DR.

CARVER'S

CHAPTER XIX

FEATS-TRICK SHOOTING RAPID FIRING AT WIMBLEDON AND ABROAD-HERRMANN'S PERFORMANCE-CAPTAIN OTTER'S SKILLNATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION RAPID COMPETITIONS-SKILL IN THE RIFLE BRIGADE-A FEAT OF MR. LANCASTER-RESTS AND REST SHOOTING DIAGRAMS OF ABNORMAL MERIT REST SHOOTING IN OF RESULTS-SAMPLE DIAGRAMS MADE AT

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YARDS AND AT 100 YARDS WALLINGFORD'S SHOOTING AT 300 METRES RECORDS OF THE QUEEN'S PRIZE-MATCH BETWEEN E. ROSS AND FENTON-THE ANY RIFLE ASSOCIATION CUP THE WIMBLEDON CUP--TARGETS BY RIGBY, MELLISH, AND HALFORD-GIBBS'S RECORD SHOOTING-PUBLIC SCHOOL AND UNIVERSITY SHOOTING THE NATIONAL CHALLENGE TROPHY THE ELCHO SHIELD-MATCHES WITH AMERICAN TEAMS, 1874-1883-MATCH AT THE HAGUE, 1899

PROBABLY the rifle-shot whose name was best known to the English public in the latter years of the nineteenth century was Dr. Carver, the American. Immense skill of manipulation of the Winchester rifle, very great rapidity of aiming, and an extraordinary knack of hitting moving objects, were the great features of his exhibition performances twenty years ago when he visited this country. He would break a glass ball thrown into the air by his black servant with considerable certainty, and he would hit small coins similarly thrown up. So dexterous was he in the use of the Winchester rifle that he could fire two shots at a glass ball while in the air, missing it purposely, and break it with the third before it touched the ground. He was a man of fine physique, and his powers of endurance were remarkable, as was shown in July 1878, when he broke 5,500 glass balls in 500 minutes at the Brooklyn Driving Park. His feats of fancy shooting were unmistakably the result of great natural powers, well developed by constant practice. But it does not appear that Dr. Carver showed any very unique skill under the ordinary conditions of rifle shooting at ordinary distances. Other trick shooters have from time to time appeared, usually on the stage of the music-hall. It must not be supposed that

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these performances are either as marvellous or as practical as they at first sight appear to be. Dr. Carver used the rifle exactly as the shot-gun is commonly used, with both eyes open, and shooting more by the sense of direction than by alignment of the sight. A ball thrown up is practically stationary for an instant before it begins to fall, and when the knack of firing quickly has been thoroughly acquired, it is by no means so difficult to hit as might be supposed, while a graze will break it. If the diameter of a glass ball is 3 inches, and that of the bullet 5 inch, the mark presented at a distance of ten yards by the glass ball will cover an angle of fully 33'. That is to say, it would be equivalent in area to a circular target 6 feet in diameter at 200 yards distance, whereas the ordinary Bisley target is a square one measuring 4 feet each way. That we may not be supposed to be unfairly depreciating this class of shooting, Mr. Theodore Van Dyke may be quoted, who, in his excellent book on American hunting, The Still Hunter,' devotes a short chapter to The Rifle on Moving Game.' He speaks of having foretold in 1878, when Carver's shooting fame first astonished America, that he would in a few months have plenty of successful imitators. His pre

diction was fulfilled. He says: Imitators by the score arose, most of whom have excelled the best records made by Carver during his first six months of glory. And before long we began to hear of wonderful boys, and even wonderful girls, that hit glass balls and pennies in the air with a rifle. These prodigies are on the increase. The other day I read of two new cases in one paper, neither over ten years of age.' The fact was that instead of being marvellous the performance was simply new. He disposes of the fallacious talk about wing-shooting with the rifle by pointing out that Dr. Carver and all his imitators have in all their public exhibitions been careful to shoot at no pigeons or other birds on the wing, to shoot at no balls tossed across the line of fire or at any angle to it, and to shoot at nothing in motion when at any distance where it would require the most ordinary amount of skill to hit the same object if at rest.' The degree of skill, he points out, necessary to hit a 3-inch ball at ten paces is absolutely useless in the field. He mentions that Mr. Maurice Thompson

at the first trial broke with a bow and arrow thirty-five balls out of fifty tossed into the air at ten paces, shooting as fast as he could, the feat being much more difficult with the bow and arrow than with the rifle. As regards the throwing up of pennies instead of glass balls, he points out that it is much easier to hit a 1-inch mark at ten yards than a 3-inch mark at thirty yards, and that the champion rifle wing shots always prefer balls to pennies, although they are more than twice as expensive and more troublesome to handle. Dr. Carver was certainly one of the best rifle-shots in the field before he began to give exhibition performances, but the account given by himself in the Chicago Field' of November 20, 1880, and quoted by Mr. Van Dyke, of his shooting chamois and deer, does not suggest exceptional skill. Shooting at moving objects with the rifle, always provided that circumstances allow it to be done with safety, is excellent practice for giving quickness and handiness; but it is important to take shots moving in all directions, and not only those going straight away, or straight across at a fixed distance. The exhibition shooting of which we have been speaking is always done at such distances that neither the fall of the bullet nor the time which it takes in flight amount to anything material, but this is not at all the case in the field.

