As you can see from the picture, the accuracy of the weapon is quite good.
Mr. McCloy. That first target is what distance?
Mr. Simmons. 175 feet. And we had to make an assumption here about the point of aim. It is quite likely that in fact each man was aiming at a different portion of the target—there were no markings on the target visible to the firer.
Mr. Eisenberg. Did I understand you just told the firers to aim at the target without referring to——
Mr. Simmons. Yes.
Mr. Eisenberg. There is an apparent crossline running darkly through that photograph.
Mr. Simmons. These lines were drawn in afterwards, in order for us to make some measurements from the actual impact point.
The target which was emplaced at 240 feet, as shown in Exhibit 583—we had rather an unusual coincidence with respect to this target. This involved the displacement of the weapon to a sufficient angle that the basic firing position of the man had to be changed. And because they knew time was very important, they made the movement very quickly. And for the first four attempts, the firers missed the second target. Of course, we made a rather, I guess, disadvantageous error in the test by pointing out that they had missed on the second target, and there was a conscious effort made on the additional rounds to hit the second target.
On the third target, the angle through which the weapon had to be moved to get to the third target from the second was relatively small, and there were only two rounds which did not hit the target at 270 feet. One of these rounds, by the way, was used in the sequence where the iron sight was employed.
Mr. Eisenberg. Mr. Simmons, when you said that the firers had to make a large shift relatively in their firing position, and were in a hurry, is this your interpretation or is this based on discussions with them subsequently?