Marksmanship and Rifle Training

Oddly enough, we had some very good rifle marksmen. We had several trapper type people and they were excellent shots. I would get by, maybe out of a company I might run in the top, maybe the top 20 or so, in that range, you know, but some of these fellows and then all of a sudden there’s a different level. It’s just like amateur hockey and the pros, you know they were good. They’d put a can on a stick and somebody would stand over and wave the stick with a string and they’d have to shoot the can off the stick, and that was, they ended up, the competition after they stopped shooting targets that were stationery. And the same thing with our training. They’d throw out a can ahead of you and you’d had to shoot, they’d time you, you had to shoot five shots with your rifle in three seconds and keep the can rolling ahead. You fired from the hip and just, you know, just work the lever with the bolt with your hand and your thumb and most people could do that pretty well once they got confident with it. Yeah, surprising how a full action rifle will do if you’re not afraid of it.