The Modern Pistol and How to Shoot It

There is now no use learning revolver shooting. That form of pistol is obsolete except in the few instances where it survives for target shooting, or is carried for self-defence; just as flintlock muskets even now survive in out-of-the-way parts of the world. If a man tries to defend himself with a revolver against another armed with an automatic pistol he is at a great disadvantage. The automatic is more accurate than a revolver, as the "blow-back" does not vary as much as does the escape of gas past the cylinder in a revolver. The bullet in the revolver has to jump into the cylinder, whereas in the automatic it is already fitted up against the rifling, before being fired. The single-shot pistol is the most accurate of any, there being no escape of gas. The automatic has not only a much longer range than the revolver (although the popular idea that it can be shot accurately at a thousand yards or more is nonsense) but it cocks itself instead of having to be cocked by the thumb, or trigger finger. Cocking by trigger-pull is such a strain on, not only the trigger finger, but the whole hand, that, after a few shots, good shooting cannot be made. I won all my rapid-firing revolver competitions using the single action and cocking with the thumb, as this rested my trigger finger. With the automatic, cocking is unnecessary and, with its lighter recoil, good scores in rapid-firing are very much easier to make. The penetration of the nickel-coated automatic bullet propelled by its big charge of nitro powder is very great. A man brought me a "pistol-proof" cuirass to test; I put a bullet at twelve yards clean through it and then through two "bullet proof" ones, placed one behind the other. (I used a regulation U. S. .45 Automatic pistol.) This was before the war. The inventor was disappointed. He had experimented only with revolvers shooting soft leaden bullets and these his cuirass had stopped. Unfortunately, in its present comparatively imperfect development, the automatic is the most dangerous firearm of all pistols for a novice to handle. The long barrel of a rifle can be struck aside if a beginner swings it round and points it at the instructor or a nearby spectator, but the short barrel of a pistol is easily pointed at and with difficulty brushed aside by the unfortunate person standing near a "brandishing" and "flourishing" man who is learning to shoot. In spite of all warnings even those who ought to know better do this swinging about. In fact, it is the recognized way of handling a pistol; according to reporters, they always say So and So "was brandishing a pistol" if he happens to be armed.

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