Manual for Noncommissioned Officers and Privates of Infantry of the Army of the United States, 1917 / To be used by Engineer companies (dismounted) and Coast Artillery companies for Infantry instruction and training

by United States. War Department

Section 8. Calling the shot.

It is evident that the sights should be so adjusted at each range that the rifle will hit where you aim. In order to determine that the sights are so adjusted it is necessary that you shall know each time just where you were aiming on the target at the instant your rifle was discharged. If you know this and your rifle hits this point your rifle is correctly sighted. If your shot does not hit near this point, you should change your sight adjustment in accordance with the table of sight corrections in section 3.

No man can hold absolutely steady. The rifle trembles slightly, and the sights seem to wobble and move over the target. You try to squeeze off the last ounce of the trigger squeeze just as the sights move to the desired alignment under the bull's-eye. At this instant, just before the recoil blots out a view of the sights and target, you should catch with your eye a picture, as it were, of just where on the target your sights were aligned, and call to yourself or to the coach this point. This point is where your shot should strike if your sights are correctly adjusted, and if you have squeezed the trigger without disturbing your aim. Until a man can call his shots he is not a good shot, for he can never tell if his rifle is sighted right or not, or if a certain shot is a good one or only the result of luck.