Shooting, for boys

Preface

A WORD TO THE BOY

YOU ought to be a shooter, for shooting is the greatest sport in the world.

By this I do not mean that you should hunt dumb and harmless things with a rifle or a shotgun, for this is a far cry from true sport, and no shooter with a drop of sportsman*s blood in his veins would do it.

But to be able to draw a bead on the bullseye of a swinging target at, say, twenty-five yards and hit it nine times out of ten, or to stand on a firing-line where clay pigeons are thrown by a trap at a speed twice as swift as real pigeons fly and to break them one after another, is what I call a sportsman's sport in every sense of the word.

There is much more in shooting though than just the pleasure and the pride you get out of it by being an expert marksman, for it trains your eye to see quickly, to observe sharply, and to gauge distances accurately; besides, it gives your

vii viii Preface

trigger finger a deftness of touch that is little short of marvelous and makes it work in perfect harmony with your eye.

This is done through two sets of nerves in your body, which are called the afferent and the efferent nerves. Now, the afferent nerves carry the actions of everything your eye sees and your fingers feel to your brain, while the efferent nerves carry the ideas that are developed in your brain to your eye and fingers just as a telephone wire carries messages along it to and away from a central station.

When you shoot there is an instantaneous connection made between your brain and your eye and between your brain and your trigger finger^ First, your brain tells your eye to spot the target you want to shoot at, and the instant your eye has done so it flashes back the answer ; simultaneously, your brain sends another message to your index finger to pull the trigger, and this it does.

If these subconscious desires of your brain are not sent, carried and received instantly, then your eye and finger are not properly adjusted for quick action, and of course you will miss the target. To hit what you are shooting at means that your eye and brain and finger work together with an extraordinary degree of precision and rapidity, and it is this kind of mental and manual practice

Preface ix

which target-shooting gives you as can nothing else that I know of in the whole category of exercise or sport.

To shoot not only drives your sportsman's blood through your veins like an onrushing torrent and thereby produces the pleasantest feeling imaginable, but what is more worth while it gives you a cool, calculating nerve and a quick and certain draw which brings out the best that is in you as well as makes you a dead shot like unto Daniel Boone and Buffalo Bill.

If you will learn to shoot according to the rules I have laid down in this book, you will be so prepared that should you ever be called upon to protect your life, your home or your flag you will be able to give a pretty good account of yourself.

A. Frederick Collins.

The Antlers, Congers, New York.

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

I. How Shooting Began . . i

The Throwing of a Missile — ^The Discovery of the Boomerang — How to Make a Simple Boomerang — How to Make and Throw a Real Boomerang — The Discovery of the Sling — How to Make and Use a Good Sling — The Invention of the Sling-shot — How to Make and Use a Sling-shot — The Discovery of the Bow and Arrow — The Witchery of Archery — (A, How the Bow Is Made — B, Stringing the Bow — C, The Kind of Arrows to Use — D, How to Draw the Bow) — The Discovery of the Crossbow — The Development of the Crossbow — How to Make and Shoot a Crossbow.

Chapter II

9, A— How an Air Rifle Is Made .

B — Daisy Pump-Action Air Rifle

10 —The Earliest Hand Gun to Use Powder

11 —An Ancient Chinese Matchlock Gun .

12 —An Old English Wheel-lock Gun .

13 — A Revolutionary War Flintlock Gun .

14 —An Old English Flintlock Blunderbuss

15 — An Early Percussion-lock Gun .

