Range (firearms)

“ A rifle, before purchase, should also be carefully tested as to accuracy of shooting; this can be best done on some rifle range. For sporting purposes, accuracy of delivery and power of penetration at moderate distances are much more valuable qualities than length of range. ”

“ Range usually governs the construction of the target rifle, long-range rifles not being necessarily the best weapons for a short range of, say, 200 yds. Limitations—such as the amount of powder charge, weight of bullet and rifle—are also usually imposed in order to place all competitors on equal terms. The long-range match rifle is not the superior of the military rifle as a weapon, but as a scientific shooting instrument is the best small-arm produced. The ordinary target rifle is a hybrid arm, combining the points of the long-range match, modern military and best sporting rifles. ”

“ The range being known, the proper elevation (or charge of powder in mortars) and length of fuze is given by tables of fire obtained from calculation or experiment. The ranges for guns of position are determined by thorough surveys of the surrounding country or harbor channels, by which the distances of all prominent points in the route of an approaching enemy are fixed beforehand. The ranges in field artillery are usually obtained by trial shots at the enemy. For small-arm and field-gun firing, the importance of at once getting the range cannot be overvalued ”

“ But we have seen from Sketch 1 that, in proportion as the range gets long, so does the range accuracy of the gun decrease, and that this loss of accuracy is greater in small guns than in bigger. To hit with it at all a more perfect fire control is necessary, and for any given number of96 rounds a much smaller proportion of hits will be made. The advantage of the big gun over the small, merely as a hitting weapon, is twofold. ”

“ This distance, 1000 yards, is considered the limit of effective rifle fire, though a good shot can do a considerable amount of damage at 2000 yards, and the limit of range of the Lee-Enfield magazine rifle, the one in use in the British Army, extends to 2800 yards. The weight of the bullet is so small, however, that at the long distances atmospheric conditions, and especially wind, have a great influence on the course of its flight, while the power of human sight is also a factor in limiting the effective range. ”

“ The principle of heavy guns being superior at long range is exemplified by the Sketches 1 and 2. Sketch 1 represents the manner in which a salvo of guns may be expected to spread if all the sights are set to the same range. All guns lose in range accuracy as the range increases, but light guns more than heavy. If six 6-inch guns are fired at a target at 12,000 yards the shell will be apt to be spread94 out as shown in the top line. ”

“ The range should be taken by a range-finder or ascertained from neighbouring infantry or artillery. Ranging by observation of fire should be employed only when the nature of the soil is very favourable and when no other method is practicable. When a reserve ammunition cart is provided for the machine guns it will be under the orders of the machine-gun commander, who will arrange that it is placed where it can most conveniently supply the guns with ammunition ”

“ Big guns need less accurate range-finding, because the danger space is greater
The 9.2 will fall at a more gradual angle, and the shot grazing on X will fall at C, which is twenty yards beyond B; and a 12-inch shell, falling still more gradually, will fall at D, which is 100 yards from A; and similarly the 13.5 at E, which is 150 yards beyond it. Hence, at any given range, far more accurate knowledge of range is necessary for hitting with a 6-inch gun than with a 9.2, with a 9.2 than with a 12-inch, and with a 12-inch than with a 13.5. ”

“ He gave the range for the guns to the transmitting station, watched the fall of the shot, estimated its distance over or short of the target, and supplied the necessary corrections. As it was useless to expect that firing the secondary guns would be of any value until the range came down to about 12,000 yards, or to repel destroyer or light cruiser attack, there would be a long interval of waiting before he would have anything to do. ”

“ With respect to ranges exceeding 2,000 yards, I may state that on previous occasions the gun had been tried up to 3,000 yards—a distance which was reached with an elevation of 11 deg., and the usual charge of 10 ounces of powder, or 1-8th the weight of the projectile. By augmenting the charge the range is increased, but the accuracy is impaired; and I therefore adhere to the 10-ounce charge, which [134] gives ample penetration, as the experiments at the butt will testify. ”

