Category: Marksmanship

Military marksmanship and target shooting. Instruction and historical.
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National Rifle Association

  • 2017-07-25

INDEX. Late in 1859 the National Rifle Association (NRA) was fomed and its aims included “the encouragement of Volunteer Rifle Corps and the promotion of rifle shooting throughout Great Britain.”

Instructors of Musketry

  • 2017-07-23

“Sir – Additional candidates being required for the corps of permanent instructors of musketry now in the course of organisation under the regulations issued from this department on the 13th of August last, I received the commands of Field-Marshal Viscount Hardinge again to call upon you to furnish the names of any men belonging to the regiment under your command who may be eligible and willing to be transferred to the corps in question.”

The School of Musketry, Hythe

  • 2017-07-23

Situated in a remote corner of the kingdom, on the coast of Kent, about 18 miles from Dover, is this our new military establishment, of the existence of which the great majority of the public are probably not aware. It owes its origin to the introduction of the Minié rifle into the army, and has been established little more than a year and a half, or since April 1853. Guided by his experience of our military system, the Commander-in-Chief judged that, if it were left to the commanding officers of regiments to see that the men under them were properly instructed in the use of the new weapon, he should fail of securing throughout the army that uniformity of practice so essential to the efficiency of the service, and advised the creation of a special establishment which might serve at once as a training school for our infantry and marines.

Chalons – The Camp

  • 2017-07-22

At present, in respect of arms and riflemen, England is in advance of the armies of the world. The Enfield rifle, in accuracy, workmanship, and general efficiency, is the best weapon carried by any soldier. Other arms are looming in the distance which will be to it what it was to Brown Bess. Indeed there seems no definite limit to projectile power. Whether the powers of man to use it will keep pace with its progress, will be the next problem. At present, man is up to the mark of the weapon – in fact, trained marksmen show an ability to shoot and hit at distances where, as a rule, the Enfield begins to fail in accuracy.

Indian Mutiny Long Shots

  • 2017-07-22

This short account is extracted William Forbes-Mitchell’s ‘Reminiscences of the Great Mutiny 1857-59’. It provides some interesting first hand comment on the effect of shooting a fouled muzzle loading Enfield rifle, and on the effectiveness of long range volley fire on artillery crews

Life in a Crimea Rifle Pit

  • 2017-07-22

This letter extract is reprinted from the Morning Chronicle (London), Monday 14 May 1855. It provides an interesting first hand account of life in a rifle pit during the Crimean War. Of particular note is the long range marksmanship with the newly issued Enfield rifle, together with comment on shooting in conjunction with a spotter whilst firing upon gunners.

The Creedmoor Era

  • 2017-07-21

INDEX. In the latter part of the 19th century the Creedmoor Rifle Range, Long Island, New York, USA, was the venue for a number of international long range rifle matches that received widespread public interest and much press coverage.

First Hints On Rifle Shooting: Wind

  • 2017-07-21

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.

Obituary: William Ellis Metford

  • 2017-07-21

William Metford worked closely with the Bristol gunmaker George Gibbs, the manufacturer of the Gibbs-Metford muzzle loading match rifle and the later Farquarson-Metford breech loading rifle. This obituary was published in Minutes of Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, in 1900.