16 — The Earliest Breech-loading Gun

xvii

25 28 29 32 33 34 35 37 xviii Illustrations

F.OUHE CHAPTER III

17 '—The Mechanism of a Single-shot Rifle . . 40

18, A — Lever Action of a Repeating Rifle (Action

Open) 42

B — Lever Action of a Repeating Rifle (Action

19, A — Lever Action of a Box Magazine Rifle (Action

B — Lever Action of a Box Magazine Rifle (Action

Open) 45

20, A— A Pump- Action Repeating Rifle (Action

B— A Pump- Action Repeating Rifle (Action

21, A— A Pump- Action Repeating Shotgun (Action

B— A Pump-Action Repeating Shotgun (Action

Open) 48

22, A — The Action of an Auto-Loading Rifle (at the

Moment of Firing) 49

B — The Action of an Auto-Loading Rifle (Recoil

Driving Back Breech-Bolt and Barrel) . . 50 C — The Action of an Auto-Loading Rifle (at the

Moment of Ejecting Shell) .... 51 D— The Action of an Auto-Loading Rifle (Spring

Forcing in New Cartridge) .... 52

23, A — The U. S. Springfield .Service Rifle (Cross-

Sectional Side View) 55

B — The U. S. Springfield Service Rifle (Cross- Sectional Top View) 56

C— The U. S. Springfield Service Rifle (How the

Bolt Action Works) 57

Chapter IV

24 — The Remington Family of .22-Caliber Rifles . 64 A — No. 6, Single-shot Take-down Rifle ... 64 B— Model No. 12, Pump-Action Hammerless Repeating Take-down Rifle 64

Illustrations xix

FIGURE PAGE

C— No. i6, Standard Automatic Repeater . . 64

25 —The Winchester Family of .22-Caliber Rifles . 67

A— Single-shot Sporting Rifle 67

B— Model 1900, Pump- Action Repeating Rifle . 67

C— Model 1903, Automatic Repeater .... 67

26 — The Marlin Family of .22-Caliber Rifles . . 68 A— 1892 Model, Repeating Lever-Action Rifle . 68 B— Model No. 29, Pump-Action Repeating Rifle . 68

2y — The Savage Family of .22-Caliber Rifles . . 70 A— Model 1905, Single-shot, Bolt-Action Target

Rifle 70

B— Model 1903, Pump- Action, Box-Magazine

Hammerless Repeater . . . . . .70

C — Model 1912, Automatic Box-Magazine Rifle . 70

28 — The Stevens Family of .22-Caliber Rifles . . 71 A— No. 26, Crack-shot, Single-shot Rifle ... 71 B— Visible Loading Repeating Rifle .... 71

29 — The Ithaca Double-Barreled 20-gauge Shotgun 72

CHAPTER V 30 — How Gun Barrels Are Proved .... 76

31 — The Hammer at Half-cock .... 79 32, A— How to Carry a Loaded Gun (Sportsman's

Style) 83

B— How to Carry a Loaded Gun (Military Style) 85

CHAPTER VI 33 — Rim- and Center-Fire Cartridges .... 92

A — A Rim-Fire Cartridge 92

B— A Center-Fire Cartridge 92

34 —Cross-Section View of a Shotgun Shell . . 94

35 — Kinds of .22-Caliber Cartridges .... 97

36 — Kinds of .22-Caliber Bullets. Arrows Show

Weights of BB, CB, Short, Long, and Long

Rifle Bullets 98

37 —A .22-Caliber Rim-Fire Shot Cartridge . . 99

CHAPTER Vn

38 — The Explosion of a Cartridge .... 103 A — When the Firing-Pin Strikes the Cartridge . 103

XX Illustrations

FIGURE PAGE

B— The Burning Powder 103

C— The Gases Force the Bullet from the Case . 103

39 ^The Bullet Spins on Its Long Axis . . . 104

40 —The Kick, Jump and Flip of a Gun . . . 108

41 —The Path or Trajectory of a Bullet . . .112

42 ^The Drift of a Bullet 113

43 — The Penetration of a .22-Caliber Bullet

(Through Five ^-Inch Boards) . . .115

CHAPTER VIII 44 —The Boy Behind the Gun 117

45 —Correct Standing Position 119

46 —Correct Kneeling Position 121

47 —Correct Prone Position 122

48 —Various Kinds of Sights 124

CHAPTER IX 49 —Two Kinds of Fixed Targets .... 136

A— An Iron Target 136

B— A Paper Target 136

50 —A Bullet Catcher • • I39

51 — Butt for a 25- and 50-Yard Rifle Range . . 143

52 —A Target Frame 144

53 ^A Trap for Throwing Clay Balls .... 145

54 —A Simple Hand Trap 147

55 —A Du Pont Hand Trap that Works Like a Gun 148 55 —The Expert Trap for Small Ranges . . . 149 57, A— A Single Target Field Layout . . . .150

