CARE OF PULL-OFF AND SIGHTS 365 full bent in which it engages, free from dirt, and slightly lubricated, and that the whole width of both should be in contact. The same applies to all the moving parts of the lockwork. The easy and regular pull of the trigger is a matter worthy of serious attention, especially for shooting at moving objects, and it should be adjusted only by expert hands. The really successful shot never neglects details of this kind. We have already touched upon the necessity for keeping the butt of the 303 screwed up tightly to the strap of metal behind the action, into which it fits. The band and nose-cap which bear upon the barrel should not be so tight as to pinch it in the least, else the shooting is affected; and this caution especially applies to the opening in the nose-cap for the barrel, which gives little or no margin if it is not quite correctly placed for the barrel to pass through it. The back sight should be kept in good order; the hinge should be kept oiled so that the spring has no difficulty in lifting the flap to the proper position when it has been raised so as to be nearly upright; and the leaf should slide easily, but not too easily, upon it. Sight protectors, both for fore sight and back sight, should be habitually used. The magazine should be occasionally taken out and looked to, to see that it is in working order. The shooter, in fact, should conscientiously do his. duty in every way by the rifle if he wishes it not to fail him in any point at some critical moment. In the case of the Match rifle the sights require some extra care, and the screws by which they are attached to the stock and the barrel need occasional testing to see that they are tight. All screws connected with the sights should occasionally be tightened up, since it is almost an ineradicable habit with them to work loose from the jar of firing, and the writer has known men break down in important competitions from this easily preventible cause. The sliding parts should be kept clean and sufficiently lubricated, but should be watched to see that they do not wear so loose as to be capable of shaking or shifting. The aperture of the back sight, and the actual bead or ring of the fore sight, must occasionally be wiped free from the little deposit of dust which is apt to settle upon them because of the slightly oily condition in which it is advisable to keep all the steel or iron work connected with the rifle. To sum up, the rifleman who takes the trouble to keep his weapon in first-rate order will be repaid even for the drudgery of having to dirty his hands and scrub at his rifle when he comes in hungry, tired, and perhaps wet, at the end of a day's shooting. It is not easy to be properly methodical in this matter; but he who allows himself to acquire careless or irregular habits will regret it too late, when his favourite weapon has to have its barrel condemned as old iron, or when some preventible failure in the weapon deprives him of success in a competition. If barrels wear out, or rust out, more easily at the present day than in old times, those of military arms are, at all events, not very expensive to renew, but this is small consolation when nothing remains but to throw away a cherished and trusted barrel with which high scores have been made. It is well that the user of rifles should understand how to take the lockwork to pieces. To be in good working order it should be very clean, and the moving parts slightly oiled with good machine oil or similar lubricant. It is probably unnecessary to give the caution that no polishing or cutting substances whatever should be used in cleaning any part of the lock. Sometimes, as after exposure to rain, a few minutes devoted as promptly as possible to cleaning will save much subsequent trouble. The lockwork of expensive English guns and rifles is not designed with any notion of rendering it easy for the amateur to deal with it. The very bruising of the screw-heads from the want of turnscrews of precisely the right size, form, and temper, and of suitable means for holding the weapon firmly while they are applied, will spoil their highly finished appearance, and, perhaps, make work for the gunmaker. With cheap and machine-made arms, such as magazine rifles, there is usually little difficulty in taking apart the components of the lock. Most of the Continental rifles are so arranged that this can be done without any special tool, although it is well rather to be shown the method of doing so by some one who understands the particular mechanism in question, than to depend upon the CARE OF THE LOCK MECHANISM 367 light of nature and mere guesswork. Generally speaking, it is far easier to take to pieces a bolt or a lock that one does not understand than to put it together again. The view taken abroad seems to be that every part of the mechanism of the military rifle should be easily accessible for cleaning. In the case of our own rifle it was deliberately thought better so to arrange the bolt that it cannot be taken to pieces without a special tool issued only to armourers. The soldier has often been known to change bolts with a friend, whether accidentally or as a token of amity it is not easy to say, and it is considered that if he had easy access to all the smaller parts of the mechanism, some essential piece would often be broken or missing. The writer believes rather that the desire to