POTD: Target Practice Without Bullets – Cummings Dot Rifle
Sam.S 08.31.23
Welcome to today’s Photo of the Day! Here we have an interesting wartime training rifle. The Cummings Dot Rifle was a unique old-school marksmanship trainer made in Boston around 1918. It used leftover Mosin-Nagant rifle parts likely acquired from the interrupted Remington contract for Russia. The heart was a metal cage above the receiver holding a paper target. When fired using a blank .22 rimfire round, a wire needle marked the target showing any alignment errors. This allowed practicing trigger control and vertical orientation without live rounds. Other companies made similar trainers, but the Cummings design stood out for its complexity. The awkward cobbled-together appearance hints at the challenges of wartime production. The Cummings Dot Rifle offered a creative way to train shooters without wasting precious ammunition.
“One of a number of “analog” marksmanship simulation devices developed in the early 20th century, the Cummings Dot Rifle was manufactured in Boston, Massachusetts, and can be seen in advertisements targeted at private schools c.1917-1918. Manufactured using an Enfield style bolt in conjunction with a Nagant style stock, the heart of the apparatus is in a metal cage assembly installed above the receiver, with a frame to hold a paper target and wire needle that can move from side to side. On discharge, the paper is driven onto the needle; if proper alignment was maintained, the needle hits at center, but if the rifle was moved or canted during firing the strike will be off to one side or the other. A small chamber and a rimfire striker is set up at the front of the receiver, apparently to discharge a rimfire blank to add to the simulation. Overall length is 44 1/2 inches, with the cage assembly measuring 5 1/2 inches tall and 6 1/2 inches long. A brass tag reading “92” is installed on the buttstock. With a brown leather sling.”
Lot 1451: Interesting and Scarce Cummings “Dot Rifle” Training Device. (n.d.-j). Rock Island Auction Company. photograph. Retrieved August 28, 2023, from https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/77/1451/interesting-and-scarce-cummings-dot-rifle-training-device.
