Also, it is important to protect the ear-drums from the constant banging, else you get your ears “singing” and finally become more or less deaf. A pistol is worse than a rifle or gun in this respect, owing to the shortness of the barrel and the consequent proximity of the concussion to the ear. The left ear is more apt to suffer than the right, which is more sheltered by the arm, and a neighbour’s shot, for which the ear is unprepared, affects it more than one’s own. This is particularly noticeable if your neighbour stands slightly behind you. Some use cotton-wool in the ears. I find it apt to mix with the natural wax in the ears, a small amount of the cotton-wool remaining behind each time the wool is removed; and, what is more, it does not sufficiently deaden the sound. For practising in private, a pair of small down pillows tied over the ears deaden the sound best, or a racing motorist’s skull cap with ear shields but both are very hot in warm weather and cannot be worn in public. “Elliot’s Perfect Ear Protectors” are the best I have yet found; these are made in the United States and sold in England by Gieve Mathews & Seagrove, The Hard, Portsmouth. The concussion of pistols, bad at all times, is of course aggravated by the use of the heavy military ammunition obligatory at Bisley.
If you cannot get a copy of the Bisley disappearing-target mechanism, the next best thing is to have the target hinge over and be brought up again by some mechanical means. If this is not practicable, a stationary target may be made to answer, as I shall presently show.
My reason for wanting the actual Bisley arrangement is because that comes up with a jerk (some of the men operating it are very jerky), and the target “wobbles” for a fraction of a second, both just as it gets upright and just before it disappears, and this is apt to disconcert any one not used to it.
Next, get a metronome, with bell attachment. Set it to beat half-seconds (be very particular to get the time absolutely correct), and set the bell to ring at every sixth beat. You have now intervals of three seconds marked with a “ring” at the end of each. Count the beats to yourself when the metronome is working: “One, two, three, four, five, six”; “one, two, three,” etc.
Get your man to work the lever which actuates the target (the lever in every case being a yard or two behind you, so that there is no danger of shooting the man or of burning his eyes with the side flash from the chambers of the revolver). Let him, at the stroke of the bell, bring up the target sharply, so that it comes with a bang, and lower it at the next ring in the same way, and keep it down till the next ring, then jerk it up, and so on; jerking it as roughly as the mechanism will allow.
If you have to practise on a stationary target, pretend to yourself that it disappears at each alternate ring of the metronome. The firing-point must be like the Bisley one; it will not do to stand with the revolver hanging at your side; it must rest on a ledge the same height as at Bisley, or else your practice will be useless for Bisley, as quite a different way of working the muscles and resting them between shots is in use in the two styles of shooting, and it takes less time to “come up” from a ledge than when the arm is hanging by the side. Owing to the slope of the ground at Bisley, some of the ledges are higher than others; choose the one that suits you best, and have your practice ledge that height; and when shooting at Bisley, do so from the ledge you have previously chosen.
Stand squarely, well behind this ledge. You will only get disqualified if you get into the way of resting the lower part of your body against the ledge; or even if you stand close to it and your coat happens to hang in front; or if you happen to have a “corporation” some competitor may have you disqualified as resting against the ledge.
The position of the legs and body is as for the twenty-yards stationary target, except that the rod which works the target is best kept between the feet, and these have to be a little wider apart. (N.B. If you are a short man, it is better to stand to one side of the rod.)
Stretch your arm out its full length, and, holding the pistol with the sights uppermost, rest the lower side of the barrel lightly against the ledge. The part of the barrel adjacent to the chamber is the part to rest on the ledge, as it is less likely to slip. There is a notch between the barrel and lower part of the frame of the revolver, and when this is resting on the edge of the table, and the arm is straight, then you are standing at the right distance from the table.
If you have to stretch too much or to lean forward, move slightly closer until you are comfortable; if your arm is bent, move backward till it comes straight. (All this is done with an empty revolver.)