,
is to court being disarmed during your sleep, and it
recommends having it between the mattresses, handy to
your reach, or in a padded bag hanging at the side of
your bed, under the sheets, the object of the padding
being to prevent the revolver from making a noise against
the bed when you are drawing it.

This is all very well if you remember to take out the
revolver each morning; if you forget, and the housemaid
makes up the bed roughly, there may be trouble.

It also advises rolling under a bed or sofa as a pre-
caution when exchanging shots.

Make sure that no body can tamper with your revolver

3H Art of Revolver Shooting

or cartridges. I knew of a case in which a muzzle-loading
revolver was kept loaded in an unlocked box at the side
of the bed. When there was a burglary in the house, this
revolver was found to have been soaked in water and thus
rendered useless !

**■*

Cl C~7i —

CHAPTER XXXVI

PISTOL SHOOTING FOR LADIES

able weapons.

REVOLVER puts the weakest
woman, who is a good shot, on
an equality with the strongest
man. It is especially suitable
for ladies to defend themselves
with, as they have, as a rule,
steadier hands than men, and
there are certain revolvers, just
suited for ladies, which give
no recoil and yet are service-
"U. M. C." gallery ammunition in a .44
calibre Smith & Wesson Russian Model gives practically
no recoil, and I have seen a lady do very good target
shooting with it. With this revolver and load I have
killed three rabid, or alleged rabid dogs, so it is a practical
killing load. I use the same revolver and ammunition
for shooting park bucks.

Every lady should, to my mind, know how to use a
pistol. She may at any time be in China, or some other
country where there are savage natives ; and there is none
of that danger of bruising the body which is so harmful to
women using guns or rifles.

315

316 Art of Revolver Shooting

The Smith & Wesson hammerless safety revolvers of
.38 and .32 calibre are especially suitable for self-defence
for ladies, but I should not recommend a lady to use these
or any other short, light, self-defence revolvers for target
shooting, as the recoil is heavy and apt to hurt a lady's
hand (particularly between the first finger and thumb)
and tear the skin. This is inevitable in a revolver made
as light and as portable as possible, and expected, never-
theless, to shoot a very heavy charge.

The best plan is to fire a few shots (the hand being
protected with a thick driving glove, from which the
forefinger has been cut off), or, better still, ask a good
shot, who also knows your "sighting," to do so for you,
just to get the sights filed right, and then keep this
pistol for self-defence only, and do practising and com-
peting with a more accurate and more pleasant shooting
weapon.

The revolver or pistol to be used for practice and in
competitions must depend upon your physique. If you
are moderately strong, I think the .44 calibre Russian
Model Smith & Wesson, with the Union Metallic Cart-
ridge Co.'s gallery ammunition, is as good as any; or,
if this is too heavy, the .38 or .32 calibre Colt and Smith
& Wesson revolvers, with gallery ammunition, are very
good and are specially intended for the use of ladies.

The Smith & Wesson .32 calibre in .44 calibre frame,
which I like for fifty-yards target shooting, is rather
heavy for a lady. Its size is an advantage for a man, as
he can hold steadier with some little weight in his hand.
Ladies who are of slight build may find it too heavy ; but

Pistol Shooting for Ladies 3*7

with gallery ammunition it has no recoil whatever, which
is a great advantage for them.

Always have a barrel not shorter than five inches, and
not longer than six inches, and save the weight, if you
want a light weapon, in the general make-up of the re-
volver rather than in length of barrel, as you lose so much
accuracy with a three-inch or four-inch barrel that it
spoils any pleasure in shooting.

If you confine yourself to light ammunition, you can
get a very light revolver which is safe with that charge,
and has no recoil to speak of.

The Smith & Wesson, which has interchangeable
barrels of .32 calibre for revolver, and .22 for single-shot
pistol, is a very suitable weapon for a lady.

The lighter forms of single-shot Stevens pistols of .22
calibre and the Leeson .22 are exceptionally well adapted
to the use of ladies who prefer a single-shot pistol. I have
seen a very neat .22 calibre revolver of Belgian make
with a six-inch barrel and cylinder very small in diameter,
which makes it balance beautifully, but I do not know
how it shoots or how the Colt .22 shoots.

In mentioning particular firms, both here and elsewhere
in this book, I must not be misunderstood to mean that
the weapons of any one maker are better than those of
another. All first-class makers turn out good revolvers
and pistols; and I merely mention those revolvers and
pistols which I have used and am personally acquainted
with, and which I find answer my requirements.

A lady can carry a revolver for self-defence hidden in
many more ways than a man can, owing to her draperies

318 Art of Revolver Shooting

affording more places for concealment. Cloaks, capes, etc.,
make good hiding-places for a revolver; inside a muff is
about one of the best places; and a small revolver in the
right hand, inside a muff, that hand hanging down by the
side, is ready for instant use. As ladies often carry
their muffs in this way, it does not arouse suspicion.

It is very important for ladies to protect their ears
when shooting.