B — A Double Target Field Layout . . . -151

58 —A Sub-Target Machine Gun 153

CHAPTER X 59 — Automatic Cartridge Counter .... 167

APPENDIX I

60 The Maxim Gun-Silencer 201

Chapter I How Shooting Began

IT all started when the hoy-ape was being developed into the ape-hoy away back there in the making of the third crust of the earth, or Tertiary epoch as it is called by geologists, and that was nearly a million years ago.

About the middle of that dim and distant age the boy-ape was a tailless, narrow-nosed fellow who had tremendously long and powerful arms and by means of them he could swing himself from tree to tree with the agility for which his kind has ever since been famous and at a speed almost as fast as you, or I, can run.

The Throwing of a Missile — But he was showing signs of being clever, was this boy-ape, in other ways than swinging in trees, and one of them was that he could throw a little, for he had learned how to grasp a stone or a stick, impart the energy of his muscles to it and hurl it with a good deal of force toward the object of his wrath,

Mere brutish strength, though, was not enough to enable the boy-ape to throw a missile either hard or straight, for the nerves of his eyes and the

Fig. I — The Boy- Ape Throws a Stone.

muscles of his arm and hand lacked co-ordination, that is, he hadn't practiced enough to get the knack of making them work together smoothly. These crude efforts of hi? at throwing were not wasted however, for when he had evolved into the ape-boy during the latter part of the Tertiary Age, and environment had shortened his arms and made them more nearly the length of the boy of today the old hereditary trait of throwing stood him in good stead and as he emerged from the forest and lived in a cave his sole means of protection and probably of obtaining food depended very largely on his ability to throw hard, throw straight, and to hit what he aimed at.

This, then, was the very beginning of what we call shooting, and as the ape-boy became a reaU hoy — that is, a boy who could talk and think and do things — he was ready for an age of discovery and of invention.

The Discovery of the Boomerang. — Like nearly all discoveries made by the early real boy the discovery of the boomerang was purely an accident, but unlike the ape-boy who lived before him he had the mental ability to improve upon any new thing that chanced his way.

As an illustration, one day he picked up a small bent stick a couple of feet long; it was a curiously shapen stick, nearly flat and with a smooth end and he thought it would make a good throwingstick for hunting.

The first time he threw it a mighty strange thing happened for it missed the bird and describing a beautiful curve he saw it returning toward him; frightened he ran back of a tree and a second later it struck him on the head and he promptly keeled over. Either the stick had become alive or else an evil spirit was guiding it and it was a long time before he was brave enough to throw it again.

Sometimes it would go the way of all sticks but once in a while it would make a return swoop. He experimented and finally found that what was needed to make it return was to hold it a certain way and give it a peculiar twist as it left his hand and when he did this the stick would loop back if it did not strike the mark he aimed at. And thus it was that the boomerang came to be.

This strange and uncanny stick is still in use among the aborigines of Australia as a weapon of offense and defense and these savages have attained a very high degree of skill in throwing it.

How to Make a Simple Boomerang. — ^Just to show the principle of the boomerang you can make a toy one and see for yourself how it acts. Cut a boomerang out of heavy cardboard about 6 inches long and make it the exact shape shown at A in Fig. 2.

To project it into the ^ir lay ^ book upon ^

THEsaE mo

SrfJJPEOF/iCflRIf' BOmO BOOMEMflG table and slip a piece of wood about an inch thick under one end so that the book sets in a slanting position. Now lay the boomerang flat on the upper surface of the book with the long end sticking out about 2 inches as shown at B in Fig. 2 and flip it sharply with the end of a pencil when it will sail through the air and return to the place it started from, nearly.

