ON BIRDS RISING, HOLD THE GUN 
WELL OVER AND KEEP IT SWINGING WHILE TRIGGER IS PRESSED. 
The Art of Wing Shooting 
T HE first principle that the begin¬ 
ners in wing shooting have to 
grasp is that the apparently in¬ 
stantaneous passage of shot from a gun 
to the object aimed at, in reality re¬ 
quires a distinct interval of time, during 
which a rapidly flying game bird will 
have passed from the position it was in 
when the trigger was pulled and would 
thereby escape being hit. Therefore, 
in shooting on the wing it is necessary 
to aim a sufficient distance in front of 
a flying bird to allow for the time the 
shot will occupy in traversing that dis¬ 
tance, this allowance, of course, de¬ 
pending on the speed of the bird and 
the angle of its flight. At first, the 
beginner will have to make a mental 
estimate as to the amount of lead it 
Cover the bird, then swing the gun forward 
until bird disappears, then press the trigger, 
keeping the gun moving. 
By DR. WILL AM A. BRUETTE 
Author of “ Guncraft ” 
will be necessary to give each bird to 
insure its coming within the circle of 
shot, but as he practises and pro¬ 
gresses, this will require less and less 
conscious mental effort, and eventually 
he will be able to throw up his gun, 
make the necessary allowances and pull 
the trigger by what is generally termed 
second nature, but which is in reality 
the rapid working of the subconscious 
mind. 
N shooting at flying birds some good 
shots simply bring the gun up quickly 
and fire into the air ahead of the bird. 
This is what is known as the pitch-for¬ 
ward system and is practical for men 
whose mind and finger require but the 
briefest interval of time for action. 
The great majority of good shots, how¬ 
ever, have adopted what is known as 
the swing-on system, whereby the 
shooter keeps his gun moving with the 
object as he presses the trigger. As a 
rule, shooters cannot explain just how 
they swing on a bird, simply because 
they do not realize what they really do 
between the time they determine to pull 
the trigger and the explosion of the 
cartridge. Some men say they come up 
from behind a bird and swing ahead, 
others that they throw onto the b rd 
and then swing ahead, but all agree 
that to achieve good results the gun 
must be kept moving. 
It has been stated frequently that the 
mere swinging of the gun is sufficient 
allowance in the case of a crossing biid, 
but as a matter of fact, if the bird is 
in the line of sight at the moment the 
trigger is pulled, there is a virtual cer¬ 
tainty of its being shot behind and 
missed. If the swing of the gun is 
arrested at the moment of fire, then it 
must be pointed considerably in front 
of the object, but if the swing of the 
gun is continued after the trigger is 
pulled and until the shot leaves the 
barrels, only a very small allowance is 
required, barely sufficient for the shots 
to traverse the distance to the object, 
for the swing of the gun communicates 
a slight lateral flight to the shot, just 
as a heavy object thrown from a 
rapidly moving train does not fly at 
right angles to the train, but has the 
train’s forward motion communicated 
to it, as well as the motion of throwing, 
and therefore assumes the direction of 
the result of these two forces, outward 
and onward. So far as accuracy is con¬ 
cerned the swinging-on method has 
everything in its favor, it also permit¬ 
ting the use of the second barrel with¬ 
out interruption. A great many men 
who imagine they simple pitch forward 
and shoot, in reality swing the gun into 
position in front of the flying object 
and pull the trigger, unconscious of the 
fact they had not checked the gun until 
after they had shot. A procedure of 
this kind necessarily reduces the allow¬ 
ance in distance materially, as it would 
be necessary only to consider the time 
required for the shot to reach the ob¬ 
ject. The man, however, who shoots 
by the pitch-forward system, simply 
selecting some spot ahead in the bird s 
flight at which to fire, and doing so 
without any swing, must allow, first, 
for the time required by the shot to 
traverse that distance, then for the 
time required by his mind to determine 
how far forward to shoot as well as the 
time occupied in raising his gun and 
pulling the trigger, all of which neces¬ 
sitates firing in front a most impracti¬ 
cal distance. Another reason for 
recommending the sportsman to swing 
the gun in the act of shooting is that 
it produces a truer alignment on the 
course covered by the bird, and not only 
prevents dwelling on the aim with the 
Pace 556 
