Round shot

“ It was hit by 44 shot, which not only failed to penetrate it at any point, but utterly failed also to destroy, or even in the least to diminish the ease and rapidity with which it worked round. So utterly, indeed, that the men employed at it declared (we should think with some slight exaggeration) that the pounding it had received had made it work, “if anything, rather better.” ”

“ When once the gunner knows where he has got to shoot for the driven bird (in the singular) , the shot is much easier than the going-away game, because the longer you wait in one case the worse chance you have, and in the other the better chance you have. If the shooter thinks differently, he can turn round in the grouse butt every time, instead of shooting his game coming; but he will soon give that up, because he will find his gun is not equal to the greater requirements of the going-away game. ”

“ Snap and wing shooting is the last word in shotgun handling, requiring quickness in throwing the gun, as well as a trained eye to calculate the distance from and the speed of the flying target. To acquire confidence in using the gun, begin by shooting at a fixed mark. A good target may be made by obtaining a dozen, or two, sheets of stout wrapping paper and painting a 4-in. circle in the center of each sheet. Tack it up on a board fence or on a board hung on a tree, measure off 60 ft., and try a shot. ”

“ Counting all the best shots as my own, my official score was 42; yet none of the shots were outside the second ring, and at worst my score was 39.
In the afternoon my pride had a fall, for after the same tedious wait I fired my ten rounds at the target. This time I fired prone, both clips within two minutes. This position, flat on my belly with my legs apart (in our close quarters it was difficult not to kick my neighbor, and destructive of aim to have him kick me) with my elbows under me and the gun, and my head bent back, is in itself hard enough to maintain during a single shot. ”

“ The Angle of dispart is the number of degrees the axis of the bore would point above the object aimed at, when laid by the surface of the gun.
Point blank range is when the piece is laid at the object without any elevation; the plane and the axis of the bore being parallel to each other. Its distance is measured from the muzzle of the piece (fired with the service charge of powder) to the first graze of the shot, or point at which it first touches the ground.
When a Shot is fired from a gun, it is acted upon by three forces:—
1st. The explosion of the Powder, which urges it forward. ”

“ It is an undisputed law in motion that one body may convey to another, by contact, nearly its own velocity, but in so doing, is sure to come to rest immediately. Strike one billiard ball against another, if the blow is centrical, the ball struck receives the motion, the other comes to rest; and so is it with shot: it is only the layers next the muzzle which strikes the target, the remainder fall without travelling the same distance. I have fired three balls from a rifle, and having marked them I found the uppermost projected farthest, and the others in proportion. ”

“ In narrating long shots that I have made, I recount them as bright moments in the hours of sport; they are the exceptions and not the rule. I consider a man a first-rate shot who can ALWAYS bag his deer standing at eighty yards, or running at fifty. HITTING and BAGGING are widely different. If a man can always bag at the distance that I have named he will constantly hit, and frequently bag, at extraordinary ranges, as there is no doubt of his shooting, and, when he misses, the ball has whizzed somewhere very close to the object; the chances are, therefore, in favour of the rifle. ”

“ Pitching my gun up to my shoulder, both barrels loaded with Eley's red wire cartridge No. 6, I gave him a snap shot, and had the satisfaction of seeing him keeled well over, not wing-tipped or leg-broken, but fairly riddled by the concentrated charge of something within thirty yards. Turning as quick as light, I caught a fleet sight of the other, which by a rapid zig-zag was now flying full across my front, certainly over forty-five yards distant, among a growth of thick-set saplings--the hardest shot, in my opinion, that can be selected to test a quick and steady sportsman. ”

“ Marking and Scoring.—In all matches new paper targets shall be furnished for each competitor. Not more than ten shots are to be fired on any target at 50 yards, and not more than five shots on any target in Matches C, D, E, and F, and for all shooting at 20 yards; the shot holes in all cases to remain uncovered and left as shot. Bullets touching, striking, or within a line on the target are to be scored the count of that line. The eye alone shall determine whether a bullet touches or not. ”

“ Now it is evident that one must aim at what he can be sure of hitting. The high shoulder shot is all right if the distance is so short that one can be absolutely certain of placing his bullet within a six-inch circle. Otherwise the chance of over-shooting--always great--becomes prohibitive. The low shoulder shot increases the circle to from eight to twelve inches, with the chance outside that of merely breaking a foreleg, grazing brisket, or missing entirely under the neck. ”

“ You can easily test the amount of choke in a 12-gauge gun. A new ten-cent piece will just go inside the end of the barrel of a full cylinder gun and just fail to go into one that has been slightly choked.
While it is impossible to give any written directions for shooting that are as valuable as actual practice, the important thing for a beginner is to get his form right at first, just as in golf or horseback riding, and then to make up his mind that every shot has got to count. ”

“ But he ought to be aware, as I suppose he is, though allowing himself to lose sight of principles, that small shot can be, and are, propelled from the barrel with an equal velocity with the larger; it is only in the length of range that the greater triumphs ”

“ This center of impact will not be on the miniature target and may be changed by the board as often as they deem necessary during the examination. These measurements, with the elevation and deflection used, will be given to the candidate, who will be required to make corrections corresponding to the distance of the center of impact from the bull's-eye. Each candidate will fire five shots, the piece being thrown off the target between shots. Each shot will be marked as fired, the candidate making such changes in elevation and deflection as he may deem necessary before firing the next shot. ”

“ Suppose a row of stationary cannon firing shots, which get blown by a cross wind along the slant 1 A Y (neglecting the curvature of path which would really exist) : still the hole in the target fixes the gun's true position, the marker looking along Y A sees the gun which fired the shot. There is no true deviation from [39] the point of view of the receiver, provided the drift is uniform everywhere, although the shots are blown aside and the target is not hit by the particular gun aimed at it. ”