Magicians make an ordinary playing card do the same thing and you can too if you practice long enough. Hold a corner of the card between your first and second fingers and let the other corner rest against the ball of your thumb; then give it a spinning twist and throw it at the same instant into the air and it will return to you again.

How to Make and Throw a Real Boomerang. — To make a boomerang get a strip of hard wood 2

6- ^

Fig. 2-

A Cardboard Boomerang.

inches wide and 2 feet long and plane it down until it is A inch thick.

Now cut the stick in two in the middle as shown at A, in Fig. 3, dovetail them together at the elbow and smear on plenty of good glue to make a strong joint. Whittle the ends to the shape shown at B, i£

5M. ON DOTTED use

Ji'_/iOW T05/IW THE STICK DOVETfilL JOINT

B' THE FINISHED BOOMEHRNG

Fig. 3, A and B — A Real Home-Made Boomerang.

and you will have a boomerang modeled after one now in my possession made by a native Australian. The original, however, is made of a bent limb of a tree and this of course makes it much stronger. To throw the boomerang grasp it by one end as shown at C, throw it with all your might, and as it leaves your hand give it a circular motion as shown by the curved arrows in the picture, and it will come back to you.

The Discovery of the Sling. — It was just after

the middle crust of the earth was formed, or the Mesozic epoch as it is called, that the first Stone Age boy lived and to him the credit has been given of the discovery of the sling, the first device ever used as an aid to throwing a stone.

It happened in this fashion: that he might carry a supply of stones with him the primitive boy must needs have something to put them in, and the pouched rat, one of the earliest animals that lived and who carried its young in a natural pocket like a kangaroo, gave him the hint

Fig. 3, C — The Author Throwing the Australian Boomerang.

he needed and he fastened one of the skins to the thong which formed his belt.

Idly swinging the pouch by the thong he let an end slip out of his hand when the remaining stone in it was thrown out with great force, and hitting a wild boar, it dropped him. Thus he had not only made a great discovery, but he had gained a dinner as well. After much tedious experimenting, for his brain was yet small, he produced the sling and as a means for throwing a stone with force and accuracy it has never been improved upon.

If you have never made a sling and known the joy that the prehistoric boy felt when he found he could throw a stone ten times as far with it as he could throw it with his unaided hand, you have missed one of your inherited rights. And with a little practice you ought to be able to use a sling even better than he did, for you have a long line of ancestry, from the time of David who slew the giant Goliath on down through the Dark Ages, that was mighty in its skill with the sling, as the following account taken from the twentieth chapter of the Book of Judges shows.

Look it up and you will find it is written there that in the town of Gibeah there were 700 picked men in the tribe of Benjamin, every one of whom was left-handed and whose aim was so true that they never missed their mark, but hit it even to a hair's breadth. A mighty story, I trow.

How to Make and Use a Good Sling. — This is the way the boy of Bible times made his sling, and you can make one in the same manner. Get a piece of buckskin, or any other kind of strong, soft leather will do, and make it 2j4 inches wide and 4 inches long, cutting slits in the middle as shown at A in Fig. 4.

5LIT5 IN LBJiTHEli

B- STRIP OF SLIT LEATHER

•/I- LEATHER FOR THE 5UN0

STONE GOES HER.E

wy^sssssssss.

LOOP Fig. 4 — A Sling of Olden Days.

Next cut two strips of the same kind of leather 2 feet long and make each strip 2j4 inches wide at one end and tapering to i inch wide at the other end. Beginning about 6 inches from the wide end, cut two slits into the strip as shown at lo Shooting for Boys

B. Now braid the ends of these strips and sew the wide end of each one to one of the ends of the short leather with waxed thread. This done, make a loop of one of the braided ends as shown at C, and your slin£ is done.