“ The .22 automatic, an Army model from the 2040s, was the best. The tiny bullets carried a paralytic poison: graze a man's finger and he was painlessly dead in three minutes. Effective range, with telescopic sights, three kilometers; weight, a scant five pounds. ”

“ Or nearer to the line, the whistle of an approaching shrapnel speaks of coming danger, and then a prone figure on the ground tells of one more who has been 'pipped,' to use a [162] colloquialism of the Front. When we consider the extreme range of a seventeen-inch gun as being not far short of thirty miles, the difficulty of being out of range is at once apparent. Nearer at hand, within a few yards, an accurately thrown bomb is a fruitful source of injury to our fighting men, whilst in these days of accurate rifle fire 'snipers' mark the slightest movement at a thousand yards. ”

“ Gunners of the R.F.A. have all their time taken up by the care of the gun, its fittings and appointments, as well as by the various separate instruments connected with the use of a gun. For instance, all arms of the service possess and make use of range-finding instruments, known as mekometers, but in the artillery the mekometer is a larger and more complicated affair, for the range of the gun is several times greater than that of the rifle, and range finding is consequently a far more complex business. ”

“ In artillery, at this most important time in war’s history, no attention whatever is paid to this essential principle. A long 10-inch gun, a 68-pounder, and a short 6-pounder are all charged with powder of the same granulation; whilst by a more judicious use of gunpowder of suitable granulation, the range might be extended, just as it is in sporting arms, to nearly 20 per cent.
Artillerists seek to effect great range by doubling the weight of the gun, and projectile monsters meet us at all points, to become in every case “monster failures.” ”

“ Any shooting at a distance beyond fifty yards with a pistol is almost unheard of in America; but it is believed that before long the experts who become so proficient with the pistol at this range will shoot at much longer distances, and we shall not be surprised to see matches shot up to 200 yards, and, perhaps, at a longer distance, as the officers in the European armies practise up to 400 paces and secure good results. ”

“ When no classification range is available, elementary practices with service ammunition may be carried out on a 30 yards range. Such practice will render recruits familiar with the discharge of the rifle, and improve their trigger release under easy conditions. No practice will take place unless an officer or experienced serjeant is present. ”

“ Along with every gun there are two carriages for transporting the shell and shrapnel which are fired from it.
Field guns are of various sorts and sizes, according to the work which they have to do. Our Royal Field Artillery is armed with a quick-firing gun, called an eighteen-pounder, because it throws a shot weighing eighteen pounds. This gun is made by winding strong ribbons of steel round a long steel tube. It can throw its charge for about three and a half miles, but it is most effective when the range is not more than about two and a quarter miles. ”

“ By massing the machine guns of a brigade the assurance of fire effect at ranges beyond 1,000 yards is increased, and it is easier to control and direct fire. At shorter ranges massed machine guns may form a conspicuous target, and the control of more than two guns then becomes difficult. Occasions will, however, often arise when the massed guns of a brigade can be brought into action in a well-concealed position within the limits of effective rifle range. Under such circumstances massed guns may produce great effect both in attack and defence. ”

“ So far, we have talked only of the big guns, but in a modern battle the field-gun plays a very important part. This fires a shell that weighs between fourteen and eighteen pounds and is about three inches in diameter. The shell and the powder that fires it are contained in a cartridge that is just like the cartridge of a shoulder rifle. These field-pieces are built to be fired rapidly. The French 75-millimeter gun, which is considered one of the best, will fire at the rate of twenty shots per minute, and its effective range is considerably over three miles. ”

“ The gun’s narrow frontage in action renders it easy to conceal, and when discovered it presents a very small and difficult target to the enemy’s riflemen; on the other hand, when once discovered if it cannot be moved unseen to another position it is liable to suffer a prolonged and concentrated fire from the widely scattered riflemen of the enemy, to which it cannot effectively reply, and which must in time cause loss. Again, its range being limited, it is powerless against artillery except under special circumstances at effective rifle range. ”

