Manual of arms

“ At command arms, with the right hand carry the piece in front of the center of the body. Barrel to the rear and vertical. Grasp it with left hand at the balance. Left forearm is horizontal and rests against body. The balance of the piece is approximately the position of the rear sight. ”

“ It is a good plan to practise the following movements every morning before beginning the sword exercises. To avoid confusion they are here given as in the little Manual on the Infantry Sword; they are effected without any accessories, and you commence by being in the position of “Attention,” i.e. stand with the heels close together at an angle of about sixty degrees, arms hanging down by the sides, chest expanded, back straight, shoulders back, and head well up. ”

“ GENERAL PRINCIPLES “Each arm has its special characteristics and functions, and is dependent on the assistance of others; the full power of an army can be exerted only when all its parts act in close combination, and this is not possible unless the members of each arm understand the characteristics of the other arms.”
The above paragraph from Field Service Regulations, Part I., 1909, aptly illustrates a principle which should be impressed upon every serious machine-gun student, for the principles of machine-gun tactics are based upon those of the arm with which they are co-operating. ”

“ There are three things in military life which make a great appeal to me; the rifle's reply to the pull of the trigger-finger, the gossip of soldiers in the crowded canteen, and the onward movement of a thousand men in full marching order with arms at the trail. And at no time is this so impressive as at night when with rifles held in a horizontal position by the side, the arm hanging easily from the shoulder, we march at attention in complete silence. ”

“ He will keep in a proper arm chest securely locked, a musket and bayonet, two pistols and a sword. The arms are to be kept in perfect order and to be inspected by an officer once a month, when the arms are to be discharged and charged anew. ”

“ To do uniform shooting the weapon must be held with exactly the same grip for each shot, not only must the hand grasp the stock at the same point for each shot, but the tension of the grip must be uniform. ”

“ The practice of throwing off a stock at the butt, or bending from the hand to the heel-plate, in a direction to the right, so that the eye may get more readily in a line with the centre of the breech and the sight, is a practice not to be defended on scientific principles. ”

“ Sergeant-instructor, three bar chevrons and crossed rifles on right arm above the elbow. Crossed rifles will not he worn unless the non-commissioned officer is in possession of a School of Musketry certificate.
In the Royal Artillery, Royal Engineers, and Royal Army Medical Corps, a gun, grenade, or Geneva Cross will be worn in addition. With service dress, badges and chevrons will be worn on both arms. ”

“ The whole body is kept perfectly rigid, the chest expanded as much as possible, against which the left elbow is allowed to rest, the rifle being held with the left hand as near the trigger guard as it can be placed. ”

“ At all other times when movements in the manual of the pistol are executed dismounted the left hand is raised to the position of the bridle hand whenever used to manipulate the mechanism and is then dropped again to the side. ”

“ Enlisted men who have qualified as expert riflemen in the navy rifle target firing course wear a design representing a small arms target about four inches above the bottom of the sleeve of the dress coat, field coats, flannel shirt and overcoat, the design showing a target one inch square with two circles and a bull’s-eye inside of it. ”

“ Their arms are lances and pikes, bows and arrows, rockets, and matchlocks, but whether with or without other weapons, every man constantly wears a sword and shield. In battle, the different arms move in distinct bodies ”

“ Extended campaigns and long marches necessitated lighter equipment, and we find in contemporary records instances, not only of the men-at-arms discarding their armour owing to its inconvenience, but also of commanders ordering them to lighten their equipment for greater rapidity of movement. ”

“ The arm and leg guards are laced to the special undergarment which had always to be worn with armor, and each limb supports its own protection. The joints come at exactly the right places to correspond with the natural motions of the body, and every one of these motions is provided for. ”

“ THE FOURTEENTH AND FIFTEENTH CENTURIES THE fourteenth century witnessed a notable transformation in military equipment. [C] The introduction of firearms and the marked improvement in weapons of offence led to the almost complete abandonment of the coats of mail which had served the chivalry of Europe so long and so well, and to the substitution of plate armour for at least the more vital points of the harness. ”

“ In a Pass in Quarte, the Hands and Arms must be displayed as in a Lunge, not only in their Figure, but in the same Order, that is to say, the Hand must move first to bring on the Shoulder and the Body; which should lean more forward than in Lunging, at the Time that carrying the left Foot about two Foot and an half, you find your Pass at it's full Extention. ”

“ The increased popularity of tilting and similar martial exercises brought about a demand for heavy reinforcing pieces of armour, such as could not be worn habitually except by men of the strongest physique, in the field. Henceforward we find a distinction made between war harness and tilting harness. ”

“ Some riflemen prefer to extend the left arm. Such a position gives greater control over the [Pg 472] rifle when firing in a strong wind or at moving objects. It also possesses advantages when a rapid as well as accurate delivery of fire is desired. Whatever the position, whether standing, kneeling, sitting, or prone, the piece should rest on the palm of the left hand, never on the tips of the fingers, and should be firmly grasped by all the fingers and the thumb.
The eye may be brought to the line of sight either by lowering the head or by raising the shoulder ”

