The author having criticised the article in Bailey’s Magazine in the above remarks, was nevertheless himself responsible for it all, except the voting, so that his criticism is obviously intended in good part, and is only to indicate what a very limited class of shooting comes under review in an article of the kind. There have been wonderful shots who cannot be compared. For instance, good snipe shots, who saw Mr. Hugh Owen shoot snipe in Pembrokeshire thirty-five years ago, told the author that he not only beat them, but out-classed them, as well as everyone else he ever met. What surprised was the great distances he killed these birds consecutively with No. 5 shot—the size always used by Lord Walsingham.

Since that article was written the author has often been told that Lord de Grey is the only shooter who is as good as his reputation. No doubt he is as good, for many of those who voted put him “in a class by himself,” and more particularly when the shooting was extra difficult, as in a strong wind and when birds were far out. Then his hammer ejector choke bores, which are handed to him at full cock, and always loaded with 42 grains of Schultze powder and 11
16 of No. 5, have a way of finding the right place at a greater rate than any others. It has been said of him that you can never tell by the interval when he changes his guns. The two most discussed incidents in his shooting have been when he accomplished five grouse coming together, by changing guns after he had shot one barrel, and then had time to get two more of the five in front of him and two behind. On another occasion, in walking through covert a cry of “mark” brought round Lords de Grey and Walsingham, when, amongst the trees, they accounted for four partridges each, or the whole covey of eight birds. Lord de Grey is a very deliberate shot when he has time to be so, and he has been seen to swing his gun some distance without succeeding in getting on his game, and in consequence to refrain from shooting. Therefore no question can arise about the fact that he aligns, at least when there is time. Lord Walsingham wrote some years ago to describe to a newspaper his method of killing wood pigeons, which, amongst other evolutions, had been occasionally chased by a falcon. He said: “The way in which a certain measure of accuracy, although by no means a satisfactory measure to myself, was attained in shooting at these wood pigeons could scarcely be better described than in the words of your correspondent. He writes: ‘I myself race the birds, as it were, in my mind without bringing up the gun; I then swing it and fire. This swing or pitch is all done in one motion’! So far I go with him entirely, but when he adds, ‘and the gun is not stopped even after the trigger is pulled,’ I differ from him in practice. In my case the gun is stopped at the instant of pulling the trigger, having been swung to as nearly as possible to the exact spot the bird may be expected to reach by the time the charge can get there to intercept it.” Lord Walsingham was using 3¼ drams of Hall’s Field B powder and 1? oz. of No. 5 shot from a cylinder gun.

The number of cartridges used for the 1070 grouse in the day in 1888 was 1500. As a feat of endurance and woodcraft this is hardly likely ever to be surpassed, especially with black powder. Only a shooter who never suffered from gun headache could have done it. But even when that is said, the keeping the birds on a 2200 acre moor for 20 drives is the point of the story. When the late Sir F. Milbank killed his 728 birds, he reduced his shot to ? of an ounce in order to get penetration, and declared that he would still further reduce to ¾ of an ounce for the sake of still more penetration.

Mr. F. E. R. Fryer has been observed to have three pheasants dead in the air at once, and yet in another page he is described as a deliberate shot. It has also been shown upon another page that it takes just ? of a second to bring the backward movement in recoil to rest. Probably the reaction of the shoulder takes as long after recoil, so that if the tallest first bird fell from 40 yards high, and took, by the action of gravity, 2¾ seconds to reach the ground, when quite dead, we may examine the time thus:—

Three-quarters of a second seems to be ample time for getting aim and letting off. Partridges and pheasants when there is no wind travel about 60 feet a second, and Mr. Fryer has also been observed to take quadruple toll out of a covey; if we may assume this done within 40 yards in front and 40 behind, we have 4 birds killed in 4 seconds.

This would represent the times:—

So that four from one covey of partridges represents quicker shooting than three pheasants in the air together, provided, of course, that the partridges are not coming against a wind, and are not in straggling formation.

These two little calculations are made in order to show the enormous importance of as little recoil as possible, and that is also the reason that the author has set himself to design a ballistic pendulum capable of easily taking the momentum of recoil, and the momentum of the shot, at the same discharge, which is a thing that cannot be done by the chronograph, because that instrument only records the time (not the striking velocity) of the thing that hits it and breaks connection, and that thing is the fastest pellet instead of the average of all, or the total of the pellets. Powder-makers can still further reduce recoil; that is, if they are encouraged by a general demand for those powders that give the least recoil for an equal power of shot impact.

The author was reminded not long ago by the Rev. W. Serjeantson of an occurrence of thirty years ago. Three guns, of which he and the author’s were two, were shooting together over dogs, and twice on the same day, after a brood of grouse had risen, the author, having been fully occupied in shooting, asked the keeper which way the rest of the brood had gone. His reply was on both occasions, “They have all flown one way.” That is, there were six up and six killed, which sounds much more commonplace than it really is, because, as it so seldom happens that three guns do shoot together over dogs, when by chance they do so there is a very good excuse for two barrels to be let off at the same bird, but of course only when the birds rise all together, as they did on these occasions.

