The Modern Pistol and How to Shoot It

CHAPTER XLVI

In my opinion the United States .45 Regulation Colt Automatic pistol is the best of all army pistols. (See Plates 13 and 14.) The way it was chosen should guarantee this.

It was first chosen because it passed all the military tests such as sand, rust, and freedom from jamming under rough usage. Then it was put into the hands of all the best pistol shots in the United States and their reports examined. It has, therefore, not only passed military but expert shooters’ tests, and alterations were made in accordance with their reports.

It may seem a great presumption on my part therefore to suggest an improvement, but I have been a big-game shot all my life and used ivory front sights, and I think a black front sight is a mistake.

I am sure a white or silver front sight is the only practical one.

This morning I went out before daylight after deer. It was very misty and I saw a stag eighty yards off, hardly distinguishable in the mist and darkness. My white front sight shone like a star on his shoulder when I took aim and I had no difficulty in taking the shot.

A black front sight would have been so indistinct that I should have missed or rather not fired at all, as I do not like making a mess of a shot and letting an animal go off wounded.

It is self-evident that if you want anything to be as visible as possible you paint it white.

White reflects light better than any colour. If you distribute twenty white, thirty yellow, fifty red, and eighty blue spots over a piece of black paper they look to the eye as being of equal numbers, owing to the blue being so inconspicuous compared with the red, the red compared with yellow, and the yellow compared with the white.

PLATE 13. UNITED STATES ARMY REGULATION .45 COLT AUTOMATIC PISTOL

Capacity of magazine, 7 shots. Length of barrel, 5 inches only. Length over all, 8½ inches. Weight, 39 ounces. Finish, full blued, checked walnut stocks.

Cartridges. Calibre .45 U. S. Government, 230 grain bullet. Calibre .45 Colt Automatic, 200 grain bullet. (Both rimless; smokeless powder; full jacketed bullet.)

White being the most conspicuous of all it takes fewer spots of white to dominate. As these spots are on a black sheet of paper very few spots of white would draw attention from all the colours.

As ivory is fragile, a big silver or plated bead front sight is better for a military automatic pistol or rifle.

The first thing I did when I got my United States .45 Colt Automatic pistol was to put on it a white silver bead front sight, first removing the regulation black knife edge front sight.

I then made the U in the hind sight very big. This pistol has been carried through the war by my chauffeur, W. Francis, who entered the Russian Army as a volunteer and has gained the St. George’s cross for bravery and he is delighted with the sighting of the pistol, and can do very rapid shooting with it.

For practical use of the pistol in war, self-defence, or duelling, what is needed is a strong set of sights which can hardly be injured under the roughest usage; sights which can be seen instantly in a very dim, as well as strong light.

The best sights for such purpose are those which are used on duelling pistols.

It is most extraordinary that all pistol sights except the French duelling ones are so very unsuitable.

The military front sight consists of an upright narrow rod as seen when aiming. This is very thin and high and is black, with the top, when it has been used for any time, polished a dull grey, from use.

The hind sight has a very minute notch in it. The result in aiming is as follows: You faintly see a very thin black rod with a hazy top against the dark object you are trying to shoot.

By searching for it very carefully you see a microscopic notch in the hind sight, much too small to enclose this rod when aiming.

You cannot keep your elevation in shooting. As soon as you try to take the top of this front sight in your minute notch you lose sight of it altogether.

The rod so blocks the notch that you do not know if you have the front sight centrally in the notch or at one side.

In fact if I was asked to devise a set of sights to prevent a man being able to shoot well, the regulation military sights are what I would choose.

If strong enough the ivory ball would be the ideal colour for a front sight, as it is a dull white, instead of the reflection which sometimes comes from silver highly polished.

What is called “frosted” silver would be a good surface for the silver front sight if it did not tarnish.

The back sight should be just high enough above the barrel to avoid blur when the barrel gets hot, but otherwise the lower it is the better, having a big U-shaped notch large enough to enable the white front sight to be seen in the notch when showing a slight ring of daylight all round it; both sights as low on the barrel and as far apart as possible.

This combination of sights is seen instantly without any searching or eye strain. All you have to do is to look at the object you want to hit, paying no attention to sights, till your fully-outstretched arm, coming up by sense of direction, points the pistol at the object, and you see before your eyes this silver ball in the middle of the U of the back sight.