“ If you think it over you will perceive that a wind will not prevent his doing it correctly; the line of hole will point to the shooter along the path of his bullet, though it will not point along his line of aim. Also, if the shots are fired from a moving ship, the line of hole in a stationary target will point to the position the gun occupied at the instant the shot was fired, though it may have moved since then. ”

“ Loading, Firing, Timing, and Cleaning.—In all revolver and pistol matches the weapon must not be loaded until the competitor has taken his position at the firing point. The barrel must always be kept vertical or pointed towards the target. After the target is in position and a match or record score has been begun, in case of an accidental discharge or of defective ammunition, if the bullet comes out of the barrel it will be scored a shot. ”

“ Shot Groups.—Owing to errors on the part of the firer, and also to imperfections in the rifle and ammunition, it is found that a series of shots, even when fired by an individual under perfect conditions at a large, stationary, distinct target at a known and close range, do not all strike the point aimed at, but they form a group of shot-marks about this point, the density of which varies mainly with the skill of the firer. ”

“ Look with the greatest intensity at the bird as it rises, and coolly observe its line of flight while deliberately bringing the barrels to your shoulder. Steadiness will be increased by your not removing the gun from your shoulder the instant you have fired. Never fire when your shot can be of no more advantage than a single bullet. If you have a bet about killing a jack snipe, seize the favourable moment for pulling the trigger when the pellets will be spread over a disk of more than a yard in diameter. ”

“ And for making long shots, the wire cartridge has obviated the necessity of using long guns. A short gun, of the same weight as a long one, is much less tiresome to carry. A pound additional weight at the breech is not so fatiguing to the arm as half that weight added to the end of the barrel; it is the top-heavy gun that distresses the shooter.
Taking the season throughout, we are convinced that the most effective gun is a short light one, for which our standard charge is 1-5/8 drachm, or the tenth part of an ounce of powder, and 2 oz. of No. 2 shot, containing 220 pellets. ”

“ For strong shooting, the wad over the powder should be much thicker than the wad placed over the shot. The several waddings now sold greased with some mercurial preparation undeniably retard leading—a great gain. If the long nozzle of the shot-pouch fits close within the barrel, on unloading your gun you can easily return the shot into the pouch without losing a grain. ”

“ A gun thirty-one inch barrel, fourteen gauge, and eight pounds weight, is as useful an article as you can have. Never poke at a bird, that is, try to see him along the barrels. If you do, you never can be a good or a quick shot. Fix your eye or eyes on the bird, lift up your gun, and fire the moment it touches your shoulder. Practise this a little, and believe me you will give the pokers the go by in a short time. It is the only way to be a sharp shot. ”

“ Once I happened not to take a pistol in hand for a whole month: I had sent my own to the gunsmith’s. Well, what do you think, Count? The first time I began again to shoot I four times running missed a bottle at twenty paces. The captain of our company, who was a wit, happened to be present, and he said to me 'Your hand, my friend, refuses to raise itself against the bottle!' No, Count, you must not neglect to practise, or you will soon lose all skill. The best shot I ever knew used to shoot every day, and at least three times every day before dinner. ”

“ I tried to fire slow, to squeeze, to keep on my own target, (for truly, as the captain lately said, firing on another man’s target is one of the sad things of life.) My second clip I had to shoot quicker until my last shot, when the coach said, “Plenty of time.” So I sighted and squeezed my best, felt that I could call the bullseye, and pulling out the bolt for the last time, to show that the breech and magazine were empty, stood up and stepped back. Now for the score. ”

“ Trial-shots.—The gun is laid so that the shot should have a certain range, all corrections having been determined as described above, except of course that for travel.
The bar is set with the index at zero, and the trammel is set at the muzzle velocity used in the computation for the shot.
The gun is fired and the range of the shot is plotted. The range officer determines how much the shot has fallen short or gone beyond, and announces the result as plus or minus so many yards. The computer moves the bar plus or minus the number of yards announced, using the scale for this purpose. ”

“ Therefore, shot which are of different weights, and impelled by the firing of different charges of powder, acquire velocities which are directly as the square roots of the charges of powder, and inversely as the square roots of the weights of the shot. By making use of shot of a heavier metal than iron (lead for instance) the momentum of the shot discharged with the same charge of powder would be increased in the ratio of the square root of the shot’s weight, which would both augment the force of the blow with which it would strike, and also the extent of the range. ”

“ We can’t afford to waste shots.’
So the three commenced to fire steadily and in turn, each waiting after the other’s shot to see if a man fell, each calling to the others in triumph if a man went down after their shot, growling angrily [101] if the shot missed. They made good shooting amongst them, the man in the middle of the road an unmistakable best and the Canadian second. ”

“ But if the sportsman expressly purposes to shoot wild ducks or hares, then indeed he had better use the number five. However, in shooting with a double barrel gun, it may be prudent to load one of the barrels with large shot for the necessary occasions, and if in any case large shot is required, number five will be found to be better than any other, for its size is not so large as to prevent it from garnishing or being equally spread in the circle, and it can at the same time perform, in effect, all that a larger sized shot can do, which garnishes but very little, if any at all. ”

“ As few sportsmen ever tried so small a charge of powder as 11⁄2 drachm with so heavy a charge of shot as 2 oz., or as large size as No. 2, we invite a trial of the experiment we are about to suggest, with any gun that may happen to be in their possession, not weighing more than 71⁄2 lb. With the above proportions of powder and shot—the shot being oiled—let the shooter fire at forty yards, with good elevation, because large shot droops more than small, at an unbound book nailed to a wall, with an open newspaper (double sheet) spread in front of it. ”