If you are using a pistol having the additional safety squeeze in stock, there is far less danger in this practice, as this pistol squeeze only occurs as the trigger is pressed.

This is the only sort of practice I know of where an automatic pistol is safer than a revolver.

In drawing a revolver, if it is a single-action one, there is danger of its being fired by accident in c.o.c.king, and especially in putting back to half c.o.c.k, if only one hand is available to do this.

With an automatic the safety can be put on or off without danger of an accidental explosion, and the Regulation U. S. .45 Army Colt cannot be fired till the grip is squeezed as well.

A musician has an advantage in this practice, as he uses his fingers and thumbs independently of each other.

In practising this exercise with a .45 Colt U. S. Army Automatic, be sure to draw the pistol without any pressure on the safety at back of stock, only push the thumb safety and put the pressure on the other release only as you fire.

You can practise this with an empty pistol with a pad of rubber to take the blow of the falling hammer so as not to break the mainspring. As you draw, push the safety off with the thumb, pulling the pistol out with the fingers against the front of the grip, so as not to touch the back safety lever, and squeeze that with your palm in firing.

Keep in mind that the pistol is safe so long as you do not press the palm of your hand against it, even when the slide safety is off.

In all this practice remember speed is the one object, as long as you can hit the figure that is all that is necessary. To hit the enemy first is the all important thing, to hit him _after_ he has. .h.i.t you, on account of wasting time in taking a good aim, is a fatal mistake.

For extreme speed you can fire the moment the pistol is in the direction of the target even before you have raised your arm, continuing the raising of the arm as you fire and getting the next shot in as an aimed one.

Even if the first shot is a miss it disconcerts the opponent and may prevent his getting in a shot on you before you have time to fire the second shot.

CHAPTER XXVI

EXHIBITION SHOOTING

In my _Art of Revolver Shooting_ I did an unintentional wrong to a stage shot.

In the book I gave details of how to do legitimate stage shooting, and also exposed the devices of those who perform conjuring tricks, which the public mistake for genuine shooting.

There was a review of my book in one of the daily papers, in which the reviewer gave extracts of how some of these fake-shooting feats were done.

The next day I received a most indignant letter from a "Lady Champion Shot" telling me that when she was giving her exhibition at a music hall, people in the audience, after each feat, shouted to her "I know how that's done," and that she had lost her job in consequence.

I do not know the merits of the case, as I never saw her shoot, but I will not explain any more stage tricks, as I do not want "Stage Champion Shots"

to lose engagements. Shooting men can see for themselves if any of these shooting exhibitions are genuine, and if fakes amuse the public, what does it matter?

For hitting small objects with extreme accuracy at short range for exhibition purposes, I find the larger the bullet, providing it is propelled by a small charge which has no recoil, the easier to make hits with.

The big bullet cuts into say the ace of hearts, where a smaller bullet would just miss it.

Six well-placed shots with a .44 French duelling pistol shot at five yards would make one hole, whereas six .22 bullets. .h.i.tting exactly the same centres would make six distinct holes, close together, but would not be the sensational "all the shots in one hole" like the former score, which audiences talk about afterwards.

Nowadays, with the wax bullets driven by fulminate out of a duelling pistol, shooting off the heads of a.s.sistants can be done with very little risk except to the eyes, whereas with a leaden bullet a bad shot means the death of the a.s.sistant unless provided with a steel skull cap under a wig.

In spite of the advantage of the big bullet, most stage shooters use the .22 calibre pistol.

It may be that they have some contract with the makers to use only their make of pistol, or it is a tradition because Chevalier Ira Paine used it, but why any one with a free hand uses it in preference to a .44 I do not understand.

I cannot do as good shooting with a .22 as with the larger calibres, and I have, I think, specimens of all makes of pistols and have shot them all.

I was a pupil of Chevalier Ira Paine, who was an incomparably better shot than any of us at stationary targets, and unique in that I never saw him make a bad shot, and he has won (which no other man has succeeded in doing) _both_ the Duelling Pistol _and_ the Revolver Grand Medal at Gastinne-Renette's Gallery in Paris. Both are better scores than any ever made before or since. There is also a seven-shot score with all the bullets into a shamrock-shaped hole at sixteen metres, made by Ira Paine, framed at Gastinne-Renette's.

He was shooting for the Grand Medal d'Or when he made this seven-shot score. They were such a phenomenal group that he was asked not to continue on that target for fear of spoiling it.

As he shot so extremely well with the duelling pistol, and as I know no score of his with the .22 to equal his work with the duelling pistol, I do not understand why he did not use the latter for his stage work.

One of his most sensational feats was for his a.s.sistant to hold a playing card, the three of hearts, horizontally. Paine hit the outside pip first, then the middle one, and finally the one next the fingers, which were about a third of an inch from it.

This, in artificial light and reserving the most dangerous shot for the last, required nerve, and he did this the night before he died, when he knew his case was hopeless.

As I said, he was the only man I ever saw who did what heroes of novels do. That is, he never missed or made a bad shot during all the years I saw him shoot.

CHAPTER XXVII

CONTROL OF TEMPER

Pistol shooting is excellent training for control of the temper. Boiled down to its essence, pistol shooting is _fighting_ either in earnest or in compet.i.tion.

Whilst therefore self-control is essential in all sport, in pistol shooting it is vital. When a man loses his temper he is at the mercy of his opponent.

Temperaments differ: a word or act which has not the least effect on one man's temper irritates another till he gets beside himself.

How often one hears a man say: "I don't know what I have done, but X.

seems offended with me."

Some take offence at very little, while with others nothing can make them lose their temper.

I know a man who never has even a shade of annoyance pa.s.s over his face whatever happens. He is in constant request for shooting in teams, and he can be depended on always to shoot up to his form. When his team seems hopelessly beaten he calmly makes a string of bull's-eyes.

This is the ideal state of mind, the control of one's temper all should have, and nothing trains for this like pistol shooting.

In the p.r.o.ne position with a rifle a man may be agitated but his brain still enables him to shoot well, but when standing up and having to depend on the muscles and nerves of his right hand and arm alone, self-control is all he has to rely on.

Self-control becomes second nature to a pistol-shot. Control of the temper and nerves is greatly hindered in cases where nicotine, alcohol, or other drugs are used. These drugs do not give the nerves and brain a fair chance.

Loss of temper is considered proper and a sign of authority by some, and loss of temper has even (most profanely) been considered by some as an attribute of their deities.

Formerly masters of hounds, if the Field did anything wrong, flew into an ungovernable rage and used disgusting language.

Nothing can be done properly when a man is in this state of mental unbalance, and many a fox has owed his life to the huntsman having lost his temper with his Field or his horse.