This is a story about the shooting exhibition put on by Ed McGivern at the Lead Rifle Club Range in Lead, So.Dakota on
August 20, 1932. Specifically this story is about two targets that McGivern shot, each one with 5 shots inside of a half
dollar, each one shot in 9/20th's of a second. These two targets are shown on page 152 of McGiverns book "Fast & Fancy Revolver Shooting" . The caption under this picture states
“Two groups of five shots each fired from Smith & Wesson .38-44 Outdoorsman in nine-twentieths of a second each.”
Here is the image of page 152:
The bottom target in this image is marked "38/44 S&W" just above the black center of the target. The top image is not very clear.
This next image is a close-up of the top target.
Just below the black center the target is marked "Gun 286600". I own 286600 and also own this target.
A copy of the real target is the following image, and one can clearly see the "Gun 286600" marking.
I have long been suspicious of page 152 in McGiverns “Fast & Fancy Revolver Shooting”. As noted above, the page states that both targets were shot by the 38/44, but the targets are clearly marked as two different guns.
This next image is the cover of the October 1974 “American Rifleman”.
This cover page shows the bottom target on page 152, as well as the 38-44 that shot that target. I have placed the contents of the brass plate – in red - on this cover page.
The next two image, courtesy of NRA Museums, are better pictures of this 38-44.
The brass plate implies that there were/are two targets shot by the 38-44. Clearly, the target on this cover page is not two sets of 5 shots, but only one set, meaning that there is another target. (Of course there is – they are both displayed on page 152 of F & F!) One target clearly identifies the 38-44 . The other clearly is marked 286600. There are other marking differences, as well . Courtesy of NRA Museums, the serial number of the 38/44 is 37026.
It's worth while noting, at this point, that both targets were separately witnessed, and signed, by five (5) witness's . On the top target, for 286600, the typed names of the witness's are single-spaced. On the bottom target, for 38/44 37026, the typed names of the witness's are double-spaced.
There is one interesting difference between these two targets, and that is the placement of the 5-shot groups. The top target, attributed to 286600, has the placement in the lower right hand corner of the page. The lower target, attributed to the 38-44, has the placement in the black center of the target. Furthermore, the top target, for 286600, is specifically marked as noting "Shot on right corner of used target".
There is no doubt that it was a used target: this next image shows the backside of the target, with
backlighting from behind it. The five holes are marked #1 through #5, and there is also a black circular patch over the important shots in the right corner.
The center of this used target is heavily patched. It may be the case that McGivern did not want to place any more shots there, to avoid the possibility that any new shots there might tear the target, or become confused with the previous holes.
As noted earlier above, I have long been suspicious about page 152 in F&F. The two targets are marked as two different guns, and yet page 152 attributes the targets to the same gun. Furthermore, there is a question about what the brass plate on 38/44 really means.
It seems to me that the right way to think about the two targets is to recognize that the targets were shot in 1932, and
the book was published in 1938. Therefore we have to think about the shooting of the targets, and the publishing of the book, as two separate events.
I believe the targets stand on their own. All the information about the shooting of each target is written on each target, and they were witnessed by five (5) people. Any questions about anything relating to the targets can only be answered by McGivern and those five witness’s. McGivern is dead, and I suspect all the witness’s are, as well. I believe this means that the targets are what they say they are, no more and no less.
This means that the book has the problem, and not the targets. The book asserts that both targets were shot by the
same gun, even though the witnessed targets pictured in the book on the same page, say that it was two different guns. It has to be the book that is wrong.
This does happen from time to time. Within the past two weeks, two separate occurrences of this have shown up. First, and it relates directly to this story, the serial number as recorded on the NRA Museum website is not correct. I found out that its 37025, not 37026. When I passed this on to the NRA, the Museum director said that "Acquisition records and FFL records show this as s/n 37025, so apparently the company that transferred our records to the new website about six years ago typo’d it." This is important to my conclusions about page 152 of the book, as it confirms that this kind of error does happen.
Second, in a thread on this site, someone was questioning, in the latest edition of a book, a picture of a revolver with a serial number in the 950,000 serial number range. The revolver is a Model of 1899. The author has noted that the publisher has indeed made an error. Here is the link to the story:
http://smith-wessonforum.com/s-w-hand-ejectors-1896-1961/442639-pate-photo-error.html
This leaves us with the brass sideplate on the 38-44. It does not specifically state that the one gun shots both targets. It might be suggestive of that, but it does not say that. The “38-44” engraved on that sideplate may mean nothing more than “this was one of the guns that shot one of the targets”. 286600 already had its limit of brass plates, so nothing could be added to 286600.
The following two images show the two plates on 286600 - one on each side.
I believe that two different guns were used, and therefore the story on the 38-44 brass plate is, perhaps, somewhat misleading. This is my conclusions about the inconsistencies on page 152 in the book.