The most sporting bird the author has made the acquaintance of is the Virginian quail. Three guns advancing to a point at these birds would not often get six birds at the flush of the covey, although, on an occasion when they rise at twice, two guns have got five, as happened once when, with Mr. Hobart Ames, who is President of the Shovel Trust in America, the author was shooting over his and Mr. H. B. Duryea’s celebrated setters, one of which could easily have earned in America £500 a year at the stud if his owner had not preferred to shoot over him. But it is not at the rise of the covey that these birds are difficult. As soon as they are flushed they fan out and take to covert, and their twisting second rise, with the scrub between them and the gun, makes them very difficult. Mr. and Mrs. Duryea are both remarkably good quail shots; the author could not say which is the better, but he believes Mr. Duryea claims to be the better turkey shot, a claim which the lady admits. Mr. Duryea can even make the decoy turkey gobble by the accuracy of his shooting upon occasion. In Tennessee the author was by their kindness introduced to the old English fashion of shooting by the use of shooting ponies. The mounted guns, whether one or three, had three handlers of dogs, each mounted also, and each working a brace of speedy dogs, and by that means covering three-quarters to a mile of country at a beat. The horn is used to sound “a point,” and then the six miles an hour “fox trot” is increased to hunting speed, until the point is reached, when the shooters slide off and shoot. The useless (?) nigger can, at such times, manage to lead six horses. This sport is a sort of cross between hunting and shooting, as also was that of ancient England, if all accounts are true. So was hunting in the New Forest, when William Rufus missed his way, and ran up against an arrow by mistake.

All good shots at their best must shoot in the same way: what differs is the way they see their own performances and the way they describe them. This has been dealt with on other pages. But likenesses do not end with actual aiming, for somewhat similar to the American quail shooting described above was the method by which the late Maharajah Duleep Singh killed his 440 grouse in the day. That is to say, he had several brace of dogs with as many handlers going at the same time, and rode from point to point. But for quickness of shooting and changing guns he has probably never been beaten. Every shooter, as far as the author can learn, is sometimes surprised at missing with the first barrel, and at the ease with which the second barrel accomplishes the more difficult task. Surely we may take a lesson from the crack shots who have this experience. The pace at which they are obliged to swing to catch up for the second shot necessitates an uncontrollable gun at the end of the swing—a gun going faster than merely keeping up with the bird, and they kill because they are more forward than they thought. But if so, it may be asked, “What then is the use of alignment?” Precious little for that shot certainly, seeing that there is no time to correct aim. But alignment does not mean looking down the rib and seeing the bird at the end of it; it means looking down the rib at some point in space which moves as the bird moves, and its principal value is not that it is good to correct aim, but that it guides the first swing to the spot. For instance, in the second shot the gun is at the shoulder always, and swings in to the correct place while always in alignment with the eye.

Ten years ago, Sir Ralph P. Gallwey picked out the following as the best shots in England:—Lords de Grey, Walsingham, Huntingfield, Ashburton, Carnegie, Wemyss, and Bradford, the Maharajah Duleep Singh, Messrs. F. E. R. Fryer, A. Stuart Wortley, R. Rimington Wilson, and F. S. Corrance.

Bailey’s list of voted-for good shots was—

1.

Earl de Grey.

2.

Mr. Rimington Wilson.

Lord Walsingham.

3.

Mr. H. Noble.

4.

Hon. H. Stoner.

Lord Falconer.

Prince Victor Duleep Singh.

H.R.H. the Prince of Wales.

F. E. R. Fryer.

5.

E. de C. Oakley.

Lord Ashburton.

6.

A. W. Blyth.

C. P. Wykeham Martin.

Prince F. Duleep Singh.

Lord Carnarvon.

7.

Lord Warwick.

Lord Westbury.

Sir Robert Gresley.

Prince Victor Duleep Singh is no doubt about as quick a game shot as his father before him; the latter as a shot compared in the same way with Englishmen as his countryman “Ranji” compares with our slower cricketers.

The Prince of Wales is very quick and very keen; not at all a feather-bed sportsman, he is ready at all times to face the weather for a very little sport. His duck shooting in Canada and his jungle sport in India are within the recollection of everybody. That he does not draw for places is because a host’s will is law even to the heir to England’s crown.

The Hon. H. Stonor, who is not easily beaten for style and accuracy, uses 33 grains of E.C. No. 3 and 1 oz. shot. He uses hammer ejector guns, as do the Prince of Wales, Lord de Grey, and Lord Bradford, who once did some record shooting in Scotland.

Mr. Wykeham Martin is supposed to be as good in a gale of wind as any man, and his rabbit shooting across rides is at least as good as anybody’s. He has made a name for himself on snipe in Ireland, and has the very sporting reputation of being the most unselfish shooter in England.

Mr. R. Rimington Wilson, who has been referred to on another page, is specially good at low crossing grouse, which are generally considered much more difficult than those which show against the sky, and he takes the near birds just above the beak, and as he was described in Bailey by some shooters as the best grouse shot in the world, here is another very good proof of alignment being the correct thing.

Mr. Arthur Blyth has accounted for 64 partridges in one drive, and is considered a brilliant shot.

Mr. E. de C. Oakley is probably the best shot in North Wales; he is especially good in a gale of wind, at hard feathered game, and meets the difficulty with a big charge.

Lord Ashburton is said by several of the voters to be a most graceful shot, and his accuracy is beyond dispute.

Mr. Fryer complains that he gets older while the partridges do not; other people think he uses a 6¼ lb. gun and 1 oz. shot in a way to prevent them getting older.