Manual for Noncommissioned Officers and Privates of Cavalry of the Army / of the United States 1917. To be also used by Engineer Companies (Mounted) for Cavalry Instruction and Training

by United States. War Department

158. From the preceding paragraph it results that there is no need, in connection with the employment of the pistol as a weapon of mounted combat, for commands that purport to designate a target or to indicate range or other details for the direction of fire. The only commands ordinarily needed are those required for instruction purposes. (See Small-Arms Firing Manual.)

159. The effectiveness of the individual trooper in mounted pistol combat depends upon:

(a) Thorough familiarity with the weapon and facility in manipulating its mechanism under all conditions. This is acquired by training in the Manual of the Pistol. Constant practice is necessary in rapidly drawing the pistol from its holster, loading it, withdrawing magazine, and inserting magazine, at first at a halt, later in motion, and finally at rapid gaits.

(b) Skill in firing the pistol. This is acquired by actual practice in the preliminary exercises and range firing as prescribed in the Small-Arms Firing Manual.

(c) Control of the horse. This is acquired in the School of the Trooper.

(d) The thorough inculcation in the trooper of the habit of withholding his fire until within close range. This can well be accomplished in individual training by exercises in firing or simulating fire at one or more silhouette targets. The trooper approaches at a gait graduated in accordance with his state of training and is required to withhold his fire until he passes a certain line.

160. The other elements that enter into effective use of the pistol as a mounted weapon relate to the formations and tactics employed rather than to individual training. They pertain, therefore, to collective rather than individual instruction.

161. If any command be required in connection with the characteristic use of the pistol in mounted combat, it consists simply of an indication of the moment at which fire may begin. For this purpose the command COMMENCE FIRING may be employed in any case for which a command may be desirable.

MANUAL OF THE SABER, DISMOUNTED.

162. For this instruction, dismounted, the saber in the scabbard is carried in the left hand.