At each shot the rifle tried to jump out of my hands, twisted itself round to the right and then suddenly twisted the other way. The tighter I gripped the more it wriggled about.

Instead of the sights coming down back to alignment, after the recoil, I found they jumped clean off the deer and I had to go hunting about to get my aim again.

Instead of, as with a well-balanced double rifle, the muzzle flying up at the first shot and dropping down into place for the second shot, there was no possibility of alignment without a fresh aim for each shot.

It was just as if you have a strong unruly child in your arms trying to set him down on a chair.

He wriggles from side to side, stiffens his back, and you cannot seat him on the chair.

This is just how the rifle acted. It wriggled and struggled and refused to let itself be aligned on the target.

The inventor also tried shooting it and missed even with his first shot.

The fault lay in the way the recoil was taken up.

To make an automatic rifle which will shoot accurately in rapid shooting, the recoil must be straight back, not with a twist and wriggle from side to side.

When choosing an automatic pistol, shoot it and find out if it lets you align your sights afresh immediately after you have fired. If you find it cants over or tries to go home into its holster at each shot, and you have to alter this cant before you can fire again, do not buy it.

Get the gunmaker to instruct you thoroughly in the mechanism of any automatic you buy and especially what parts need special attention to prevent its jamming.

Jamming is the constant bugbear to fight against. The automatic pistol must always be kept in perfect working order and the parts properly cleaned and oiled.

The barrel in some is difficult to properly clean internally, unless taken apart, and it is difficult to re-a.s.semble.

Unless all the parts work freely, a weak cartridge is apt to prevent the pistol closing properly.

When you have learnt the mechanism from the gunmaker you can begin practising shooting with the pistol.

The princ.i.p.al thing you have to remember is that, whereas a single-shot pistol, when you have taken out the cartridge, is unloaded and safe, and a revolver when you have emptied the cylinder is also unloaded and safe, when you have taken out the magazine with its cartridges from an automatic pistol, the pistol _may still remain loaded_.

With the automatic pistol, when you have drawn back the slide and thereby loaded a cartridge into the barrel, that cartridge _remains in still when you withdraw the clip full of cartridges_.

I give herewith a description of the Colt New Safety which obviates the danger of leaving a cartridge inadvertently in the automatic pistol.

"Figure 1 shows the pistol in c.o.c.ked or firing position, magazine withdrawn and cartridge in barrel chamber.

"Figure 2 indicates position of the magazine when inserted in handle of the pistol, and position of firing mechanism when safety-disconnector is forced forward by the inserted magazine.

"When the magazine is _removed_ (see Figure 1), the plunger acted upon by its spring forces the safety-disconnector to the rear. This movement forces the rear end of the connector (A) _below_ the nose of the sear (B) so that should the trigger be pulled, the connection between trigger and sear being broken, that is, the rear end of the connector (A) being _below_ the sear nose (B), the trigger cannot operate the sear, consequently no discharge of the piece can occur.

"When the magazine is _inserted_ into the handle of the pistol (see Figure 2), the curved top of the forward portion of the magazine forces the safety-disconnector forward and permits the rear end of the connector (A) to rise in _front_ of the sear nose (B) in the normal position for firing.

A pull on the trigger causes the sear to turn upon its pivot so that the firing pin is released and strikes the cartridge."

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE 7. COLT NEW SAFETY DISCONNECTOR AUTOMATIC PISTOL, .25

The firing mechanism consists of the trigger with its connector which releases the sear; the sear which releases the firing pin when the trigger is pulled; the firing pin (there is no pivoted hammer in this model), and the safety-disconnector with its plunger and spring. This disconnector is part of the calibre .25 only.]

_To unload an automatic pistol, withdraw the clip of cartridges and then draw back the slide and extract the cartridge remaining in the barrel._

Till this latter is done the pistol is still loaded and dangerous.

The automatic pistol is a very delicate instrument and apt to go wrong at the most critical time.

The revolver used to be grumbled at, but (if it did not fit too tightly) even when it jammed, it could be c.o.c.ked and worked by using extra strength, opened by striking it over the thigh, etc.

But an automatic cannot be forced, it must be operated with knowledge of exactly just what has gone wrong.

Any one taking up automatic-pistol shooting seriously should go to a gunmaker and learn all about its mechanism so that he will know what is wrong when the pistol refuses to operate.

Each make of automatic varies, so I cannot give elaborate instructions as to handling. Each make may have some point where it is simpler and superior to others though in other respects it may be inferior.

In the following remarks I mention what I consider best from a shooting, not a mechanical, point of view. The latter is undergoing constant change, and the automatic pistol has not yet arrived at a standard type.

There are some points in which even the best automatic is at present imperfect, and some in which it is dangerous to spectators--for instance, the very strong ejection of the fired cartridge in some makes, which may destroy the eyes of persons standing near enough to be hit by the spent cartridges as they are ejected.

I know of an automatic rifle which ejects its spent cartridges with great force, and another which merely lifts them out, as if they were spilt over the edge of the ejector slot, no force being used. This is the way ejecting should be done.

Such ejection would be very useful on an automatic pistol; now, if near a man shooting them, they, even the best, hit one quite hard with the spent cartridges.

This gentle ejection is a patent and is done by a very weak spring in the extractor which tips the cartridge out at the right moment; the ejection is not caused by the back blast of the powder, or the drive forward of the carrier, as in other automatics.

CHAPTER XXV

FINAL PRACTICE

What I am about to describe is very dangerous, even for a good, cool shot, and should not be attempted by any but an expert.

It is practice for instantaneous shooting when taken unawares.

Put up a full-sized man target at fifteen yards. Buckle on your holster, with the loaded automatic in it, the safety bolt at "safe." b.u.t.ton the holster.

Stand with your back to the target, get your pistol out and put all your shots into the target in the shortest possible time.

This practice can be made still more difficult if as many man targets as your magazine holds cartridges are placed at various distances; hit all of them in the shortest time, taking them, not in rotation, but at random.

At "go" you turn and in so doing unb.u.t.ton the holster flap, drawing the pistol, taking off the safety, and firing--all in one movement.

Occasionally, instead of firing all the shots, slip in the safety, and return the pistol to the holster after one shot.

See how quickly you can draw, shoot, and return to holster "all safe."

The idea is to make the movement of drawing, taking off the safety, firing, returning the safety, and putting back in holster, all one continuous movement, and as nearly instantaneous as possible.

The safety should be off as the pistol gets clear of the holster; similarly the safety should be on again the instant the shot is fired.