Mad Minute

[philip in china]

It will soon be 100 years since Sgt Snoxall set the record for the mad minute. Does anybody fancy trying to beat it?

The rules are simple. You have a bolt action centre fire rifle. You start with the bolt forwards on an empty chamber in the "on guard" standing position. On the command you start to fire shots at a 12" bull 300 yards away. You may use as much ammunition as you want. After 1 minute you cease firing. The number of hits is your score.

How's that for a simple challenge?

Forgot to mention- it is normal to hit the dirt as you are cycling the first round but I don't think this is a requirement.

 

[enysse]

I doubt on a flat range, no wind and a good scope....that I could score with practice anymore than a 3. And that would be with my heavy barreled Ruger M77 22-250.

 

[Mike70560]

Quite interesting. The record is 38 rounds in a minute.

According to this article it was/is done in the prone position, no sling, open sights.

"The current world record for aimed bolt-action fire was set in 1914 by a musketry instructor in the British Army Sergeant Instructor Snoxall who placed 38 rounds into a 12" target at 300 yards in one minute."

As a person who does know military weaponry with more than a passing fancy, my instantaneous intuitive reaction was that this was not possible. NO ONE could fire a bolt action rifle that fast with such accuracy over such a distance! NOT possible.

The British Army in the years prior to World War One [WW1] was very professional and promoted to a high degree marksmanship with the SMLE rifle. Ability to fire the SMLE rifle with accuracy and speed [a contradiction] OVER DISTANCE was stressed. It seems that marksmanship of the quality as demonstrated by Sergeant Snoxall was NOT unique among English soldiers of the time. What the good sergeant did WAS indeed possible.

"The original feat was performed by Sergeant Instructor Snoxall in 1914. I [It] was 38 shots into a 12" bull at 300 yards. Prone, iron sights, no sling, loading with 5 round chargers."

"A Sgt. Instructor Snoxall at the British School of Musketry set the record in 1914 with 38(!) hits. Scores of 34- 35 hits were not uncommon."

Demonstrations and exhibitions of superlative skill with the SMLE rifle were periodically held to validate techniques of "musketry" as to taught to the pre-WW1 British "Old Sweats"??

 

[James.Grage]

Mike

great follow up..

 

[KMG Hunting Safaris]

Thats impressive.
Thanks for the post!

 

[AfricaHunting.com]

Thanks.

 

[philip in china]

I doubt if I could equal it using a self loading rifle.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Thanks.

Now that's what I call mighty fine shooting. It's good to see someone that has mastered the SMLE bolt
Bob

 

[R.M.C.]

Wow that's crazy. Make me look pretty slow lol

 

[Newboomer]

Did you notice he kept his thumb and index finger on the bolt and pulled the trigger with his middle finger. Some of those WW1 soldiers could fire almost as fast as a semi. They had those actions polished and tuned to perfection.

 

[Wyatt Smith]

Very impressive. I’ve heard of the pulling the trigger with the middle finger trick before. I doubt that I could fire 38 rounds anywhere with a bolt action rifle in a minute.

 

[Newboomer]

Likewise. I don't know if I could do it with a 5.56 AR and a 40 rd mag that accurately at 300 yds.

 

[Red Leg]

Glad this was resurrected. SMLE was a good choice. Stripper clips or pre-loaded mags would be a necessity.

 

[philip in china]

Would be stripper clips.

 

[Tokoloshe Safaris]

When I was a boy my best friends dad had been a U.S. Marine, he had fought in the battle for Guadalcanal. He always said he shot his rifle (03 springfield?) with his middle finger being the trigger finger he said he could shoot faster. I also remember him showing that middle finger to any Japanese that he came across in America after the war.

 

[ZG47]

My understanding is that Sgt Snoxall did not exist. I have a suspicion that it was Bloke on the Range who made that assertion in a YouTube video published this year. I will have a look sometime over the next week, in order to confirm whether or not it was the ‘Bloke’.

 

[philip in china]

I suspect you are correct. I don't believe that performance is possible. Anyway the BEF could certainly rattle out very fast accurate fire. I think it is a documented fact that the Germans vastly overestimated the humber of machine guns that the BEF had. The rifle fire was so fast and concentrated they thought it was automatic fire.

 

[Vegard S. Pedersen]

Norwegian stang shooting

 

[philip in china]

Very impressive.

 

[40inarow]

When I lived in Houston we shot Across the Course Highpower which included Rapid Fire sitting and prone, 10 shots in 60 seconds. Then BP and Shell moved in major operations in west Houston and we got guys coming in from the UK. These guys used SMLE rifles. The SMLE is a cock on opening action as opposed to a cock on closing Mauser action. We were amazed to see how these SMLEs were shot. With a cock on opening you pull the trigger with the middle finger, you flip the bolt with the index, and close the bolt with the thumb. A good guy can shoot a SMLE really fast.