FOREST AND STREAM 
225 
Fitting the Gun to One’s Temperament. 
in the long ago boys learned their shooting from their 
fathers and elder brothers and had to experience many 
a heart breaking miss before the first red letter day 
when a perfect double was scored with the birds going 
high and fast. But human ingenuity has been making 
progress in the art and science of shooting, and now 
the beginner may take his place in the field beside the 
seasoned gun and acquit himself with credit. 
That is he can if he has been fortunate enough to 
have as his guide, philosopher and friend a man like 
Richmond Watson of the West London Shooting 
Grounds, who has come over here to supervise the in¬ 
stallation at the Rumson Country Club of a wing shot 
making plant similar to his London one and to teach 
the fine points of gun fitting. 
You may never have heard the whirr of a partridge 
taking wing or the plaintive whistle of Bob White, but 
by following Mr. Watson’s course of instruction you 
can take the field confident of bagging something better 
than a goose egg, always supposing that you don’t have 
stage fright. 
But before describing the methods by which Mr. 
Watson achieves his results something should be said 
of his ideas about gun fitting; for that is the beginning 
of all things in the shooting world, according to Mr. 
Watson. He says: 
"Ready made guns are like ready made clothing; in 
nine cases out of ten they do not fit. To use either 
without alteration is conducive to bad style and dis¬ 
satisfaction. A gun must fit not only the shoulder of 
the user, but it must be adapted to his strength, eye¬ 
sight and even his temperament.” 
That about fitting a man’s gun to his temperament 
may sound pretty advanced, but here’s a bit of practical 
observation that may suggest a reason for many a 
miss: 
"Would it be thought possible,” continues Mr. Watson, 
“that a man who was a good sportsman and good at 
most games, but a wretched shot, could go on shoot¬ 
ing for many years without knowing that his left eye 
was master and that consequently every time he raised 
his gun to his right shoulder he was looking across 
his gun and not along it? This is not at all uncom 
mon. The result is that the shooter finds that he can 
often kill at very difficult quick shots, but fails miser¬ 
ably at easy ones, the explanation being that at very 
quick birds the shooter puts his gun up mechanically, 
but directly he takes aim his left eye brings the gun 
over and a certain miss follows.” 
So Mr. Watson, who believes that with his methbds 
“there is no excuse for a green hand in the shooting 
field,” sees first of all to the fit of the gun placed in 
the hands of a beginner. This accomplished, there 
comes the first lesson in wing shooting that is to fit 
the pupil for field work, and right here it may be said 
that the accomplished shot as well as the novice can 
pick up new points in the game in the course of study 
mapped out by Mr. Watson. 
There is no mystery about the plan and it is one that 
can be adopted by any club owning large enough 
grounds and willing to spend the money for the neces¬ 
sary equipment. For Mr. Watson’s plan is to adapt 
trap shooting ro field conditions by means of what might 
be termed, to mix the nomenclature of two sports, 
“trap links.” 
To go back to the beginner: When he has been 
“fitted” with a gun, so far as observable physical pecu 
liarities are concerned, he takes his stand in front of a 
high whitewashed wall and a “bird” is sent straight 
up. The beginner, because he is such and must learn 
by degrees, was told beforehand what course his “bird” 
would take. He fires and the whitewashed wall faith¬ 
fully records whether he shot above or below. Then 
the “bird” is sent from left to right and from right to 
left. The beginner is using a gun with an adjustable 
stock so that persistent over or under shooting and 
the like may be corrected so far as gun-making can do 
it# 
Then the “fitting” is complete and the novice begins 
working on easy shots going straight away or crossing 
in an announced direction. He has always at his side 
a man trained, as Mr. Watson puts it, “to watch the 
shot.” That is a man who through training has be¬ 
come so expert of sight that he can actually see whether 
the charge passes above or below, or to right or left of 
the flying mark. So the beginner is told just why he 
missed and isn’t left blazing away in the dark and 
guessing at the reason for his failures. 
Having mastered the elements of the game and be¬ 
come accustomed to his gun the candidate for the shoot¬ 
ing field gets his first try under conditions approximat¬ 
ing as closely as may be those he will face later on. 
With his instructor he walks through rough cover 
where cunningly concealed traps are placed. He isn’t 
told where or when to expect the “birds,” which may 
burst almost from under his feet or a good distance 
ahead or to right or left. As before his instructor at 
his shoulder vatches the course of the shot and his 
running comment of “that was a bit too high,” “a trifle 
low and to the left” and the like mean everything 
for the quick advancement of the pupil. 
Perhaps, as the beginner is ready for a wing shot a 
clay rabbit, very like the real, scuttles across his path, 
for he may go rabbit shooting some day, and any way 
he must learn to be ready for emergency. He is taught, 
too, to “walk in line” that is to take his place in a line 
0 i gu "P ers , in the advance through the cover and to 
take his birds under the same conditions as when 
shooting at real game He learns to carry his gun in 
proper style and in a safe manner and to take none 
but his own birds. 
