Chapter 21: Firing Practice

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  The rain had let up a bit, "Zhang Peng, fire again!" the captain said, tossing him a clip. Zhang Peng arrived at a shooting position, lying down in the mud and water, loading the bullets.

  "Target 6, rapid fire for 30 seconds." The captain gave orders while crouching beside him with binoculars.

  Zhang Peng pulled the bolt, loaded the bullet, and made shooting preparations. "Fire!" As soon as the captain's voice entered his ears, the bullet in Zhang Peng's barrel had already shot out like a meteor. The shooting speed was getting faster and faster, and Zhang Peng couldn't aim, he could only rely on his good feeling and inertia... 15 seconds later, Zhang Peng stood up and reported: "Shooting is over!"

  "Fire!" The captain gave the order while looking at the target through binoculars.

  Zhang Pengli pulled open the breech, pulled the bolt, and pulled the trigger, making a clicking sound. "Report, gun inspection complete!"

  "Zhang Peng, what do you think of the situation?" The captain asked, putting down his binoculars.

  "It's a bit off target, and there's water on the trigger, it's a bit slippery!" Zhang Peng replied.

  At this time, a teacher who came around and didn't believe it snatched the team leader's binoculars to look at the target. In his line of sight, there were indeed 9 bullet holes within the white circle on the bullseye, with one bullet hole pressing against the edge of the green border.

  "This kid's got a great feel for guns!" The instructor couldn't help but praise.

  ……

  Taking advantage of this perfect shooting performance, Zhang Peng turned over from a bystander to a specially recruited student, and can now enjoy the same treatment as other students.

  In the next few days of kneeling and standing shooting, as well as several night shooting training sessions, Zhang Peng achieved excellent results with his solid basic skills accumulated over several months.

  "Ding ding......" The sleeping trainees were awakened by a sudden assembly whistle. As they were all top-notch soldiers, everyone quickly got up and dressed in the dim light that shone through the window from the streetlights outside. They put on their equipment: First, they slung hand grenade bags (containing 4 grenades) over their left shoulder and right hip; Second, they slung their backpacks over their right shoulder and left hip; Third, they fastened their waist belts; Fourth, they donned chest harnesses (ammunition carrying gear); Fifth, they slung gas masks over their left shoulder at a slant; Sixth, they slung canteens over their right shoulder at a slant; Seventh, they slung backpacks with raincoats tied to the top and dry rations bags tied to both sides of the backpack. Engineer shovels or pickaxes were inserted upright on the back of the backpack; Eighth, they shouldered their guns, each gun had a fixed position on the gun rack at the door, so everyone could find theirs even in the dark.

  Zhang Peng knew that the instructors were playing another "trick". The previous few days had been 100 push-ups followed by rapid fire, 100-meter sprint and shoot, 400-meter obstacle course and shoot... Today was no exception. After a five-kilometer cross-country run, they had to return and fire ten rounds within thirty seconds. This was a severe test for everyone. Zhang Peng was the first to run back, took the bullets, quickly found his target, loaded the gun, and prepared to fire.

  Zhang Peng's clothes were soaked, tightly strapped to his body by various straps, feeling very uncomfortable. Sweat dripped down from his hair, flowing across his face and itching, he didn't dare to wipe it away. Now all he could do was adjust his rapid breathing, calm down his violently pounding heart. Nobody knew when the target light would turn on or where it would shine. Within 3 seconds, he had to complete aiming and firing two actions.

  After the shooting was over, it could be seen from the captain's dark face that the score was not very good. Some people didn't finish their bullets, some shot "empty heads", Zhang Peng finished all his bullets and they all hit the target, but the ring count was too embarrassing to think about.

  "You've fired so many bullets, you might as well stick a steamed bun on the end of your gun! Even a dog could hit the target with that kind of firepower! Look at your scores - not even a dog could do worse than you! Is that right?!" The captain shouted angrily.

  "Yes." The soldiers replied weakly.

  "Speak louder, is it or isn't it?"

