The Coolidge examiner., 1934-11-30
HOW TON.
s HO Or
By Bob Nichols
shoos.ns Eeh'os. Fled and s'fear

LIVERY once In a while. some in
IL ventor with spare time on his
hands tries his bright genius at
creating a new form of shotgun
sight" that viii make a good
wingshot out OF a man overnight.
In my humble opinion. this Is the
perpetual motion machine" OF the
wingshooung world.
About ten years ago when ! knew
great deal less about wingshoot-
ing than | have since learned. even
! thought I had a real idea for one
OF these contrapuons that would
result In a shooter becoming n
whizz bang wingshot about the third
day after he began using Il.
Alas-I have since acquired
enough experience and good sense
10 know that there aln't no such
animal.
In the first place. such a gadget
violates the first principle In wing.
shooting by enforcing too much con
centratl OF attention on the gun.
The peep" or aperture sight was
a wonderful step ahead in accurate
rife shooting. The good rife shot.
however. must be extremely con.
sclous OF his gun. He has but
single bullet In the chamber. He
must drive that bullet with all the
accuracy that keen eyeslght and
careful coordination between brain
and trigger finger can muster. Even
on running game as big as n deer
he must use a high degree OF pre-
cislon that enforces major concen-
tration on the front bead.
] know, OF course. that many deer
are killed In Maine and the Adiron.
dacks. and In the mountains OF
Pennsylvania. every year by hunt.
ers who merely snap-shoot without
seeing their sights or even their rifle
barrels. The shots are usually at
short range frequently less than
so yards. Sometimes such a snap
shot is necessary. Rather often. as
a matter Of fact But no good rife
man ever tries such a snap unless
there Is no other way out OF II.
And many is the deer wounded by
tyros. too excited and too nervous
TO aim, that is left 20 die an agonIz
lng death In the forest perhaps
days later.
No. the rlheman with his single
bullet needs all the sighting aid he
can get He requires great concen.
trstion on his gun. He must be ex-
tremely gun-consciouS
The wingShot with shotgun I'm
hand II exactly the opposite. lie
requires great target concentration.
lie must be target conscious FIRST.
gun-conscious second. lie has n
barrage OF shot pellets to nlng AT
his target His target is moving
faster than ever deer could run.
Also n is smaller. Also his gun
range Ia limited. He must shoot
quicker than the rifleman's bullet.
Only about a third as fast. Conse-
quently he must pay more atten-
ton 70 "lead" or forward allow
ance."
Both OF his eyes must be wide
open Al least 60 per cent OF his
vision must be concentrated on the
flying target. Only about 30 per
cent on his gun. And about 10 per
cent on the 20-yard area OF which
the target II the center.
From this you can readily see
that any form OF "hlnd sight" on
the breech OF a shotgun barrel is
an absurdlty. II tends to make a
gun-conscious. rifle-shooting sort OF
wingshot out OF you. and about the
only type Of shot you can have any
hope OF hitting with any degree OF
regularity viii be the straIghtaway
shot that requires absolutely no
"lead."
Next TO the absolute dub. the
hardest man In the world 10 teach
wlngshooung 20 is the good rifle
man who has never used a shotgun.
Trained TO absolute gun-conscious-
ness when shooting. he will invaria
bly, squint one eye. concentrate
about so per cent OF the vision OF
the other eye on the gun. and then
try TO get on the flying target with
all the precision he would ordinarily
employ In punching holes In a pa
per bull's-eye at hundred yards
II simply can't be done.
The wlngshot must be target-con-
scious. The standard front bead al
the muzzle Is all he has time-or
eyesight-to be aware OF. And he
doesn't see much OF that!
G. Western Newspaper Union.