The trigger-pull must not be lighter than 2½ pounds for safety (especially for a beginner) and if the pistol weighs less than 2½ pounds, it is very difficult to press the trigger without disturbing the aim.
Lightness in weight of the pistol is also often obtained by shortness of barrel, and to shoot a pistol with only a two or three inch barrel is the supreme test of skill in pistol shooting and a useless handicap to a learner.
At one time I thought it impossible for good shooting to be had out of a two inch barrel, but a friend and I tested this at twenty-five metres, and we both, after a few trials, got strings of shots on the chest of a life-sized figure of a man target.
But it requires a man who has shot for many years to be able to do this; even an average shot goes very wide and wild in his shooting with such a short barrel.
These very short barrels are therefore useless for the general public for self-protection, except when the pistol actually touches the opponent.
Even the short police pistol requires a lot of learning. Most people imagine it is merely necessary to buy a little pistol “which I can put in my waistcoat pocket,” to become burglar proof.
PLATE 3.
Author’s winning
score for
Gastinne-Renette
Competition,
April 7, 1910.
This sort of thing is worse than useless. If you leave a man alone he will most likely leave you alone, but if you annoy him by banging at him, he may lose his temper and hurt you.