Automatic pistol

“ You will therefore not have to aim so far in front with an automatic pistol when shooting at moving objects, and not have to take so high an aim at distance objects to allow for the drop of the bullet—as with a revolver. ”

“ If it has one misfire in every twenty shots, or so, it does not matter, the great thing being to have it cock easily. An automatic pistol is the weapon for this, a revolver being quite out of date. A very big front sight and a big “U” in the back one are advisable.
As the target rises, “come up,” quickly, increasing the pressure on the trigger as you “come up,” so that the pistol 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. ”

“ An expert shot can be trusted with a trigger-pull so light that in the hands of a less skilful or careful shot there would be great danger of the pistol being discharged accidentally. The automatic pistol is put to full-cock automatically with violence, by the discharge. Therefore the trigger-pull has to be made much heavier than the trigger-pull of a single-shot pistol, where the shooter cocks it gently with his own hand. ”

“ 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 it impossible for them to make good shooting on a white target with black “bull.” ”

“ With an automatic pistol there is little in a room to hide behind which gives protection and it only gives the opponent courage and time to take a deliberate shot through the obstacle, if you try to shelter yourself. If he tries to take shelter behind something impenetrable, if you fire into what he is sheltered behind it often brings him out and enables you to get a shot at him. ”

“ In the automatic pistol, the recoil from the explosion drives the working part of the pistol back against a strong spring. As soon as the force of the explosion is spent, this spring forces the working parts back into place again. These working parts do all the work the shooter does in a single-shot pistol—that is, it cocks the pistol, opens the breech, extracts the spent cartridge, inserts a fresh cartridge, and closes the breech. ”

“ Hiding behind a door or closing and locking the door is no protection against a bullet from an automatic pistol, even the very smallest calibres having great penetration.
The only way in which closing a door may protect those on the other side is that the one shooting cannot actually aim at them.
As very few men can hit what they aim at with a pistol, this is not much advantage. In fact, the [Pg 201] person shot at by a bad shot is safer than those at the sides. It is difficult to hit what is desired but something else is sure to be hit however badly the pistol is aimed. ”

“ 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. ”

“ If, however, it is important that you should learn an automatic pistol well, and the single-shot pistol is only used for getting familiar with firearms, then have the trigger-pull adjusted to be as near as possible, not only of the strength, but of the character of the automatic pistol you intend to use later. ”

“ Even the possibility of gaining a spoon applies to only a few shooting clubs. The shooting galleries in black cellars, do not give prizes. You are supposed to be fully compensated, after being deafened by a man with a full charge revolver or automatic pistol blazing away into the darkness beside you, by paying for your targets, ammunition, and hire of a greasy revolver with a trigger-pull hard enough to break your finger and a report like a cannon, whilst you strain your eyes to see a black front sight in the darkness. ”

“ Before purchasing an automatic pistol it would be well to try shooting several makes. Inventors have not yet arrived at anything like a standard shape. The grip, angle of stock, distance of trigger, etc., all vary, and you can decide what suits you best only by actual trial. ”

“ Behind the big butt for a thousand yards’ rifle shooting makes a very big butt for twenty-five yards’ automatic pistol shooting and allows for swinging and moving targets on an ample scale.
In an open air range great care must be taken to be very strict as to rules of safety.
There becomes a tendency to walk down to the butt to examine a target without first giving warning; to walk about with some cartridges still in the pistol, etc.
Things which would not be done in an indoor range seem to come natural to some men when in an out-of-doors range.
Targets that can smash are the best. ”

“ 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. ”

“ There is no direct danger to the eyes in pistol shooting, that is to say, with a good pistol there is no chance of a blow back of fire into the eyes, as there is in a cheap, rim fire rifle. The eyes are apt, however, to get bloodshot and sore from powder smoke blown back into them in a head wind, especially from the ejecting cartridge of an automatic pistol.
When doing much shooting daily out-of-doors it is well to wear a pair of big diameter spectacles fitting well behind the ears so that they do not shift. ”

“ The cheap grades with which the market is at [Pg 19] all times flooded should be avoided. They are incapable of doing good work, and frequently are positively dangerous, on account of being made of inferior materials.
The magazine or automatic pistol is the latest type of hand firearm. It is a multishot pistol in which the mechanism is operated automatically by the recoil. Pulling the trigger is the only manual operation necessary to fire successive shots until the supply of cartridges in the magazine (usually six to ten) is exhausted. ”

“ With any hammer automatic pistol or revolver you can make it harmless by slipping your thumb under the hammer, or, in the case of a revolver, if you are strong in the grip, by holding the cylinder and preventing it revolving after the first shot is fired. ”

“ In 1917 an automatic pistol won it, till then it was shot for only with revolvers.
I am sure the better the police can shoot, the less apt they will be to draw a pistol unnecessarily; [Pg 318] they are confident in their skill; it is the man who is given a pistol for the first time who looses off and hits the wrong man.
I think it is a mistake to arm police with a .38 or .32 pistol instead of a full-size .44 or .45 military one. A policeman has often to face great odds and a mob will not, like enemy soldiers in battle, spare him when down. A mob will kick him to death. ”

“ Any one taking up automatic-pistol shooting seriously should go to a gunmaker and learn all about its mechanism so that he will know what is wrong when the pistol refuses to operate.
Each make of automatic varies, so I cannot give elaborate instructions as to handling. Each make may have some point where it is simpler and superior to others though in other respects it may be inferior. ”

“ The magazine rifle is purposely made with a bolt like a door bolt, so that it can be operated easily under all conditions, but the automatic pistol, evidently to give it a neat external appearance, has no projection to take hold of to drive back the slide, which, besides, takes more strength than is required to operate the bolt of a magazine rifle. ”

“ To really know your automatic pistol, it is best to have a few hours with a gunmaker, taking it to pieces, and learning the use of each part, and how to correct any failure of the pistol to function properly. Otherwise you may, when in an out-of-the-way place, be rendered helpless by a simple fault which could be corrected in a few moments without the use of tools by someone who understands its mechanism. ”

“ 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. ”

“ This shows that in the actual work of war there is a tendency for an automatic pistol to become weak in the closing spring, and there ought to be some simple device for increasing the tension of the spring, when necessary. ”

“ Even if a long range Mauser or other automatic pistol of the latest type be employed, two hands are necessary for firing purposes, more particularly as, under such conditions, the machine, if not kept under control, is apt to lurch and pitch disconcertingly.
Even a colleague carried for the express purpose of aggression is handicapped. If he has a machinegun, such as a Maxim or a mitrailleuse, it is almost out of the question to train it vertically. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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, if using a revolver, irregularly 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 with a shot, return to the snapping-empty-cartridge practice. ”

“ The single-shot pistol is the most accurate of any, there being no escape of gas.
The automatic has not only a much longer range than the revolver (although the popular idea that it can be shot accurately at a thousand yards or more is nonsense) but it cocks itself instead of having to be cocked by the thumb, or trigger finger.
Cocking by trigger-pull is such a strain on, not only the trigger finger, but the whole hand, that, after a few shots, good shooting cannot be made. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 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 either from the hammer receiving an accidental blow, slipping from the thumb, catching in something, or from the trigger being touched unintentionally, or the revolver being left at full-cock. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Most pistols, automatics especially, are muzzle heavy. There is really no pistol except the duelling pistol which balances properly, and the automatic will have to be altered in this respect before it can become the ideal weapon for rapid shooting. ”