74 THE COMPLETE SHOT 



took every advantage the game gave time for. That is to 

 say, he only shot quick, by the throwing up and firing without 

 swing, when there was no time for swing. 



For pheasants, Mr. Wilson prefers to get behind them and 

 race his gun to the front without stopping the gun to inquire 

 whether he has got in front, because he finds that such a 

 stop means shooting behind. But although this is his plan, 

 he questioned whether it was right, because when he has 

 occasionally shot from a deep gorge, where there was no 

 time for this method, he has found the game come down, 

 just as he has when a quick second barrel has been sent 

 after a first failure. The author thinks this only emphasises 

 the use and value of swing ; because in shooting at a pheasant 

 crossing a deep gorge the very act of putting up the gun to 

 the shoulder constitutes a swing in the direction the game is 

 going. It is probably the fastest of all swinging, and the one 

 to which the shooter is least able to apply the muscular stop. 

 This, then, represents what some crack shots do now. But 

 the most important thing to know is how did they arrive at 

 that point? Did they begin by snapping at the place where 

 the bird was going to be when their shot arrived, or did 

 they begin by aligning, and so grow into the mastery of 

 the gun? 



The former has been the fashionable method to talk of 

 in the press, but Mr. Rimington Wilson is very emphatic 

 on the necessity of the rifle like aligning as a start. The 

 author was very pleased to hear this, because it is one of 

 those points on which he has always disagreed with what 

 may be called the written schooling of the shot gun. We 

 have all heard of the man who never would go in the water 

 until he had learnt to swim, and probably the would-be crack 

 shot who wishes to begin at the end will make no more 

 progress than the would-be swimmer. 



Mr. Wilson does not believe in choke bores. He thinks 

 that the 8 or 9 yards of distance they increase the range 

 is paid for very dearly at all near ranges. Another point made 

 by this good sportsman is contrary altogether to accepted ideas. 