I do not consider an air gun a very suitable weapon for
ladies' use; it has such a very bad, heavy dragging trigger
pull that it does no good for rifle practising, it balances
badly, and is generally heavier than a .22 short cartridge
rifle can be made. Also, the lever for compressing the
spring makes it balance badly, making it heavy forward,
and the grip is big, in fact it is not the weapon I would
recommend; its noiselessness, which is its only recom-
mendation, is really more an imaginary than a real
advantage, the short .22 (especially out-of-doors with
smokeless powder) making hardly any report.

Also, compressing the spring is hard work for a lady;
the butt has to be pressed against the leg, and the lever
is apt to spring back and smash the fingers.

In criticising a former book of mine on shooting, a
newspaper said it was fit only to teach extremely rich peo-
ple shooting, as I advocated such expensive methods of
practising. It instanced, as an example of this expense,
my saying that one ought to get someone to compress
the spring of the air gun between shots, as doing so oneself
made the hands tired and shaky.

Now, with all respect to the paper in question, I think

Pistol Shooting for Ladies 3*9

a lady can find some male friend who will undertake to
work the lever and load the air gun for her without his
charging anything; or she could even find a servant to do
this who would not want a raise in wages in consequence.

If a tie has to be shot off in a few hours, it is best to
try and get a rest, and, if possible, to sleep, during the
interval. If this is impossible, reading an interesting
book (if the type is not too small to tire the eyes), or
playing some game, anything to take the thoughts off the
approaching shoot-off, is good.

Finally I would add that when a lady sits on the ground
to shoot off both knees, or lies down to shoot, or even if
she sits on a chair or stands, out-of-doors, it is most
important that she should be protected against dampness
and chills, consequently she will do well to stand on a
thick mat, and avoid linen underwear. The safest sort
of garments are thick flannel knickerbockers.

CHAPTER XXXVII

SHOOTING FROM A BICYCLE

jORTUNATELY in most
countries there is seldom
necessity to carry a loaded
revolver on a bicycle. An
empty one is sufficient to
frighten away tramps, if
they stop you on a dark,
lonely road ; or even a short
bicycle pump when pointed
at them may scare them off.
One can, however, get some sport on a bicycle with a
revolver.

I have described in the chapter on Self-defence one
form of bicycle revolver; but for sport I should use a
game-shooting one, as a bicycle revolver is not meant for
anything but self-defence at short range. This latter
would have to be carried in a holster strapped on the
front fork, a method which is safer in case of a fall than
when worn in a belt.

One can, with a little practice, shoot quite well off a
bicycle, especially if, when actually aiming, the cyclist is
"free-wheeling." The action of pedalling spoils one's aim.

r-,20

Shooting from a Bicycle 321

A dog flying at your leg, when he comes up in his
usual pleasant way from behind to bite you in the calf,
would make a pretty shot; you could put up the leg he
is going for and shoot down past your thigh, but might
hear from his owner if he should happen to be in sight.

A cartridge loaded with coarse salt (as I have recom-
mended for burglars) would stop a dog well, and teach
him not to annoy cyclists; but then, in all probability,

AUTOMATIC EXTRACTOR

SMITH & WESSON BICYCLE REVOLVER

you would have not only the owner after you, but the
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals as well.
The Devilliers bullet is very good for this style of shoot-
ing' practice and would be good to stop dogs at close
quarters.

A bicycle gives one many good chances at deer, hares,
rabbits, etc., in the early morning or evening, when going
silently along by a river in a game country.

With a Gastinne-Renette pistol, shooting shot, or a .22
single-shot pistol, one could get lots of small game; but I

322 Art of Revolver Shooting

must not go on, or this chapter will resolve itself into hints
to poachers!

The weak point of the revolver as an arm for cyclists
in war is the difficulty of shooting at pursuers. A horse
can be left to pick his own way, but a cyclist who looks
behind him is apt not only to lose his balance, but to run
into something, and has also to slacken speed unless he
merely blazes away behind him at random without either
sitting up or looking back.

CHAPTER XXXVIII

REVOLVERS FOR THE POLICE

HAVE on several occasions
attempted to get a prize
accepted, to be competed
for by the police, at Bisley,
but each time unsuccess-
fully.

I then gave a statuette,
modelled by myself (shown
in the initial letter heading
this chapter), as a revolver
prize, open to the whole of the United States. The con-
ditions were :

- ■<

Any revolver; maximum length of barrel, including cylinder, ten
inches. Any trigger-pull. Any sight, both sights to be on the
barrel or forward of the grip of the pistol hand. Any fixed ammuni-
tion. Cleaning allowed only between scores of six shots. Distance,
twenty yards. Position, standing, free from any artificial support,
the revolver to be held in one hand only, with the arm free from
the body and unsupported in any way. The rear sight not to be
nearer to the eye than twelve inches.

Target. — Ready-measurement discs, one shot on each disc, and
the measurement to be taken by mechanical Vernier scale, from the
centre of disc to the centre of shot-hole.

