FOREST AND STREAM 
15 
Wm. E. Quicksail, Revolver ( hampion of the United States 
The New Champion Gives Some Good Advice to Novices 
It was less than four years ago, says Dr. Wil¬ 
liam E. Quicksail, of Philadelphia, winner of the 
indoor revolver championship of the United 
States, that he took up short-arm shooting, which 
he found had a beneficial effect on his nerves. 
The story of his progress toward proficiency is 
exceedingly interesting, and, besides this, contains 
some very valuable suggestions for those who 
engage in any kind of competitive sport. 
The announcement of Dr. Quicksall’s victory 
has just been made by the United States Re¬ 
volver Association, under the auspices of which 
the championship matches were shot contempora¬ 
neously last April in twenty-six different cities, 
including Toronto, Canada. The Doctor from the 
Quaker City won his new title by capturing the 
Association’s Match A with a score of 457 out 
of a possible 500, using a .38 calibre target re¬ 
volver and Remington-UMC mid-range ammuni¬ 
tion. This was an indoor, any-revolver contest. 
Dr. Quicksail won fifth place in the match last 
year. 
“Owing to my work,” said Dr. Quicksail, when 
questioned by the interviewer, “I had but one 
opportunity to shoot my matches during the week 
they were held, and had to shoot both the A 
and B the same evening. After a busy day, 
when night comes I sometimes am in a state of 
mild nervous tension—‘jerky’—which has to be 
worked off before I am relaxed and cool 
enough to shoot well. Nothing does this like 
shooting. The evening of the championship con¬ 
test I shot Match B first and did badly, but after 
a ten-minute rest found myself feeling ‘right,’ 
having forgotten myself in shooting, and at once 
proceeded with Match A. 
“I find, when under a nervous strain,” reiterat¬ 
ed the doctor, “that there is nothing which does 
me so much good as to lose myself in shoot¬ 
ing fifty shots or so with pistol or revolver, par¬ 
ticularly if there is a little spice of competition 
to make me ‘try.’ One must so concentrate the 
attention upon ‘holding’ and upon a careful ‘pull- 
off’ that there is no room for a third thought. 
“In this connection, I may say that I attribute 
part of my success in shooting to the fact that 
I have schooled myself to ignore any third dis¬ 
tracting thought, or little annoyance, and I have 
never objected to loud conversation, the striking 
of matches behind me, and the like, but have 
always felt that the more of it the better for 
me in the end. It must be that it is not the 
mere striking of a match behind a man for in¬ 
stance that disturbs him, so much as it is the 
nervous irritation arising from the fact that the 
act is contrary to his idea of the fitness of things. 
I believe that by changing the attitude of mind 
toward these things, many men who now invari¬ 
ably shoot below their averages in competition 
would improve their match scores considerably.” 
Dr. Quicksail, when he began in the sport of 
shooting, feared for a while that he was too old 
to learn. “I was a fairly good shot as a small 
boy,” he said, “but 1 never owned a good weapon 
of any kind until I was thirty-two years old. Six 
years ago I bought a rifle and began shooting on 
a Remington-UMC advertisement contair : ng the 
German ring target. I could not keep all my 
shots on the card at twenty-five yards, and im¬ 
provement came slowly. In the course of a few 
months, however, I could shoot fairly well with 
a rifle, but did not use a pistol until less than 
four years ago. In October, 1910, I became ac¬ 
quainted with Captain George Hugh Smith, who 
gave me some pointers on how to shoot the 
hand gun. I then bought a target pistol and 
started to shoot in my cellar. 
“From that time dates my real interest in the 
game. In six months I could shoot around 85 
per cent., quite consistently, but I used a great 
deal of ammunition in that time. Most of my 
practice since then has been of the ‘dry’ variety, 
Dr. William E. Quicksail. 
snapping the empty pistol at a mark on the wall 
of my room. Now I rarely shoot more than 
once a week, but practice five or ten minutes 
daily at the mark on the wall. Nearly all of my 
shooting has been done with the pistol, though 
I divide my ‘dry’ practice about equally between 
revolver and pistol. I am sure I have not fired 
1,000 rounds from a revolver in my whole life. 
“Before, I ever knew that I could shoot well, 
I made the deliberate choice of rifle shooting as 
the only sport within my means and opportuni¬ 
ties. Fond of sport of all kinds, I decided to 
go into some competitive branch, for I delight in 
a contest, be it running, rowing, pitching pen¬ 
nies, or what else. I thought over the different 
sports. One was too expensive, another took 
too much time, and for another I had no aptitude. 
Shooting only was left, so I started with the rifle, 
to switch over to the pistol and revolver.” 
PROPOSED SAFETY LEGISLATION. 
By Coleman Randolph. 
All sportsmen are interested in the question 
how shooting casualties may be reduced. When 
one examines a State report indicating the man¬ 
ner these accidents occur, it appears that they 
are occasioned mostly through the violation of 
a few simple rules that should suggest them¬ 
selves to everybody. 
Those who are experienced in the use of fire¬ 
arms and exercise a sound discretion, conform 
to certain rules almost instinctively; unfortunate¬ 
ly, there are too many who either lack experience 
or have not had their attention called to these 
rules which they would probably obey if they 
were duly warned. 
It is a well-known fact that sportsmen who 
participate in shooting events at a shooting club 
or rifle range seldom meet with a mishap because 
there are well-defined rules prescribed for every¬ 
one, which are enforced under suitable penal¬ 
ties. Observance of similar rules by sportsmen 
who are in quest of game should be attended 
with similar good results. 
This brings us to the vital point of our in¬ 
quiry—the matter of observance of the rules. 
The vigilance that safeguards human life at 
regular shooting events, in the presence of an 
audience, must be extended to the solitary indi¬ 
vidual acting upon his own responsibility. An 
affidavit clearly setting forth what is required of 
him brings the warning forcibly to his mind. 
This caution is quite necessary for those who 
are lacking experience and are disposed to be 
careless. 
Something is needed to check the ardor of the 
novice whose imagination is excited; something 
that will cause him to make a moment’s pause 
before he fires the fatal shot which a lifetime of 
regret cannot atone. Any reasonable person, 
however inexperienced, must give some consid¬ 
eration to a subject that is impressed upon his 
attention by an affidavit. 
The objection may be made that the law al¬ 
ready punishes for criminal carelessness; that 
everyone being presumed to know the law, 
must know what constitutes criminal careless¬ 
ness. The purpose of the “Sportsman’s Safety 
Law” is not so much to punish the offender, as 
to prevent the accident. 
The presumption that everyone knows what 
constitutes criminal carelessness is about as 
correct as the general presumption that everyone 
knows the law, is true in fact. 
The excited imagination easily misconceives 
the cause of some movement under cover. The 
warning contained in the affidavit stays the finger 
1 hat would pull the trigger. It reminds the en¬ 
thusiast that it is not a necessary result from 
his being provided with a weapon and being in 
quest of game, that the stirring object, when re¬ 
vealed to view, will assume the form of what he 
seeks. 
Pointing firearms in the direction of another 
person may strike some people as void of danger, 
at times. Of course, if unloaded, or even if 
loaded when uncocked; if one can distinguish 
between that state of mind, when a gun is known 
to be unloaded, and that mental state when it is 
supposed to be unloaded, but is loaded, there might 
be some force to the contention. We are largely 
creatures of habit, and if the habit of never 
(Continued on page 36.) 
