And some more quotes
from a Hythe instructor:
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=lR9cAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA18#v=onepage&q&f=false
'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.'
Note particularly that the soldiers in this most accuracy-obsessed of armies were not ordered to "fire". Contemporary American tactics (and most continental tactics) were along the lines of:
The direct fire.
260. The instructor will give the following commands:
1. Fire by squad 2. Squad. 3. READY. 4. AIM. 5. FIRE 6. LOAD.
263. The Instructor will recommence the firing by the command:
1. Squad. 2. AIM. 3. FIRE 4. LOAD.
283. The fire by rank will be executed by each entire rank, alternately
284. The instructor will command:
1. Fire by rank, 2. Squad. 3. READY. 4. Rear rank, 5. AIM 6. FIRE. 7. LOAD.
287. As soon as the instructor sees several men of the rear rank in the position of ready, he will command:
1. Front Rank. 2. AIM. 3. FIRE. 4. LOAD.
(from
Hardee's Tactics)
While in the British Army it was more like:
Load
Ready
Present
and then the soldier was allowed to choose when he fired, once he'd been ordered to present arms; accuracy was valued over control of fire. This trend was only partially reversed when the Snider came in, and the reason was that a Snider battalion could end up expending its ammunition about five times faster than a rifle-musket one!