The Art of Shooting with the Rifle

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Contemporary articles, historical perspectives, and advice for the rifleman.

  • Hints for Long Range Riflemen – Horatio Ross letter of 11 April 1864 giving hints “intended more for young men who have not as yet taken part in public competitions than for our old and experienced riflemen.”
  • Wind – 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.
  • The Back Position – An overview of the back (or supine) position illustrated with 19th century images and photographs of modern riflemen.
  • Managing the Enfield – A short treatise for shooting the Enfield rifle today, covering the rifle, equipment, ammunition, shooting, sighting, cleaning and bedding.
  • Enfield Optics – Problems with open sights for the shooter past the first flush of youth.
  • Long Range Black Powder Rifle Target Shooting – a facebook group. Long range target shooting with the percussion muzzle loading rifle and black powder cartridge rifle. Historical study and shooting today. 19th Century competition at Wimbledon, Creedmoor and Dollymount. Rifles, ammunition and equipment. Riflemen and Gunmakers.

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Back position

Enfield Optics

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?

Back position

The Back Position

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.”