As the fall hunting seasons approach, many sportsmen are sighting in their rifles and making sure their scopes are dialed in. A slight misalignment can cause a hunter to miss their mark for which they’ve prepared for months.
This periodic sighting is necessary as the normal use of a firearm can knock a scope off unknowingly. The process takes a little time and requires a few shells, but the effort taken to check the accuracy pays big dividends in the woods.
When hunting big game, most hunters today use high caliber rifles equipped with powerful optics, several of which can be adjusted for distance and even wind speed and direction. The modern hunter has benefited from military advances in ballistics and marksmanship and can shoot with a high degree of precision even at great distances.
Imagine, however, firing a homemade muzzleloader accurately at 600 yards with open sights. Union Civil War Captain William Briner of 32nd Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers did just that when he killed Confederate Colonel John Neff at Brawner Farm in Groveton, Virginia.
Neff was born and raised at Rude’s Hill near Mt. Jackson and rose through the ranks under Thomas Stonewall Jackson. On August 28th, 1862 Col Neff was leading his men in a charge with his sword drawn when Briner picked him off from six football fields away. This is a challenging range for a hunter today even with good equipment.
As an aside, Neff was initially denied burial in a Church of the Brethren cemetery due to his involvement in the military, but he is now interred in the Cedar Grove COB plot along the Valley Pike not far from his boyhood home.
While Neff’s bravery and leadership were exceptional, Briner’s marksmanship was even more so. Captain Briner had taken the time to sight in his weapon before it was needed that summer day. He was a gunsmith and a member of the “Five Shots In One Hole Club.” Membership in this exclusive group was limited to those who could put five bullets in the same spot from 100 yards or more.
The size of the resulting hole from all five bullets could not end up larger than twice the diameter of the bullet fired. For Briner’s 50 caliber open sighted muzzleloader, that meant five shots hitting in a .85 inch circle at 125 yards.
Most hunters today would be hard-pressed to qualify for any such club even with precision scopes and modern cartridges. It’s amazing to think of someone doing this with crudely measured powder and homemade bullets in a handmade firearm.
Of course snipers in today’s armed forces are capable of such accuracy even at 1300 or more yards, but they are provided with the best guns and ammunition available and receive extensive training.
While we marvel at these amazing firearm fetes, they remind us of the importance of keeping our lives aligned with God’s Word. The bumps and collisions we take from the media, our friends, and cultural pressures can easily knock our moral scopes off kilter.
In order to say true to form, it’s necessary to recalibrate our sights daily by spending time with Jesus. As we talk with Him and read His Word, He has a way of readjusting the crosshairs of our thoughts and actions to align with His ways.
One of the definitions for sin is to miss the mark and that’s a concept every hunter, archer, or rifleman can easily understand. We all fail daily to hit the mark of behavior that God has drawn for us. Instead, we’re tempted to join modern culture and draw a target around wherever our bullet might hit and claim a bull’s eye. Jesus will not be fooled.
As hunters sight in their rifles anticipating exciting encounters with wild game, may the sound of their shots remind us to realign our lives daily by spending time with the Savior.
Blessings, George