A bit of history regarding the Bell Target

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Tank
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A bit of history regarding the Bell Target

Post by Tank » Wed May 29, 2013 7:27 pm

I have been talking to several people about the Bell Target itself and I have received this really fascinating note back from one of our members, I was enquiring as to the diameter of the actual hole in the target itself:
With reference the 3/8" dia hole in the bell target; yes it is generally accepted that after we were 'out-shot' by the Boers in a war scenario, the British military came up with the idea that the 'canon-fodder' working class and land workers would be a great advantage if they were capable of outshooting an enemy in battle conditions and as most 'day workers' would be available at night, they could be taught to shoot without too much disruption to daily toil; in those days 100yds was a 'good' distance on a battle field, so this is were the origins were reputedly founded. I have no idea as to the 'transitions' of the sport but gallery shooting was common prior to this period of time and it is supposed that an amalgamation of thought brought about bell target shooting and air rifles were used due to the cost of live ammo and allowed a short enough distance to be accommodated in pubs, who decided the 3/8" and its relation to a mans head at 100yds I still have to discover. There is a lot of supposition in this but there is enough that makes sense to accept the general truth of it.
graham.
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Re: A bit of history regarding the Bell Target

Post by belltarget » Wed Jun 12, 2013 6:17 pm

Yes that is the genrally accepted explaination.

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