Snap-shooting is made more difficult with military sights on a pistol and accounts for many men being blamed for being bad pistol shots, whereas, it is really the fault of the sights. I cannot make good shooting even at a stationary target with such sights and for rapid firing or at moving targets my shooting is much inferior to that with the same pistol, when fitted with duelling sights.

I can understand the English-speaking nations not using duelling sights, as very few ever shoot a duelling pistol, but that the Continental nations, with their knowledge of duelling, have not adopted duelling sights is to me very strange.

The same remark applies to military rifle sights which are such as no big-game shooter would dream of using.

METHOD OF OPERATION

A loaded magazine is placed in the handle, and the slide drawn fully back and released, thus bringing the first cartridge into the chamber, leaving the hammer cocked and the pistol ready for firing.

If it is desired to carry the pistol fully cocked, the safety lock may be pressed upward, thus positively locking hammer and slide. The safety lock is located within easy reach of the thumb of the hand holding the pistol and may be instantly pressed down when raising the pistol to the firing position.

PLATE 14. UNITED STATES ARMY REGULATION
.45 COLT AUTOMATIC PISTOL. SECTIONAL VIEW

To lower the cocked hammer, draw it back with the thumb until it forces the grip safety in flush with the frame; at the same time pull the trigger, then lower the hammer with thumb.

SAFETY DEVICES

It is impossible for the firing pin to discharge or even touch the primer, except on receiving the full blow of the hammer.

The pistol is provided with two automatic safety devices:

The automatic disconnector which positively prevents the release of the hammer unless the slide and barrel are in the forward position and safely interlocked; this device also controls the firing and prevents more than one shot from following each pull of the trigger.

The automatic grip safety which at all times locks the trigger unless the handle is firmly grasped and the grip safety pressed in.

The pistol is in addition provided with a safety lock by which the closed slide and the cocked hammer may be at will positively locked in position.

CHAPTER XLVII

Recoil depends on the proportion between the cartridge charge and the weight of the pistol.

A pistol weighing 2½ lbs. would shoot the .32 cartridge with hardly any appreciable recoil.

But this same cartridge in a small pocket revolver weighing only a few ounces kicks very viciously.

Besides it has a very small stock made the same shape as a full-sized stock.

The result is that, whereas in a full-sized stock the top of the comb is designed to project over the thumb and forefinger, in the little vest-pocket pistol this comb comes against the tender part of the palm and the recoil drives it into the hand.

I have had my hand cut and bleeding after a few rounds with a pistol intended for ladies’ use!

The surest way to make a beginner flinch is to let him begin with a little pocket revolver.

I mention revolver because an automatic pocket pistol generally does not have a stock with projections which can drive into the hand by the recoil.

The makers know that if the slide of an automatic pistol did drive back into the hand it would do very serious damage. They therefore make the stock so that it cannot be held with the comb against the palm of the hand.

Men accustomed to shoot a pistol having a heavy recoil get so used to bracing against that recoil that they bob forward with an empty pistol to a recoil which does not come.

A heavily loaded gun, if it misses fire, makes the shooter bob forward involuntarily to meet the recoil he expects.

An automatic pistol can be used with a heavier loaded cartridge than would be possible with a revolver.

Not only is some of the recoil taken up in working the mechanism in the former pistol but the recoil is softer.

The recoil of a revolver can be likened to a blow with the fist, whereas the recoil of the automatic pistol is like a hard push with the open hand. The recoil first having to work the mechanism loses its sudden sharp stinging blow.

I find I can shoot a heavily charged military automatic pistol longer than I can a revolver which has much less recoil. There is none of the jar and strain on the wrist in an automatic pistol which a revolver with the English Regulation cartridge gives.

Cocking the revolver by trigger-pull is tiring to the hand, and a very few rounds entirely paralyses the trigger finger for the time being.

It is a very unnatural strain to draw back the weight of the spring to raise the hammer and revolve the chamber with the trigger finger. It tires the finger very soon.

With the automatic pistol there is none of this strain. Therefore a man can fire a hundred shots rapidly with the automatic pistol, when he could not fire twenty-four rounds with a double action revolver, using the double action, without his trigger finger giving out.

