The String Test

[Subdeacon Joe]

https://historicalshooting.blogspot.com/2020/12/the-string-test-measure-for-historical.html

 

"The most explicit source we have for the string test comes from a book by Henry Heth on marksmanship dating from 1862 (p 61); note the similarity to the Berdan qualification:

 

2d. The target will be a circular board or boards three feet in diameter. The middle of the target will be marked by the centre of a black circle eight inches in diameter. The rest of the target will be painted white.

3d. Each man fires ten balls. The distance fired from will be 200 yards.

4th. After each shot, the distance from the centre of the ball-hole to the centre of the target will be measured and recorded.

5th. Balls which strike by ricochet will be counted as having missed the target.

6th. Each miss counts 20 inches on a man's string. In all cases the man whose string is shortest is selected.

 

The method continued in use even after the War. In the Report of the Chief of Ordnance to the Secretary of War published in 1884, it was reported that General Ord, then in command of the Department of California, directed target practice to be held at each post once a week, and saying that "he specified that the value of the shot should be determined by string measurement, i.e., by measuring from the center of each hit made by a marksman to the center of the bull's eye; these distances added together and divided by the number of shots fired by the man gave the value to the string" (Ordnance Dept. 1884 p. 95).

Procedure

To determine the string test measurement, hold the end of a string at the bullseye and pull the string to any of the bullet holes. Pinching the string at the point where it reached the hole, move that part back to the bullseye, and stretch the string to another bullet hole, pinching the string again at that new point. Repeat this until the distance from the center has been measured to each of the hits. The total length of string determines the final score, or you can divide the string length by the number of rounds to give an average score per round. Any misses should be assigned a standard figure, as in Heth’s standard of twenty inches, however, it makes sense to vary that measure according to the range at which you are shooting."