Category: The Art of Shooting with the Rifle

Problems with open sights for the shooter past the first flush of youth. The available remedy is a convex spectacle lens which is only just strong enough to clarify the foresight. This produces the least fuzziness to the aiming mark but fuzzier it will certainly be. The rear sight will still be vague but slightly improved. In my case, was this imperfect compromise becoming so bad that sighting errors were causing the problems or had my bedding gone sour or what?

The back or supine position (sometimes referred to as the Creedmoor position) was known at the end of the 18th century. Captain Ferguson demonstrating his famous breech loading flintlock rifle at Woolwich in 1776 was noted to have “hit the bull’s eye at 100 yards, lying with his back on the ground.”

Horatio Ross’ letters encouraging Scotsmen desirous of “becoming a first-class shot” were published in the press. This advice is still relevant today and worthy of study by the long range rifleman.

from ‘First Hints On Rifle Shooting’ by A.P. Humphry (William Clowes and Sons, London, 1876). Alfred Paget Humphry (1850-1916) was the Queen’s Prize Gold Medal winner in 1871 and represented Great Britain in the GB Rifle Volunteers vs US National Guard competitions of 1882 & 1883.