I merely mention this as a matter of interesting ancient history. Revolvers are obsolete, but it is as interesting to understand how they were used as it would be if we knew all such lost details concerning the ancient cross bow, or Bushman’s long blow tube.

When one thinks of the unhappy men who were forced in their training to shoot heavy military revolvers with alternate hands working the double action trigger, it is extraordinary more of them did not dislocate their trigger finger or sprain their wrists.

Let any one take one of these relics and work its double action for ten minutes without stopping, and when added to this each shot drives the wrist upwards with great force, he will no longer wonder why men used to shirk “revolver practice.”

CHAPTER XLVIII

As it is so difficult to shoot at long range with a pistol there is all the more necessity to be able to judge distance so as to avoid another cause of error.

A long range revolver match took place in 1911 in Colorado, but many important details are lacking.

It was gotten up by the Magazine Outdoor Life of Colorado.

The conditions were five sighting shots, and then twenty shots to count.

The target was a brown paper profile of a turkey at three hundred yards’ range.

This description is very vague, as all reports of shooting by non-experts are; they always leave out vital details and put in a lot of useless matter; it may mean a target of fifteen inches in diameter (if it only included the body of the turkey) or over thirty inches (if it included the whole of the turkey, head, legs, feathers, and tail).

Probably it was the latter size as, if it was only fifteen inches in diameter, that would correspond to an inch bull’s-eye at twenty yards, or a 2½-inch one at fifty yards, much too small for revolver shooting.

It is extremely difficult to hit a four-inch bull’s-eye for a succession of twenty shots at fifty yards. I have hit it ten times in twelve shots (see page 349), and the much greater difficulty of hitting a corresponding sized target at three hundred yards would make a full score impossible with a revolver.

The winner, name not given, made three hits for his twenty shots, six men hit it twice in their twenty shots, six hit it once, and six missed every shot.

This is not a very encouraging result of a long range revolver shoot.

Though the automatic pistol would be much more accurate at that distance, still I doubt if any one could get more than eight shots on the turkey in twenty shots at three hundred yards.

To be of any use for comparison the actual diameter of the turkey would have to be ascertained.

Judging distance should be constantly practised, under all conditions of light, by judging when out walking how far off a man is, and then walking up to the spot, counting your steps, to see if you have judged right.

Do not measure distance by yard strides and thus draw attention to your movements and raise doubt as to your sanity.

First measure in private, say one hundred yards, and then walk it with your natural length of step when walking at your usual speed, and see how many of your steps go to one hundred yards.

When you know your number of steps for a hundred yards you can measure distances in ordinary walking and without passers-by noticing what you are doing.

My natural walk is 104 steps to the 100 yards at four miles an hour.

Try, when you think you are fairly accurate, to judge the distance a man is off also judge how far a small boy is. You will find at first you think him much further off than he is owing to having got into the habit of judging the distance by the height of the man.

When you come back to judging how far off a man is you will underestimate the distance for the same reason.

Mist makes an object appear much further off than it really is; a sheep close by appears as large as a stag one hundred yards off.

Distance is very deceptive and if one is accustomed to judging the distance of an object of a certain size and then has to change to a similar looking object of a different size the difficulty is increased.

When I have been shooting at stags and judging their distance with fair accuracy and then change to roe deer shooting, the roe always seems much further off than the real distance, because a roe at one hundred yards looks the same size as a stag at two hundred yards off.

This difficulty is increased if the objects are mistaken for each other.

Suppose a river with steep banks, fifty yards broad, in a flat meadow, and you stand in clear atmosphere and full sunshine at a spot twenty yards from the nearest bank. From where you stand you cannot see the breadth of the river; the two banks looking like one line on the green of the meadow.

A faded, weatherbeaten, red fire bucket, is standing on the edge of the far bank, and a flower pot on the near bank.

Both objects look identical in size, shape, and colour because of the linear and aërial perspective at these distances, and it is impossible, unless they are studied very carefully with a telescope or field glass, to know which is which and therefore which is the further off. If you are accustomed to judging the distances of flower pots you would think the fire bucket was a flower pot and therefore only twenty yards off instead of seventy.

Be sure you know what the object is when using it as a means of judging distance, it may be something much larger or smaller of a similar appearance.

A pony, when seen through a thick haze, mistaken for a horse would entirely upset your calculations.

