The gun used in the early days of target practice, and as issued by our State to the company, was the old style muzzle loading, smooth bore percussion musket, model of 1842, with a very long barrel, one upon the muzzle of which an average size man could easily rest his chin while standing, the butt of the piece being on the ground. The caliber of this firearm was .69 of an inch. Members were allowed to use any charge powder they wished, the bullet being round. This musket superseded the old “flint lock.” No dependence could be placed upon it for close shooting, however, even at the short range of those days. It continued to be the principal arm of the California service until 1865, when an improved musket was issued.
The regulation target consisted of a one-inch board painted white, 22 inches wide by 6 feet long in the clear, to represent the size of a man, without taking the outline of one. The bull’s-eye was black and round, 4 inches in diameter, and placed equidistant from each edge of the target, and two feet from the top. Three shots were allowed each man, their value being determined by “string measure,” that is, the distance from center of bullet hole to center of bull’s-eye. The aggregate of each man’s three shots was taken, and the one with the shortest “string” took first prize, the next shortest the second, and so on. All misses, and there were many of them, counted forty-nine and one-half inches, this being the distance from the bull’s-eye to the extreme lower corners of the target. Many times did the average number of hits fall below 40 per cent of the shots fired.
Other styles of targets were sometimes used by the company, but when this was done it was an exception to the general rule. A round target, two feet in diameter, occasionally met with favor, and upon one or two days of that period the company put up a target which represented the figure of an Indian warrior, nicely painted, bearing the usual bull’s-eye. The guests, as a general thing, fired away at a round target about thirty inches in diameter.
Three judges, usually officers of other military organizations, and selected from the guests of the company, and who were generally stationed at a safe distance from one flank of the target, did the marking and scoring. A shot having been fired, they hastened to investigate the result, and, finding a hit, would duly measure it, plug up the hole with a wooden or cork plug furnished for the purpose, and number it to correspond with the man shooting, also numbering the target alongside the shot. Before retiring they would indicate the shot to the firing point by pointing at it, and if a miss by waving a white handkerchief. The judges kept the score by recording the value of each shot in a book kept for that purpose against the man’s number. After the close of the competition, then would the winners be declared, and prizes distributed at once. It took a long time for a company of say forty or forty-five men to shoot under these conditions. This is why only three shots were allowed.
An elegant lunch was always provided by the members of the “City Guard” upon the shooting days, and the commissary wagon was loaded down with all good things that money could buy. In the evening it was the usual thing for them to entertain their guests at a banquet given at some well-known hotel of the city. These excursions cost a great deal of money, which was generally provided for by assessing the members. This custom remained in vogue for quite a number of years. In 1861, when the “City Guard” became Company “B” of the First Infantry.
1860 brought with it the first change in the regulation target, by the addition of a vertical and a horizontal black stripe, four inches in width, each passing through the bull’s-eye, thus dividing the target into four parts. The writer notes that upon one or two occasions this black stripe, of only one and one-half inches in width, divided the target into four equal parts. The United States targets were twenty-two inches wide by six feet high, for distances, from one hundred and fifty yards up to two hundred and twenty-five, the material being of white cloth, or canvas, stretched upon a frame, generally made of iron, sometimes of wood; the width of the target, as did the width of the black stripes, increased at the longer ranges, one thousand yards being the extreme. Our range remained as it was previously, sixty yards, as the regular army already had the rifle that was not issued to us until 1865.
The United States Government, in 1855, after satisfactory tests made at the Springfield arsenal, adopted the Springfield percussion muzzle-loading rifle, caliber fifty-eight, with the length of barrel at forty inches, rifled with three grooves, making a half turn in its length. The bullet was of lead and cylindro-conical in shape, with expanding base, and weighed five hundred grains. Sixty grains of powder was the regulation charge. This rifle, together with the bayonet, weighed about ten pounds. Ten years after its adoption, or in other words, on February 20, 1865, the “City Guard” received its quota. The shooting distance was then increased to one hundred and fifty yards. In 1866, the following year, the rifles remaining in the arsenal were changed to breech-loaders, and the regular army furnished with them, but California did not receive any.
The first competition for prizes between teams from the different companies composing the First Regiment took place on September 12, 1865. These teams were of three men each, with three shots per man. The “City Guard” carried away the second prize, with a score of 92.02 inches, not counting one miss. Company “C” took first prize, also making one miss.
Ladies attended the State shoot of the company for the first time, by invitation, on November 12, 1866, also the shoots of 1867 and 1868, the latter being a regimental affair, held May 8th, at Schuetzen Park, Alameda. Upon this occasion the targets were, on account of limited space, close together, and it became necessary that pits be dug at their base for the accommodation of the judges; it was so arranged that the targets slid down into these pits to be marked and plugged. All marking and scoring was done on the same principles as before described. The width of the target was increased at this shoot to twenty-four inches.
1869 found somewhat of a change, in so much that the company held its prize competition, the sixteenth annual, alone, dispensing with the usual accompaniments of brass band, cold collations, etc., and issuing no invitations to guests, the parade being solely to comply with the requirements of law. Thus the old custom was abandoned. The company continued to shoot each year regularly in accordance with regulations, sometimes by itself, but generally with the entire regiment as an organization.