On Aug 20, 1932, Ed McGivern put on a shooting demonstration at the Rifle Club in Lead, S D.
He shot at least two different revolvers, one being 1905 M&P serial 286600, and the other being
a 38-44, probably a 5-inch target gun.

I have been aware of the target shot with the 1905. The shots were fired between 2/5's and 1/2 of a
second ; he notes the time as 9/20th of a second. The shots are fired into a group the size of a half-dollar,
from 20 feet. This first link is the target shot with 286600.



The target is witnessed by five people: J A Fisher, John Persoma, S A Massey, R H Mitchum and J D O'Mera .

Recently, I was sent a copy of the American Rifleman, Oct 1974 . This issue contains two articles on Ed McGivern.
On the cover of the magazine is a picture of Ed McGivern, along with the target shot by the 38-44. The size of
the group, and the timing, is exactly the same, and it's witnessed by the same five people. This second
link is a cell-phone picture of the cover of the magazine, showing the second target.



Everything about the two targets is similar-to-identical. While the 38-44 target is grouped just below the
bulls-eye of the target, the 1905 target is grouped in the lower right-hand corner. On the target, McGivern
has noted that it was shot to that position !

Later, Mike Priwer

This message has been edited. Last edited by: mikepriwer,

A neat piece of history, I enjoy anything to do with Ed McGivern especially pictures of his guns. I have a tape with some of his shooting and it's impressive to watch, I just wish more of it had been recorded. Pretty amazing the paper targets have survived all this time. Thanks for showing.

Keith

Mike as a relative newcomer to accumu-lecting Smith & Wesson's, I can't tell you how much it means to see guns and history like that.

Thanks very much for sharing all the information you make available here.

Bill

Wow- words fail me. I don't know what to say. Only time in my life I wished I was Dick Burg!
Seriously, thanks Mike. Awesome.

Mike,
Your photographer needs to take some pics of that magazine with a good camera for your collection. Heck - he should have scanned that thing before sending that magazine to you - what was he thinking??
Neat, didn't even notice that was a target that was shot by a 38/44.
I guess now you'll be on the look-out for that gun to go with the M&P Target??

Regards,

Very cool! Thanks for sharing! I have an original copy of "Fast and Fancy Revolver Shooting" by McGivern. I get it out and read it about once a year. No, it is not for sale!

quote:

What was he thinking??

Thinking ? Did someone say thinking ? What a novel idea !

Regards, Mike

The two most amazing Ed Mc Givern facts to me are...

1. His talent with a hand gun
2. His gun's actions being box stock

Many of today's exibition gun's actions are so light and slick that one wonders how they ever manage to pop primer.

MOONDAWG

At some point in the near future, we are about to see just how durable McGiverns
various records really are. Jerry Micaluk ( sic? ) , one of the S&W factory shooters,
has been practicing for an attempt to challenge one, or more, of these records. The
plan is to use one of McGiverns original timing devices. This has been at least two
years in the making, and maybe, with luck, will take place later this year.

Not only do McGiverns records involve very fast shooting, but also very tight shot
placement. Some are five shots within a hand, or within a playing card, or within
the size of a half-dollar, such as these two targets.

Later, Mike Priwer

Mike:
I agree with Rob. Is there any way we can get a high resolution scan of the .38-44 target?

I would love to have a nice copy to frame for my office wall. Do you know who currently has the 5" .38-44 Outdoorsman? If so, it would be nice to have a good photo of the .38-44 he used !

Thank you for posting this !

Jerry

quote:

Originally posted by mikepriwer:
At some point in the near future, we are about to see just how durable McGiverns
various records really are. Jerry Micaluk ( sic? ) , one of the S&W factory shooters,
has been practicing for an attempt to challenge one, or more, of these records. The
plan is to use one of McGiverns original timing devices. This has been at least two
years in the making, and maybe, with luck, will take place later this year.

Not only do McGiverns records involve very fast shooting, but also very tight shot
placement. Some are five shots within a hand, or within a playing card, or within
the size of a half-dollar, such as these two targets.

Later, Mike Priwer

Don't know if Jerry Miculek has yet done it with the old timing equipment, but I'm pretty sure that he has beaten McGivern's time, as measured on modern equipment, with accurate shot placement. What I'm pretty sure Jerry has not done is break that record with a stock action. That is not to take anything away from Jerry; he's a fantastic shooter and a real gentleman. Interesting to look at the photos of McGivern's hand holding a Smith revolver in his book. He had small hands with thick, short fingers. My grandfather was 5'1" and had hands that looked almost identical to McGivern's, and Grandad was a fine shooter, so that really caught my eye. McGivern's trigger finger is bent radically downward alongside the frame to reach the trigger, and he engages the trigger face more with the side of his index finger than the palmar aspect. Jerry manipulates triggers similarly, as I recall, but has quite big hands.

Mike-- Thanks for taking the time to index the photos,I knew there was a reason for saving all those Americn Rifleman magazines [back to 1937] The groups/times are,in my opinion, will will not be equaled by any one soon, J.M. not with standing. Thanks again, Bart

Jerry

My unofficial photographer is Robby , who was also the one who sent me the magazine,
who was also the one who forgot to take the high-def picture before sending it. In
other words, this whole thing is his fault !

Robby & I plan to get together again, in the near future. Presumably, he will
take good pictures of that magazine cover shot. In that magazine is a picture of
several of McGiverns guns - I will get a high-def picture of that, also.

The picture is interesting , because it shows two guns with personalized grips.
A year or so ago, someone posted pictures of two of McGiverns guns, with those grips.
The grips are Kearserge. One of the gun was, in fact, shipped to McGivern - the
other was not, but a lot of his guns were not shipped to him.

And no - I have no further information on the 38/44 that was used. I think there is
a picture of one, in his book. McGivern was not exactly a collector (!), so guns
passed through his possession rather easily.

Interestingly, Feb 10 1962 is the date that Francis Gary Powers was released from
Russia. He was the U-2 pilot whose misadventures caused him to crash in Russia. I own
a K-22, new in the box, that was shipped to McGivern in the mid 1930's. He gave this
gun to one of his relatives, and it eventually wound up in the possession of a
nephew, who was a US Air Force major. This man, from his station in Norway, was involved
in negociating the release of Francis Gary Powers. I came to own the gun shortly before
his death, when he was selling some of his possessions.

This past Feb 10th, the NY Times reprinted the original story, in their section that
reprints important stories from years ago. In the story, there are no names that are
given - none at all - of anyone who was involved in his release !

Later, Mike Priwer

A state historical marker stands near the court house in my home county (Letcher, KY) commemorating the fact that Francis Gary Powers was born here.

I believe he spent part of his early life across the state line in neighboring Wise County, VA.

I was kind of hoping that one of Rob's photos of McGivern's 5" guns was the one used to make that target !

I look forward to seeing what you two come up with image-wise !

I have got to find a copy of that American Rifleman Oct, 1974 !

Jerry