The use of being able to judge distances accurately is to enable you to decide how much to aim above a distant object to make up for the distance the bullet drops in going that distance.

The drop of the bullet increases rapidly as the distance increases.

Whilst at short range the drop is so slight that it does not signify except for extremely accurate shooting, the bullet does not drop in similar proportion at further range.

At two hundred it may not drop more than double what it does at one hundred, but the proportion of drop between two hundred and three hundred is still greater and so on; the flight of the bullet describing, not a section of the circumference of a circle, but a parabolic curve.

When shooting at a man standing upright this drop can be ignored up to four hundred yards with the Military Automatic pistol; as long as the aim is taken at the top of the chest it will hit him somewhere.

But if only a man’s head shows it may be missed over or under according as the distance is misjudged, too far or too short.

If a puff of dust or a splash of water can be seen where the first bullet strikes it will serve to correct the aim for the next shot.

CHAPTER XLIX

A .22 hollow pointed bullet makes much more mess and has the disadvantage often of not stopping the rabbit though it maims it. The duelling pistol would spoil a game bird if hit in the body but it is all right for a head shot.

It makes slightly more noise than a .22 pistol but it is a soft noise and does not travel far.

I think when game for the pot has to be shot that a “.22 short” cartridge out of a rifle with a telescope sight is best.

After all, hitting the bird at forty or fifty yards off with a pistol takes some doing, whereas with a telescopic sighted rifle the shot would be a certainty.

The pistol is very little used for what seems to me to be a very useful function.

When shooting big game there are many occasions when another shot has to be fired at wounded game unable to get away.

Say a wild boar for instance is brought to bay by the first shot.

He cannot be approached with safety to use the knife, he is killing the dogs, he has to be shot again.

Now you do not want to fire your rifle, which makes a boom like a cannon, as that would disturb the rest of the beat.

If you have a pistol which shoots a big .44 calibre ball with a reduced charge of powder you can go close up to the boar and kill him without making much noise.

If a wounded animal gets you down, a pistol which lies close to your hand may save your life, and if it shoots a heavy charge and is rapidly fired several times into his body, it would stop most animals except an elephant or rhinoceros.

A rifle can be lost in falling or lain on, the length of barrel prevents it being used at close quarters.

The objection to carrying a pistol in big-game shooting is that every possible ounce in weight has to be saved, especially in a hot climate. The pistol is so much extra weight and when climbing amongst rocks it is a great nuisance. To be of any use against dangerous game the pistol must shoot a big bullet.

In the instance of the wild boar, I mentioned a reduced charge but my idea is to carry the two sorts of cartridges and to have the automatic loaded with full charge cartridges, but if game has to be finished which is not endangering your life, I recommend putting in a gallery charge cartridge for this particular finishing shot so as not to make more noise than absolutely necessary, and not to disturb other game which may be near.

An automatic pistol built for a big charge will not function with a reduced charge. Such a charge does not give enough recoil to introduce the next cartridge and an automatic only works properly with the exact load it is designed for. With a reduced charge the automatic pistol, after the shot, remains half open.

If the magazine and also the cartridge which is in the barrel are first taken out, the gallery-load cartridge can be put in the barrel and fired. Afterwards the loaded magazine can be put back again and the pistol is ready to shoot the heavy charge.

A single-shot .44 gallery ammunition pistol with very short barrel like the old-fashioned Derringer, could be carried without taking up any room or appreciable weight and be used for finishing deer, or other non-dangerous game.

The forester who goes with me moufflon shooting carries a 9 Millimetre Mauser Automatic pistol for self-defence against poachers and he shoots small game with it when he comes across it. It is, however, a noisy little pistol.

Do not take a smaller calibre pistol than a .38 for finishing big game. It does not kill them clear.

CHAPTER L

The “horseman” uses the aids, that is, his left hand on the reins and the calves of his legs against his horse’s sides.

By the pressure of the calf of his leg, feeling the horse’s mouth, and the rein against the horse’s neck, he can make the horse obey his every wish, because the horse understands, without any tugging, hitting, or forcing.

“Horsemanship” is having the horse under perfect control and obedient to an indication so slight that it is imperceptible to the onlooker.

The “rider” tries to compel the horse by main force to obey him, and the horse, even when it understands and obeys, does it in his own way, not his rider’s way.

