I know of a jeweller who stopped a highwayman by pointing the nickel plated pump of his bicycle at him.
During the war a man took a number of the enemy prisoners by threatening them with his empty revolver.
For people who know nothing of firearms it is much the safest plan not to have any cartridges.
Never allow "ornaments" shaped like pistols to lie about.
People get so used to playing with these that they at once point a real pistol when they can get hold of it.
Even when a pistol has to be fired it only needs to be loaded just before being used, as a rule.
When target shooting, it need only be loaded the moment before getting into position for shooting. If all the shots are not immediately fired from this position it should be at once unloaded.
I saw a most disgraceful neglect of this precaution at a shooting meeting, which if the Range Officer had also seen, the man would have been expelled from all meetings. He was an expert revolver shot too!
Several of us had made very good scores with the revolver at a stationary target.
This man came up carrying a hand bag in which his revolver and cartridges were kept.
"I have a few minutes to spare before my train goes, and I will have another try to beat you"; so saying he took out his revolver and cartridges, handed in his ticket, loaded, and began a score. He made three bad shots, swore, then without taking out his cartridges, he just opened his bag, put the revolver in, shut the bag and went off.
Never touch an automatic pistol until you are expert with a single-shot pistol. I do not mean expert to make good scores, but _absolutely safe_ not to point it at any one, and able to take out the cartridge with safety or to put the pistol at safe or half-c.o.c.k.
We will suppose you have the single-shot pistol and cartridges, and the target in front of you with a sufficiently large background that it does not matter where your bullet goes if you keep your muzzle always pointed in that direction.
It is almost impossible to have a range absolutely safe against an accidental discharge putting the bullet over the b.u.t.ts.
A man who swings his pistol over his head is almost sure some day to let off a bullet high over the b.u.t.ts if he does not blow his own brains out first.
If the shooter pays attention all the time to keeping the muzzle of his pistol pointed towards the b.u.t.t he will be safe even if his pistol goes off accidently.
The barrel must be aligned towards the b.u.t.t. Most beginners think that, if they see the muzzle of the pistol against the b.u.t.t, it is aimed at the b.u.t.t. That is not so. You can hold a pistol almost vertical like a candle in its socket, and think the muzzle covers the centre of the target, but if it is fired in this position the bullet will go straight in the air.
To aim a pistol, the breech (the part nearest the b.u.t.t of the pistol) must be aligned with the muzzle on the target.
Keep the pistol lying on a table before you and pointing at the b.u.t.t, and when you lift it always keep it thus horizontal or slightly inclining towards the ground but always pointed at the b.u.t.t.
All single-shot breech-loading pistols open by pressing a lever, whether on top, at the side, or underneath the barrel.
Press this and open the pistol, look through the barrel to see that there is no cartridge in it and that the barrel is clear, and then close it.
Do this constantly for many days, so that you get into the habit the moment you take the pistol in your hand to look through it to see if it is unloaded, and no obstruction in it. To fire a pistol which has an obstruction in the barrel may burst the pistol.
If any one asks to see the pistol, first open it in his presence, of course pointing away from him or any one else, and look through the barrel before handing it to him. If an automatic, first take out the magazine and open the barrel as well.
Unless he is a shooting man do not hand him any cartridges. If he wants to see what your cartridges are like take the pistol back, open it again and see that it is still empty, put it away safely, and _then_ hand him a cartridge to examine.
All this may seem super-caution but it is necessary, especially with an automatic, and unless you do this by instinct with the safer single-shot pistol, you may at any moment have a dreadful accident with an automatic for which you will be sorry all your life.
Now, standing facing the b.u.t.t, open the pistol, put a cartridge in it (an empty cartridge case, not a loaded one). Put the pistol, if it has an outside hammer, to full-c.o.c.k, being very careful to keep it pointed at the b.u.t.t, lower the hammer to half-c.o.c.k, open the pistol and extract the cartridge, and close the pistol again; repeat this many times till you can c.o.c.k and half-c.o.c.k without the hammer slipping or falling by accident.
If it had a loaded cartridge in it the pistol would go off should you let the hammer slip down, which is one of the most frequent causes of accidents with pistols having external hammers.
Some hammer pistols have a rebound, that is, when the hammer falls it rebounds to half-c.o.c.k.
CHAPTER VII
HOW TO PREVENT ACCIDENTS (_Continued_)
Do not forget the hammer has three positions.
Down on the cartridge, "half-c.o.c.k," and "full-c.o.c.k." The latter is when the pistol is ready to be fired, when at half-c.o.c.k it cannot be fired by pulling the trigger and is supposed to be safe against accidental discharge, but it can be fired accidently if, in raising the hammer to full-c.o.c.k it slips, owing to clumsiness or a greasy hammer or thumb, or the hammer may get caught in something and be raised accidentally.
For this reason it is best to have the part of the hammer the thumb presses against in c.o.c.king corrugated, roughed like a file.
Take the barrel in the left hand, holding the pistol horizontally pointing at the target.
Take the grip in your right hand, put your right thumb on the projection of the c.o.c.k (not from straight behind it but slightly from the right side); this enables you to get a firm grip of the hammer and at the same time of the stock with your other fingers.
Now, do _not_ do what all beginners do.
_Do not put your first finger on the trigger when c.o.c.king._ Keep all your fingers outside the trigger guard to avoid any chance of your touching the trigger when c.o.c.king.
There are two causes of accidental falling of the hammer in c.o.c.king and so causing an accidental discharge of the pistol.
One is the hammer slipping from the thumb, or being released by the thumb before it is fully at full-c.o.c.k.
The other is pulling at the trigger at the same time that the pistol is being c.o.c.ked (which learners invariably do).
The result of pulling the trigger at the same time is that the hammer does not catch into the bent which holds it, and falls as soon as the thumb is removed.
There is a click when the pistol is well at full-c.o.c.k, which tells you the pistol is properly c.o.c.ked, the hammer or c.o.c.k goes slightly beyond full-c.o.c.k and then comes into place by a click. (See quotation from Byron"s _Don Juan_ on a later page.)
To put to half-c.o.c.k is the most ticklish of all and is the cause of most pistol accidents.
The thing to do is to let the hammer fall to just below half-c.o.c.k and then bring it back to half-c.o.c.k. If it falls too low it fires the pistol, if it does not click it has not properly got to half-c.o.c.k.
Still holding the barrel of the pistol in the left hand and the grip in your right (keep the pistol carefully pointed at the b.u.t.t where an accidental discharge would do no harm), put your right thumb on the hammer. When you have a firm touch of it so that it cannot escape you as it falls, put your first finger on the trigger and press, but _only_ for an instant.
The hammer will fall but you must keep it from falling fast, by holding back with your thumb. Lower the hammer down to just below half-c.o.c.k back to half-c.o.c.k and then release your thumb hold.
If the hammer went its full fall it would explode the cartridge. With a rebounding hammer, the hammer falls and instantly springs back to half-c.o.c.k. Therefore in letting a rebounding lock down from full to half-c.o.c.k, if you are able to restrain it well during the first part of its descent, even if it slips from your thumb before it is quite at half-c.o.c.k, the rebound overcomes the downward fall and it rebounds to half-c.o.c.k without actually exploding the cartridge because it does not quite reach it.
Half-c.o.c.k is the safest position for a loaded single-shot pistol but not safe enough to carry in a pocket or holster loaded. For that, it needs a safety lock to hold it at half-c.o.c.k.