Regards, Mike Priwer
August 20, 1932. Specifically this story is about two targets that McGivern shot, each one with 5 shots inside of a half
dollar, each one shot in 9/20th's of a second. These two targets are shown on page 152 of McGiverns book "Fast & Fancy Revolver Shooting" . The caption under this picture states
“Two groups of five shots each fired from Smith & Wesson .38-44 Outdoorsman in nine-twentieths of a second each.”
Here is the image of page 152:
The bottom target in this image is marked "38/44 S&W" just above the black center of the target. The top image is not very clear.
This next image is a close-up of the top target.
Just below the black center the target is marked "Gun 286600". I own 286600 and also own this target.
A copy of the real target is the following image, and one can clearly see the "Gun 286600" marking.
I have long been suspicious of page 152 in McGiverns “Fast & Fancy Revolver Shooting”. As noted above, the page states that both targets were shot by the 38/44, but the targets are clearly marked as two different guns.
This next image is the cover of the October 1974 “American Rifleman”.
This cover page shows the bottom target on page 152, as well as the 38-44 that shot that target. I have placed the contents of the brass plate – in red - on this cover page.
The next two image, courtesy of NRA Museums, are better pictures of this 38-44.
The brass plate implies that there were/are two targets shot by the 38-44. Clearly, the target on this cover page is not two sets of 5 shots, but only one set, meaning that there is another target. (Of course there is – they are both displayed on page 152 of F & F!) One target clearly identifies the 38-44 . The other clearly is marked 286600. There are other marking differences, as well . Courtesy of NRA Museums, the serial number of the 38/44 is 37026.
It's worth while noting, at this point, that both targets were separately witnessed, and signed, by five (5) witness's . On the top target, for 286600, the typed names of the witness's are single-spaced. On the bottom target, for 38/44 37026, the typed names of the witness's are double-spaced.
There is one interesting difference between these two targets, and that is the placement of the 5-shot groups. The top target, attributed to 286600, has the placement in the lower right hand corner of the page. The lower target, attributed to the 38-44, has the placement in the black center of the target. Furthermore, the top target, for 286600, is specifically marked as noting "Shot on right corner of used target".
There is no doubt that it was a used target: this next image shows the backside of the target, with
backlighting from behind it. The five holes are marked #1 through #5, and there is also a black circular patch over the important shots in the right corner.
The center of this used target is heavily patched. It may be the case that McGivern did not want to place any more shots there, to avoid the possibility that any new shots there might tear the target, or become confused with the previous holes.
As noted earlier above, I have long been suspicious about page 152 in F&F. The two targets are marked as two different guns, and yet page 152 attributes the targets to the same gun. Furthermore, there is a question about what the brass plate on 38/44 really means.
It seems to me that the right way to think about the two targets is to recognize that the targets were shot in 1932, and
the book was published in 1938. Therefore we have to think about the shooting of the targets, and the publishing of the book, as two separate events.
I believe the targets stand on their own. All the information about the shooting of each target is written on each target, and they were witnessed by five (5) people. Any questions about anything relating to the targets can only be answered by McGivern and those five witness’s. McGivern is dead, and I suspect all the witness’s are, as well. I believe this means that the targets are what they say they are, no more and no less.
This means that the book has the problem, and not the targets. The book asserts that both targets were shot by the
same gun, even though the witnessed targets pictured in the book on the same page, say that it was two different guns. It has to be the book that is wrong.
This does happen from time to time. Within the past two weeks, two separate occurrences of this have shown up. First, and it relates directly to this story, the serial number as recorded on the NRA Museum website is not correct. I found out that its 37025, not 37026. When I passed this on to the NRA, the Museum director said that "Acquisition records and FFL records show this as s/n 37025, so apparently the company that transferred our records to the new website about six years ago typo’d it." This is important to my conclusions about page 152 of the book, as it confirms that this kind of error does happen.
Second, in a thread on this site, someone was questioning, in the latest edition of a book, a picture of a revolver with a serial number in the 950,000 serial number range. The revolver is a Model of 1899. The author has noted that the publisher has indeed made an error. Here is the link to the story:
http://smith-wessonforum.com/s-w-hand-ejectors-1896-1961/442639-pate-photo-error.html
This leaves us with the brass sideplate on the 38-44. It does not specifically state that the one gun shots both targets. It might be suggestive of that, but it does not say that. The “38-44” engraved on that sideplate may mean nothing more than “this was one of the guns that shot one of the targets”. 286600 already had its limit of brass plates, so nothing could be added to 286600.
The following two images show the two plates on 286600 - one on each side.
I believe that two different guns were used, and therefore the story on the 38-44 brass plate is, perhaps, somewhat misleading. This is my conclusions about the inconsistencies on page 152 in the book.
Regards, Mike Priwer
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