323

324 Art of Revolver Shooting

Scores. — Aggregate of best three in five scores. Each score to
consist of six consecutive rounds. The five scores to be fired
consecutively.

Amateur Standing. — The standing of a contestant as amateur
and professional to be determined in each individual case by Forest
and Stream [this journal had charge of the competition].

Where not in conflict with the conditions herein, the rules of the
Massachusetts Rifle Association for revolver competitions to hold.
The decision of Forest and Stream to be final on all points.

Any winner of the trophy to hold it, subject to a challenge,
for the term of two years, after which time it shall become his
personal property. Upon receiving a challenge, the holder to agree
with the challenger upon a place and date for their meeting not
later than six weeks from the receipt of the challenge, of which
meeting at least two weeks' notice shall be given through Forest
and Stream, and the shooting at the said meeting to be under the
same conditions as the original competition for the trophy. In case
of a failure to agree upon a time and place of meeting, these to be
fixed by Forest and Stream.

The trophy to be deposited in the custody of Forest and Stream at
least one day prior to the challenge meet; and, if required, holders
to give bonds to Forest and Stream for its safe return.

The holder not to be required to accept a challenge pending the
determination of a challenge shoot already under date. In case of
any dispute about the right of priority in shooting challenges,
Forest and Stream to determine the order of shooting. All ex-
penses of targets and gallery to be borne by Forest and Stream.
Contestants to defray all other expenses.

This was a great success, and revolver-shots in most
of the great cities of the United States competed for
the trophy, which was held by Dr. Louis Bell, of the
New York Pistol and Revolver Club, for the first time.

Revolvers for the Police 325

The trophy passed to two successful challengers, and
finally became, in 1894, the property of Roundsman
Petty, of the New York police force, who twice success-
fully defended his title.

The police of the United States were so pleased with
this competition, that it is now the custom in some cities
to have regular competitions for the members of the
force ; and many others besides Petty have become fine
shots in consequence. Petty, however, was always a good
shot.

People say: "Oh, if a policeman had a revolver he
would be likely to shoot a man instead of arresting him."
In my opinion, it would make a policeman less apt to hurt
his man; and one would not hear so much of policemen
being knocked down and kicked to death. If the police-
man were known to be armed with a revolver, and had the
"marksman's" badge on his uniform, it would have a
salutary effect on roughs, who would think twice before
attacking him; and he, in the confidence of his skill with
the revolver, would act calmly, and shoot only as a last
resource.

Only quite recently there was a report of a mad dog
in a crowded street of New York. The policeman on the
beat killed it at the first shot, and did not hit anyone in
the crowd. Contrast this with the number of shots fired
at the two anarchists in London lately.

If a London policeman were to start "loosing off" a
revolver in a crowd, I fear the ambulance corps would be
kept busy!

CHAPTER XXXIX

KILLING DISABLED ANIMALS

NYONE can, for a humane pur-
pose, kill a horse which has be-
come injured, on the spot, without
a license of any kind. I
mention this as many per-
sons would keep a horse
waiting whilst a knacker is sent for, under the impression
that they may not legally kill it themselves.

For a small animal, unless you are an exceptionally
good shot, and can be quite sure of putting the bullet
right through its brain, I think a charge of shot in the
head at close range with a gun is the least likely to
cause suffering, as it is also the speediest.

For a horse, I should not advise gallery ammunition
out of a revolver. His skull is so thick that the bullet
might glance off, or not penetrate.

Where possible, do not use a short-barrelled, self-
defence revolver, but one you can rely upon, with a heavy
charge.

There are several vital spots in a horse, the one to be
selected being that which you think, all things considered,
you can utilise without bungling. The heart is out of

the question, as, even though shot right through the

326

Killing Disabled Animals 327

middle of it, such a big animal may live some time after
being hit. Right between the ears from behind (where the
wounded horses in bull-fights are finished with a dagger)
is one of the deadliest places, and death is instantaneous.
To get at this spot, however, is a little difficult, unless the
horse is lying down. Sometimes he can be got to lower

MEDULLA

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.

his head; not by force (you might hit the man who is
struggling with his head) but by putting something before
the horse to which he lowers his head to smell or drink.

Another good place is the forehead between the eyes,
and two inches higher than the level of the eyes where
the hair curls. For this shot, the forehead must be quite

328 jlrf 0y Revolver Shooting

vertical; if it slants back the bullet may glance. When
the horse is lying with his head on the ground, I shoot him
in the forehead, but you must make allowance for the
angle you shoot at, unless you kneel. Something thrown
before the horse may make him lower his head for a
moment ; but generally a horse in pain will hang his head
nearly right for this shot. The third place is behind the
ear, sideways, to break the neck at the base of the skull;
but I do not recommend this shot unless you under-
stand anatomy, as you may bungle it.

Be especially careful that no damage will be done by the
bullet, should it go on after having penetrated the horse. A
brick wall is a good background; but, if you miss the horse
^ and hit the wall, you may

\|py|jjjj|§lgl^P have a dangerous ricochet

^^ off it.

