done from a trench below the target, with windows in its roof, was adopted on some ranges. One favourite device upon ranges fitted with iron targets is that of having a ringing bull's-eye. This is a separate plate, usually of steel, of the precise size of the bull's-eye for the distance in use, which is hung on the face of the target, and projects from it a little way. Sometimes it is suspended from a strip of iron that is hooked on to the top of the target, and hangs down upon its face, and has a projection which engages in a hole near the edge of the bull's-eye; sometimes the bull's-eye has a hole in its centre, through which passes a bolt which secures it to the target. In either case it is essential that the bull's-eye plate should hang clear of the target, so that when struck by a shot its vibration may not be interfered with. It is eminently satisfying when the report of the shot is answered immediately by a loud clanga sound, if the bull's-eye is well hung, almost like that of a church bell. The shot which misses the bull's-eye is known by the smack with which it strikes upon the iron, or by the dull thud, or, at long ranges, the absence of sound, which denotes its striking earth. The ringing bull's-eye is a great help to the marker, but it will sometimes make a shot difficult for him to see, if it strike on the face of the target close to the edge of the bull's-eye on the side furthest from him, or just over the top, so that the projecting plate intercepts his view. A curious effect, which comes out after some years' use of a ringing bull's-eye, may also be noticed on the larger plates of metal targets: the bull's-eye gradually assumes a convex form, that is, its surface becomes slightly curved, and its edges thrust back from the level of its centre. This is the effect of the hammering it receives from many bullets, each one slightly stretching what may be considered as the skin of the steel plate just at the point at which it hits it. The aggregate effect of this is that the side on which the bullets fall becomes a little larger than the other, and consequently the plate is bowed outwards. PENETRABLE CHAPTER XV TARGETS NOW USED THEIR ENDURANCE-WINDMILL AND JEFFRIES TARGETS-METHOD OF MARKING-FOREIGN RANGE EQUIP- TELEPHONE WITH the bow and arrow, penetrable targets were naturally used, and in the early days of rifle practice they were not uncommon. They were free from the danger of splashes of lead flying off them. In 'The Rifle, and How to Use it,' 1858, Hans Busk speaks of a target covered with white cotton, at that time issued officially. He says: Nothing can be much worse than those issued by the Ordnance Department for the Army; they consist of an iron frame, covered with white cotton. . . . Erected generally on an open ground, with no object behind to detach them from the surrounding scenery, and of so flimsy a texture as to be speedily torn to rags, it soon becomes impossible to observe where they have been hit. Were they made of stout canvas, with cartridge paper pasted over them, and that renewed as required, they would be far better in all respects, and would then last for a long time.' This is exactly the construction of the modern penetrable targets, which were copied from foreign ones and definitely adopted by the National Rifle Association in 1874, in spite of much heated opposition and protest, and after a great deal of hesitation. The result was entirely successful, and it was found that in rainy weather, in which the marking on iron targets would become almost impossible, canvas targets offered very little difficulty. The sine quâ non of penetrable targets for continuous use is that each shot-hole should be patched out as soon as another one is made, and thus all confusion in marking is obviated. The old pattern of canvas target used at Wimbledon at medium and long ranges had an iron frame, the bars of which were bevelled to a knife edge in front, so that the bullet striking them glanced, and went harmlessly into the butt in rear. Targets made in this way were so heavy that in the case of those for long ranges it was necessary to wind them up or down from the trench below by means of a windlass and chain-a very laborious process. Nowadays, it is found far safer, as well as more convenient in manipulation, to have the target made entirely of wood, canvas, or Willesden paper, and other paper, and to fasten it by feet into an iron frame, which is sheltered by a butt or mantlet from the shots. It might well have been thought that where the amount of shooting is considerable, and especially when it is of a high class of accuracy, a penetrable target would be so quickly destroyed as to be of very little use after a few hundred rounds. This is by no means the case, as is shown in Plate XLV, which gives a photograph of the back view of three targets used for 200 yards' shooting at Wimbledon and Bisley for more than twenty years. That numbered 1 shows the effect of a very large number of shots in match shooting and practice. The bull's-eye has been entirely shot away, and almost the whole bulk of the hits is within a space of two feet in diameter in the centre of the target. The target has been re-faced many times with paper, and re-backed at least once with canvas, but the number of shot-holes towards its outer margin is small, and very few bullets have perforated the wooden frame on which the canvas is stretched. No. 2 shows a similar target that has been used for ordinary class-firing and practice. In this, although the middle of the target shows most hits, the shots are far more widely distributed, and the frame has received so many of them as to be hardly fit for further service. No. 3 shows the last scene of all that ends this strange eventful history,' when the frame is hardly fit even for firewood, having entirely succumbed to the shooting. All kinds of systems have been devised for carrying penetrable targets: Most of them seem to have been invented more than once. The windmill system consists of a pivot set horizontally, upon which is arranged a frame carrying two |