“ The tremendous range of the modern rifle, single arm, or rapid-fire gun, and the development of more powerful explosives for ammunition have wrought this change. The bullet will travel a longer distance at a horizontal position than in the old days when ordinary black powder and a smooth-bore gun were used, and so at hundreds of yards distance the soldiers can aim direct to kill, without making elevation allowances. ”

“ Accuracy may be improved by moro perfect methods of range finding, but, as regards the actual shooting of the guns, it is already in advance of the difficul ties of atmospheric irregularity, which affects the smaller projectiles greatly. ”

“ It is the consensus of all artillery officers—French, British and American—that the heavy field gun should be of approximately 6” caliber and with a range in excess of 25,000 yards, with not less than 60 degree traverse, weighing not more than 12 tons, limbered, capable of occupying and leaving a position quickly, and with a width of tread which does not prevent two-way traffic on ordinary roads. ”

“ In England all open air pistol ranges have the firing points unprotected. From a financial point of view this is a mistake. It is better to spend money on making the range usable in all weathers. Otherwise it is often deserted as nobody cares to shoot in a high wind. ”

“ When pointing at the center of the target the danger space changes, increasing for low rear sight elevations and tall targets, and decreasing for high rear sight elevations and low targets, as compared with aim taken at the bottom line of a target. “The evil effects of errors in estimating the range decrease as the ‘danger space’ increases, which, by the way, is wholly dependent upon the ballistic properties of the rifle, upon the range, and the height of the target. ”

“ Stirring in every mind, moreover, was the desire to hear the crack of a rifle and the rush of its projectile.
Drawn by Private Enroth, Battery D
A quiet game in a mess hall at Upton
That wouldn't be long now, for the target range was progressing. Large signs at neighboring crossroads warned the countryside of danger. When, we asked, were we going to justify such violent displays?
The range outlined to many of us for the first time our mission. It is one thing to call out at drill a range of 5,000. It is quite another to walk from a projected gun position to a target 5,000 yards away. ”

“ The probabilities of hitting objects of various size, the gun and range being the same, are somewhat in the ratio of the square roots of the surfaces fired at.
Of any given number of rounds, with 24-pounders of nine feet six inches, under favourable circumstances, the range being accurately ascertained, the object on, or nearly on, a level with the gun—the traverse or trunnion—axis of the gun—being horizontal, the following proportion of shot may be expected to hit without grazing:
Ranges of a 32-pounder long gun, 91⁄2 feet, charge 10 lbs. ”

“ When to Aim Up and Down.—The rifle will be aimed up or down to increase or reduce elevation at all ranges when there is no time to alter sights, as, for example, in firing at targets in movement, in repulsing a charge at close range, in case of surprise, when very slight alterations of elevation are seen to be necessary, as the result of observation of fire, and to avoid frequent small changes of sighting which lead to loss of fire effect. Correction of sighting in individual firing at close range is seldom possible in war. ”

“ I patented similar shield on a soldier’s rifle to protect his usually exposed left hand, and also to partially protect his head, when shooting.
Do not shoot at any one at a shorter range than twenty metres (twenty-one yards two feet) ; the blow from the bullet at twenty metres is not too severe if the shooter is properly protected.
It is useless for practice to shoot at a longer range than twenty metres as the bullet rapidly loses its accuracy beyond that distance. ”

“ The general considerations which govern the selection of a target for machine guns are—its tactical importance, its range, and its vulnerability.
Machine guns should seldom engage artillery with direct fire beyond effective rifle range, for in such circumstances superiority of fire will always rest with the artillery if the machine guns are located. Within effective range machine guns, if concealed, should inflict considerable loss on artillery, while oblique fire may be usefully employed up to the limits of long rifle range. ”