Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1888-10-26
PISTOL SHOOTING.
Improvement iss the Recslrer--Nocel Neth- |
DDS of :Slss6iMO.

Alo1VL Sx1OI1lING,
Improvement its the Recslces-N0cel NetA-
oa,s Of S1tsting.
GS1n Francisco EXamiuerl
During the last two years a great adj
vance has been made in fine shooting
with the revolver, and interest in the
amusement has been awakened in
nearly oil the large cities OF the coun-
Try. Makers Of pistols ana ammunition
have responded to the demand for more
accurate work, and several new models
ofrevolvers have been produced within
year. Finer sights, careful chamber
ing, and smoother lock mechanism are
the principal improvements. In the or
binary cheap revolver the trigger pull
IS heavy and uneven, and often there is
a drag or creep at the end of the pull,
which disturbs q fine aim and makes the
exact instant of discharge an uncertain
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 ammuni-
ton, which is of equal importance. Fac
tory 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 - 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
groove very deep and use ball large
enough to fill the groove. Believing in
this theory, pistol makers chambered
their cylinders larger than the barrels,
and ammunition makers provided bull
lets Il of an inch in diameter for bar
rels only 40 in bore. English makers
used even larger bullets, and the Brit
ish service revolver to-day is about as
unscientific and bungling q weapon as
could be devised. A heavy charge Of
powder is required to force the ball
through the barrel, and the conse-
quences are waste of powder and great
recoil. The bullet is smashed out OF
shape before it leaves the barrel, and
its flight is therefore inaccurate.
A series Of careful experiments proved
that the best results could be obtained
by using barrels in which the rifing is
scarcely perceptible to the eye and bull
lets which can be pushed easily through
the barrel with stick, fitting just
tightly enough to be slightly marked
by the rifling. From seven to ten grains
of fine, quick-burning powder are
enough for shooting up to thirty yards.
A round bullet, driven by such a
charge, will cut clean, sharply defined
hole in paper target.
Some gun-tghters use the thumb
only in cooking and firing. They either
tie the trigger back to the guard, so as
to throw it out of connection with the
hammer, or remove it entirely. They
file down the roughened thumb ear of
the hammer and make it smooth, so
that it will slip readily from under the
thumb. In firing they pull the ham
mer back and letit slip when they have
taken aim. Wild Bill has his two guns
fixed that way, and he often would sit
with one in each hand, ,mloaded, and
play tattoo with the hammers OF keep
time to O waltz.
The best way to take aim with pis-
tol is to fix the gaze upon the mark and
bring the weapon up until the sight
comes into line. In that way no OBJ
struction comes between the eye and
the target. In bringing the pistol
down to the level Of the eye from above
the shoulder, the arm, hand, and wea-
pom come excessively between the eye
and the mark, and the aim must be cor
rected after all three have passed below
the line of sight. Yet some good
marksmen always shoot in the latter
style. They throw the weapon back
over the shoulder to cock, and bring it
forward and downward with something
like the action Of throwing stone.