If you have to stretch too much or to lean forward, move slightly closer until you are comfortable; if your arm is bent, move backward till it comes straight. (All this is done with an _empty_ revolver.)
Now stand in this position, watching the target go up and down, and counting all the while, "one, two, three," etc., to yourself, till you get the rhythm of the thing. Keep your eyes all the time fixed on the bull's-eye _when it is vertical to you_; do not follow it down with your eyes, but keep a mental picture of it, while it is away, on the background. You will gradually be able to know exactly _where_ it will be, and _when_ it will be there, and you will then be able to aim at the imaginary spot; so that when the target appears the sights will not have to be shifted to the bull's-eye, but _the bull's-eye will come to the sights_.
Now, cock the pistol, of course using only your right thumb, and not shifting your left hand, body, or pistol in the slightest.
(If you cannot do this neatly, cock the pistol first, and then "set" yourself at the ledge.)
Now, at the word "one," slowly (_i. e._, without hurry or jerk) bring your arm up, quite straight, till the revolver is level with your eye, and you are looking through the sights.
If you have been following the above directions carefully, you will find you are aiming at the bottom edge of the bull's-eye, without having had to shift your hand or to align the sights; the sights and also the target have, in fact, "come up" to your eye, not your eye to them. The speed with which you raise your arm should bring the sights touching the bottom edge of the "bull" at the word "two"; but it is better, at first, to be slower: as long as you get the sights touching the "bull" before it disappears, it will do--for the present. At the word "six," lower the pistol to the table, but keep your eyes on the imaginary spot at which the "bull" disappeared. Keep the pistol down while you count six, and then raise it as before. After a few minutes of this drill, begin to squeeze the trigger slightly while the pistol is resting against the ledge. With practice you will be able to regulate the squeeze so that it will require only half a pound more pressure to fire the pistol. Then as you lift the pistol, gradually tighten the squeeze, and keep gradually tightening it, never diminishing the pressure, but not increasing it if your aim is getting wrong, and beginning to increase it again as you correct your aim. If you are increasing the squeeze properly, you will find, just as your aim is perfect, and a fraction of time before the word "six," the hammer will have fallen and you will not have jerked or moved off your aim. With an automatic pistol there is no need to cock it after the first shot, but with a revolver the instant the hammer has fallen, cock quietly with your right thumb, and lower your pistol to the table as before. In all cocking, I mean it to be understood that it must be done with one movement of the right thumb, the finger well clear of the trigger so as not to break or wear the sear-notch, and the left arm, left hand, and body not moved in any way, as already illustrated. After you have done this a few times, and have confidence, you may load several chambers of the revolver, having exploded, or empty, cartridges in the other chambers, so as not to injure the nose of the hammer or the mainspring. The cartridges, loaded and unloaded, should be put in in irregular order, and the barrel spun round, so that you do not know when you have a loaded one to fire.