The various rifles I have used at the Running Deer at Bisley since the early days vary in allowance in front from four feet down to merely aiming at the point of the shoulder.
The faster the bullet goes, the easier it is to judge how far you must aim in front at moving objects, but here comes in the inevitable “compromise.”
The faster the bullet goes, the more force it needs to propel it, which means more recoil and shock to the shooter.
You have to make a compromise. If you are strong and have good nerves, and don’t take alcohol or smoke, you can stand a strong recoil without its spoiling your shooting. If you are not strong, it is better to have to aim further in front and save your nerves, by using a lighter load.
I am not speaking from theory but from experience. I have specialized and made record scores on the “Running Deer” at the National Rifle Association of England’s Meeting since I was a small boy.
When I first began, an older man shot a very light charge and kept winning, although he had to aim an enormous distance in front of the “deer” to make up for the slow speed of his bullet. But, as there was little noise and no recoil to worry his nerves, he put up wonderfully good scores.
I, knowing no better, tried to get my bullet up quickly by shooting a tremendously big charge. The bullet went up quickly but the recoil nearly knocked me down, and in consequence my shooting was very erratic.
I have since experimented from very small charges up to the heaviest, having a velocity of over three thousand feet a second.
The year I won the World’s Championship at the Olympic Games, I had arrived at a “compromise” between speed of bullet and recoil, which enabled me to win, but since then I have yet a still better compromise, which enables me to make highest possible scores.
Formerly, in revolvers and pistols, one had to bear the full recoil. Now, automatic pistols, which utilize part of the recoil to operate opening, loading, ejection, and reclosing, have less recoil when shooting heavier charges than revolvers did.