The daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Ind. Ter. [Okla.]) 1898-1902, 1899-02-15
CAUSES OF GUN HEADACHE.
There Are Various Explorations Of
fered, Hut None Ii Quite sat-
factory.


Gun headache is trouble that many
shooters experience. When it takes
hold of man his shooting qualities
get away from him for the time being,
his eyes ache and his head suffers Sc
verely at each discharge of the gun.
Some people hold that it comes from
the fumes of the nitro powders, and
this may be so in part; others hold that
it arises from excessive recol of the
gun, due to overloads of powder This
does not seem altogether reasonable,
because many cases of gun headache
occur to people using only moderate
loads. The actual cause may be put
down as due to the action of the stom-
ach, or Indigestion, as well as partly to
nervousness. 1t is well known that
some people never can shoot as well
after lunch as before that meal, and for
that reason only light lunch is par
taken of by most shooters. Each event
that man shoots in causes quicken
ing of his hearts action by reason Of
DiiSl dhu IL 10
claimed that these successive quicken
ings of the action of the heart do af-
feet the digestion, impairing it and
causing troublesome gases to arise,
themselves inducing headache.
1t is fact also that gun headache
is more common with fieldshooters
than with trapshooters. In this case
it is generally indigestion that causes
the trouble. The hunter gets up earlier
than usual, and perhaps has not slept
quite so soundly as he would if at home.
He laysina good supply for his stomach
at breakfast, and carries light lunch
with him. Then he walks and walks
until noon, deeming that to be the
proper time to eat lunch, because Il
always eat my lunch at noon" He for
or two before his usual time for that
meal, and that he has also been taking
violent exercise all the time. Hence his
stomach got empty, and the gastric
juices got in their fine work. The
lunch does not digest well, and the wee
nip of whisky does not help matters.
He gets indigestion, and gun headache
follows-not always, but very frequent
ly. Thus the probabilities are more in
faver of gun headache occurring
through indigestion than through the !
fumes of the nitro powders or from ex-
cessive loads of powder.
The nervous strain on a man who
shoots all through long programme
of events at a target tournament is
quite severe. 1t is no exaggeration to
say that a professional target-shooter
works hard when he goes through a
whole tournament of three or four sue
cessive days. He is not playing, but
trying to make as good a showing as
possible for the benefit of the house
he represents, shoots under strain all
the time, and at the end of the day
thoroughly deserves good nights rest,
A good shot knows that the last tar
get in an event is just as easy to break
as the first target or one in the middle.
He also knows that it is easy to lose
either of those targets b. slight re-
Taxation of care in shooting at it. For
that reason he keys himself up for each
shot, taking as great pains ON a
''straightaway' as on "a sharp right
quarter" The average amateur, as
well as the careless professional, drops
down as rule on easy straightaways."
This is due entirely to carelessness, for
straightaway is not so easy as it looks.
1t "gets away faster" than any other
target, and there is only one place to
hold on it, viz, with the foresight just
under the target. In quartering tar
gets a shooter can hold just at its
nose" and break it scantily; he can
also hold way out in front of it," and
still catch it with the scattering pellets
that come at the end of his load. Know
ing, therefore, that he needs every tar
get to make good showing, the expert
professional shoots hard all the time,
and the strain of days work makes
him "dog-tired" at the end of the last
event.-Forest and Stream.
His VIII.
L L