\EBHjSMjfeS8fr Do not let anyone hold

» the horse, and do not allow

the pocket pattern killer spectators to stand before

you or at the side of the animal. A horse so injured as to
require killing will stand quietly enough to need no
holding; and if you are gentle with him, and do not ad-
vance too quickly towards him, or make any sudden
movement, he will in all probability keep quiet.

Do not shoot a broken-backed, or presumably broken-
backed horse, without first making sure that he has not
simply strained himself. A prick with a pin behind the
seat of injury may show if he has any feeling in his
hind quarters. If he has, do not shoot till a veterinary
surgeon has arrived and pronounced the case hopeless.

Killing Disabled Animals 329

The Greener killing apparatus is the most sure and pain-
less way of killing I know of, and it needs no knowledge
of pistol shooting. The cartridge is inserted, and the
apparatus is applied to the horse's forehead, and then
struck with a mallet. The horse is shot through the
brain. A similar apparatus is compulsory in Belgian
slaughter houses, as it should be everywhere.

V,.Y^'

CHAPTER XL

SHOOTING IN THE DARK

[ERE are occasions on which
it is necessary to shoot at
night, as for a night-watch-
man; or in the case of
a wild animal's jumping
into camp and carrying off
someone; or in night
attacks.

For this work an ex-
ceptionally large dead white front sight (either a fixed one
or an adjustable one on a hinge or one kept for handiness
in the stock of the revolver, that can be fitted on when
necessary) is needful. This sort of sight, though, can be
seen only if there is moonlight, or at least some glimmer
of light.

In pitch-darkness, a large front sight with both itself
and the rib of the barrel coated with luminous paint is
useful, provided the revolver is, for several hours previous
to its being used, exposed to strong sunlight. If the
revolver be kept all day in a case or a holster, the paint
will not shine at night. Also, in cleaning the revolver,
the paint may be spoilt, and may require renewing. I

330

Shooting in the Dark 33 1

would not advise painting any revolver you care
about.

My patent electric rifle sight for night shooting is at
present too cumbersome for application to a revolver;
moreover, as I remark below, one ought to be able to use
a revolver at short range by sense of direction, without
looking along sights.

This is perhaps the most satisfactory way, — learning
to shoot in the dark by the sense of direction, by pointing
your revolver in the direction in which you conjecture the

POCKET COLT DOUBLE- ACTION REVOLVER

object to be, not by attempting to see your sights or to
"draw a bead."

One can often see an animal on a very dark night by
crouching down and getting it against the sky-line; and
yet, on looking through the sights, you cannot discern
anything.

One form of practice is to have a target made of tissue
paper, with a candle behind it to illuminate it. The
sights are consequently seen in silhouette against it. This
was the principle of the "Owl" series of prizes shot for in
the early days of Wimbledon in the evenings. What I

332 Art of Revolver Shooting

think better, so as to teach shooting by sense of direction,
is to have several metal targets about a foot in
diameter, hung by wires (these will give out a ringing
sound when struck, and the rest of the butt should be of
sand, or sods, or wood, so as to make a different sound).
Have a small bell hung behind the middle of each target,
pulled by a string, or an electric bell operated by strings
held by an assistant standing behind you.

Now let him ring the bells at random, you firing by
sense of direction towards where you hear each bell ring.

POLICE COLT DOUBLE-ACTION REVOLVER

This practice can also be done in a shooting-gallery at
night with all the lights turned down, and it is perhaps
safer there than out-of-doors.

You can even have targets behind you, and swing
round and "snap" at them; but this, and in fact all night
shooting, is very dangerous unless you can be absolutely
certain that the bullets will do no damage, however
wildly they may fly, or unless you use Devilliers bullets.

A man with a good ear can do surprisingly accurate
work in this style of shooting.

Shooting in the Da?'k

333

Such practice can be done in daylight by being blind-
folded; and then your assistant can notice where your
misses go, and help you to improve your shooting.

I will describe my patent electric sight, though it is
too complicated for a revolver.

The object of my invention is to facilitate the sighting
of firearms in the dusk or at night.

To this end I adapt to the weapon an electrical front

fe^g

sight and an electric battery with a minute incandescent
lamp.

In the accompanying drawing I have shown my in-
vention as applied to a rifle, by way of example.

Fig. i is a side view of the rifle complete, with my
invention applied thereto.

Fig. 2 is a similar view, partly in section, showing
the battery inside the stock.

334 Art of Revolver Shooting

Fig. 3 is a rear-end view of the rifle.

Figs. 4 and 5 are front views on an enlarged scale of
a double- and single-barrelled rifle respectively, with an
electric front sight affixed thereto.

Fig. 6 represents the sight as seen by the shooter.

Fig. 8 is a side view of the lamp case.

The incandescent lamp a (made as small as practica-
ble) is enclosed in a metal case b in which is a small hole c
facing the shooter, so that a bright spot of light appears
just above or on a line with the ordinary fixed sight of the
weapon when the current from the generator or battery is
passing. The lower part of the case b is of a form to fit
round the barrel and is provided with a small clamping
screw d by which it can be secured in the proper position.

