“TWO-EYED” SHOOTING

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXVI, Issue 5288, 28 May 1904, Page 15

“TWO-EYED” SHOOTING

Mr Gilbert Russell, of Slough says the “Daily Nows”), lias an invention for helping a rifleman to take aim, which ho has for years been pressing upon the attention of tho War Office. The invention is a simple' means of bringing both eyes to work in takuig aim, instead of using tho one-eyed method taught to tho recruit. If you aim with a rifle at a distant object, so long as your gaze is concentrated on the object, and both eyes are open you seo two images of the barrel. It is through the signt-imago seen' by the right eye that you aim, and you are told to close tho left eye so as to avoid confused vision. But if you keep tho left eye open, and by chance cover the object with tho muzzle-sight as seen by tho left eye instead of tho right, you will fire hig|i and. far to tho left. Curiously enough, this is just' what happens in action at short range, when tho firing has to he done in a great hurry. Commanding officers have been much puzzled by finding tnat, while comparatively deliberate distant firing is clone well, as soon as the troops are flurried by liaving to fire at a foo close to them, much qf the firing goes high. ' Mr Russell’s invention to obviato this is a little shield on tho barrel, folding down flat when not in use, which intercepts the lino between the left eye and the muzzle-sight, and thus makes it impossible to aim by mis. ( take with the left oyo. Both eyes can then be kept open, giving a much clearer definition, of the object aimed at, while avoiding any wish of looking through the sight with tho wrong oyo. In musketry practice tho new “director,” as the invention is called, has been tried with great success, not only giving better results with trained shots, but enabling a recruit to learn shooting in much less time. It costs only about 6d a rifle, and will save large sums in ammunition and teaching. In big gun practice at soa, where every shot costs a large amount of money, the “director” has been tried on the Ocean and other ships with splendid results. *.■■■'