“ The only parts of a rifle that an enlisted man is permitted to take apart are the bolt mechanism and the magazine mechanism. Learn how to do this from your squad leader, for you must know how in order to keep your rifle clean. Never remove the hand guard or the trigger guard, nor take the sights apart unless you have special permission from a commissioned officer. ”

“ The study of antique firearms is a fascinating one. Contrary to usual belief, firearms are not a late invention. They were in use before complete suits of plate armor were made, and continued in use throughout the entire period that plate armor was worn. ”

“ We are trained to the rifle; it is always with us, on parade, on march, on bivouac, and recently, when going through a dental examination, we carried our weapons of war into the medical officer's room. As befits units of a rifle regiment, we have got accustomed to our gun, and now, as fully trained men, we have established the necessary unity between hand and eye, and can load and unload our weapon with butt-plate stiff to shoulder and eye steady on target while the operation is in progress. In fact, our rifle comes to hand as easy as a walking-stick. ”

“ The Grip.—Grasp the stock as high as possible with the thumb and last three fingers, the forefinger alongside the trigger guard, the thumb extended along the stock. The barrel hand and fore-arm should be as nearly in one line as possible when the weapon is pointed toward the target. The grasp should not be so tight as to cause tremors but should be firm enough to avoid losing grip. The lower the stock is grasped the greater will be the movement or jump of the muzzle caused by recoil. ”

“ Success in the improvement of small arms is a sure encouragement to those anxious for the advancement of projectile science, and it is a coat of mail in which to fight against the prejudices and incompetency of official management. ”

“ By practice the soldier becomes familiar with the trigger squeeze of his rifle, and knowing this, he is able to judge at any time, within limits, what additional pressure is required for its discharge. By constant repetition of this exercise he should be able finally to squeeze the trigger to a certain point beyond which the slightest movement will release the sear. ”

“ One important point is that, whether the guns are used as an arm, in numbers, or as auxiliaries, in sections, they should be free to move without having to maintain their exact position relatively to some other unit. ”

“ Offensive arms consist of swords, axes, lances, javelins, and arrows. The swords are long, of uniform width nearly to the extremity which comes abruptly to a point, and have heavy, strong hilts. The axes exhibit no remarkable peculiarity. ”

“ The Machine-gun Platoon is an integral part of every infantry battalion, but in Attack machine guns are frequently grouped for the purpose of providing overhead or other covering fire, while in Defence they form, with the artillery, the framework into which the defensive dispositions are fitted, and by reason of their fire-power machine guns enable a commander to economise in the number of infantry allotted to a purely defensive rôle. ”

“ Many gunsmiths cast soft lead at the end of a rod, using the muzzle of the gun as a size mould, and after removing from the barrel, apply oil and fine emery, and with this work the inside of the barrel. ”

“ Fig. 2
1350. Sighting or aiming. Now, on the rifle there are two "sights,"—the front sight and the rear sight,—which enable the rifleman to regulate the path of the bullet, as the ball player regulates the path of the ball.
If the ball player wants distance, he throws the ball high (raises the path, the trajectory) , using his eye and guesswork, and likewise if the rifleman wants to shoot at a distant target, he, too, shoots the bullet high (that is, he raises the muzzle of his rifle) , but he doesn't have to depend upon guesswork. ”

“ Before proceeding to examine the suit of Full Plate, with all its interesting details and differences as exemplified in the various armouries of England and Europe, it will be well to make clear the main principles which governed the manufacture of such armour. We should remember that the whole history of our subject is one long struggle of defensive equipment against offensive weapons. ”

“ It is no mean evidence of ancient skill, and knowledge of gunnery and mechanics combined, to state, that only a few years ago, a gunmaker of some celebrity, constructed a number of rifles and pistols to load at the breech, on the very same principle adopted in this gun 312 years ago. ”

“ As additional instruction, the men may be permitted to wield the rifle left handed, that is on the left side of the body, left hand at the small of the stock. Many men will be able to use this method to advantage. ”

“ Each man, with eyes on his opponent, carries the left hand smartly to the right side, palm of the hand down, thumb and fingers extended and joined, forearm horizontal, forefinger touching the bayonet. ”

“ The Mode Of Action.—The machine gun acting only by its fire can prepare an attack or repulse an offensive movement, but it does not conquer ground. The latter role is almost exclusively that of infantry which is fitted for crossing all obstacles. When it will suffice to act by fire, employ the machine gun in preference to infantry, preserving the latter for the combined action of movement and fire. ”

“ In the splendid work on “Ancient Armour and Arms,” by Sir S. R. Meyrick, 2 vols. folio, 1830, numerous illustrative plates of firearms occur in the following order:—Arquebus, plate 114, figure 5.—Blunderbuss, a snaphaunce, from the Dutch donderbus, thunder-gun, p. 119, f. 10.—Carabine, a wheel-lock, p. 116, f. 1.—117, and 119, f. 9.—Carabineers, p. 43.—Cross bow, p. 94; 95; 98.—Flask for powder, p. 123; 124.—Musket, p. 117 ”