In the first twelve years of the Wimbledon meetings prizes were often given for rapidity of firing under varying conditions with the object of developing the invention of practical breech-loaders, or of cultivating rapid loading, and loading when on the move with the Service rifle. A favourite form of competition in vogue thirty years ago was a combination of shooting and running on the following principles: The competitor came to the firing-point with a loaded rifle, and when all was ready the word Commence' was given, at which he capped, fired, loaded, and fired again, and then had to carry his rifle, ammunition, loading-rod, &c., round a post 50 yards away, loading, if he chose, while running. Returning to the firing-point, he fired two more shots, ran round the post again, and so on, for the three, four, or five minutes laid down as the limit of time. Such a competition excites a good deal of interest, and is of a practical nature. At the same time success depends so much upon specialisation and prac

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tice that it is apt to fall into the hands of a small circle who specially cultivate the particular drill necessary, and so to lose in popularity and general utility. Rapid-firing competitions for breech-loaders were also held, and elicited much interest. In these the firing was generally of an unlimited number of rounds in a limited time, where any position was allowed. Some wonderful results were arrived at by constant practice and the use of the sling to steady the rifle. Such prizes were a great feature of the Wimbledon meeting of 1870, and some remarkable shooting was registered. With the Henry rifle (not the Martini-Henry) Mr. Farquharson, in firing at 200 yards for two minutes, made fifty-two hits and no misses. In a similar competition for squads of four men, firing independently for three minutes at 200 yards, a Scotch squad, using the Henry, fired 192 shots and made 163 hits; and an English squad, using the Martini-Henry, 195 shots with 155 hits. This is a very good average of rapidity. In 1871 the number of shots was limited, but in 1872, in a competition for a rapid-firing prize similar to that already described, squads of four men firing for three minutes at 200 yards, some remarkable shooting was made with the Soper rifle. Four men of the 1st Berks, Sergt. Soper being one of them, fired 338 shots, of which 306 were hits, the best individual performance being that of Private Gilkes, who fired 97 shots and made 95 hits. No other squad entered against this one. The average of twenty-eight shots per man. per minute, and of twenty-five hits, shows an extraordinary quickness of manipulation, and a well-made breech action working without any sort of hitch. The firing must have been almost without aim, and have depended upon the rifle keeping its general direction when used in the back position. Presumably after this time it was thought that the greatest possible speed of single-loading rifles had been reached, and that there was nothing to be gained by continuing such competitions.

Rapid-firing competitions on the Continent have usually followed somewhat different lines. Dr. W. H. Doer, of Zürich, kindly supplies the following particulars of a match which was shot there under his personal supervision in 1888. The object was to have a long competition which should combine rapidity with accuracy. The rifle used was the

single-loading Martini, the distance 300 metres (328 yards), and the object to make in as short a time as possible 200 hits on the carton of 38 centimetres (14.96 inches). The award of merit was determined by the average number of cartons made per minute. There were thirteen competitors, and much the most remarkable performance was that of Emil Herrmann, who fired kneeling, and used two rifles with the Martini breech action, having hair triggers, which were then fitted to the Swiss regulation arm. He succeeded in making the 200 hits in 36 minutes 57 seconds, firing in all 430 shots, his percentage of cartons to shots being 46.5, the average number of shots per minute 11.09, and the average number of cartons per minute 54. But although this performance was approached by no other competitor, he improved upon it considerably in a second attempt, making the 200 cartons in less than half an hour (29 minutes 45 seconds) out of only 388 shots, the percentage of cartons being 51-55, the shots per minute 13:04, and the number of cartons per minute 6.69. So good was his shooting that he hardly ever missed the bull's-eye of 60 centimetres (23.6 inches).

Rapid shooting of this kind is an art in which practice is of great value. The power of manipulating the rifle, of loading and firing without fumbling, is by no means a gift of Nature. In a long series of shots with a single-loading rifle giving a heavy kick, the exertion of taking the recoil is great, and the labour of loading and extracting is also exhausting. The heating of the barrel in rapid firing makes a mirage which adds immensely to the difficulty of accurate aiming. One of the great drawbacks of competitive firing under such conditions with black powder was the interference of smoke from the firer's rifle, or that of someone shooting close by. This trouble no longer exists. There are two other difficulties which prevent practice of this kind from becoming popular. The first is the great expenditure of ammunition, which entails considerable expense, and for most men limits the possible amount of practice; and the second, that if a large number of shooters compete alongside each other, at targets placed in a row, it may be regarded as a certainty that someone or another will trespass accidentally upon his neighbour's target, and thereby interfere with the proper record of the scores.