The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-08-04
PISTOL SHOOTING.
Improvement in the Revolver-Novel
Methods of Shooting.

Methods of Shooting.
From the San. Francisco Examiner
During the last two years 81 eat advance
has been made in fine shooting with the re-
volver, and interest in the amusement has
been awakened in nearly all of the large
cities of the country Makers of pistols and
ammunition have responded to the demand
for more accurate work, and several new
models of revolvers have been produced
within year. Finer sights, careful cham
bering and smoother lock mechanism are
the principal improvements.
In the ordinary cheap revolver the trig
ger-pul is heavy and uneven, and often
there is drag or creep at the end of the
pull, which disturbs a fine aim and makes
quantity. A hair-trigger is not requisite
for fine shooting, but the trigger-pull must
be smooth and the release quick and sharp.
Having procured perfect weapon, the
shooter must look to his ammunition, which
is of equal importance. Factory pistol
cartridges are next to good for nothing,
because they are loaded without any regard
for proportion Of powder and lead. The
short % and short 3S-calibers are about
right, but the other sizes are badly loaded
and make pistol kick more than is neces-
sary.
Gunmakers and marksmen thought for
many years that the way to secure accuracy
in rifled arms was to make the grooves very
deep and use ball large enough to fill the
grooves. Believing in this theory, pistol
makers chambered their cylinders larger
than the barrels, and ammunition-makers
provided bullets Al of an inch in diameter
for barrels only 40 in bore. English max
ers used even larger bullets, and the British
service revolver to day is about as unscien-
tihc and bungling weapon as could be de-
vised. A heavy charge Of powder is re-
Quired to force the ball through the barrel,
and the consequences are waste of powder
and great recoll. The bullet is smashed out
of shape before it leaves the barrel, and its
flight is therefore inaccurate.
A serious of careful experiments proved
that the best results could be obtained by us
ing barrels in which the rihing is scarcely
perceptible to the eye and bullets which
can be pushed easily through the barrel
with a stick, fitting just tightly enough to
be slightly marked by the ritling. From
seven to ten grains of lne, quick burning
powder are enough for shooting up to thirty
yards. A round bullet driven by such a
charge will cut a clean, sharply defined hole
in paper target.
Some gun-fighters use the thumb only In
cooking and firing They either tie the trig-
ger back to the guard, so as throw it out of
connection with the hammer, or remove it
entirely They file down the roughened
cap of the hammer and make it smooth, so
that it will slip readily from under the
| thumb. In firing they pull the hammer
back and let it slip when they have taken
aim. Wild Bill had his two guns fixed that
way, and he often would sit with one in
each hand, unloaded, and play tattoo with
the hammers or keep time to waltz.
The best way to take aim with pistol is
| to fix the gaze upon the mark and bring the
weapon up till the sights come in line. In
that way no obstruction comes between the
eve and the target. In bringing the pistol
down to the level of the eye from above the
shoulder, the arm, hand and weapon come
successfully between the eye and the mark,
and the aim must be corrected after all three
have passed below the line of sight Yet
some good marksmen always shoot the lat
ter style. They throw the weapon back
over the shoulder to cock, and bring it for
ward and downward with something like
the action of throwing a stone.