THE MAXIMS OF PISTOL SHOOTINGTHE MAXIMS OF PISTOL SHOOTINGTHE MAXIMS OF PISTOL SHOOTINGTHE MAXIMS OF PISTOL SHOOTING As I always said, there's nothing new, it's all been done before. Now it's just "Tacti-packaging" and "quasi-wannabee-operator" and "if I told you, I'd have to kill you" weekend-yuppie-gear-queer-commando horse hockey.

From Dennis Martin’s excellent work “The Iron Hand of War” http://www.cqbservices.com/?page_id=11

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Since the original version of this article was published I received feedback from several sources, including Paul Gomez, a respected firearms/combatives instructor from the USA. Paul alerted me to the work of Captain Noel. I had seen the Captain, at advanced age, talking on TV about his Himalayan expeditions, and about doing intelligence work in the region wearing “native garb”. I never realized that this real character was a noted gunman, but Paul explained….

Noel wrote “How To Shoot With A Revolver” in 1918, followed by “The Automatic Pistol” in 1919 and a later [1940] abridged edition of “How To Shoot With A Revolver”. In Noel’s work we see links between Tracy and Grant-Taylor [particularly with the cocking of the gun in route to firing position]. Noel covers firing by “instinctive sense of direction” utilizing a contraction of the whole hand, as though “squeezing water from a sponge”, a 45-degree ready position and a vertical lift to threat. He, also, created shoot houses with moving, falling, pop up, and knock down targets. In some cases, he even fitted a blank firing pistol to the hand of a 3D target so that he could cause the hand to raise and fire the gun at the student.

We know that Tracy eventually went on to command the “Southern Command Revolver School at Wareham” and that Noel went on to become a “revolver instructor” at the “Small Arms School at Hythe” under Major Dudley Johnson in 1921, but that’s all I have regarding them as instructors.

Paul very kindly sent me a copy of Captain Noel’s 1940 manual, and I was delighted to find the following timeless advice…

THE MAXIMS OF PISTOL SHOOTING

1] Prove your pistol every time you draw it from the holster.

2] Never hand over, or, accept a pistol unless proved

3] The pistol is an ideal weapon for self-defence

4] Some people mistrust a pistol because they have never learned how to use it.

5] Gain confidence in your pistol by learning how to use it, and finding out what you can do with it.

6] The pistol is a weapon of opportunity

7] You seldom need a pistol, but when you do, you need it mighty badly.

8] You cannot claim to be a pistol shot unless you are a fast shot

9] Practice the correct handling of the pistol from the first, then you will handle it by instinct when the moment comes.

10] Shoot by sense of direction at close quarters

11] Don’t neglect your left hand

12] Squeeze your trigger like you squeeze water from a sponge.

13] The timing of your trigger release just as the sights come aligned to the mark, needs careful practice

14] Trigger pressing is the secret of pistol shooting.

15] Pistol shooting is merely a matter of practice

16] Don’t hang on to the trigger, release the finger fully after every shot.

17] Learn not to fumble. Practice a clean, quick action in drawing and handling your pistol.

18] Fire by sense of direction in the dark

19] Fire fast in the dark.

20] Reload at the first opportunity. Always have a full magazine ready.

21] Change your pistol from right to left hand according to the corner

22] Keep cool. Fire fast, but never faster than your “best speed” or you will miss every time.

23] The art of quick shooting lies in perfection in the quick alignment of the sights, combined with an instinctive and automatic trigger squeeze.

24] If you are a good pistol shot you will have nothing to fear from any man in the world.