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The Mad Minute was a pre-World War I bolt-action
rifle A rifle is a long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting, with a barrel that has a helical pattern of grooves ( rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus on accuracy, rifles are typically designed to be held with ...
speed shooting exercise used by
British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
riflemen A rifleman is an infantry soldier armed with a rifled long gun. Although the rifleman role had its origin with 16th century hand cannoneers and 17th century musketeers, the term originated in the 18th century with the introduction of the ri ...
, using the
Lee–Enfield The Lee–Enfield or Enfield is a bolt-action, magazine-fed repeating rifle that served as the main firearm of the military forces of the British Empire and Commonwealth during the first half of the 20th century, and was the British Army's st ...
service rifle. The exercise formally known as "Practice number 22, Rapid Fire, The Musketry Regulations, Part I, 1909", required the rifleman to fire 15 rounds at a "Second Class Figure" target at . The practice was described as; "Lying. Rifle to be loaded and 4 rounds in the magazine before the target appears. Loading to be from the pouch or bandolier by 5 rounds afterwards. One minute allowed". The practice was only one of the exercises from the annual classification shoot which was used to grade a soldier as a marksman, first-class or second-class shot, depending on the scores he had achieved. The rapid aimed fire of the ‘Mad Minute’ was accomplished by using a 'palming' method where the rifleman used the palm of his hand to work the bolt, and not his thumb and forefinger, while maintaining his cheek weld and line of sight. The "Second Class Figure Target" was 48 inches square (approximately 1.2 x 1.2 meters), with inner and magpie circles. The aiming mark was a silhouette figure that represented the outline of the head of a man aiming a rifle from a trench. Points were scored by a hit anywhere on the target.


World record

The term ‘Mad Minute’ was also used to describe a regular demonstration, by instructors at the
School of Musketry The Small Arms School Corps (SASC) is a small corps of the British Army, established in 1853 by Lord Hardinge. Its personnel provide advice and instruction to infantry weapon trainers throughout the army, in order to maintain proficiency in th ...
at
Hythe, Kent Hythe () is a coastal market town on the edge of Romney Marsh, in the district of Folkestone and Hythe on the south coast of Kent. The word ''Hythe'' or ''Hithe'' is an Old English word meaning haven or landing place. History The town has m ...
that was intended to show officer trainees the maximum rate of accurate fire that could be achieved by an expert with a service rifle. The first Mad Minute record was set by
Sergeant Major Sergeant major is a senior non-commissioned rank or appointment in many militaries around the world. History In 16th century Spain, the ("sergeant major") was a general officer. He commanded an army's infantry, and ranked about third in the ...
Jesse Wallingford Jesse Alfred Wallingford (25 January 1872 – 6 June 1944) was a British sport shooter, who competed in the 1908 Summer Olympics. In the 1908 Olympics he won a bronze medal in the team pistol event. He was also fifth in the individual pi ...
in 1908, scoring 36 hits on a 48-inch target at 300 yards (4.5 mils/ 15.3 moa). Another world record of 38 hits, all within the 24 inch target at 300 yards (2.25 mils/ 7.6 moa), is said to have been set in about 1914 by a Sergt.-Instructor Snoxall. ‘Sergt.-Instructor Snoxall’ was probably Sergeant Frank Snoxell of the
Loyal North Lancashire Regiment The Loyal Regiment (North Lancashire) (until 1921 known as the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army that was in existence from 1881 to 1970. In 1970, the regiment was amalgamated with the Lancashire Reg ...
, who was an instructor at the School of Musketry from October 1913 until January 1917. He was a Sergeant-Instructor from October 1913 until he was promoted in March 1915. Sergeant Snoxell had previously been a Sergeant-Instructor at the Branch School of Musketry at Satara in India. A Mad Minute event was held in
Soknedal Soknedal is a village in Midtre Gauldal municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. The village is located along the river ''Sokna'' which flows north and later joins the river Gaula. The Dovrebanen railway line and the European route E06 high ...
, Norway, on 30 May 2015 featuring some of the best stang shooters in the country. The competition was called the "Mad Minute Challenge", and was shot at a round 400 mm diameter target at 200 meters (2 mils/ 6.9 moa), making the target smaller than original. The winner, Thomas Høgåsseter, scored 36 hits. The average score, of 11 shooters, was 29. In 2019, Norwegian sport shooter Inge Hvitås set a new world record with 39 hits during a Mad Minute competition in
Nes, Hedmark Nes is a former municipality in the old Hedmark county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 1964 when it became part of Ringsaker Municipality. The administrative centre was the village of Tingnes where Nes Chur ...
, out of 44 rounds fired.Norway Mad Minute — Shockingly Fast Bolt-Action Rifle Shooting « Daily Bulletin
/ref> Also worth mentioning, Jesper Nilsstua fired 48 rounds during the same competition, but got 38 hits, and therefore came second having one hit less than Hvitås. The modern Norwegian records have been made using the magazine fed
SIG Sauer 200 STR The SIG Sauer 200 STR (Scandinavian Target Rifle), also known as the SIG Sauer 200 STR Match, is a bolt-action rifle mostly used as a target/competition rifle for national competitions by Norwegian, Swedish and Danish sport shooters. It is a var ...
, which is a target rifle as opposed to the
stripper clip A stripper clip (also known as a charger or charger clip, especially in British and in Commonwealth military vocabulary) is a speedloader that holds several cartridges (usually between 5 and 10) together in a single unit for easier and faster lo ...
fed Enfield military rifles.