The aperture c is protected by a piece of glass, and a
reflector is arranged within the case b opposite, thus
making a miniature electrical bull's-eye or dark lantern of
the lamp. The lamp is mounted on a spring or springs
after the manner commonly practised with respect to
incandescent lamps, and is packed round with cotton-
wool, horsehair, or other elastic substance to prevent
breakage by the concussion of the rifle on discharge.

The switch g is fixed at a point suitable for operation
by the shooter in the act of aiming. It may act auto-
matically when the butt is presented to the shoulder or
when the grip is squeezed, or it may be connected with the
hammer or striker so that when the rifle is at full-cock the
front sight glows, and when the trigger is pressed the light
goes out.

The battery is only of such power as to make the lamp

Shooting in the Dark 335

glow sufficiently to enable the shooter to see it plainly ; as
it would otherwise, if too bright, prevent his seeing the
object aimed at.

I think I have now given directions how to handle the
pistol under most of the circumstances and occasions in
which one would have use for it; and I have also, I hope,
shown that it can be employed as a more workmanlike
and a neater tool than a rifle or a scatter-gun in cases in
which the uninitiated would not think of using it.

The revolver is popularly looked upon as an "ex-
tinguisher," and I may now, having finished writing for
the present, extinguish my candle with one.

APPENDIX

THE LAW RELATING TO REVOLVERS AND

REVOLVER SHOOTING IN GREAT

BRITAIN AND IRELAND

T 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 ex-
plained that a revolver is a gun so far as the Gun Li-
cense 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 in-
cludes the lesser gun license. In fact it has even 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 inquisi-
torial 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 ad-
joining the house, but not a field beyond.

336

Appendix 337

Further exceptions are that no penalty is to be incurred by any
person in the naval, military, or volunteer service, or in the con-
stabulary or other police force, but it should be noted that this
exception applies only where the person claiming it is in the per-
formance 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 anyone carrying a firearm belong-
ing 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 pur-
pose only of scaring birds or killing vermin on such lands is exempt
too, as also anyone 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 anyone 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 dis-
charges 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 imprison-
ment for not more than fourteen days (no hard labour).

It is hardly necessary to say that the wrongful use of a revolver

33$ Art of Revolver Shooting

as an offensive weapon is very heavily punished, it being provided
that anyone 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 imprison-
ment for not more than two years with or without hard labour and
solitary confinement.

Again, anyone 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 }^ears 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 sub-
stance, and ball, shot, slug, or other destructive material, although
the attempt to discharge the same may fail for want of proper prim-
ing, or from any other cause." Finally, anyone 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 "unlaw-
fully 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.

vSo much for the strict offences caused by the improperly carry-
ing or making use of revolvers. Before, however, leaving this
subject it will be advisable to enter at a little length into the rights
which anyone 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

Appendix 339

in using it? Well, this is a very difficult question to answer, and
one which in each event would depend entirely on the circum-
stances 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 dis-
tance that I could not actively interfere except b}^ 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 con-
flict 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-

340 Art of Revolver Shooting

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 un-
justifiable 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 as-
saulting 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

Appendix 34 1

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. I, 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 anyone 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 anyone to carry about a loaded revolver in
his pocket merely as a protection in case he should be unexpectedly
attacked, but anyone 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 anyone 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

342 Art of Revolver Shooting

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 anyone knowingly selling a
pistol to a person who is intoxicated or not of sound mind.

THE LAW OF CARRYING WEAPONS IN THE
UNITED STATES

HE 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 car-
rying 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 ap-
prehension of danger. Examples of this exemption are found in
the statutes of Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, Texas, Maryland,
and West Virginia.

343

344 Art of Revolver Shooting

Persons on their own premises are frequently exempted from
the operation of the statutes. This is so in Arkansas, North Caro-
lina, 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, Ken-
tucky, 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.

Accident, Danger of, 58, 304
Alcohol, Effects on the Brain, 221
Ammunition, 33, 88, 103

Blank for Stage Shooting, 270

Cordite, 33

Eley's, 26, 36

Gallery, 75. 124

King's Semi-Smokeless, 27, 33

Riflite, 33

Walsrode, 33

(Revolver), Cost of, 41
"Any" Revolver Competitions, 179
"Any" Target Revolver, 28
AuCommandement, Shooting, 136, 142,

144
Automatic Pistol, Browning, 242

Colt, 242

Danger with, 5, 242

Selecting, 245
Automatic Revolvers, Fosbery-Webley,
215, 242

Badges Won by the Author, 115, 193

Balance near the Trigger, 23

Belgian Match Pistol, 13

Belgian Slaughter Houses, 329

Bell, Dr. Louis, 324

"Best on Record" Scores by the

Author, 195, 200, 204, 209, 211,

213, 219, 222, 227, 230
Bicycle, Shooting from a, 320
Big Game Shooting with the Revolver,

