Shooting range

“ Deliberate shooting is a game, a sport, and a very good sport, but it is neither practical pistol shooting or the way to learn it.
An outdoor range gives the best practice, as figures can be put up at various distances and shot at in rapid fire, moving and disappearing targets can run in all directions, and come up unexpectedly like at a shotgun shooting school. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ In this part of the country it is by no means easy to find a place where shooting can be safely practised even at so long a range as five hundred yards,—which is sixty yards more than a quarter of a mile. It is always necessary to have an attendant at the target to point out the shots, and even then the shooter needs a telescope to distinguish them. For ordinary purposes, therefore, the calibre I have indicated is all-sufficient; but if a gun is wanted for shooting up to one thousand yards, the shot should be a full ounce weight. ”

“ I was unlucky in my first rifle practice on the miniature range, and out of my first five shots I did not hit the target once. The instructor lay by my side on the waterproof ground-sheet (the day was a wet one, and the range was muddy) and lectured me between misses on the peculiarities of my weapon and the cultivation of a steady eye.
"Keep the beggar under control," he said. "You've got to coax him, and not use force. Pull the trigger easily, as though you loved it, and hold the butt affectionate-like against the shoulder. It's an easy matter to shoot as you're shooting now. ”

“ Dexterity of loading and a habit of rapid alignment of the sights should be developed in preliminary training. In the range practices the opportunity is afforded to every man to ascertain his own best rate for combining accuracy in shooting with rapidity of fire so as to produce a high average of hits per minute, but there is no obligation to fire all the rounds allotted in any rapid practice. ”

“ Up to 100 yards the range is point-blank, that is, aim direct on the bull's eye; for 200 yards, raise the muzzle, say one foot above the bull's eye; for 300 yards, two feet above the bull's eye, and so on. A few trial-shots will soon settle the question, and practice makes perfect. A man will thus be independent of the back-sight of his rifle. This refers to shooting in the open. Of course, under cover, when time and circumstances admit, the back-sight can be used with great advantage.
A man in shooting with a pistol or revolver has to judge his own distance and the necessary elevation. ”

“ Instruction on miniature ranges is in no sense a final training, but it is a useful and economical preparation for service shooting—especially useful where range accommodation is distant or altogether lacking. It should be commenced during the recruit’s training, when frequent visits should be made to the miniature range, and the lessons of aiming, pressing the trigger, declaring the point of aim on discharge, etc., should be illustrated practically by firing at elementary targets. ”

“ The first requisite of a shooting club is a suitable range. A 50-yard range adapted to pistol and revolver practice can be constructed at a comparatively small expense. At the firing point a room or house should be provided with booths at least three feet wide with openings facing the targets. A substantial butt must be supplied behind the targets to stop the bullets, including the wildest shots. ”

“ Accurate ranging when firing is of vital importance, especially at distances beyond close range. Mistakes in judging distance or range-finding, and errors in sighting, cause a greater loss of fire effect than personal errors in shooting except at close range. But even within close range mistakes of more than 100 yards are not infrequently made in judging distance. The more accurate the firing, the less will be the result if the sighting is incorrect from any cause. ”

“ Rifles are said to be harmonized when their slight individual differences in shooting are corrected by adjustment of sights. This harmonizing or correction of differences in the shooting of the rifles used in miniature range practices is necessary to obtain satisfactory results. Rifles must be harmonized for firing direct at targets as well as for firing with elevation, as in landscape practices. With reference to direct firing at targets, it has been found that with service rifles an elevation of 300 yards is necessary to obtain the greatest possible accuracy. ”

“ Such practice is largely indulged in by cowboys, ranchmen, and others in the western part of the United States. The shooting is generally rapid-fire work with heavy charges at short range, and is to be commended as being extremely practical. ”

“ Velocity at 25 feet, mean of 5 shots.
8. Accuracy and penetration at 75 feet; 10 shots for accuracy, 5 for penetration.
9. Rapidity with accuracy; target 6 by 2 feet, range 100 feet. Number of shots fired to be three times the capacity of clip. Pistol fired from hand. Time and number of hits to be noted in each case. To be conducted by representative of company, if present. Firing to begin with chamber and magazine empty, and clips or holders arranged as desired by firer. ”