It is the difference between two perfect dancers moving as one, and a man who has a vague idea of dancing trying to lug round a partner who knows nothing about dancing.

The “horseman” and his horse are one.

The “rider” and his horse are like a policeman taking off an unwilling prisoner who does not know what he is accused of.

In the one case the horse is watchful for every wish of his rider and instantly obeys, in the other the horse is all the time misunderstanding what his rider wants and being punished for his ignorance.

Unfortunately very few Americans or Englishmen know even the rudiments of the “High School.”

That is why so few “riders” can play polo, both man and pony must be of one mind and understand each other and that can only be learned in the “High School,” which is “Horsemanship.”

The reason foreign officers are so successful in the jumping competitions at the Olympia Horse Show is that they are horsemen in the “High School” and their jumping horses are trained to it also.

Matador, the celebrated Belgian high jumper, can do the Spanish trot like a circus horse.

Ladies riding astride generally know nothing of “horsemanship,” but exaggerate the faults of men “riders.”

Their stirrup leathers are so short that the heels are drawn back and the toes point downwards. To go faster they hit the horse with their whips or strike their heels into it but immediately back go their legs into the “heel up toe down” position with their feet almost driven through the stirrups.

The legs stop in this position during the whole ride, as if they were stuffed dummy legs.

They only know one use of the legs, that is to grip the saddle so as to keep their seats in it.

The “High School” rider uses his legs for giving the indications to his horse of what he wants it to do, supplemented by the reins, which, by more or less pressure on the mouth and against the horse’s neck, indicate the horseman’s wishes to the horse.

A “horseman” does not pull at one rein to turn the horse any more than an expert cyclist turns the handle bars when he wants to turn a corner.

The cyclist leans to the side he wants to turn to and comes round like a pair of compasses do when you lean them over and let the pencil swing round.

If a “horseman” wants to open a gate he does not kick his heels into the horse and thus force him up to the gate and then lean over the horse’s neck to try and reach the gate, which the horse is backing from. The “horseman” holding his reins in his left hand, squeezes the horse with the calves of his legs and this makes the horse go forward.

As he gets to the gate the “horseman” puts his left calf further back against the horse’s left side, at the same time putting his left hand slightly to the left so that the right rein presses against the horse’s neck.

This turns the horse’s neck and shoulders to the left whilst the pressure of the left calf against the horse’s left side makes him put his right hind quarters to the right. The horse now stands broadside up against the gate and the “horseman” can easily use his right hand on the gate lock, without having to lean over.

When he has taken hold of the gate a slightly greater pressure of his right calf whilst tightening the reins makes the horse’s back and quarter turn, and the gate is opened. He eases his horse’s mouth, squeezes with both calves, and the horse walks through the open gate whilst the gate closes behind him.

Suppose two equally good pistol shots, one a good “rider” and the other a good “horseman” are in a mounted pistol competition.

They are told to walk their horses past the target and shoot at it one shot out of their automatic pistol as they pass. Both of the horses have not seen the target before and are rather shy of it.

The “rider” having to hold his pistol can use only one hand to his horse and being accustomed all his life to guide his horse by pulling at the reins cannot guide the horse properly with only his left hand.

As the horse comes up to the target he turns his head towards it and his quarters away from it and begins to sidle away, walking all crooked, the rider kicks his heels into him to try and get him up to the target and when he puts out his arm to aim the horse sidles away still more and whips round away from the target spoiling the shot.

After the “rider” has fired he needs both hands to turn the horse and bring it back, and, having the pistol as well as a rein in his right hand, fires one or two more shots, unintentionally.

The “horseman” squeezes his horse by pressure of the calves into his bridle, his horse like the former horse seeing the target tries to turn his head towards it and to sidle away from it.

The “horseman” merely moves his left hand slightly to the left, causing his right rein to press against his horse’s neck and thereby turns the horse’s fore part straight again; at the same time he puts his left calf back along the horse’s side and this puts his hind quarters straight into place. If the horse tries to resist, the left spur touches him and he gives in.

When the shot is fired the horse is wheeled round to the left by the pressure of the left hand and right calf whilst at the same time the right thumb slips on the safety of the automatic pistol.

If the reader is not a “horseman” and wants to learn pistol shooting from horseback, he and his horse should go through the cavalry course first.

