CHAPTER LII
SHOOTING GALLERY
Pistol shooting in compet.i.tions or for practice is conducted either under cover, in the open, or partly under cover. The latter is much the best way, so I will keep this to the last.
An open-air range can only be installed in the country, away from buildings or annoyance to others. Even then it is not immune. Just before the war several rifle ranges in England were ordered to be closed because they inconvenienced golf players, and of course golf is much more important than shooting.
The present automatic pistol with its heavy charge makes such a noise that it can only be shot in an open-air range, well away from houses. The objection to such a range is that it takes so long to get to.
Instead of being able to fire a few shots at odd moments, as in Paris, a man who has a few minutes to spare must take a train into the country, wasting time and money getting there and back, and he can therefore only shoot if he has a whole afternoon free and "money to burn."
It requires great keenness in pistol shooting to endure all the discomfort of waiting for trains, standing in the wet, etc., for the sake of a few minutes" shooting.
The usual indoor range practice is even worse.
It is true it is "only round the corner," and takes only a few minutes to get to, but when you _do_ get there!!!
The range is in a part of a building too dark and uncomfortable to be used for any other purpose.
If a narrow underground dungeon is too bad for a wine or coal cellar, a brilliant idea strikes the owner of the property: "Why not turn it into a public shooting gallery, and make it pay?"
The gallery is run on the pay, pay, always pay, and receive nothing, principle.
The shooter pays for the pleasure of ruining his eyesight and ears, pays for the target, pays for the cartridges, pays for the hire of a dirty, greasy, worn out old revolver.
However good a score he makes he receives no prize or encouragement.
No wonder, after one such visit, the public gives the place a wide berth.
The Gastinne-Renette Pistol Gallery at 39, Avenue d"Antin, Paris, is constructed and run as a pistol gallery should be.
The first essential is to have it in a building well-lighted by daylight and airy, and where the neighbours will not object to the sound of firing.
The ideal range is, as at Gastinne-Renette"s, with the firing point covered and the range itself open to the air, but this is only possible under exceptional circ.u.mstances, and where gallery ammunition only is fired.
I am strongly of the opinion that unless gallery ammunition is used exclusively, an indoor or semi-indoor range is inadmissible, otherwise the shooting must, of necessity, be done in the country and in the open, with all its attendant inconveniences.
If the range is in an entirely closed gallery it should have plenty of top light (not artificial light), like a sculptor"s studio, or be situated and lighted on the top floor of the house, like a photographer"s studio.
Or it may be a long shed with windows down both sides.
A riding school or a gymnasium having plenty of daylight might do.
By the way, although gymnastics do not need daylight (artificial light is just as good for them), one never hears of a gymnasium in a coal cellar.
It is only the shooter, who is a crank anyhow and not worth serious consideration, who has to put up with a coal cellar.
It is difficult to get an indoor range large enough for practice at moving objects.
So-called moving targets which run for a few feet are not moving targets at all.
To learn shooting at moving objects they should go fast and for a reasonable distance, not less than ten yards, and the further they run, and the more varying the speed, the better.
CHAPTER LIII
THE GASTINNE-RENETTE GALLERY
This gallery has been in existence for some seventy years and is constantly improved and it is the best gallery I know of in any country.
In describing it I will be describing what an ideal shooting gallery should be like.
The entrance is through a well-lighted daylight pa.s.sage past the gunmaker"s shop of the proprietor. A pistol can be bought or hired, or alteration made to the sights or trigger-pull of one"s own pistol, on the spot.
One then comes to a long, well-lighted gallery, with cupboards containing the pistols of the members and very accurate, well-kept pistols, for lending to shooters who have not brought their own (see Plates 2 and 10.)
Several pistol clubs, such as the "Le Pistolet" and the "St. George,"
shoot here on certain days, at which times the range is closed to the outside public.
The gallery is heated by hot water pipes in winter.
The secretary sits at a desk and sells the entry tickets, gives the prizes (gold, silver, and bronze medals and plaques), and also keeps an accurate record of all winning scores made.
[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE 15. GASTINNE-RENETTE GALLERY]
The walls are hung with the framed targets which have won the Grand Medaille d"Or and other prizes.
Two marble slabs, engraved with the names of the winners of the championship of each year, are by the mantelpiece where hangs the stuffed head of a Sika stag I shot with a duelling pistol.
One of the long sides of the gallery faces a blank wall in the open air about thirty yards distant.
Along that side there are cubicles with gla.s.s doors facing this wall, and gla.s.s sliding doors opening into the gallery.
Each cubicle has a loading table with drawers for cartridges, etc.
These cubicles have transverse walls in pairs leading to this wall, so as to enable pairs of shooters, if they so desire, to shoot, without being disturbed by the rest of the shooters.
The shooter goes with an attendant into one of the cubicles; the door leading to the gallery is shut and the door on to the range is opened.
The shooter can be seen from the gallery but he is not disturbed by people talking or coming near him.
The a.s.sistant loads the pistols, works the metronome, keeps the score, etc.