“ Sighting Shots.—For this reason skilled shots should fire two or three shots at each of several ranges for sighting practice rather than long series of shots at one or two distances. Only a few rounds in all should be devoted in their case to deliberate shooting; a high standard of snapshooting should be developed. Officers and sergeants may fire sighting-shots at ranges beyond 600 yards, but as a rule such training should be reserved for the fire-direction practices. ”

“ Evidently a six-foot man would be in danger anywhere in a belt 200 yards broad were the high-velocity rifle in operation, though the danger zone with the other weapon would be contracted to fifty yards.
At close quarters a flat trajectory is even more valuable, since it diminishes the need for altering the sights. If a rifle's point-blank range is up to 600 yards, you can fire at a man's head anywhere within that distance with a good chance of hitting him. The farther he is away, the lower he will be hit. ”

“ Of course the full range of the gun is much more than this. It can make good practice at 20,000 yards, or roughly 11 miles; at six miles the gun can be laid so as to hit the target practically every time. ”

“ Much can, no doubt, be done to improve one’s shooting by regular practice. Some years ago I was discussing the subject with one of the old Highland proprietors who is a first-class rifle shot, and he told me that for many years he had been in the habit of practising shooting at a small wooden stag, which he had placed in all kinds of different positions and at different distances on the hill. ”

“ 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 ”

“ In rapid fire practice the timing is done at the target. On a signal that all is ready at the firing point, the target appears and remains exposed during the time limit, then disappears.
In addition to the above regulation practice, the men are put through a thorough preliminary course of position, sighting, and aiming drill.
The more expert men are given advanced practice in snap, double-action, and left-hand shooting, also firing alternately at targets at different distances and at floating objects at unknown distances. ”

“ Now, take a rifle with a very curved trajectory, say one whose bullet, at the highest point of the trajectory corresponding to a range of 500 yards, is 10 feet above the line of sight. There will be a large extent of ground between the target and the rifle that is not danger space for a target 2 feet above the line of sight. ”

“ For a man may hit a target every shot at 30 yards, and yet cannot hit a man at 30 feet if the man is also doing some shooting. In my wanderings I have met one 127really wonderful shot who could, with a Colt’s 44 frontier 7-inch barrel, hit a tomato can almost every shot at 40 yards. I have also known men, who were considered very good shots, stand at a distance of fifteen paces and empty their guns at one another without either getting a scratch. There is a saying throughout the South that the best weapon made is a double-barrelled shot-gun and buck-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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ If firing at 1000 yards, raising the rear sight 12 yards would cause the bullet to strike the target 1 foot higher and lowering the rear sight 12 yards would cause it to strike 1 foot lower.
The following table gives the approximate changes in the rear sight to move the point struck 1 foot at ranges from 100 to 1000 yards:
The score-books issued by the Ordnance Department contain elevation charts and all you have to do is to consult the chart of your score-book in order to get the amount of elevation necessary at any particular range in order to raise or lower your shots any desired distance. ”

“ 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. ”

“ A. Read the azimuth of the target and splash from the directing-gun. Subtract the lesser from the greater: result = lateral deviation. If the azimuth to the target be greater than that to the splash, it is seen that the deviation will be to the left and vice versa.
Q. How are open sights on rapid-fire guns used?
A. The same as on small-arm pieces; i.e., the range in yards or elevation in degrees and minutes is set on the rear sight according to how the sight is graduated, and the gun is elevated and traversed until the target, front sight, and rear sight all come in line. ”

“ 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. ”

“ As a rule, the shots you get are fired from the top of [Pg 76] one mound at a sheep on the top of another, and unless you are using a rifle with a very flat trajectory, and have (as all men should in Central Asia) a rough mental table, to suit your own eyesight, of the distances at which an eye or an ear would be visible, you are extremely likely to throw a great many shots away. ”

“ A regular attendance upon numerous target matches of more modern times, with all the modern appliances, in the hands of marksmen with national reputations, has never shown us better shooting at sixty yards, off-hand, or one hundred yards with a rest. ”

“ 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. ”

“ There must be two sets of elevating gears, one which brings the axis of the gun and the sights together on to the target, thus finding the angle of sight and also pointing the axis of the gun at the target, and a second by which, independent of the sight which remains fixed, the elevation due to the range can be given to the gun and read by means of a pointer and dial marked in yards for range. ”