Next, comes a.lessen, especially if the shooter is get- 
ting his instruction in England or is planning to shoot 
there, in grouse driving. For this the pupil takes his 
nlace in a grouse butt and learns to take birds coming 
trom a variety of directions. The birds come over 
singly or several at a time and the shooter learns to 
take a bird in front and then swing to fire at one 
that has passed. He learns too the all important lesson 
of taking his birds well out in front so as not to 
imperil his friends, who, when he gets into real action 
will be occupying stations along the line. To this end 
also he is taught to take his gun down from his 
shoulder and lift it e ver to shoot as he swings to take 
a bird that has passed. 
Ir. the partridge driving lesson for the English shoot¬ 
er Mr. Watson arranges that the “birds” shall be sent 
over a line of trees so that the beginner may learn to 
pick out a particular pair and not fire into tne flight 
at random. 
Most of the conditions mentioned apply particularly 
to English shooting and the plan as adapted for use 
here is modified somev bat to suit local conditions. 
But, as Mr. Watson points out in the New York Sun 
more and more Americans every year are renting 
grouse grounds in England or going there for the shoot¬ 
ing season and are anxious even if experts in the field 
here to be prepared for the new work. 
So here as there Mr. Watson will supervise the con¬ 
been taken up, and not only by the beginner but by 
seasoned field shots who wish to keep in practice or 
who find as the Right Hon. Lord Balfour of Burleigh 
wrote that “we can all learn something there.” 
Mr. Watson says that he has found the sportsmen 
at the Rumson grounds very keen and that the best 
shots are interested in the new game which gives them 
a chance for practice in the off season. The club has 
installed fitting rooms ana targets in accordance with 
Mr. Watson’s gun tailoring ideas and this week a tower 
for practice on high and fast flying birds goes up. 
Jersey City Gun Club. 
Jersey City, N. J., February 7, 1914. 
After a stormy morning it cleared at noon and. 
twenty of the boys took advantage of the first dry 
Saturday P. M. for the last six weeks and came out 
and had a royal time smashing the clays until it was- 
too dark for further operations trying to make up for 
lost time. There was plenty of breeze but we don’t 
mind that as long as Jupiter Pluvius don’t insist 1 pon- 
Du Pont Cup for Telegraph Match. 
struction of towers to train those who expect to shoot 
rocketing pheasants. And by the way if you hold as 
do some, that shooting pheasants is little better than 
potting barnyard fowl you should hear Mr. Watson de¬ 
scribe the difficulties of scoring once the birds get in 
full flight. “They never should be shot as they rise,” 
he says, “for they are heavy birds and slow to get go¬ 
ing, but once thev are well up in the air they are a 
really sporting shot.” 
The towers on Mr. Watson’s English grounds are 
eight in number and from 13 to 120 feet high. It i» 
from their tops that the traps are sprung so that they 
may represent faithfully the flight of real birds fiom 
cover on a hillside and the pupil learn the importance 
of judging how tar in front of the bird he musi aim. 
The clay pheasants are provided with 15 inch “tails’' 
and many a one is clipped off before the beginne r learns 
that when he meets the real rocketer he will find him 
tiateling fast. 
The towers are also used for instruction in duck 
shooting, the pupil firing from a boat at birds com¬ 
ing over from different heights and getting accustomed 
to the cramped position which makes necessary a swing 
and allowance quite different from ordinary shooting. 
At Mr. Watson’s West London grounds a great pile 
of expended cartridges containing millions of shells 
testifies to the eagerness with which Mr. Watson’s 
scheme for preparing the beginner for the field has 
being number one in each squad. Geo. Piercy and Dave 
Engle ran a dead heat for high gun and each finished 
with 77 per cent. Those two youngsters are going to 
be first class shots with a little more practice. 
The scores follow in strings of 25: 
Everett . 21 17 18 14 11 14 13. 
Haas . 16 18 2i 16 17 14 14 16 13 13 15 
Guggenheim _ 14 18 18 18 20 19 19 14 17 13 .. 
Kellinger . 16 14. 
Geo. Piercy .... 19 21 18 19 22 21 16. 
Sheppard . 15 12 12 14 16 10. 
Silberman . 9 9 9 7 8. 
Homan . 9 6. 
L. Piercy . 14 20 17 18 21 . 
Hallinger . 14 17 21 24 16 14. 
Dixon .;. 20 20 20 18 18 14. 
Engle . 23 23 18 15 18. 
Boothroyd . 8 14 17 13. 
Kearney . 11 9 3 4 4 4. 
Williams . 9 10 12 8 10. 
Slater . 6 is 17 12. 
Coleman . 5 10 13 9. 
Brown . 10 6 3 8. 
Brady . 11 8 8 7. 
Sampson . 12 12 13. 
Our club has become a member of the North Jersey 
Trapshooters League, a new organization just formed 