273
Bisley, 17, 23, 36, 81, 112
"Bisley" Colt, 26

Bisley Meetings, 176, 190, 208, 217

225, 229
Bisley Prize Certificate, 175
Bisley Targets and Marking, 179
Boer War, Episode of the, 247
Bogardus Trap, 300
Breathing when Shooting, 70
Browning Automatic Pistol, 242
"Buffalo Runner" Horse, 286
Buffalo Running, 273
Bullets, Blunt-Nose, 248
Burglars in the House, 310
Butt, Winans' Safety, 60

Carlyle (quoted), 83
Cartridge, Dummy, 71

"Fourth of July, " 270

Loaded with Salt, 313
Cats, Do Not Shoot Them, 294
Chicago Exhibition, 31
Classification of Arms, 86
Clay-Pigeon Shooting with the Pistol,

299
Cleaning and Care of Weapons, 42
Cleaning Appliances, 79
Cleaning Kit, 43

Clothing, What to Wear when Shoot-
ing, 189
Coaching, 232
Cocking the Pistol, 65
Cocking the Revolver, 185, 201, 212
Colt Automatic Pistol, 242
Colt Colonel, 4, 10, 11, 14, 18
Colt Derringer, 312

Double-Action Cavalry, 26

345

346

Index

Colt — Continued

New Army Revolver, 248
New Navy Revolver, 250
New Service Revolver, 250
Solid Frame Revolver, 75

Competitions, French, 78, 82
Police, 324
Supervision of, 90
Weapon and Ammunition, for, 102

Cordite, 33

Crane, R. Newton, on Duelling, 165

Daily Graphic (quoted), 5
Decisions, Doubtful Shots, 183
Deer-Stalking, 280
De La Rue, "Ace of Hearts, " 124
Devillier's Bullet, 292

for Cavalry, 254

Competitions with, 146

Fight on Horseback with, 151

Precautions for Safety, 146

Stage Shooting with, 151
Disarming an Adversary, 308
Double-Barrelled Pistols, 295
Duelling, Challenging, 156

French Laws on, 165

Humorous Attitude toward, 156

Position for, 160
Duelling Pistol, Distances for the, 134

French, 25, 55, 96, 126

Grip and Balance, 136

How to Hold the, 131

Loading the, 133
Dutch Army Revolvers, 28

Ears, Protection for the, 194
Eley's Black Powder, 26, 36
English Galleries, 126
Extension Stock, 288
Eyes, Care of the, 192, 240

Fallow Deer Shooting, 276

Feet, Pointing Weapon at the, 135

Firearms, Author Forbidden Use of, 7

Flobert Rifle, 7

Forest and Stream, 324

Form, Proper, when Shooting, 180

Fosbery-Webley Automatic Revolver,

215, 242
Franco-Prussian War, Incident of, 25
French Army Revolver, 28
Competitions, 28
Regulation Revolver, 24
French Smokeless Powder, 31, 34, 79,
124, 186

Gallery, Ammunition, 75, 124

Lighting, 120

Private, 119, 224

Shooting, 120
Gastinne-Renette Competitions, 118

Challenge Trophy, 138

Gallery, 2, 21, 31,118,126,296

Prizes Offered by, 127

Roll of Honor, 127

Self-Registering Targets, 122
General Utility Weapon, 20
Giles, G. D., 5
Glass Balls, 300
Greener Killer for Disabled Animals,

327
Grouse Shooting, 294
Gun License Act, 338

Health Necessary for Competition,

109
Hillias' Cleaning Fluid, 43
Hip Pocket, Carrying a Revolver in

the, 307
Holster, 276

Horse, Training the, 274
Horseback, Shooting from, 273
Horsley, Victor, on Alcohol, 221

Injured Animals Act, 340

Killer, Pocket Patent, 328

The Greener, 327
Killing Disabled Animals, 326
King's Semi-Smokeless Powder, 33,

37
Kraepelin, Prof., Investigations, 221
Kynoch's Brass Cartridges, 41

Index

347

Law Relating to Revolvers in Great

Britain, 336
Law Relating to Revolvers in the

United States, 343
Learning to Use the Pistol, 55
Leather Case, with Key, 114
Leeson, 22-Calibre Pistol for Ladies,

317
Left hand, Shooting with, 83
Lending Weapons, Advice on, 185
" Letting-Off , " 71

Lifting the Pistol above the Head, 73
Loading, Firing, Timing, and Cleaning,

75,87
London Policeman, 325
"Lovat Mixture" Clothes, 280
Lynch, Chemist of London, 194

Mantlet, Safety, 32
Manton (Joe), Pistol, 10
Marlin Gun-Grease, 43
Martingale, Use of, 282
Martini Rifle, 68
Massachusetts Rifle Ass'n, 324
Metronome, The, 135, 197, 202
Mattresses, Revolver between, 313
Military Revolver, 23, 178
Misfire in Competitions, 203
Moist Hands, 24
Morris Tube Company, 32
Muscles, Pistol Shooting good for the,
66