Target section sizes

The tables below are based on the sections (12, 24, 36 and 48 inches) of the original Second Class Figure target placed at 300 yards, and shows the same relative target sizes for different ranges. The military service ammunition from that time (such as
.303 British The .303 British (designated as the 303 British by the C.I.P. and SAAMI) or 7.7×56mmR, is a calibre rimmed rifle cartridge. The .303 inch bore diameter is measured between rifling lands as is the common practice in Europe which follows th ...
,
.30-06 Springfield The .30-06 Springfield cartridge (pronounced "thirty- aught-six" ), 7.62×63mm in metric notation, and called the .30 Gov't '06 by Winchester, was introduced to the United States Army in 1906 and later standardized; it remained in military use ...
, 6.5×55mm, 8×57mm etc.) were more high powered and less prone to suffer from wind drift compared to modern military
intermediate cartridge An intermediate cartridge is a rifle/carbine cartridge that has significantly greater power than a pistol cartridge but still has a reduced muzzle energy compared to fully powered cartridges (such as the .303 British, 7.62×54mmR, 7.92×57mm ...
(such as 5.56 NATO, 5.45×39mm, 5.8×42mm, etc.). With the high powered calibers wind drift will barely be noticeable at 100 m, slightly more at 200 m and will only become a small factor at 300 m. * Equivalent
imperial Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imperial, Nebraska * Imperial, Pennsylvania * Imperial, Texa ...
target sizes * Equivalent
metric Metric or metrical may refer to: * Metric system, an internationally adopted decimal system of measurement * An adjective indicating relation to measurement in general, or a noun describing a specific type of measurement Mathematics In mathem ...
target sizes


See also

* Felthurtigskyting *
Panjagan ''Panjagān'' was either a ranged weapon, projectile weapon or an archery technique used by the late Military of the Sasanian Empire, military of Sasanian Persia, by which a volley of five arrows was fired. No examples of the device have survived, ...
, a hypothesized ancient technique to fire a volley of five arrows


References


Sources

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BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
, first=Richard , last=Holmes , work=History Trails


External links


Historical Firearms - The Mad Minute

Video: Thomas Høgåsseter sets the world record of 36 hits in Soknedal, Norway 30 May 2015
Military terminology Shooting sports