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MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS OF 
In an artillery duel, at 1,700 yds., the range being ascertained to within 
50 yds., after making every allowance for hurried laying, &c., at least 4 
per cent, of the shell fired ought to be very effective; while, if the range 
be guessed, not more than about one-half per cent, can be calculated on. 
Offensive Tactics. 
In acting upon the defensive, the use of a range-finder is very plain 
sailing, as it enables the ground to be surveyed before the approach of 
an enemy, and thus gives enormous advantages, without any attendant 
disadvantages whatsoever. Acting offensively, the disadvantages must 
be weighed against the advantages. 
A range-finder does not possess any great advantages over trial shots 
up to 1,000 yards, so, up to this range, whenever the delay of half a 
minute in opening fire • is of paramount importance, it is better not to 
use it. 
After 1,300 yards the superiority possessed by pieces firing at a 
known range is so great, that the distance should then always be 
found. Between 1,000 and 1,300 yards the judgment of the officer in 
command must be exercised. 
The actual finding of the range is a purely mechanical operation, but 
considerable skill can be shown in the selection of points to be observed. 
As the telescopes of the finders are powerful, any point that can be 
seen through binoculars, or with the naked eye, may in almost any 
weather be observed, so that it is quite unnecessary to pick out church 
steeples, or, what might be called fancy points, to train the guns on. 
What is wanted is something distinguishable from surrounding 
objects; any stationary object tolerably different from everything near 
it is a good point, whether a gate, a stone, or a post; trees, shrubs, or tufts 
of grass must be made to do when the former class do not exist; they 
are perfectly good points, if peculiar. When no point can be seen, the 
officer must simply indicate in a general fashion what distance he wants, 
as, e.g ., the brow of a hill; it then becomes the duty of the No. 1 of the 
pivot gun to find a point, which he can nearly always do, as the 
telescope of the finder will reveal peculiarities in the brow which may- 
have escaped the naked eye. 
But it may not be possible to find any stationary object near the 
enemy. In that case the guns must be laid on the enemy. 
There is no better object than a gun wheel; the windward, or else the 
most peculiarly placed gun, should be singled out to lay on ; its being 
fired is of little consequence, unless the smoke hangs very much indeed. 
The colours of a regiment or a mounted officer are very good points ; 
if there are none, a flank man should be chosen. These remarks only 
apply to troops advancing or retiring upon the battery, either directly or 
at a moderate oblique; if, however, the direction of their march is at 
right angles to the line of fire of the battery, they will probably interfere 
with the action of the finders; in this last case, the distance between the 
guns should be made sixty yards, if possible. 
Forty yards is in general the best working distance to keep between 
the pieces, as at greater distances the guns are not in such thorough 