National Rifle Association, Council

of, 51
National Rifle Association Meeting at

Bisley, 176, 190, 208, 217, 225, 229
New York Pistol and Revolver Club,

324
Nitro Powders, 42
North London Rifle Club, 85
Rifle Club, Officers of, 100
Rifle Club Regulations, 104
Rifle Club Revolver Champion-
ship, 106
Rifle Club, Revolver Competi-
tions. 100

Olympic Games, Author's Diploma,

233

Championship, 167, 174
Ornamentation, 30, 121
"Owl" Prizes at Wimbledon, 331

Paine, Chevalier Ira, 1, 21, 31, 258

Paine (quoted), no

Patents (Old), 16

Penalty for Carrying Firearms in

Great Britain, 337
Personal, 1
Petty, Roundsman, Winner of Police

Trophy, 325
Pigeon Shooting with the Revolver,

296
Pistol, Advantages over Sword, 250

Cases, 44

Future of the, 31

Handling the, 57

Never Leave Loaded, 82

Shooting, a Clean Sport, 6

Shooting in England, 113

Shooting for Ladies, 315

and Revolver Clubs, 85

The 22-Calibre, Single-Shot, 167

The 22-Calibre Single-Shot, Only
a Toy, 174
"Pistolet" Club, 113, 144, 178

Character of the, 145

of Paris, 85

Rules, 91
Pistols Act of 1903, 341
Plating, 30, 215
Pneumatic Pistol, 271
Pocket, Shooting through the, 307
Police Competitions, Rules for, 324

Revolvers for the, 323
Polonius' Advice, 302
Pool Shooting, 181
Portugal, King of, Scores by, 127
Position when Shooting, 63, 87, 103,

198, 223
"Possibles," 181, 188
"Possibles, " made by Author, 235
Powder, Low-Pressure, 36
Practice and Training, 109

348

Index

Prices of Revolvers, 32

Prizes Given for Aggregates, 206

Jewels, 101

Spoons, 101
Protests, 90

Rabbits, Shooting, 294

Range Officers' Decision Final, 183

Rapid Cocking, 23

Rapid Firing, 208

"Raw" on the Shooting Hand, 113

"Reaction Times," Increased, 221

Recoil, 69

Records, 91

Red Deer, 278

"Referee, The" (quoted), 154

Refreshments during Competition, 237

Revolver, Competitions, 100, 176

Evolution of the, 10

Half -Worn Best, 80, 210

Length for the, 22

Shots in Paris, Good, 128

Steadying the, 82

in U. S. Civil War, 253

in War, 247

Hand-Ejecting, 75
Reynolds, Sir Joshua, 1
Rifle and Revolver Club, 107
Riflite, 33
Roe-Stalking, 288
Rose, the Author's Mare, 282

St. Petersburg, travelling in, 8

Scientific American, 12

Score Cards, Sign and Date, 239

Scoring, 77

Selecting a Pistol, 20 ■

Selecting a Revolver, 20

Self -Defence (quoted), 313

Sense of Direction, Shooting by, 332

Shooting in Competitions, 238

in the Dark, 330

in Self-Defence, 302

Objects off the Head, 186

as a Pastime, 1

in the Rain, 182

Short Range Series, 180

Sight, Winan's Patent Electric, 333

Sighting Varies, 180

Sights, 46, 88, 187

Smith & Wesson Bicycle Revolver, 321

Hammerless for Ladies, 316

Hammerless Safety Revolver, 303

Mechanism of, 304

Military, 24, 26, 28, 34

38-Military Revolver, 24

Pistols, 22-Calibre, 169

with Interchangeable Barrel, 170

Revolvers (accuracy of), 28

Revolvers, Winan's Model, 26, 28

Russian, 28, 34, 68, 253

Self-Lubricating Bullet, 37, 231

Solid Frame Revolvers, 186
Sights, Winan's Patent, 46, 52, 55, 187

Target, 47

Paine, 47

Lyman, 47

Filing the, 47

Ira Paine Adjustable, 52
Small Game Shooting, 294
Smoking and Drinking, 3, 6, HO, 220
Sparrows, Shooting, 297
Spectacles for Shooting, 192
Squeezing the Trigger, 72, 200
Stage Shooters, Professional, 34, 255

Shooting, Blank Ammunition for,
270
Statuette, Modelled by the Author, 323
Stevens Diamond, 170, 173

"Lord," 172

New Model Pocket or Bicycle
"Rifle," 172

"Off-Hand Target," 171

Pistol, Gould Model, 169

Single-Shot Pistols, 34

"Tie-Up," 173

Vernier New Model Pocket
"Rifle," 172
Strain on the Thumb, Wrist, etc., 196
Swallow Shooting with the Duelling
Pistol, 295

Table for Firearms, 72

Index

349

Target, Advancing ("The Burglar"),
225

American, 111

Bisley, 50 Yards 62, 80, 180

Bisley, 20 Yards, 179

De La Rue, "Ace of Hearts," 124

Disappearing, 190

French, 78

Gastinne-Renette, 139

Represents the Face of a Clock,
69

Self-Registering, 121

Short-Range Series, 180

Shooting off Horseback, 290

Silhouette of Man, 136

Stationary, 79 180,

Stationary, 50 Yards, 229

Substitute for Bisley, 197

Trajectory, 32

Traversing ("The Slider"), 217

Winan's Cinematograph, 122
"Target" Webley, 26
Team Shooting, 232
Thumb-Piece Roughed, 23
Ties, 90

Time for Shooting, Best, 182, 191
Timing Shots, 202, 212
Tools, Reloading, 39

Trajectory of Pistol, 77
Traps for Pigeon Shooting,
Trick Shooting, 266
Trigger-Pull, 23, 88, 178

299

Union Metallic Cartridge Co.

