Mad minute

The Lee-Enfield bolt action rifle is known for its smooth operation and often associated with the "mad minute".

The mad minute is best known as a pre-World War I term used by British Army riflemen during training at the Hythe School of Musketry to describe scoring a minimum of 15 hits onto a 12" or 18" (30.5 or 46 cm) round target at 300 yards (270 m) within one minute using a bolt-action rifle (usually a Lee-Enfield or Lee-Metford rifle). It was not uncommon during the First and Second World War for riflemen to greatly exceed this score, and many of the best riflemen could average 30 plus shots. During the Battle of Mons, there were numerous German accounts of coming up against what they believed was machine gun fire when in fact it was squads of riflemen firing at this rate.[1]

World record

There is currently no official world record. A world record of 38 hits on a 12" target at 300 yards (270 m) is said to been set in 1914 by Sergeant Instructor Alfred Snoxall,[2] however there is little documentation and unsure wheter it was actually accomplished or British propaganda.

Other uses

Early use

Firing line using muskets.

The term was originally used as a description of the time it took to reload a musket during combat in the 18th and 19th century. Enemy formations would be lined up standing shoulder to shoulder, facing each other in ranges from fifty to several hundred meters with relatively inaccurate and slow-loading muskets. After firing a shot each soldier would race to reload his musket as fast as possible, while the enemy was doing the same. Due to the muskets limited accuracy the description was especially relevant at close ranges.

Vietnam War

In the Vietnam War, the "mad minute" was used to describe a drill involving intense automatic weapons fire, intended to flush out infiltrators or ambushes.[3]

Military use today

"Mad minute" has remained as an expression in military terminology to describe any short period of intense weapons fire.[4]

See also

References

  1. ↑ David Lomas (2012). Mons 1914: The BEF's Tactical Triumph. Osprey Publishing. p. 62. ISBN 1782004440.
  2. ↑ Ian V. Hogg, The Encyclopedia of Weaponry, Sterling Publishing, New York 2006.
  3. ↑ V24N3 - Battlefield Innovation
  4. ↑ http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA194507&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf