Though my last edition of Hints on Revolver Shooting was published only four years ago, I find it now necessary, owing to the advance of the automatic pistol, to revise it thoroughly and to add new chapters. Till quite recently, the automatic pistol had many defects, both as to balance and as to safety, chiefly in the latter respect, so that only a very careful expert could handle one without danger to the public and to himself. This has now been altered, and with safety bolts and external hamme

THE AUTOMATIC PISTOL This is the pistol of the future and the revolver has now to give place to it, just as the horse has to give place to the automobile for traction purposes. Still, like the horse, the revolver seems still to have before it a future for certain purposes, and one uses a revolver where one would not care to use an automatic pistol. The superiority of the revolver consists in its being adaptable to reduced charges and also in its being less complicated and less apt to be discharg

SELECTING A PISTOL You must first decide for what purpose you want the pistol; a “general utility” one is about as much use as a hunter who goes in harness—not much good for either purpose. If you want a hunter, buy an English hunter; if a harness horse, buy 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 short-barrelled pocket automatic against target pistol

CLEANING AND CARE OF PISTOLS Always 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

SIGHTS Sights 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, as he will get into an uncertain way of taking his sights, instead of always the same, which is the only way to make reliable, consistent, shooting. Of course, all your sights may be useless if

LEARNING TO SHOOT It is assumed that you have procured an accurate pistol, properly sighted. It is best to use a single-shot pistol or revolver as an automatic pistol cannot well be used as a single loader and for a beginner is very dangerous with the magazine charged. First, 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, with their sights in a shiny state, which made

RAPID FIRING Rapid firing, in my opinion, is the most practical style of shooting; a pistol is not a weapon for deliberate shooting, but for lightning rapidity at short range. If you are using a 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 shots, or so, it does not matt

TRAVERSING TARGET Target Moving Across the Line of Fire at Twenty Yards This is not so difficult as rapid-firing. The chief difficulty is that when your aim is right horizontally, you may be wrong vertically, and vice versa . When first practising, 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 first put up with the black band vertical, and then with it horizontal. Shooting at it

GALLERY SHOOTING A private gallery can easily be fitted up in the cellars of large country, or even town, houses. All that is needed is a gallery of a certain length—ten yards will suffice at a pinch, with the targets and butt (such as I describe in the chapter on Stage Shooting) at one end. The targets should be lighted from above, preferably by a skylight in the daytime, and by gas, lamp, or electric light at night. When artificial light is used, it should be screened, so that from the firing-

TWENTY YARDS STATIONARY TARGET 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 shooting 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 most of the ten days) not to enter in a limited-e

DISAPPEARING TARGET This target, which has the two-inch bull’s-eye, like the twenty yards stationary 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 forbid the pistol being raised from the firing-table before the target appears; and it must be lowered to the table after each shot. Shooting in this competition is the groundwork of all the competitions other than at stationary

STATIONARY FIFTY-YARDS TARGET Now 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 pistols 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, yo

TEAM SHOOTING AND COACHING When you are a member of a team, do exactly what the captain of the team directs you. 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 responsible; 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 member of your team ask your advice, refer him to your captain. If you are captain of a team, and have the choice of men

SHOOTING IN COMPETITIONS When shooting in competition, be careful not to spoil your opponent’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 perfectly 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

DUELLING The mere word duelling appears to shallow minds a subject for so-called “humour,” like mothers-in-law and cats, but a moment’s thought will show that, in certain circumstances, 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 frequent

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 flinching 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 shooting 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

PISTOL SHOOTING FOR LADIES A pistol 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 pistols, just suited for ladies, which give no recoil, and yet are practical weapons. “U. M. C.” gallery ammunition in a big .44 calibre Smith & Wesson Russian Model gives practically no recoil, and I have seen a lady do very good target

STAGE SHOOTING This subject can be subdivided into two parts: real, expert, very accurate work, requiring great skill and nerve; and conjuring tricks, that is to say, shooting assisted by apparatus and the arts of the conjurer. The greatest insult that can be offered to a professional shot is to call him a conjurer. 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

TRICK SHOOTING We now come to the conjurer’s style of shooting, which I would not advise any one to practise, even for a Charity Bazaar; it will ruin his reputation as a shot. However, I will describe hereunder some of the devices in connexion 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 disk about a foot in diameter, or less, according to the shooter’s skill—of a size he is sure o

SHOOTING IN SELF-DEFENCE This chapter is written entirely from the technical point of view as a branch of pistol shooting, while the legal aspect of the question is treated by law experts in the Appendix of my larger treatise, The Art of Revolver Shooting . Fortunately, however, 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 man

SHOOTING IN THE DARK There are occasions on which it is necessary to shoot at night, as for a night-watchman; or in the case of a wild animal’s jumping into camp and carrying off someone; or in night attacks. For this work, an exceptionally large dead white front sight (either a fixed one or an adjustable one on a hinge) is needful. This sort of sight, though, can only be seen if there is moonlight, or at least some glimmer of light. In pitch-darkness, a large front sight with both itself and th