I feel I should put a digression here on the difference between range accuracy rates and battle accuracy rates.
The first thing that needs to be made clear is that - yes, it is absolutely the case that accuracy on the firing range is considerably greater than battle accuracy. There are a number of reasons for this, like the stress of being in battle; the lack of ability to take one's time; being shot at; the targets being less obvious; in some cases the range on the firing range is known and the range in battle has to be estimated, which in and of itself is a skill that had to be taught and cannot really be picked up ad-hoc.
However, it is entirely appropriate to compare battle hit rates with battle hit rates, and firing range hit rates with firing range hit rates.
It is also useful to know what ingredients go into training someone as a skilled sharpshooter in this period.
To get the "perfect shot", the Hythe system of musketry trained soldiers in all sorts of fields, and using this as a basis we can say that:
- A soldier should have drilled at reloading enough that they can do it without thinking. In battle soldiers can often misload their weapons due to stress, and this should be eliminated.
- A soldier should have done snapping practice and blank firing practice, so the retort of the percussion cap or the blank will not throw off their aim.
- A soldier should be taught range estimation. This means that they should be required to make range estimations during training and then scored on how well they have done; this cannot be taught in battle, because if you guess wrongly there is no way for you to know if you have done so or not.
- A soldier should be able to set his sights and to aim correctly at a target at the estimated range.
- A soldier should be able to treat each shot separately, and to not rush.
- A soldier should be taught to curl his finger around the trigger and press gently, rather than pull the trigger. Doing otherwise pulls the rifle out of alignment.
- A soldier should be taught to shoot without expenditure of ammunition, and then given balls and powder to prove that he has learned.
- A soldier should be tested over unknown ranges as well as known ranges; that is, part of their evaluation should consist of having to shoot a target where they do not know how far away it is.
- A soldier's score at all of these that can be tested should be recorded and reported, so he can know what he got wrong and so the competitive spirit will be engaged.
To quote:
'Taught shooting is a sure thing; it is a positive certainty. Men by nature cannot shoot; the more ball they shoot the worse they shoot. I would rather catch a tailor off his board than a sportsman. Capital sportsmen come here and remain in the 3rd class. They often say: "Colonel, I wish I had you in the bogs of Ireland"; or: "Colonel, I wish I had you in the jungles of India." Thank you, gentlemen, Hythe answers my purpose sufficiently well. We teach without balls; by aiming and position drill; by establishing a union between the finger and the brain. Rifle shooting is like shooting from a ship; you must press the trigger at the right juncture. I am getting blinder and more shaky every day, yet I shoot better, because I know when to press the trigger.'
'men, if they are to be intelligent soldiers, and not mere shooting machines, cannot aim until they understand the theoretical principles which guide a ball in its flight; they cannot shoot until they have acquired a facility in position; nor can they be master of a weapon unless they know its mechanical construction and how to keep it in working order.'
'One is apt to think that everybody can aim; but if you try to aim at a near object and then at a long range, you will find how the difficulty of aiming increases with the distance. This difficulty can only be overcome by practice. The sight is as capable of education as any other faculty. Eye drill is therefore an important part of the training of a long-range rifleman. For this drill each section is drawn up opposite to a tripod rest — three poles held together by a ring, with a bag of sand on the top. Each man in the section comes in turn to the rest, lays his rifle upon it, adjusts his sight for the distance, and aligns the back-sight and foresight upon the mark. While he is doing so he is required to state the rules he is acting upon, in aiming; thus coupling theory with practice... When the right hand man in the section has adjusted his rifle on the rest he steps aside and the Sergeant looks along his sights. If he finds any error... he calls the next man to point out the error; and so each man takes his turn...'
'In the second practice you go through all the motions of actual shooting. It is, in fact, shooting dummy. You bring the rifle smartly to the shoulder, closing the left eye, and with the right looking through the bottom of the notch of the backsight; then put the forefinger round the trigger like a hook; then raise the muzzle till the sights come into alignment with the mark, restraining the breathing; then, the moment the sights are aligned, without dwelling on and so losing the aim, you press or squeeze the trigger, keeping your eye on the mark meanwhile and for some moments afterwards, so as not to disturb the aim; then you bring the rifle down smartly to the capping position. In all, five motions. In the third practice you go through all the motions of loading as well as of firing. You load dummy as well as shoot dummy. The second and third position drills are practised both standing and kneeling, as a front rank and as a rear rank.
The position drills were practised in the barrack-yard. A double row of small bulls' eyes is painted on the wall, at one of which each man is to aim... No man in the army is allowed to practise, that is, to shoot, until he has gone through 16 of these position drills.'
'In good old times, according to Col. Wilford, the order was: "Ball practice, shut your eyes, open your mouth, head back, pull away, and the deuce take the consequences." Now, we never say "Fire." Only the man who holds the rifle can say when to fire. It is at the very moment when the sights have come into alignment. It is the brain which takes the aim. The eye tells the brain when the aim is taken, and then the brain sends an electric message to the forefinger to press the trigger. Observe, they never say "pull" the trigger; if we pulled the trigger we should pull the rifle out of alignment and shoot wide. We are to press the trigger. The finger is to be well round the trigger like a hook, ready to obey the brain when the moment comes. If it is not ready, if there is anything else to do, any shifting of the finger, the moment is lost, you are off the mark, and had better drop the muzzle, and, having taken a full breath, raise it again.'
'Of the two next heads of our course — snapping caps and firing blanks — little need be said. Snapping caps is not a very exciting practice; but to the uninitiated even this is not unimportant. These drills are intended to cure the habit of winking or starting at the fall of the hammer (to use an auctioneer's phrase), and to habituate you to the recoil of the gun.'
'By way of further "improving each shining hour" during these judging distance drills, we were told, when not actually engaged in judging, to adjust our sights to the distance and practice snapping. In fact it was urged upon us that we could not have too much of this exercise; and the diligent filled up every spare moment by aiming, either standing or kneeling, and snapping.'
'As it is the main object of position drill to form habits which we may afterwards act upon mechanically and unconsciously, we were cautioned never in practice at home, or in our most careless moments, to bring the rifle to the "present," or to go through any other movement of the position drill, except in strict accordance with the instructions, and especially never to press the trigger when snapping unless we had a distinct aim, such as we should be satisfied with in ball practice. There seems to be much virtue in this rule, for it follows that if we fire blank with the same care as we fire ball, we shall fire ball with as little anxiety or flutter as we fire blank.'
The effective result of this was that the soldiers thus trained were really very good, and this was because they'd all gone through sharpshooter training. (The British had a bit of a mania for this in this period.) In some battalions about 70% of the men could hit a linear target 25% of the time at 900 yards during target practice, and while (for the reasons mentioned above) they'd never be so accurate on the battlefield it means the ability to deliver effective fire out to a much greater distance than otherwise - and it helps when firing at closer ranges as well.
Bringing the