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The Lee-Enfield "Mad Minute"

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote 25-5 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 04 2020 at 1:23pm
Really great thread.
Thanks to Shamu etal.
For the pikes must be together at the rising of the moon.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote britrifles Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 04 2020 at 5:13am
I wished I had learned to shoot left handed.  I’m left eye dominant and I have to close my left eye to shoot.  My right eye is also much more far sighted. 

One of my Dads shooting friends could shoot ambidextrous, when his right eye got tired in a match, he would just switch sides.  

Rapid fire stages must be difficult left handed!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote smerdon42 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 04 2020 at 2:28am
hey guys it is not an easy skill to shooot left and right handed. I need to get some more practice on it but when I regularly shot pistol with a buddy of mine who is a federal prison officer I taught him how to shoot both hands with pistol rifle and shotgun . He ended up topping his class in shooting left and right handed .as a young country boy we would shoot from motor cycles so hand to learn left handed .
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Shamu Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 03 2020 at 6:21pm
Absolutely!
The skills of "Rifelry" are being lost.
Don't shoot till you see the whites of their thighs. (Unofficial motto of the Royal Air Force)
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Goosic Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 03 2020 at 3:49pm
My dad taught me to shoot ambidextrously. It is a definitive plus when needed. 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Shamu Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 03 2020 at 3:05pm
Right hand was preferred & encouraged, but we had southpaw shouters in matches in the 1960's.
To a "Rightie" it looked incredibly uncomfortable & clumsy, but for them it worked.
I have a friend thats forced to be cross dominant because of an eye injury to this right eye. He taught himself to shout Southpaw! You should see him a barricade stations! Switch hitter is a valuable skill to gain.
Don't shoot till you see the whites of their thighs. (Unofficial motto of the Royal Air Force)
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Goosic Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 03 2020 at 8:46am
Alot of snipers of yore were in fact left handed. Retrained to fire right handed and as such became ambidextrous shooters. It paid off in spades for some.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote WilliamS Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 03 2020 at 12:16am
Originally posted by Honkytonk Honkytonk wrote:

I was rewatching Peter Jackson's movie "They shall not grow old" and they talked about the Mad Minute. One scene had about a half dozen soldiers prone shooting... one was a southpaw!

That scene stood out to me as well! I would have thought for sure they wouldn't have allowed left-handedness at that point.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Goosic Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 02 2020 at 8:07pm
I watched Crocodile Dundee 2 last night.  Mick had the No4Mk1 with the thumbhole stock and if you look closely, Sue is holding a P14.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Honkytonk Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 02 2020 at 7:09pm
I was rewatching Peter Jackson's movie "They shall not grow old" and they talked about the Mad Minute. One scene had about a half dozen soldiers prone shooting... one was a southpaw!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Shamu Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 14 2020 at 6:34am
That was only part of it. There were other drills as well.
Fully training an expert rifleman could take a couple of years.
Confused
"The classification shoot was shot in several stages shot out to 600 yards, the various stages or serials were laid out in Table B, Appendix II in the Musketry Regulations Pt.1,  these included grouping with 5 rounds at 100 yards, snap shooting with 5 rounds out at 200 yards, two 5 round stages fired slowly with the first at 400 yards from the prone position and another at 300 yards from kneeling.   Then came the so called ‘Mad Minute’ stage fired from prone at a target 300 yards out.   This was to be fired with 5 rounds loaded - 1 in the chamber and 4 in the magazine, the rifleman would then reload with 5-round chargers firing until 60 seconds had elapsed.  The target used for this stage was the Second Class figure target which was a 4 foot screen with a 12 inch high figure silhouette at the centre surrounded by two rings, a 23 inch inner ring and a 36 inch outer ring.   This stage was then followed by three final stages fired from prone out to 500 and 600 yards.

https://www.historicalfirearms.info/post/43102565094/the-mad-minute-marksmanship-training-in-the


Don't shoot till you see the whites of their thighs. (Unofficial motto of the Royal Air Force)
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote RayR Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 14 2020 at 2:29am
Thanks for the compilation of this information.
 
I thought the British Soldiers got a higher pay rate if they passed the " mad minute" range test. Do you know if this was true?
 
Semper Fi
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote pisco Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 04 2019 at 1:28pm
hi i have that book there is some good reading in it
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Shamu Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 04 2019 at 11:27am
Originally posted by Honkytonk Honkytonk wrote:

He sure has a good grip on the forward part of the stock! What rank do you think that lad is? I always wondered why our military chevron's, like Britians, are pointed down unlike the US that are pointed up. I think the US Navy points the same as ours.

It looks like a 'Tate & Lyles" (Warrant Officer's) insignia above a set of good conduct (not rank) chevrons.
Similar to the U.S. "Hershey bar" insignia.

https://www.nam.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2017-05/225065_half.jpg

The Good-Conduct stripe was a British Army award for good conduct during service in the Regular Army by an enlisted man. The insignia was a points-up chevron of NCO's lace worn on the lower sleeve of the uniform jacket. It was given to Privates and Lance Corporals for 2, 6, 12, or 18 years' service without being subject to formal discipline

British rank insignia is bigger & worn higher over the bicep, & is pointed down like US rank. We don't have the curved top section like us forces do for tech ranks I think?
Don't shoot till you see the whites of their thighs. (Unofficial motto of the Royal Air Force)
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Shamu Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 04 2019 at 8:48am
Agreed, there's more than one way to skin a cat.

If you use the "right hand free" method you also have to use the other elbow under the rifle though or you're using a  bipod with one leg folded!

If I'm doing anything other than "Rapid Fire" I use the tripod firing position shown above.
Don't shoot till you see the whites of their thighs. (Unofficial motto of the Royal Air Force)
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote hoadie Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 04 2019 at 8:42am
Originally posted by Honkytonk Honkytonk wrote:

He sure has a good grip on the forward part of the stock! What rank do you think that lad is? I always wondered why our military chevron's, like Britians, are pointed down unlike the US that are pointed up. I think the US Navy points the same as ours.


I could be wrong here.(Once I thot I was wrong - but I was mistaken)
He looks to be a SWO (judging by the badge on his sleeve
Loose wimmen tightened here
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