Even when a horse is standing still, he is breathing, so it is difficult to make good shooting with deliberate aim off horseback.

All shooting has to be done with swing and snap shooting. Care must be taken not to shoot too close past a horse’s ears; it may be advisable to put on a hood with closed ear covers, so that he does not get the full noise into his ears.

There is not much to teach as to the actual shooting, it is almost entirely horsemanship, finding out which angle suits you best to shoot from, at what speed the horse moves smoothest, etc.

An automatic pistol is safer than a revolver for use on horseback. There is no putting to half-cock but only slipping the safety on or off.

If the horse begins to plunge, slip on the safety at once, in fact at any indication of trouble with the horse put on the safety.

Do not slip off the safety till the instant before firing and slip it on the moment you have fired.

As you cannot shoot blank ammunition out of an automatic pistol you will have to use a single barrel pistol for teaching a horse to stand fire.

Be very careful not to scorch him or shoot past his eyes as that will make him always apt to flinch.

An underbred horse is better than a blood horse as a rule for shooting off, but when you do get a thoroughbred who will stand fire, as he has more courage, he will stand fire better than any other horse, and his paces are easier, especially the canter and gallop.

A handy polo pony makes a good shooting pony if it stands fire, as it is used to starting, stopping, and turning.

CHAPTER LI

When I say, “as close as I can possibly get, generally from about fifty to seventy yards, I never shoot at deer beyond two hundred yards” they form a very low opinion of my skill.

With bears and wild boar seventy yards is a long shot, from ten to forty is the usual distance.

Often these animals are in rapid motion. I stand up to shoot, there is no lying down on the face and aiming for ten minutes.

Modern “improved” rifles are quite unsuited for this.

The long distance they carry is a great drawback and makes them very dangerous to use in a populous country and for the beaters.

Their small calibre does not knock down an animal instantly like a big bullet does. They have too much penetration and are apt to hit two or more animals with the same bullet.

A charging animal a few yards off may do a lot of damage after being hit by a small bore rifle. There have not been fewer, but more, fatal accidents from wounded lions and buffalo in Africa since these small bore, high power, rifles have come into use.

The heavy weight of a double high power rifle is of a prohibitive weight for snap-shooting.

The recoil also is so great that aim cannot be instantaneously taken for the second shot.

In the black powder days sportsmen’s requirements were not subordinated to military requirements.

Express rifles were used by deer stalkers in Scotland and the typical U. S. rifle for grizzly bears was the .44 Winchester repeater which shot a small charge of powder.

For big game shooting accuracy is not needed beyond two hundred yards but a big bullet giving a knock down blow and a rifle capable of firing several shots in succession with great rapidity. Rifle to be light and handy as a shotgun.

Needing a smokeless rifle answering to the above requirements, I first tried gallery ammunition in a .303 rifle, double rifle.

I found the weight of the rifle was too great and the calibre too small.

I then tried a .400 double rifle, lightened very much and shooting a small charge of smokeless powder, I got the weight down to that of a double 12-bore pigeon gun.

Then I discovered there was danger of getting a full charge cartridge into the rifle by mistake and bursting it. The difficulty was solved by having a special chamber and a straight cartridge of large calibre, and small powder charge of cordite. No high power cartridge can be got into the chamber of this rifle, as they are all bottlenecked so there is no danger of shooting the wrong ammunition. This double rifle is light and handy, very accurate up to one hundred yards and all it hits it knocks down like Thor’s hammer.

Unfortunately, the automatic pistol also has been “improved” on modern rifle lines.

The utmost possible power has been put into the cartridge and the pistol has to be heavy and clumsy to stand this and it has a big recoil and a terribly loud report.

As it is, at the first shot, all within hearing scuttle underground like rabbits, under the impression that an air raid is on.

A full charge automatic pistol is such a nuisance in a pistol gallery, owing to its deafening noise, that nobody cares to use one there, and if he did, he would very soon be asked by the other shooters to desist.

Inventors vie with each other as to who can produce an automatic pistol having the most powerful cartridge, just as rifle inventors do.

What is wanted is not a more powerful automatic pistol, the present ones are far too powerful, but a weak power, large bore one with an extremely light charge corresponding to the duelling pistol, that is to say, one shooting a round bullet of .44 calibre with a very small charge of smokeless powder.