Gallery Ammunition, 34

Revolver Powder, 28
United States Revolver Association, 85

Rules of, 86

Walsrode, 33

War, the Revolver in, 247

Webley, 32

Webley, Man-Stopping Bullet, 181,
182

Wilkinson Gallery, 85

Williams, C. Willoughby, 341

Wimbledon, 58, 113

Winan's Cinematograph Target, 122
Model Revolver, 30
Model, Smith & Wesson, 26
Patent Electric Sight, 333
Safety Butt, 60

Wind, Shooting in the, 116, 183

"Wipe out" after Each Shot, 206

WurfHein Pistol, 169

Zeise Glass, 229

By WALTER WINANS

Chevalier of the Imperial Order of St. Stanislas of Russia; Vice-President
of the National Rifle Association of Great Britain, etc.

The Art of Revolver Shooting

Together -witH A.11 Information Concerning the Automatic

and the Single-Shot Pistol, and How to Handle Them

to the Best Advantage

New Edition, R.evised and Enlarged. Very fully Illustrated with Original
Photographs by Rouch, Fry, Purdey, Penfold, and Others, and Head-
and Tail-pieces from Drawings by the Jtuthor. Royal Svo, handsomely
printed, and bound in cloth extra, gilt top, uncut edges, net, $S.oo

Mr. Walter Winans, the well-known champion
revolver-shot, has been for many years working out the
theory and practice of revolver shooting, and this is the
first occasion of his publishing the collected results of his
close study of the weapon.

Although several chapters of the book give minute
instructions as to how to shoot in order to win prizes at
the Bisley meeting, the author has not neglected the more
general and practical side of the subject, and even such
matters (hitherto regarded in the light of professional
secrets) as trick- and stage-shooting, shooting in the dark,
etc., are treated in detail not previously attempted, while
a chapter on how to use the revolver (as distinct from
target shooting) in warfare, has a present interest that
must appeal to many.

Hints on Revolver Shooting

With 20 Illustrations Crown Svo., net, $1.00

The art and sport of revolver shooting is increasing
yearly in popularity. This little volume by Mr. Walter
Winans, the well-known champion revolver-shot, has been
designed to meet the demand for a hand-book convenient
in size for use in the gallery and field. It contains concise
information on the most approved revolver methods, with
a special chapter on revolver shooting for ladies. " Hints
on Revolver Shooting " will prove valuable alike to the
beginner and the experienced marksman.

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NEW YORK G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS LONDON

By WALTER WINANS

Chevalier of the Imperial Order of St. Stanislas of Russia; Vice-President
of the National Rifle Association of Great Britain, etc.

Practical Rifle Shooting

Crown 8vo. With frontispiece. Met, 50 cents

There are many excellent works to be had on the subject
of rifle-shooting at targets, but there has been nothing
published on practical rifle-shooting. By practical rifle-
shooting is meant the capacity to handle a rifle so that
the user can confidently expect to stop a wild animal when
in rapid motion and charging, or a charging man. Mr.
Winans's book is designed to furnish the beginner with a
series of hints, by the use of which he may be enabled not
only to put himself through a course of continuous and
graduated training, but may also keep himself free of the
tricks which impede progress, and which, if persisted in,
will destroy his ability for any but the most artificial forms
of shooting.

The Sporting Rifle

The Shooting of Big and Little Game

Together with a Description of the Principal Classes of Sporting Weapons

With about 125 Illustrations from Original Drawings by the Author, and

from Photographs specially taken for the book

Royal 8vo, handsomely printed, and bound in cloth extra,
gilt top, uncut edges. $5.00 net

Mr. Winans has earned for himself an international repu-
tation on the art of rifle- and revolver- shooting, and his
earlier works on the subject have been accepted as stand-
ards. The present work is profusely illustrated, both by
the author, T. Blinks, and other well-known artists, and
gives the fullest details with diagrams as to how to handle
the rifle for all sorts of game shooting, and also for winning
prizes in shooting competitions at moving targets. Besides
illustrating the various makes of rifles, there is a unique
set of working drawings showing in minute detail how to
construct " Running Deer" and disappearing targets.
Maps and plans giving directions how to post the guns for
Deer Driving, and how to manoeuvre the beaters is also
featured in this important work. The natural history is
illustrated by a series of photographs taken from life by
H. Penfold.

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NEW YORK G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS LONDON

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