The Opelousas courier., 1890-08-09
TARGET PRACTICE,
nrAUHING TARs TO SHOOT wTTH
SMALL ARMS AND BIG GUNS.
. ships Efficiency Now Judged by
Her Battery Recommendation
Onr Sailors Are Taught to Shoot.

Enproving the excellent opportunities
wh;ch this island and the neighboring
smooth seas of Florida Bay afford for
drills ashore and afoat.
The sail and spar drills have all been
suspended, and target practice in its many
sorlns il constantly going on. The edu-
cation of marksmen for captains of our
greatsguns and the hardly less important
CUPS 81 the secondary battery is receiv-
sag great attention in the navy today.
a few years ago that ship was the smart
III which could in the fewest minutes
send up or down her yards and masts, or
be the first to make sail to royals in obe-
dience to a signal. Now, all this has
been changed, and the efficiency of a
ship is Judged from her performance
with her battery.
The training of marksmen consists of
progressive instruction, by which they are
Ied up through simple exercises to fire
carefully and with a degree of accuracy
which a few years ago was reached only
III rare cases.
The first thing to teach a man is how
10 use the sights. A rife is placed on a
sandbag Cor better, between two sand
bsas) restings on a tripod. Twenty feet
from the muzzle a sheet of paper is
lacked up on a vertical board. A card
with a black circular spot on it is placed
ever a convenient part of the paper, and
9he rife is moved until the sights bear
directly on the spot. A pin prick marks
the centre Of this on the paper. The card
Ii then moved by the instructor, and it is
the effort of the man looking over the
lights to give such directions as to restore
II ID its first position. When he is salts
fed that the black spot is again in line
With the gun sights he calls s'mark,"
and 8 pin hole again marks a position on
The paper. This operation is twice re-
paated, and the three points so deter
snined are connected by lines, forming
the mans 'striangle of sight" Any one
can try this for himself, and many will
be surprised to find how large a triangle
they viii make. OF course as the rife
has not been moved, the three pin holes
should coincide. But they don't. A
curious feature is that the same man,
though he may and generally does i'm
prove, will make triangle after triangle,
all having his own peculiar characters
tics. The good shots always make small
kriangles, but the converse is net true
necessarily.
The next step is to teach the sailor
howto hold his piece in aiming and how
20 pull the trigger without disturbing the
aim. When he understands how to sight
and can pull the trigger without shut
ting his eyes he Is given q chance to
use the subcalibre. The target for this
is put up wherever ia most convenient.
On the Dolphin d target reduced to one
tenth Of the. dimensions of an army :
target Is secuffa at the end of each lower
boom, and the firing is done from the
gangways Just thirty yards away. Al
the naen take great intrest in this, and
and the sspingf Of the ~ calibre cart
ridges that are fred through the inside
barrel Of the old Remington rifles i
heard nearly all day long.
of course all this is preparatory to the
slfHeal work at the ranges. Here they shoot
in earnest, beginning at one hundred
yards and moving off to two and~l
10 three hundred yards as 0 Q as thej
succeed ID making fifty per CENT. Of
perfect score. The firing at n ane
two hundred yards is done standing, but
Ill three hundred the sailors are alloWeo
to kneel.
AS an intensive a prize of % is glver
quarterly to every man who can mak'
fifty per cent. at 300 yards with a rifle o.
shore, thirty per cent. at the same Dis
tance from 4 boat who can hit q large
twenty-four inches high by eighteel
inches wide at thirty PAGES, and VIII
knows how to take proper care OF tn
weapons he uses.
Necessary as it is for our searnen Z
know how TO handle a rife, all thl
practices possesses yer greater i'm
portance as q school for great gnr
frinp. Pure Workmanship must .
learned with small arms, and it is for
sunate this is so, for the limited suppl
of ammunition that can be c~arrleaS am
tie great cost Of firing the high pSwe
puns Of the day must limit target ssrac
HUI with the main and ven WITH th
secondary battery of q modern man-oi
war. IT must not be thought, hoWevei
that ne firing is done from the ship
r,,rs. Cd the contrary, more IL done no
Shan eyer before. But the practice
rnors systematic, and the prelirninar
ng maLas II more instructive an
beneficial.
4 few days ago the squadron was take
cut for the quarterly target PRAGUE
Under the orders Of the Bureau OF Nav
cation. which now has charge o. .
drills, the firing had to be done und
way and under such conditions q 8
ind weather as ID give the ship hve 9
grses ron each Way-just about enous
ii make i landsman feel uncomfortaoi
The target was planted and the Doipn
and Galena took positions l50O var
nom ii. 60 that they ~subtended an ang
of ninety degrees.
The Kearsarre then got under wa
and a moment later the stirring notes
her bugles sounded the call TO action.
4 heavy report told US that the bloc
less action had begun, and aWInsio
and gThorntonthe names that ado
tie carriages Of the two eight-inch NJ
wer soon doing their best TOR 9 reco
III the report ia Washington. Good !
inc was done, and II the target had be
) wooden ship, q few minutes g y
wofk would have added another victe
ID her record.
The Kearsarge was soon hrougn z