These two little calculations are made in order to show the enormous importance of as little recoil as possible, and that is also the reason that the author has set himself to design a ballistic pendulum capable of easily taking the momentum of recoil, and the momentum of the shot, at the same discharge, which is a thing that cannot be done by the chronograph, because that instrument only records the time (not the striking velocity) of the thing that hits it and breaks connection, and that thing is the fastest pellet instead of the average of all, or the total of the pellets. Powder-makers can still further reduce recoil; that is, if they are encouraged by a general demand for those powders that give the least recoil for an equal power of shot impact.
The author was reminded not long ago by the Rev. W. Serjeantson of an occurrence of thirty years ago. Three guns, of which he and the author’s were two, were shooting together over dogs, and twice on the same day, after a brood of grouse had risen, the author, having been fully occupied in shooting, asked the keeper which way the rest of the brood had gone. His reply was on both occasions, “They have all flown one way.” That is, there were six up and six killed, which sounds much more commonplace than it really is, because, as it so seldom happens that three guns do shoot together over dogs, when by chance they do so there is a very good excuse for two barrels to be let off at the same bird, but of course only when the birds rise all together, as they did on these occasions.
The most sporting bird the author has made the acquaintance of is the Virginian quail. Three guns advancing to a point at these birds would not often get six birds at the flush of the covey, although, on an occasion when they rise at twice, two guns have got five, as happened once when, with Mr. Hobart Ames, who is President of the Shovel Trust in America, the author was shooting over his and Mr. H. B. Duryea’s celebrated setters, one of which could easily have earned in America £500 a year at the stud if his owner had not preferred to shoot over him. But it is not at the rise of the covey that these birds are difficult. As soon as they are flushed they fan out and take to covert, and their twisting second rise, with the scrub between them and the gun, makes them very difficult. Mr. and Mrs. Duryea are both remarkably good quail shots; the author could not say which is the better, but he believes Mr. Duryea claims to be the better turkey shot, a claim which the lady admits. Mr. Duryea can even make the decoy turkey gobble by the accuracy of his shooting upon occasion. In Tennessee the author was by their kindness introduced to the old English fashion of shooting by the use of shooting ponies. The mounted guns, whether one or three, had three handlers of dogs, each mounted also, and each working a brace of speedy dogs, and by that means covering three-quarters to a mile of country at a beat. The horn is used to sound “a point,” and then the six miles an hour “fox trot” is increased to hunting speed, until the point is reached, when the shooters slide off and shoot. The useless (?) nigger can, at such times, manage to lead six horses. This sport is a sort of cross between hunting and shooting, as also was that of ancient England, if all accounts are true. So was hunting in the New Forest, when William Rufus missed his way, and ran up against an arrow by mistake.
All good shots at their best must shoot in the same way: what differs is the way they see their own performances and the way they describe them. This has been dealt with on other pages. But likenesses do not end with actual aiming, for somewhat similar to the American quail shooting described above was the method by which the late Maharajah Duleep Singh killed his 440 grouse in the day. That is to say, he had several brace of dogs with as many handlers going at the same time, and rode from point to point. But for quickness of shooting and changing guns he has probably never been beaten. Every shooter, as far as the author can learn, is sometimes surprised at missing with the first barrel, and at the ease with which the second barrel accomplishes the more difficult task. Surely we may take a lesson from the crack shots who have this experience. The pace at which they are obliged to swing to catch up for the second shot necessitates an uncontrollable gun at the end of the swing—a gun going faster than merely keeping up with the bird, and they kill because they are more forward than they thought. But if so, it may be asked, “What then is the use of alignment?” Precious little for that shot certainly, seeing that there is no time to correct aim. But alignment does not mean looking down the rib and seeing the bird at the end of it; it means looking down the rib at some point in space which moves as the bird moves, and its principal value is not that it is good to correct aim, but that it guides the first swing to the spot. For instance, in the second shot the gun is at the shoulder always, and swings in to the correct place while always in alignment with the eye.
Ten years ago, Sir Ralph P. Gallwey picked out the following as the best shots in England:—Lords de Grey, Walsingham, Huntingfield, Ashburton, Carnegie, Wemyss, and Bradford, the Maharajah Duleep Singh, Messrs. F. E. R. Fryer, A. Stuart Wortley, R. Rimington Wilson, and F. S. Corrance.
Bailey’s list of voted-for good shots was—
1. Earl de Grey. 2. Mr. Rimington Wilson. Lord Walsingham. 3. Mr. H. Noble. 4. Hon. H. Stoner. Lord Falconer. Prince Victor Duleep Singh. H.R.H. the Prince of Wales. F. E. R. Fryer. 5. E. de C. Oakley. Lord Ashburton. 6. A. W. Blyth. C. P. Wykeham Martin. Prince F. Duleep Singh. Lord Carnarvon. 7. Lord Warwick. Lord Westbury. Sir Robert Gresley.
Prince Victor Duleep Singh is no doubt about as quick a game shot as his father before him; the latter as a shot compared in the same way with Englishmen as his countryman “Ranji” compares with our slower cricketers.
The Prince of Wales is very quick and very keen; not at all a feather-bed sportsman, he is ready at all times to face the weather for a very little sport. His duck shooting in Canada and his jungle sport in India are within the recollection of everybody. That he does not draw for places is because a host’s will is law even to the heir to England’s crown.
The Hon. H. Stonor, who is not easily beaten for style and accuracy, uses 33 grains of E.C. No. 3 and 1 oz. shot. He uses hammer ejector guns, as do the Prince of Wales, Lord de Grey, and Lord Bradford, who once did some record shooting in Scotland.