The National tribune., 1900-11-29
MAKE GOOD PISTOL SHOTS.
Some Hen Endowed With the Faculty Of
Workmanship.
Eer Orleans gimes-Democrai.

HtU O'ttuHS SH'tS-DtHVCJat.
Eyes, I've heard a good many stories
hunter of this city, but L never saw but
one man who professed to be able to dc
the trick. He was q physician named
w ebStcr, who came from somewhere
near Charleston, S. @. hunted with him
twice at Asheyille, and on each occasion
he gave some remarkable exhibitions of
his skill. He used an old-fashioned Park
or brecch-loadcr. l2-bore, and when he
shot from the hip he grasped the stock
just behind the hammer with his right
hand, and held the barrel firmly in his
left some eight or nine inches below the
muZzle. The fiat of the stock was pressed
against his right side ut the top of the hip
bone. and a little to the front, so he did
not face the object he shot at. but had it
quartering on his left. | am sure about
these details, because l watched him par
ticuarly.
The first thing l saw him knock over
was u rabbit, which was Looping across a
plowed field. He steadied the gun for an
instant, with a gesture that reminded Inc
somehow of a man holding a billiard cue,
and then blazed away. The rabbit
dropped. Afterward / saw him shoot a
lark on the wing and two other birds
sitting. He afterward missed couple
of wing shots, but | saw enough to con-
vince me that there was no accident
about his first work. He didn't pretend
to shoot as well from the hip as from
the shoulder, and admitted frankly that
he couldn't bring down difficult game,
about three out of fve,' he said, when
l pick my own conditions and / believe
he could do even better.
when | asked him how he did it he
laughed. There is no mystery about
hip shooting he said, and it is a great
mistake to suppose it necessary TO look
over the sights in order to hit things.
How does an archer shoot down flying
birds? He doesn't look along the arrow,
he shoots by sense of direction, and | do
the same thing with gun. 1t isn't
everybody who possesses this sense of
direction he added, but those who have
It-perhaps one out of three-can learn
hip shooting without difficulty"
Il believe there is a good deal in the
'sense-of-direction' theory" said another
sportsman in the group. 81 lived in the
West five or six years, and know for a
certainty that nearly ali the best off-hand
pistol shots among the cowboys fired
without aiming-I mean without sighting
IN the usual manner along the barrel
They would look at the target instead of
the weapon, and would generally give
their pistols a slight forward thrust be
fore pulling the trigger. 1t was done ON
at it could be fairly confident of hitting
a mark the size of mans hat at, say,
80 PAGES. None of them claimed to be
able to shoot as accurately that way as
he could by sighting, but it was a pretty
trick, all the same, and very valuable in
Il sudden melee.
"One of the best off-hand shots 1 ever
knew was cow puncher named Bill Rain
ey. He attributed his skill to the habit
of laying his index finger along the bar
rel Of his sixshooter. L don't pint the
gum he said; / just pint my finger and
then let her go Gallagher There was
probably more in that practice than Bill
himself suspected. We are accustomed
from infancy to pointing at things we de-
sire TO indicate, and no doubt unconscious
~ cultivate the very sense of direction
Of which you were speaking a few mo-
ments ago. | have seen Rainey knock
over an oyster can five times out of six
Mt distance of over 80 feet without do |
ing particle of sighting, and firing almost |
as quickly as he could pull the trigger. !
One of his pet tricks was to wheel and |
ire, and the accuracy with which he could |
plant a bullet while his body was still |
turning was marvellous.
"One thing | noticed in particular in re- |
gard to shooting without taking aim along |
he barrel was that il must be done very |
quickly or the bullet is almost certain to |
ly wide of its mark. If there is any hest |
tation or attempt to calculate the direc-
ion it is safe to wager on a miss. The |
cowboys who were most expert at this |
'tyle seemed to find their target by a sort |
If instinct and pulled the trigger the mo-
nent the arm was fully extended Aside
rom Bill Raniey and his index finger the
Dry, l never encountered anybody who
vas able to throw any light on the per-
ormance. When questioned the cow
Iunehers would look bewildered and say
here was kind of knack about it, and
beyond that We're evidently at sea them
elves"