e), work your
bolt, and squeeze the trigger. Simple as these points may seem, you will
have something to learn after you have been at it ten years. Practise!
practise! practise! Sit on your bunk and work your bolt ten thousand
times before you go on the range. Get in the habit of doing it quickly.
Learn to keep your piece at your shoulder while you pull the bolt back
and push it home. Learn to make the fewest possible motions of your body
in working it. To pull a bolt back and push it forward seems to be a
simple thing to do. It is simple. But when you are actually firing at
the target, experience tells you that you will have more trouble and a
greater collection of hard luck stories to amuse your friends with than
you ever imagined possible, unless you have had plenty of practice.

To squeeze a trigger seems to be a simple thing to do. It is simple. But
after you have been squeezing triggers for twenty years you will have
something more to learn about it. Ninety-five per cent. of the failures
on the target range in the training camps come from not squeezing the
trigger properly. You can't learn how to squeeze it on paper. You have
got to practise. Every time you work your bolt, squeeze your trigger.
Get in some extra "squeezes." You will find that your whole muscular and
nervous system will need to be coordinated and harmonized. After you
have been long about it you will find an extreme delicacy in its
operation. You will find that it requires a great deal more than a
finger. All the muscles of your hand and arm will be required. We cannot
overemphasize the importance of squeezing your trigger. When you learn
to do this without jumping (flinching), without moving an eyelash, you
are making progress and are prepared for more advanced work.

Why do you suppose we have "gallery practice," i.e., practice with a
greatly reduced charge of powder? Simply to determine and correct your
errors. We assume that you have normal sight and that you are in fair
physical condition. Suppose that you make a perfect score. What
conditions must you fulfil? 1st, You must aim in exactly the same way
every time. 2d, At the instant of firing your body must be in perfect
repose. 3d, You must squeeze your trigger properly (without a jerk).

You could not aim exactly the same way every time unless you understood
your sights and unless you could see them plainly. You will be told to
blacken them. Many forget and fail to do this. They do not fully