To use the sling place a round pebble weighing a couple of ounces in the slit leather, hook your little finger into the loop, and grasp the other end between your index finger and thumb. Then whirl the sling round in a circle a few times until it has gathered the needed momentum and suddenly letting go the free end the stone will be thrown with great force and as straight as a die if you use it well.

The Invention of the Sling- shot. — The sling-shot is a greatly modified form of the sling of ancient days. It is an invention of recent date, for the process of vulcanizing rubber was not known until 1842, when it was discovered by Charles Goodyear, and hence the sling-shot must have followed at even a later date.

How to Make and Use a Sling-shot. — A sling-shot is made of (a) a crotch, (6) a pair of rubber strands and (c) an oval piece of leather. The crotch can be made of a Y-shaped limb of a tree, or sawed from a board and whittled into shape, or it can be made of heavy twisted iron wire.

How Shooting Began ii

For the rubbers use a pair of pure rubber bands {para is the best) ^ inch wide and y/2 inches long, and the leather should be about J4 inch wide and 2 inches long, and cut a slit in the middle J^ inch long. Fasten the leather to the rubber bands and these to the prongs of the crotch with short pieces of strong fish line.

To use the sling-shot put a small, smooth round stone in the center of the leather and hold it tight with the fingers of your right hand, that is, if you are right-handed. Pull back the leather with the stone in it to nearly the stretching length of the rubber and then taking aim suddenly let go, when the stone will shoot forth with great speed and a whizzing sound caused by the stone cutting the air.

The Discovery of the Bow and Arrow. — ^When the bright star Vega in the constellation of Lyra, and which is directly over your head at 9 o'clock on an August night, was the pole-star — that is, when it was in the place where the North Star Is now — boys and men were still making and using stone tools and implements, and that was about 14,000 years ago.

This recent Stone Age boy was playing with the green limb of a tree which he had broken off and bending it he thought the tremendous thought of keeping it bent by tying its ends with a cord of sinew and thus it was he became the discoverer of the stringed musical instrument and a weapon of the chase and of warfare at one and the same time.

He found by picking the string it would twang out a sound that thrilled him even as an urchin of today is thrilled by the music of a street piano. By trumming on the stretched sinew with a smaller stick he produced a new musical effect.

But his greatest achievement was when he held one end of a stick against the sinew and drawing it back he would let it slip when it would shoot to a distance of twenty or more feet. The bow and arrow had been discovered, and then on down through the ages of savagery and medievalism it was experimented with and improved upon until by the time the Battle of Agincourt was fought in 141 5 it had reached its highest point of perfection and the men who drew the longbow in those days were the strongest and most skillful bowmen the world has ever seen.

The Witchery of Archery — It was a long time after the bow and arrow had given way to firearms before they were again taken up by the palefaces, but this time it was a weapon of peace rather than one of warfare.

At various periods archery became a popular sport for the exercise it offered the muscles and its value in training the eye has persisted to this day. Archery outfits can be bought of dealers in sporting goods,^ and there are archery clubs to be found in several of the larger cities.

How the Bow is Made. — Get a good clear stick of yew, or hickory will do, y^ inch thick, i^ inches wide, and as long as you are tall. Trim it down with a spoke-shave, or your knife, until the stick is nearly oval around the middle for about 18 inches, taper the ends of it down until they are nearly flat and are y^ inch thick and % wide, and then cut a notch on each side of the stick about 3^ inch from each end.

Stringing the Bow. — A selected hemp string about y^ inch in diameter should be used. Loop the ends of the string around the notches in the ends of the stick so that the string will be about 5 inches from the bow when measured at the middle. When not in use the bow should be unstrung or else it will become fatigued, as it is called in physics, and so lose some of its elasticity; and when the bow is put away for the season it is a good plan to rub it well with oil.

The Kind of Arrows to Use. — ^Your arrows

*A11 archery equipment can be bought from the Abercrombie and Fitch Co., 53 W. 36th street, N. Y. C.

should be made of clear, straight shafts of ash, deal, poplar or other whitewood, and these should be about % inch in diameter and 2 feet 6^ inches long. Cut a notch just large enough to fit the bowstring and J4 inch deep in one end and sharpen the other end a little.

