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On the other hand, I was trained by American GIs with European and Asian theater combat experience who emphasized individual marksmanship at reasonable ranges within the constraints of “fire discipline.” Fighting with sharpened entrenching tools, rifle butts and bayonets was recognized as a part of the job to be avoided if at all possible. As one bestriped and beribboned old master Sergeant told us, “if you can stop ‘em when they are 300 yards away that’s 10 times better than 30 yards away. That doesn’t mean you need to mess with ‘em at a thousand yards unless you’re told to. One of the SOBs may have a mortar.” Dad and I never reconciled our philosophical differences over the question of individual marksmanship versus unit musketry exercises.

I once saw the movie Enemy at the Gates, in which the Russian protagonist used a Moisin-Nagant long rifle. As a kid I had been exposed to the comments of a gunsmith who bad-mouthed the Moisin-Nagant in the belief that it was “weak and dangerous.” In the ‘50s and ‘60s the Communist Nations of the Eastern European Block used the Moisin-Nagant long rifle in the international military rifle competitions when it was their turn to host the matches. Russian, Romanian, East German and Bulgarian shooters and others shot some remarkable scores against our best marksmen in those so called “CISM” (Commite Internationale Sport Militaire) matches.