page_title: Mad minute
section_title: World record
hierarchical_section_title: Mad minute / World record
context_page_description: The Mad Minute was a pre-World War I bolt-action rifle speed shooting exercise used by British Army riflemen, using the Lee–Enfield service rifle. The exercise formally known as "Practice number 22, Rapid Fire, The Musketry Regulations, Part I, 1909", required the rifleman to fire 15 rounds at a "Second Class Figure" target at 300 yd. The practice was described as; "Lying. Rifle to be loaded and 4 rounds in the magazine before the target appears. Loading to be from the pouch or bandolier by 5 rounds afterwards. One minute allowed". The practice was only one of the exercises from the annual classification shoot which was used to grade a soldier as a marksman, first-class or second-class shot, depending on the scores he had achieved.
  The rapid aimed fire of the ‘Mad Minute’ was accomplished by using a 'palming' method where the rifleman used the palm of his hand to work the bolt, and not his thumb and forefinger, while maintaining his cheek weld and line of sight.
  The "Second Class Figure Target" was 48 inches square, with 24 in inner and 36 in magpie circles.
context_section_description: The term ‘Mad Minute’ was also used to describe a regular demonstration, by instructors at the School of Musketry at Hythe, Kent that was intended to show officer trainees the maximum rate of accurate fire that could be achieved by an expert with a service rifle.
  The first Mad Minute record was set by Sergeant Major Jesse Wallingford in 1908, scoring 36 hits on a 48-inch target at 300 yards (4.5 mils/ 15.3 moa).
  Another world record of 38 hits, all within the 24 inch target at 300 yards (2.25 mils/ 7.6 moa), is said to have been set in about 1914 by a Sergt.-Instructor Snoxall.  ‘Sergt.-Instructor Snoxall’ was probably Sergeant Frank Snoxell of the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, who was an instructor at the School of Musketry from October 1913 until January 1917. He was a Sergeant-Instructor from October 1913 until he was promoted in March 1915. Sergeant Snoxell had previously been a Sergeant-Instructor at the Branch School of Musketry at Satara in India. 
  A Mad Minute event was held in Soknedal, Norway, on 30 May 2015 featuring some of the best stang shooters in the country. The competition was called the "Mad Minute Challenge", and was shot at a round 400 mm diameter target at 200 meters (2 mils/ 6.9 moa), making the target smaller than original. The winner, Thomas Høgåsseter, scored 36 hits. The average score, of 11 shooters, was 29.
  In 2019, Norwegian sport shooter Inge Hvitås set a new world record with 39 hits during a Mad Minute competition in Nes, Hedmark, out of 44 rounds fired. Also worth mentioning, Jesper Nilsstua fired 48 rounds during the same competition, but got 38 hits, and therefore came second having one hit less than Hvitås.
caption: In the Mad Minute Challenge in Norway in 2015 a standard 200 m DFS target was used, scoring 1 point for every hit inside the black area which is 400 mm in diameter and corresponds to 2 mils at 200 meters (6.9 moa). This actually makes the target size used in the Norwegian event smaller compared to the story of Sergeant-Instructor Snoxall, who had all 38 hits inside a 24" circle at 300 yards (2.22 mils/ 7.64 moa).