CHAPTER IV
THE WRONG WAY TO LEARN
Pistol practice varies in different countries.
As duelling is still general on the Continent, practice with the pistol is conducted differently to that customary in the United States or England.
On the Continent most men of the upper classes have at least a rudimentary acquaintance with the foil and duelling pistol, but in the English-speaking nations a man has rarely ever handled or even seen a duelling pistol, or the few who have done pistol shooting have never shot except at a stationary bull’s-eye target.
At the English National Rifle Association at Bisley, the attempt was made to induce men to practise at moving, rapid-firing, and disappearing targets, as well as advancing and retiring ones, but these had reluctantly one by one to be given up, owing to there being so few men who cared to shoot in such competitions.
In the days when I used to compete regularly at Bisley, I do not think there were more than half a dozen of us who competed at the sliding target, and even fewer at the rapid-firing one.
We, in those days, used revolvers and black powder, which made such shooting very difficult owing to the smoke obscuring the target.
I give at the end of this book the best targets, full size, made in these competitions which will now remain permanently the best on record, as the revolver and ammunition are no longer made. They will rank with the “High Wheel” trotting records as “Hors Concours.”