'Mad Minute Shooting Match' Information
History: Prior to the outbreak of World War One many of the leading military
powered nations (France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy, Russia, United States)
had a rapid speed-loading and firing drill with their various firearms they
used to get the soldier accustomed to firing their rifles in the heat of combat
at various distances, the most famous of these was the British "Practice Number 22, Rapid Fire” from the manual “The
Musketry Regulations, Part I, 1909"
which was latter dubbed as “The Mad Minute”. This required the rifleman to fire at least 15 aimed
rounds at a ‘Second Class Figure’ target at 300 yards (270 meters) in
one minute hitting that target not just rapidly fire as many rounds off in that
minute as many people think it was done.
This rifle practice was fired from the ‘Lying’ (Prone Unsupported) position in
which the rifle was to be loaded with one round in the chamber and four rounds
in the magazine before the target appeared to the shooter and once firing began
loading was to be accomplished from either the pouch or bandolier by five
rounds until the one minute expired.
The target they used for this rifle practice was a ‘Second Class Figure Target’ that was a 48" x 48"
(122 x 122 cm) square with a 36" (91 cm) magpie circle which a 24" (61 cm)
inner circle was placed in it and placed within that circle was a 12" ×
12" (30 x 30 cm) aiming mark that was in the form of a silhouetted figure
that represented the outline of the head of a man aiming a rifle from a trench.
The target was scored in the following
manner: 3 points for hits within both the 12" × 12" silhouette figure
and 24" inner ring, 2 points within the 36" magpie ring, and 1 point
within the rest of the target.
NM MILSURPS ‘Mad Minute’ Match
The distance of our shoot is 328 yards (300 meters), which is very close to the
original distance, firing at a ¾” thick AR 500 black painted steel square
target that measures 24" (61 cm) wide by 30" (76 cm) high which will
have the white 12" × 12" (30 x30 cm) silhouette type figure painted
on it in the center. As you can see by the dimensions of our target we are using
that it only has the complete silhouette figure, inner circle and some of the
magpie ring from the original target used which makes it more of a challenge to
hit the target. As we are shooting at a steel target unlike the original, which
was a linen sheet, we can only score a hit anywhere on the steel.
We have to different classes of firearms that can participate in this match,
Bolt-Action Rifles and Semi-Automatic Rifles
Bolt-Action Rifles: You will have 60 seconds (one minute) to shoot as many aimed
rounds as fast as you can at the target. You will be in the prone supported or
unsupported position (your choice), load up to 5 rounds in your firearm, then
chamber one round and once you are ready to shoot let the person who has the
timer know you are going to start, time will start with the first round fired.
You will have to reload 5 rounds each time afterwards as per the original way
it was done. As most people do not have cartridge pouches or bandoliers to pull
your cartridges from we will allow you to have them placed in front or by your
side of you for rapid reloading.
Semi-Automatic Rifles: The only difference is you can load as many rounds in
your rifles magazine be it 10, 20 or 30 round ones, however no magazine over 30
rounds maybe used in the shoot. Again firing as fast as you can then swapping
magazines as needed to complete the 60 seconds (one minute).
All rifles we will use in this match shall be originally open sighted
configured surplus military service firearms that were or that still are issued
in all the world's standing armies. The firearms themselves must be ones that
that were issued to ordinary soldier who used these firearms in the various
armies in both the past and present. The iron sights must be the original style
as issued on the firearms which does not include in any aftermarket, target,
match adjustable sights or micrometer sights as these were not issued to the
ordinary soldier. There will no usage of any type of optics, scopes, etc.
allowed on the firearm for this match.
‘Guns of August July 28,1914 – November 11, 1918 Shooting
Match’
Information
Course of Fire: This is a 20 round match in which 5 rounds will be fired
at every stage going from 500, 385, 300 and 200 meters at AR 500 steel targets
either cut out or painted in the form of human silhouette (21" x 43")
in which the human silhouette will be painted in black paint. A direct hit on
the target will be scored as one point; a miss or ‘Alibi’ (unused) rounds that
were not fired during each course of fire will be scored as a zero. All scores
will confirmed by the use of a spotter and scorer.
There will be no sighting-in rounds allowed to be fired as we were simulating
an enemy force that is moving down range on you from 500 to 200 meters during a
moving 'Battlefield Engagement' to a static 'Trench Defensive Position'.
Shooting Positions: The positions the shooter wishes to shoot at will be left
to their discretion which could be prone supported or un-supported, kneeling,
sitting or offhand. Table / Bench type shooting may only be used by members /
guests who cannot shoot from the other positions due to health conditions. A
front rest, sandbags, etc. can be used for the prone supported firing or Table
/ Bench of which only the forearm of the firearm can be laid upon them. The
usage of rear resting bag or sandbags to support the buttstock will not allowed
to be used.
Firearms to be used: The firearms that we would like to see be used for this
match be of original WWI configuration and calibers, but if you do not have one
of these, any other legitimate non-scoped military surplus rifle may be used
according to the rules of NM MILSURPS as we know not everyone has a firearm
from The Great War. All The firearms that NM MILSURPS members will use in this
match shall be unmodified originally configured surplus military service
firearms (single-shot, bolt-action or semi-automatic) that were or that still
are issued in all the world's standing armies. The firearms themselves must be
ones that that were issued to ordinary soldier who used these firearms in the
various armies in both the past and present. The iron sights must be the
original style as issued on the firearms which does not include in any
aftermarket, target, match adjustable sights or micrometer sights as these were
not issued to the ordinary soldier. We will also have as scoped rifle class at
this shoot, however the firearms must have the WWI period type of scopes
installed on them using the same course of fire as above, they will be placed
in a different class from the open-sighted shooters.