Such a pistol would be an ideal weapon for shooting galleries and would popularize pistol practice, then pistol shooting would be a pleasure instead of a penance, when shooting has to be done indoors.

The automatic pistol inventors should experiment as follows:

The external lines should follow the Gastinne-Renette duelling pistol as nearly as possible.

The calibre and cartridge the same as it is (i. e., .44), the bullet being of lead, and spherical.

The magazine of a size to take only this cartridge, as otherwise, if a heavy charge cartridge were introduced by mistake and fired, it would smash and perhaps burst the pistol. An automatic pistol made for the light charge would have too weak a recoil spring to withstand a heavy charge.

The duelling pistol cartridge has the bullet seated far down it, and there is a lot of spare useless length in the cartridge.

In the automatic pistol I am advising to be made (the Winans model), the cartridge should be, though of .44 calibre, very short, the round bullet crimped in the end of it, like the .22 bulleted cap cartridges.

The cartridge being so short and the magazine made to fit, the usual high power cartridges would be too long to go into it by mistake.

The sights should be those of the duelling pistol.

I think such an automatic pistol would be much superior to any existing automatic pistol except for military purposes.

As there would be no danger of putting in a higher power cartridge the pistol could be lightened and balance better, all the weight possible being taken off the barrel and fore end, the barrel fluted, etc., so that the balance would be even better than in a duelling pistol, owing to its shorter barrel.

It may be found that the barrel could be lengthened, so as to be longer between the sights, without spoiling the balance.

As the gallery charge is so light, the recoil would be all expended in operating the mechanism—there would be no recoil left against the hand.

Most of the difficulties in designing automatic firearms are having to withstand the enormous pressure of modern cartridges. If you go back to a light pressure in the cartridge, all these difficulties vanish and all parts can be made light.

Such a pistol ought easily to beat all existing rapid-fire revolver records, as good scores as those under duelling conditions should be made, in fact I think better scores, as there is no necessity to raise the hand after the first shot.

With a Winchester .22 automatic rifle I can put the ten shots in three seconds into a two-inch bull at twenty yards, the only time spent is in getting the aim for the first shot, the other shots can be put in as fast as the trigger can be pressed, as there is no recoil, and therefore no time spent in getting a fresh aim for each shot. The .22 Colt long barrel automatic pistol (see Plate 4) fulfills most of these conditions, but a .44 gallery charge automatic pistol would be better.

CHAPTER LII

It requires great keenness in pistol shooting to endure all the discomfort of waiting for trains, standing in the wet, etc., for the sake of a few minutes’ shooting.

The usual indoor range practice is even worse.

It is true it is “only round the corner,” and takes only a few minutes to get to, but when you do get there!!!

The range is in a part of a building too dark and uncomfortable to be used for any other purpose.

If a narrow underground dungeon is too bad for a wine or coal cellar, a brilliant idea strikes the owner of the property: “Why not turn it into a public shooting gallery, and make it pay?”

The gallery is run on the pay, pay, always pay, and receive nothing, principle.

The shooter pays for the pleasure of ruining his eyesight and ears, pays for the target, pays for the cartridges, pays for the hire of a dirty, greasy, worn out old revolver.

However good a score he makes he receives no prize or encouragement.

No wonder, after one such visit, the public gives the place a wide berth.

The Gastinne-Renette Pistol Gallery at 39, Avenue d’Antin, Paris, is constructed and run as a pistol gallery should be.

The first essential is to have it in a building well-lighted by daylight and airy, and where the neighbours will not object to the sound of firing.

The ideal range is, as at Gastinne-Renette’s, with the firing point covered and the range itself open to the air, but this is only possible under exceptional circumstances, and where gallery ammunition only is fired.

I am strongly of the opinion that unless gallery ammunition is used exclusively, an indoor or semi-indoor range is inadmissible, otherwise the shooting must, of necessity, be done in the country and in the open, with all its attendant inconveniences.

If the range is in an entirely closed gallery it should have plenty of top light (not artificial light), like a sculptor’s studio, or be situated and lighted on the top floor of the house, like a photographer’s studio.

Or it may be a long shed with windows down both sides.

A riding school or a gymnasium having plenty of daylight might do.

By the way, although gymnastics do not need daylight (artificial light is just as good for them), one never hears of a gymnasium in a coal cellar.

