404 
FOREST AND STREAM 
September, 1921 
FUN WITH 
THE 
TWENTY 
TWO 
Fifty shots rapid fire at twenty-five 
yards 
THIS HANDY LITTLE RIFLE LENDS ITSELF TO 
SHOOTING BETTER THAN ANY OTHER TYPE 
T O obtain the greatest amount of 
enjoyment out of any arm, it is 
necessary to use it in different 
ways or else in time one type of shoot- 
ing will be likely to become monoto- 
nous for anyone excepting the died-in- 
the-wool gun crank. A .22 calibre rifle 
lends itself better to a diversified type 
of shooting than any other type of 
rifled firearm. This is so because it 
can be used almost anywhere, the am- 
munition is cheap and it can be used 
quite frequently without the expense 
becoming a serious consideration. 
We have four principle uses for the 
.22: Slow fire shooting at paper targ- 
ets; rapid fire shooting at paper targ- 
ets; target shooting at natural targets, 
and for hunting. The last three meth- 
ods of using a .22 are by far the most 
sport. While a large amount of game 
shooting with a .22 will not be pos- 
sible, to a certain proportion of the 
readers of this magazine, yet they 
will have very little trouble to secure 
all of the practice they desire at paper 
targets or at natural objects. 
Rapid fire shooting at paper or natu- 
ral targets is one of the very best 
possible practices for hunting, and it 
is by any odds the most enjoyable 
form of small bore rifle target shoot- 
ing. Many people think of rapid fire 
work as being a waste of ammunition 
because this form of shooting is regu- 
lated so that the rate of firing is too 
fast and the marks are so large that 
no particular skill is required to ob- 
tain high scores. 
By shooting rapid fire at the slow 
fire targets, placing a time limit upon 
each ten shots, we add a great deal 
of interest to the game. The/ time 
limit should be made short enough so 
that it will require good fast work on 
the part of the shooter to enable him 
to manipulate the arm and fire ten 
shots with aim. When a high score 
is obtained under these circumstances, 
the shooter feels that he has accom- 
plished much more than if they were 
made in an unlimited amount of time. 
In addition to this, a mastery of the 
By C. S. LANDIS 
arm is acquired that will never be ob- 
tained in slow fire work. 
In rapid fire shooting, especially 
with a single shot rifle, the shooter 
who is not accustomed to this kind 
of shooting usually becomes excited 
and spends most of his time in fum- 
bling with the cartridges and loading 
the arm, and as a result he has very 
little time left for aiming, and conse- 
quently he takes snap shots at the 
target. The resulting score is usually 
quite disappointing. 
The way to make good scores is to 
have the cartridges counted out in a 
pile or stuck in a loading block, and 
to manipulate the action like a flash, 
so that all of the time possible may 
be spent in aiming and pulling each 
shot. In shooting a single shot rifle, 
the shooter should get into position 
and fire the first five shots in about 
one minute and five seconds, and the 
last five in fifty seconds. With a 
repeater he should allow thirty-fiivte 
seconds for securing the position and 
firing the first five shots, and possibly 
for reloading the magazine, if that 
is necessary. This allows twenty sec- 
onds for the remaining five shots and 
an additional safety factor of five sec- 
onds. It pays to have these five sec- 
onds left to take care of the time 
necessary to make up for a slipping 
elbow, a poor aim, a defective cart- 
ridge, a miss-fire, or a difference of 
calling time. If full advantage is 
taken of the time limit, the rapid fire 
scores will frequently be almost as 
good as slow fire scores at the same 
range and target. This is especially 
true if the rifle has a good even trig- 
ger pull and is fitted with proper 
sig’hts. 
The accompanying 25-yard rapid fire 
score that was made on a rather poorly 
lighted indoor range will give an idea 
of what can be expected without much 
preliminary practice. They were made 
with a single shot rifle firing ten shots 
in two minutes or less. The best av- 
erage scores will always be obtained 
by having but one target up at a time, 
Fifty shots at fifty yards 
DIVERSIFIED 
OF FIREARM 
because in this manner the marksman 
is compelled to distinguish between dif- 
ferent targets, which takes time, es- 
pecially if the light is poor and the 
targets are close together. 
Game Shooting 
G AME shooting with the .22 is not 
by any means restricted to the 
season for so-called legal game. 
Most people will have more sport in 
the summer or winter with the .22 
than in actual game shooting in the 
fall. There is always something to 
shoot at, no matter whether one is just 
scouting around through the woods, is 
on a fishing or camping trip, or is 
out for the one purpose of obtaining 
a little rifle field shooting. In many 
sections of the country woodchucks or 
ground hogs are plentiful enough to 
furnish splendid sport. A .22, when 
loaded with the hollow point cartridges, 
will surely do business on ’chucks at 
reasonable ranges, providing, of course, 
they are struck in the front half of 
the body. At fifty to seventy-five yards 
this is by no means difficult. There 
are always some crows or hawks and 
usually a few red squirrels to shoot 
at. In addition to this, every stream 
presents dozens of the most enticing 
marks in the form of stones, stumps or 
rocks along its course. There are also 
frogs, kingfishers, the ever-present 
water snakes and the like to take a shot 
at. Just think of the hundreds of good 
shots that you have missed on fishing 
and camping trips because you did not 
take a .22 with you. 
The .22 hollow point will surely an- 
chor small stuff right where it is hit. 
It will give a hole the size of a quarter 
to a half dollar in a ’chuck, and one 
the size of a nickel in a squirrel, and 
will usually take the head right off 
a snake or frog. Marauding house 
cats will wilt promptly and without any 
noise when properly hit with a hollow 
point. 
Quite a number of shooters imagine 
that the hollow point bullets are not 
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