  "Yes! Yes!" The soldiers shouted at the top of their lungs.

  "That's good, nobody sleeps tonight, let's keep practicing!" The captain said with a sly smile.

  A group of soldiers were blindfolded one by one, their heads pressed down, spun around three times to the left and three times to the right until they were dizzy, then led to the target in a daze. If you didn't pass, you'd be spun again.

  The captain and several instructors were very satisfied with the training for one night. A group of soldiers stumbled back to their dormitory, supporting each other. At breakfast, no one ate, they were all dizzy!

  As the course progressed, close-quarters shooting training began. Close-quarters shooting is rarely trained by regular troops, but as scouts it's a must, for them the most important thing is to leave no one alive in the areas they pass through, because scouts are most afraid of others having the chance to live and tell everything about them!

  Accurate and rapid shooting skills are a necessary condition for completing the task of annihilating the enemy, pistols are convenient to carry, submachine guns have short barrels and fierce firepower, and are commonly used weapons by scouts.

  In modern film and television, we often see special forces and police using the double-eyed, double-handed pistol stance, also known as the "full alert shooting method". This allows for quick target recognition and firing within 0.5-1 seconds. However, the major drawback is that the hit rate is too low, with the first bullet fired in reaction time usually having a hit rate of less than 40%.

  Zhang Peng and his team practiced instinctive shooting, also in a combat search mode with both eyes open. The wrist holding the gun was naturally relaxed and hung down, the arm was level, and the line of sight was straight. When moving and searching, the line of sight, arm, and gun moved together, keeping the gun slightly below the horizontal line. This way, it would not block the line of sight, and when shooting, it would most likely hit the enemy's body. In emergency situations, the human body's muscles would contract instinctively, and the wrist and palm would naturally exert force, causing the barrel to rise to a horizontal state, and the bullet would hit the heart, instantly killing the target. If not, it would at least leave a hole in the body, and if you wanted to kill him, just add another shot. The disadvantage is that the body doesn't get tired, but the arm does.

  Another is the reaction shooting method, which originated from the American Western cowboy's shooting game. One person holds a wine glass with their palm up and then suddenly releases it. Another person completes the actions of drawing a gun, aiming, and firing before the wine glass hits the ground. Because the wine glass falls too quickly, there is no time to aim, so one can only rely on intuition. This method is often seen in American Western films where two quick-drawers engage in a duel.

  However, it was our army's guerrilla troops that popularized this method. The guerrilla troops had many opportunities to encounter the enemy on narrow roads. At that time, the most common handgun used by our army was the revolver, which had a large capacity and could fire continuously. It was also easy to hide. Many old team members would even grind away the sights to increase their speed in drawing their guns. When they drew their guns, the gun mechanism would hit against their clothes, opening the safety catch, and the muzzle would be level with the target. Almost no aiming was needed; what the eyes saw was the target. The reaction time was short, and the accuracy of shooting was high.

  This shooting method, due to its stimulating competitiveness, quickly won the favor of the training team members. There is a tradition in the army that has both advantages and disadvantages, which is to compare everything, comparisons are everywhere, companies compare with each other, within companies platoons compare, within platoons classes compare, and within classes soldiers compare with each other, as a result problems arise from these comparisons.

  At that time, the troops used the '54-style pistol, which was a good gun, but it had a drawback, that is, the safety device adopted the 'secondary hammer', and if not used properly, it would easily fire. During training, in order to prevent accidents, drawing the gun and shooting were practiced separately, and quick-draw shooting training used trainer bullets, and even if there was an accidental discharge, no one would be hurt.

  That day, two soldiers from the first and second rows were competing to see who could draw their guns faster. They competed several times but couldn't determine a winner. The onlookers started cheering them on, shouting "let's have a real bullet competition" and "the loser won't lose face". The two men loaded their bullets, arrived at the target range, and got ready. Before they even heard the starting signal, Second Row soldier Gu Tao had just placed his hand on the gun holster when suddenly there was a loud bang - the gun went off, and Gu Tao fell to the ground.