It is only the shooter, who is a crank anyhow and not worth serious consideration, who has to put up with a coal cellar.

It is difficult to get an indoor range large enough for practice at moving objects.

So-called moving targets which run for a few feet are not moving targets at all.

To learn shooting at moving objects they should go fast and for a reasonable distance, not less than ten yards, and the further they run, and the more varying the speed, the better.

CHAPTER LIII

One then comes to a long, well-lighted gallery, with cupboards containing the pistols of the members and very accurate, well-kept pistols, for lending to shooters who have not brought their own (see Plates 2 and 10.)

Several pistol clubs, such as the “Le Pistolet” and the “St. George,” shoot here on certain days, at which times the range is closed to the outside public.

The gallery is heated by hot water pipes in winter.

The secretary sits at a desk and sells the entry tickets, gives the prizes (gold, silver, and bronze medals and plaques), and also keeps an accurate record of all winning scores made.

PLATE 15. GASTINNE-RENETTE GALLERY

The walls are hung with the framed targets which have won the Grand Medaille d’Or and other prizes.

Two marble slabs, engraved with the names of the winners of the championship of each year, are by the mantelpiece where hangs the stuffed head of a Sika stag I shot with a duelling pistol.

One of the long sides of the gallery faces a blank wall in the open air about thirty yards distant.

Along that side there are cubicles with glass doors facing this wall, and glass sliding doors opening into the gallery.

Each cubicle has a loading table with drawers for cartridges, etc.

These cubicles have transverse walls in pairs leading to this wall, so as to enable pairs of shooters, if they so desire, to shoot, without being disturbed by the rest of the shooters.

The shooter goes with an attendant into one of the cubicles; the door leading to the gallery is shut and the door on to the range is opened.

The shooter can be seen from the gallery but he is not disturbed by people talking or coming near him.

The assistant loads the pistols, works the metronome, keeps the score, etc.

If the score is good enough to win a prize the assistant calls the secretary to see the target and verify the score and record it in his book before the shots are painted out.

Paper targets shot at are brought to the secretary for verification and signed and kept by him.

Over the top of these open-air passages down which the shooting takes place, wires are stretched to break the sound, so as not to annoy the neighbours.

There are also sloping boards at intervals above, so that a shot let off by accident cannot do any harm—the boards catch all wide bullets.

PLATE 16. GASTINNE-RENETTE GALLERY—FIRING POINTS

The prizes are given on a gradually increasing scale of difficulty, so that nobody need be discouraged.

The bronze medal for shooting at plaster figures at sixteen metres is easy enough for the most moderate pistol shot to win, he is thus encouraged to try for the silver medal at these figures, which is a little more difficult, and so on.

No medal in any of the series can be won more than once.

If a man wins the gold medal at that series at the first attempt he can still go in for the silver and bronze medals of that series, but, when he has won all three medals of a series, he can never compete in that series again, but of course can shoot for practice at them.

Some series call for extreme accuracy and some for endurance, as that for breaking a hundred small plates in succession—rapid-firing—under duelling conditions.

In Chapter XXXIII, I described the target used at Gastinne-Renette’s Gallery for the three series for the Grand Medaille d’Or.

There are no second prizes in these series.

One gold medal is for twelve shots deliberate shooting with the .44 calibre duelling pistol.

A similar one for the .44 calibre revolver, and also a similar one for the duelling pistol, shot under duelling conditions.

All are shot at sixteen metres range (seventeen yards one foot).

To win either of the first two gold medals all the twelve shots must be inside the first ring round the bull’s-eye, that is inside (not cutting a ring of five bullets’ diameter (2⅕ inches).

To win the third gold medal all the twelve shots must be inside, not cutting, the second ring round the bull’s-eye, that is to say inside seven bullets’ diameter (3.08 inches).

This latter appears the most easy competition, but on the contrary whilst some forty or more have won the first two medals, only five have won the latter, during the seventy years.

Chevalier Ira Paine is the only man who won both the first named gold medals. I do not think he tried for the third. In fact I have not seen or heard of any score of his shot under duelling conditions.

I am the only one during the seventy years the competitions have been in existence who has won both the gold medals for rifle shooting at moving objects at this gallery, the Running Rabbit and the Running Man, about five have won either one or the other of these medals.