SHOOTING AN AUTOMATIC PISTOL

Before everything else, be sure you have the right cartridges for the pistol you are using. If you have too strong a cartridge you may have a fatal accident. If too weak a cartridge the mechanism will not operate. A weaker cartridge than that for which the pistol is made will prevent its working properly or, in fact, working at all, unless the closing is assisted by the hand, and then it ceases to be an automatic pistol.

It is best to begin practising single loading. The best way to do this is through the magazine so as to get familiar with the magazine. Take out the magazine, put in only one cartridge, put back the magazine, and operate the slide. The pistol is now a single loader, ready to shoot.

Do your shooting a few times like this, till you get used to the pistol.

You will find the recoil different from that of a single-shot pistol or a revolver.

Instead of the recoil coming back directly on you it will be softened and, even with the best of automatics, the pistol will have a tendency to wriggle and “tap,” not recoil back in one clean kick.

When practising, make a point of putting the safety bolt on and off, using this safety bolt as you would in putting a single-shot pistol to half-cock.

There is this difference. Whereas, in English makes of guns and sporting rifles, the safety bolt puts the weapon automatically at safe each time it is reloaded, having to be taken off before each shot can be fired. Military firearms are only at safe when the safety bolt is purposely put on with the thumb.

The usual automatic pistol is made on the military idea. The safety once off, it remains off till the user puts it back at safety, no matter how many shots he has fired in the meantime.

The Colt automatic pistol, like the Smith & Wesson hammerless safety pocket revolver, remedies this defect by having a second safety which makes the pistol safe, even if the first safety slide is not at safe. This consists of a lever at the back of the stock which is at safe till the hand presses it in firing and which keeps the weapon safe till the stock is gripped in actual firing.

Any one who is a pistol shot grips the stock instinctively when shooting, but I have known men unused to firearms, unable to shoot a pistol having this safety grip, as they pull the trigger without squeezing the stock.

I was asked to give expert opinion as to whether a good revolver-shot had shot a man accidentally or on purpose.

The pistol he used was a Smith & Wesson hammerless safety pocket pistol.

The contention was that a man trying to drag the pistol from his hand had caused it to go off accidentally. I said that with an ordinary revolver, if the man had his finger on the trigger at the time, it was very probable the pistol would be discharged accidentally, but that the man would not be likely to do so with a Smith & Wesson safety pocket pistol. To test it we experimented, and besides not being able to make me fire the pistol (empty of course), when we reversed matters, my questioner, although he tried his utmost, could not fire the pistol whilst I pulled at it.

The holder pulls against the front of the stock to avoid its being taken from his hand, he does not squeeze the back of it. The result is that the pistol cannot be discharged, except by a voluntary effort. He can pull the trigger as much as he likes, but as long as he does not grip, but merely uses the front of the stock as a handle to pull against his adversary, the pistol is safe against accidental discharge.

When you have got accustomed to the automatic pistol as a single loader, fill the magazine and use it as an automatic.

For continual rapid-firing, that is one loaded magazine after another, do not shoot off the last cartridge of a magazine before inserting a fresh one. Otherwise it necessitates dragging back the slide with both hands after each fresh clip is inserted and wastes time.

Most automatic pistols remain open after the last shot has been fired, a most necessary thing, as otherwise you never know if your pistol has another shot available or is empty.

To do continuous firing shoot all but one cartridge of the clip load, press the stop, and drop the empty clip. The loaded clip, held in the other hand, is inserted into the butt and shooting can at once be resumed. The last cartridge left in the barrel, from the first clip, when fired, brings up the first cartridge of the new clip and so on, indefinitely.

You will find slightly different problems to overcome as compared with the single-shot pistol or revolver.

Rapid-firing is incomparably easier than with a revolver. There is not only gain of time and no fatigue of the trigger finger or thumb from cocking, but also the hold of the stock does not have to be changed. It is merely a matter of aligning and pressing. The recoil is also deadened and much less severe.

You will find a tendency for your shots to be strung out vertically, owing to varying escape of gas at the breech.

You will find lateral variation is much less than with a revolver, the bullet going from the barrel of the automatic, not jumping into it from a cylinder, thus tending to accuracy.The vertical variation is more than from a revolver, and this vertical deviation is absent from a good single-shot pistol.

When shooting an automatic pistol do not be discouraged if your shots are not so good vertically but strung out. It is not your fault but that of the pistol, and you cannot correct this by your shooting.

Later I will give special practice for automatic pistols, but if you are a good shot with the single-shot pistol or revolver, you will have no difficulty in shooting the automatic pistol well, as soon as you have got used to its characteristics.

I used to think the occasional very low shots were due to dropping the muzzle in pulling, but I find it is not this. It is caused by an occasional escape of gas greater than normal at the breach of the automatic pistol, causing the bullet to have a weaker flight and therefore striking lower.