Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1895-08-15
RIFLE WING SHOTS.
SPORT WITH SMALL GORE ARMS THAT
is INEXPENSIVE.

tions Tor Beginners.
1t is this widespread love Of hunting,
among other things that has stimulated
the improvement In small bore rifles TO
such an extent that one can now buy very
cheap 90 caliber rifle In which either
long or short cartridges, or even the noise
less BIB caps, may be used This year
rifles ON the Martini principle may be
bought for 81. 80, which shoot perfectly II
they are held straight. The more costly
rifles, magazine Floberts, etc, cost as high
as SIS, but really give no better fun.
A very few people understand that
shooting with rifle on the wing, while
not easy, is not the terribly difficult thing
IL is generally believed to be.
The first thing to do Is TO get a rifle which
Ats the sportsman The stock should have
such crook that when the rifle is pulled
up to the shoulder the muzzle shall point
at the target. If the first rife tried does
not do this, the gunmaker, II he knows his
business, will either pick out another or
by cutting tiny piece off the heel of the
stock adapt the rife in hand. The next
thing to ascertain Is whether the rifle
shoots high or low at, say, 80 yards, for
more shots will be had at that distance
than at any other This being done the
third thing is TO learn to shoot with both
eyes open.
1t is natural on first handling a rife to
close the left eye and squint with the right
along tho barrel until the front sight peeps
through the "V'' of the rear sight. This
will never do for wing shot. Put the
rifle up to the shoulder, forget for "a min
ute all about sights and just stare at the
target In from three to five seconds you
will see the front sight loom up on your
vision Then slowly move it until the
bead shows in the center of the ~" rear
sight and pull the trigger. The bullet
should 90 very near the mark. The reason
of shooting with both eyes open Is that II
the left eve is closed IL will be impossible
TO aim at rising bird-that is to shoot
above it-for the barrel will conceal the
bird from the right eye To demonstrate
this, take an old stovepipe hat, cut "A hole
| in the center of the crown push the muz-
Lle of the rifle through so that 1t projects
about six inches, and then place target
and try to hit it with the left eye closed.
4 Ii will be impossible, rs the hat blocks the
/ sight of the target and also the front sight.
Now open the left eye, and in three Sec
onds the target will be plainly seen, the
hat appears transparent, and the mark can
be easily hit with little practice. A still
more simple demonstration Is TO take a
silver dollar, hold il with the finger and
thumb and closing the left eye raise it
until it blocks mark. Then open the left
eve and the dollar will seem transparent,
and although the circle will be plainly
visible the mark behind it will be seen as
clearly as il il were not there.
The next thing is to familiarize oneself
with distances These are very deceptive
on water Pick out tree or fence, with
a target at an unknown distance, and fire
at it, Then pace the distance and see how
near your estimate came and where your
ball hit Having mastered this, the rest
is comparatively easy. The main thing Is
not TO be in hurry. If a bird gets up or
a rabbit starts to run, there Is plenty OF
time TO take good aim with both eyes
open before it gets out of shot, and on
GOODNESS the result depends much. Take
a crow, for instance, which is calculated to
hy about 20 miles an hour when Ii gets
going At that rate the bird Is three min
utes going mile, one minute going 5S7
yards, or one second going 30 feet. The
average velocity of % caliber bullet Is
about 900 feet a second. If the bird is 20
yards off, the bullet will be one-flfteenth
of a second reaching 1t, and in that time
the bird will have travelled forward about
two feet. Therefore, to hit the rifle must
be aimed about two feet ahead, bearing In
mind that at 20 yards the line of trajectory
Of the bullet requires that the aim should
be slightly below the line of the bird &
flight; otherwise the bullet will go over its
lback. Two or three seconds Is quite a
al. hi,h IN, faly a., Dnl ont
A watch and see If 1t isn't. A gull does
not fly more than ten miles an hour; q
seahawk varies much in speed, but sails at
from 10 to IL miles as rule; the herring
gull and the brown backed gull fly nearer
25 miles an hour when In full swing, and
the heron gets up very slowly and affords
an excellent mark, but once up goes at
about a ten mile gait. In shooting heron
the gunner should make sure the bird Is
dead before approaching it, for it will lie
with it's long neck on its back, and just AZ
you get within reach will dart forward its
long beak straight at your eye.
Those who do not care to shoot at birds
can rig up a splendid moving target at q
little cost which it will take skill to hit
Get ten gallon cask or tank, and place il
On top of the house or the barn, or post
l2 feet or more high, and attach to 1t Q
piece of ordinary lead piping a inches IL
diameter. Bring this to the ground anC
have faucet fixed to 1t, and then with 4
not iron braze the end until there Is only
pinhole from which the water can es
cape This ought TO throw q tiny jet o.
water into the air about or 8 feet. Al
the base of this pipe there should be tive
foot funnel of tin, fitting closely, with tn,
pinhole In the pipe forming the exact bot
tom Of the funnel Into this may be tossed
eggshells, or, better STILL the tinsel ball
used on Christmas trees. AS soon as they
encounter the tiny jet Of water up they g
In the air, dancing, rising, falling, drop
ping suddenly two feet, jumping up again
and never standing still. If board screer
3 feet high be placed in front OF this, ant
The marksman stands 20 TO 40 feet away
he will have fun in trying to hit them
The great art in breaking the balls is Il
cover them with the rifle, wait until the,
steady themselves just before they sprinl
upward, and then pull quick New Yorl