A description of Joshua Millner and his shooting style was printed in the New York Mercury on 27^th September 1874 and also in the Harper’s Weekly of 17^th July 1875:

"Mr. Millner is a Dublin wool merchant, and is about 24 years old. He is tall and slender, has dark brown hair, and wears side whiskers and mustache similar to the Emperor William. Mr. Millner's position in shooting is peculiar. He lies upon his back, drawng his feet up partly. The muzzle of his rifle rests firmly in the right armpit. He grasps the stock firmly with his left hand, pulling the trigger, of course, with the right. The near sight of his rifle is about an inch from the butt, which is another peculiarity."

"Mr. Millner is a wool merchant of Dublin. He is twenty five years of age, about six feet in height, of lithe figure, with "Burnside" whiskers. In shooting he lies on his back, with the butt of the rifle resting in the hollow of his shoulder, with the barrel resting on his left foot. The rear sight of his rifle is placed near the butt. In the match last year he scored eleven consecutive bull's-eyes at 800 yards distance, but by scoring a bull's-eye on the wrong target he caused the defeat of his team."

From the above it can be gleaned that Joshua Millner adopted the ‘supine’ position for prone shooting which from the description gave him somewhat of an advantage having a far greater sight radius than someone using the more conventional prone position, and also that cross-shooting was as prevalent then as it is today; and just as disadvantageous.

At the Centenial Match of 1876 at Creedmoor, Millner scored fifteen bull's-eyes at 1,000 yards for an unprecedented maximum score of 75 x 75. His target diagram is pictured below and was taken from the New York Tribune of 15^th September 1876.

Target from Creedmoor match of 1876

The target was six feet high by twelve feet wide, and was divided as follows: Bull's eye, 36 inch circle counting 5; Centre, 54 inch circle surrounding the bull's eye, counting 4; Inner, 6 x 6 feet enclosing the centre, counting 3; Outer, the remainder of the target, being a strip 3 feet wide on each edge and counting for 2 points.

Olympic Games 1908

The Olympic Games of 1908 were hosted in London having originally been awarded to Rome. The rifle competitions were managed by the NRA and held in Bisley (the clay shooting events were held at Uxendon) from the 9^th to the 11^th july 1908. The participating countries and number of entrants was listed as follows:

Extract from the report of the 4^th Olympiad

..the majority taking advantage of the arrangements made for practice on the ranges, and in many cases occupying the huts belonging to the Association.

That the arrangements made were satisfactory is evinced by the numerous expressions of thanks which the Council received from the representatives of the teams who have expressed their satisfaction with the arrangements made for their comfort and the facilities afforded for practice.

The representatives of the various countries were entertained by the Chairman and Members of the Council at luncheon at the Council Club on each day of the Olympic meeting, and on the Thursday and Friday evenings a cinematograph entertainment was given in the Umbrella Tent.

The weather conditions on the first two days were most unfavourable and not at all conducive to good shooting, and although there was a decided improvement on the closing day of the meeting both the wind and light were extremely trying.

Pistol Shooting Competition in the rain at Bisley