The following information on left handed shooting of handguns and average scores comes from Section 56 of Shooting by J. Henry FitzGerald. Shooting is also available to purchase in print.
The same rule applies to this shooting as to shooting from the running-board of a moving car. Take the vibration below the knees combined with the ability to shoot instantly when the sights are in proper position.
The old idea of throwing down on the object to be fired at will not count for as many hits on the target as bringing the arm up to a level with the target. In quick-draw work, when bringing the arm down on an object it must first be raised, then moved downward, obstructing the view of the object to be hit. Usually a low shot is the result, because when the object is seen clearly the sights must be below it. The idea of throwing down originated with the single action, as the coming down allowed the weight of the revolver to aid in cocking the piece. I know many of the old-timers with a single-action complex will object to any system of shooting except that which they have always used and I do not blame them. I may say here that a person, by constant practice, will become very fast in his own particular style of firing the first shot, but will he attain accuracy as well? Speed without accuracy means nothing. I have seen many of the otherwise fast men snap a revolver out with a speed that the eye could not follow and then perforate the atmosphere in six different places several feet apart. Distance reduces the speed and sights must be used to attain accuracy at over ten yards whether on foot or mounted.
Let us go back to the system of drawing revolver from holster and raising it until sights are on a level with the bull’s-eye. In this way no time is lost, as the shot is fired when the sights reach the proper level. The object fired at is in plain view at all times and any movement may be noted if animal or human is being fired at. All side arms are sighted to hold at six o’clock and the arm is stopped below the object.
Shooting from a motorcycle or horse may be classed as snap shooting and accurate enough for shooting at a target the size of a dog up to fifty yards. The dimensions of this dog vary with different men; try it out and determine the size of the dog you can hit at fifty yards.
The following is a course from the New York State Police School:
Motorcycle Course (Indoors)
Six shots, fifteen yards, seated on motorcycle. Hands on handle-bars, revolver in holster. At word “FIRE,” draw and double action fire first at right target, then at left target, consecutively until six shots are fired. K zone to count, using favorite gun hand. This course teaches the officer to shoot accurately when seated. If course is shot outdoors and space permits, three targets are placed on right side of road and three on left side of road twenty-five yards apart; this constitutes a course one hundred and fifty yards long. First target is placed twenty-five yards ahead of firing line. As the officer crosses the firing line at twenty miles per hour he may draw and fire at first target and then at the other targets until six shots are fired. A firing line should be placed ten yards from each target and all shots should be fired before crossing this line. Be sure the range is safe.
Neither this section nor any other in this book is written with the idea of starting a controversy in papers or magazines over the different ways and means of attaining perfection with the revolver and pistols and if such is started it will not be answered by me. I have noted many such, as Bolt vs. Lever Action, which ended just where it started, at the end of a long, long trail. I wish all the hand-gun shooters much pleasure and success with their chosen systems and I know they wish me the same.
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