The haft, or notched end, must be feathered, and this is done by splitting a feather, cutting the edge off straight, making it about % inch wide and 5 inches long and scraping the harhs of the feather from the quill, or shaft as it is called, for a distance of % inch on the large end of the quill and J4 inch on the small end.

Fasten two of these feathers — three are better — around the head of the arrow at equally spaced points and this can be done by holding the feathers in place and wrapping the ends with strong silk thread.

How to Draw the Bow. — When you have picked the mark you want to shoot at face it so that your eye and the mark are in a line. Stand as straight as an Indian with your left foot in front. Hold the bow near the middle with your left hand, slip the notched end of the arrow on the bowstring with your right hand, and holding it there between your index and middle finger bring the bow to a vertical position as shown in Fig. 5 ; at the same time draw

' Fig. 5— An English Longbowman.

the arrow back to about two-thirds of its length.

When ready to shoot the shaft of the arrow should be in a Hne with your eye and the mark. To take aim look at the mark and not at the arrow and the instant you get your aim let the arrow go. The place you hit will show how well you can use a bow and arrow. The Maricopa and Pima Indians of Arizona are so skillful they can shoot and kill a jack rabbit with a pointed arrow while chasing them on their mustangs.

The Discovery of the Crossbow. — It was in the Middle Ages that the longbow reached its greatest perfection, and the time was ripe for an improvement in the art of shooting. There were wonderful tournaments held by the bowmen of the various roving companies, and there was one archer whose mighty prowess was far-famed, for in virtue of his great strength he could bend a powerful bow and shoot an arrow farther than any one he had yet contended with.

At one of these tournaments was a doughty marksman of small size who had a shorter and stiffer bow than those commonly used and as the others shot he watched the flight of the arrows with small interest. When his turn came he sat him down upon the ground, braced his feet against the bow, slipped an arrow on the string and with the tremendous leverage thus gained he bent the bow until it was almost double.

To the surprise of every one except those of his own company his arrow flew nearly twice as far as that of the giant bowman bracketed as his peer. It was in this strange way that the principle of the crossbow was discovered.

The Development of the Crossbow. — After the first raw idea, or inductive discovery as it is called, had disclosed to the thinking archer the principle of the crossbow it was not long before other geniuses began to improve upon his scheme for the age of invention and of iron was at hand.

The simplest form of crossbow was a straight wooden stick with the bow fixed to one end and a notch cut near the other end to hold the string after it was drawn back, but it was hard to release the string and make it catch the arrow, and this soon led to the making of a trigger to release the bowstring.

Following this great improvement came the grooved guide for the arrow, which corresponds to the barrel of a gun, for the purpose of making the arrow shoot straight. It was perfectly natural that the next improvement should be a gunstock, so that the crossbow could be rested against the shoulder, and then came the sights.

i8

By this time the bow was made of steel instead of wood, and since steel is much stronger and is more elastic than yew wood, the bow was made

Fig. 6 — An Ancient Crossbow and Method of Drawing It.

much shorter and thicker and to tell them apart when speaking the yew bow was called the longbow, while the other was known as a crossbow, or arbalest. Finally the springs were made so short and stiff that a powerful mechanical device was needed for pulling the bowstring, and when this was invented and applied to the crossbow it took on the appearance shown in Fig. 6.

Other small improvements were made until the crossbow had a gunstock, a steel barrel, an improved trigger with trigger guard and front and rear sights, all of which is shown in Fig. 7; in fact, as you will plainly see, it was but one step removed from a firearm. All that was needed was an explosive to shoot a ball, a means for lighting it, and the brain of a genius to point the way to do it, and this was soon forthcoming.

How to Make and Shoot a Crossbow. — From an oak or other hardwood board, i inch thick, 8

Fig. 7 — Crossbow with Barrel and Front and Rear Sights.