Walter Winans

“ When artificial light is used, it should be screened, so that from the firing-point the targets are distinct, but the source of light invisible. At the firing-point it is difficult to get a satisfactory light. If this gallery is not made in a greenhouse, 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. If it is behind 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 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Should you be mounted and your adversary afoot, jumping off and sheltering yourself behind your horse will protect you from a revolver-shot; but not an automatic pistol; also galloping hard at him and shouting may spoil his aim; but if he is cool he may take an easy shot at you when you are past and before you can turn.
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. ”

“ 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 apologize 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 ”

“ 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, and below it a shallow tray, filled with sand, to catch the bullets, which flatten on the steel and drop into the tray. As only very light powder-charges are used, and as the bullets for this purpose are round, or semi-round, this is sufficient. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 and straining the eyes. ”

“ Shooting out to sea is safe, if one keeps a good lookout for boats; but the glare from the water is bad. A sand or chalk pit is a good place to shoot in, or one can shoot against a high chalk cliff. It is dangerous to shoot anywhere where people cross unexpectedly, as from round the corner of a building.
The great thing is that the pistol should never point 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 occur. ”

“ 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 (“reaction time”) for the process of timing first contact in eclipses, and each observer deducts his own personal error, which seems constant to him. [Pg 45] This allowance varies in revolver shooting with different men.
Some men aim at a spot, and wait for the target to come up to it; but this is useless, as any one knows who has shot moving game with a gun. ”

“ If your shot goes wide of the bull, be sure, before you alter your aim for the next shot, whether it is not your “squeeze-off” which is wrong.
[Pg 36] A practised shot can correct the shooting of his pistol 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 does not “count” much; those who do not understand shooting judge the goodness of a score by how much it counts, or by how many shots are in or near the bull’s-eye. ”

“ 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 practise is at home; there is [Pg 74] 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 in a score before beginning again; but stop at the first shot scoring less than six points. ”

“ It is curious that, contrary to the usual idea that in firing quickly with a pistol one is prone to “shoot over,” the exact reverse is the case, and that snatching at the trigger generally gives a low left shot. I have my pistols 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 of a revolver. 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 ”

“ 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, but it looks more manly to stand perfectly erect. ”

“ 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 [Pg 84] think is up to the limit of your skill, you may let that series alone till you have reached your limit in another series. Never watch a good man shooting; it will only make you doubt if you can beat him. ”

“ 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 many cases wearing the revolver openly or having it in one’s hand, even unloaded, suffices. ”

“ Pistol-shooting is good also for the flexors 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. ”

“ Knocking a chair over, throwing something past or at him, with your non-shooting hand, or calling out to some 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 pistol in your hand—or even make towards it—unless you mean to shoot instantly; it will only draw his fire, or he may unexpectedly disarm you in the way described below.
[Pg 125] Supposing you are unarmed and your adversary has a pistol, you may be able to render his weapon harmless by ejecting his cartridges. ”

“ A lady can carry a pistol hidden for self-defence in many more ways than a man, owing to her draperies affording more places for concealment. Cloaks, capes, etc., make good hiding-places for a pistol; inside a muff is about one of the best places; and a small pistol 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, with Elliot ear protectors. ”

“ 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 immediately after 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. ”

“ 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.
[Pg 129] If your opponent is a bad shot, you can take a long 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.
In fact, a bad shot armed with a pistol 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. ”

“ With an automatic pistol there is no need to cock it after the first shot, but with a revolver the instant the hammer has fallen, cock quietly with your right thumb, and lower your pistol to the table as before. In all cocking, I mean it to be understood that it 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. ”

“ I prefer card targets or the Gastinne Renette target which registers hits at the firing-point.
On no account have targets that necessitate any one’s going down the range, or coming out from a mantlet, to change. There is sure to be an accident sooner or later. Have them made to draw up to the firing-point for examination and change, and never let any one turn round with a pistol 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 Shoot. All these rules apply equally to gallery shooting. ”

“ Many makes of revolvers and automatic pistols have the stock much below the level of the barrel, which consequently is 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. A man who holds a pistol properly does not need a big stock, even if he has a big hand. ”

“ After each shot 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 pistol goes off again. You can fire as quickly as you can get your aim.
If using an automatic pistol, 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. Do not keep on too long; half a dozen practice scores are ample at a time. One only gets erratic and wild if one continues too long, and the pistol also gets hot. ”

“ 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 pistols. This class of pistol is intended only for self-defence at short range, and has no pretensions to accuracy. ”

“ 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 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 spoiling your shooting. ”

“ 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 forefinger round the trigger; also remember to squeeze straight back in practising for duelling.
A metronome to beat 100 to the minute is used. You cock the pistol and stand with the left foot behind the line of fire,—the right foot may be outside,—your elbow touching your hip, the butt of the pistol touching your thigh, and the pistol pointing at the ground. ”

“ 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. The pistol which is sighted by projecting a light would simply give [Pg 127] the enemy an easy aim. The iron rails of banisters, 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 revolver (gallery ammunition by preference) for house protection ”