take the mechanism to pieces merely for the sake of playing with it arises almost entirely from the mystery which is made about it. Now that the components of a lock are comparatively few and simple, and spare parts can always be substituted for broken ones, and, it must be added, now that the fighting man has intelligence which must be cultivated, there seems no reason why he should not be made to be his own armourer when necessary, so far as cleaning the mechanism of the bolt is concerned. If this were part of his duty, he would not be found playing with it when he once understood it. There cannot always be an armourer with special tools at hand if any obstruction arises on service from dirt, or if a spare part has to be substituted for a broken one. Miss-fires or hang-fires occasionally happen, and are extremely annoying. Speaking generally, the Service ammunition is extraordinarily free from them, although a few years ago there was an epidemic of hang-fires in the cordite cartridges of a particular period, which caused many searchings of heart at the Bisley meeting. In that case the fault undoubtedly lay in the cartridge, but it is safe to say that in nineteen cases out of twenty the cartridge is not to blame for hang-fires. It is sometimes a short striker which causes them; sometimes the mainspring gives an inadequate blow because it has grown weak, or even because its freedom is hampered by dirt, or by the action not being properly closed. The various qualities of different kinds of smokeless powder lead to their being sometimes loaded in cases fitted with a cap which will only just ignite them properly, and when this is the case hang-fires and miss-fires are likely enough to happen. It would not be very far from the truth to say that most modern smokeless powders require each a special cap to give the best results. The writer has tried to fire a charge of cordite in cartridge cases made for black powder quite without effect, and has found on opening the cartridge that the cordite had been blackened by the flame of the exploding cap without being ignited. Miss-fires in sporting or military rifles are at the best annoying, and at the worst fatal if they occur at some critical moment with dangerous game, and it is doubly necessary to be sure that every possibility of them is so far as may be removed. The target marksman regards such things with more equanimity, but even he must remember that a bad hang-fire may delay ignition long enough for the rifle to have been brought down from the shoulder, and possibly to be pointing in some less safe direction than that of the target before the charge is exploded. It is a great test of steadiness when a miss-fire or a hang-fire unexpectedly occurs, and men are sometimes surprised to find that they give a bob forward after pulling the trigger. This perhaps represents the attempt to meet the recoil of the rifle by moving the body. If the aim has been held steadily a hang-fire will often produce no appreciable effect upon the flight of the bullet, although its tendency is to make it strike somewhat low. It is a fair cause for complaint if a hangfire occurs in a rifle competition in which the firer does not provide his own ammunition, and where the rifle cannot be blamed. Fortunately such unpleasant events are of rare occurrence with well-made cartridges, and it is no doubt a source of just pride to those responsible for making the Service cartridge as well as to the makers and viewers of the Service rifle, that out of hundreds of thousands of rounds fired, those which give any reasonable cause of complaint may be counted upon the fingers of one or two hands. CHAPTER XIV IMPORTANCE OF TARGET SHOOTING-SKILL BEGETS CONFIDENCE-INDI VIDUAL SKILL THE BASIS OF GOOD COLLECTIVE FIRE RAPIDITY RANGES IRON TARGETS AND METHODS RANGES-UNDERGROUND OF MARKING WITH THEM ALTHOUGH the ultimate object of all rifle practice is to be able to make effective shooting either at game or at an enemy, the only way really to learn the mastery of rifles is to practise constantly with them under much easier conditions. There is very great value to the beginner in practising at the very shortest distances with the very weakest rifle, so long as it is accurate enough to respond well to his aim; and when he has in this way learnt the rudiments, he can at once make very respectable practice at longer ranges, unless the weather be very difficult, with a full-sized weapon. Why is this? Surely because he has acquired familiarity with the handling of his arm, and the proper drill and method of its use, things which, learnt on the smaller scale, are entirely applicable to what is done on the larger. Similarly, skill at the target, although it is the fashion in some quarters to sneer at it as not practical, yet is eminently so, for it is at the target only-that is, under circumstances which test skill by removing so far as is possible the element of chance, and by enabling faults of judgment or of aim to be corrected as the shooting proceeds-that the useful lessons can be given upon which all effectiveness of fire really depends. It is quite impossible that any man should make good practice in the field at marks which are not easy to see, and the distance of which he does not know, unless he can at all events shoot accurately at known distances and visible marks. It is of immense advantage to him if, when he has acquired BB |