Edward ('Ed') McGivern (October 20, 1874 – December 12, 1957) was a famous exhibition shooter, shooting instructor and author of the book ''Fast and Fancy Revolver Shooting''. McGivern performed extensive research into the art of handgun shooting, particularly with the

double-action Double action (or double-action) refers to one of two systems in firearms where the trigger both cocks and releases the hammer. *Double-action only (DAO) firearms trigger: The trigger both cocks and releases the hammer. There is no single-action f ...

revolver A revolver (also called a wheel gun) is a repeating handgun that has at least one barrel and uses a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold up to six roun ...

Book

The book ''Fast and Fancy Revolver Shooting'', first published in 1938, is still printed by

Skyhorse Publishing Skyhorse Publishing, Inc. is an American independent book publishing company founded in 2006 and headquartered in New York City, with a satellite office in Brattleboro, Vermont. History The current president and publisher is founder Tony Lyo ...

as a reference to handgun shooters. In it McGivern covers his career from early experimenting with single-action revolvers, his career in exhibition shooting, his police training, and his experiments in long-range revolver shooting.

Exhibition shooting

Ed McGivern is renowned as one of the best handgunners that ever lived. His

Guinness world record ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

for "The greatest rapid-fire feat" (set on August 20, 1932 at the

Lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...

Club Range,

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota people, Lakota and Dakota peo ...

) still stands. He emptied two revolvers in less than 2 seconds. He set another record on September 13, 1932, shooting five rounds from a double-action revolver at 15 feet in 2/5 of a second, and covering the group with his hand. His accomplishments include "firing two times from 15 feet five shots which could be covered by a silver half-dollar piece in 45/100 of a second". His shooting was so rapid, timing machines would malfunction in attempting to record his shooting speed. McGivern was capable of many amazing shooting feats, most of them well documented in his book.''Fast and Fancy Revolver Shooting'', Ed McGivern, 1938 To name just a few: * He could break six simultaneously hand-thrown clay pigeons (standard trap targets) in the air before they hit the ground. * He could hit a tin can hand-thrown 20 ft in the air five times before it hit the ground. * He could drive a tack or nail into wood by shooting it. * He could shoot the spots out of playing cards at 18 feet, or even split a playing card edge on. * He could shoot a dime on the fly. All of these executed with either hand using a factory

Smith & Wesson Model 10 The Smith & Wesson Model 10, previously known as the Smith & Wesson .38 Hand Ejector Model of 1899, the Smith & Wesson Military & Police or the Smith & Wesson Victory Model, is a K-frame revolver of worldwide popularity. In production since 1899 ...

double-action revolver (purportedly his favorite handgun). Competition shooter

Jerry Miculek Jerry may refer to: Animals * Jerry (Grand National winner), racehorse, winner of the 1840 Grand National * Jerry (St Leger winner), racehorse, winner of 1824 St Leger Stakes Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Jerry'' (film), a 2006 Indian fil ...

has attempted, and broken, some of McGivern's long-standing records, such as the record for 60 shots fired from 10 revolvers. Although Miculek holds a number of records, his attempt to beat McGivern's 5-shot record resulted in a time of .57 seconds. A testament to McGivern's ability was the fact that the 5-shot record was set in 1932, when McGivern was 57 years of age. Soon after that point,

arthritis Arthritis is a term often used to mean any disorder that affects joints. Symptoms generally include joint pain and stiffness. Other symptoms may include redness, warmth, swelling, and decreased range of motion of the affected joints. In som ...

ended McGivern's competitive shooting career.

Long range shooting

McGivern, along with his friend

Elmer Keith Elmer Merrifield Keith (March 8, 1899 – February 12, 1984) was an American rancher, firearms enthusiast, and author. Keith was instrumental in the development of the first magnum revolver cartridge, the .357 Magnum, as well as the later .44 M ...

, were instrumental in

pushing the envelope In aerodynamics, the flight envelope, service envelope, or performance envelope of an aircraft or spacecraft refers to the capabilities of a design in terms of airspeed and load factor or atmospheric density, often simplified to altitude. The t ...

in the early days of magnum revolvers. While Keith was primarily interested in hunting, McGivern was more interested in police use of the revolver. McGivern demonstrated that with proper sights and use, the

.357 Magnum The .357 Smith & Wesson Magnum, .357 S&W Magnum, .357 Magnum, or 9×33mmR as it is known in unofficial metric designation, is a smokeless powder cartridge with a bullet diameter. It was created by Elmer Keith, Phillip B. Sharpe, and Douglas B. ...

could be used on man-sized targets at ranges of up to . McGivern experimented with different types of

iron sights Iron sights are a system of physical alignment markers (usually made of metallic material) used as a sighting device to assist the accurate aiming of ranged weapons (such as a firearm, airgun, crossbow or even compound bow), or less commonly ...

, including peep sights, and

telescopic sight A telescopic sight, commonly called a scope informally, is an optical sighting device based on a refracting telescope. It is equipped with some form of a referencing pattern – known as a ''reticle'' – mounted in a focally appropriate po ...

s. His preferred type of iron sight for this use was a small-diameter rear aperture and a post with a gold bead for the front. McGivern went on to instruct police agencies, including the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...

, in his shooting techniques.

Legacy

In 2010, McGivern was inducted into the

Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame The Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame is a 501(c)(3) hall of fame organization. Its stated goal is to ""To honor our cowboy way of life, American Indian cultures, and our collective Montana western heritage. It confers the honour of induction on an a ...

Book by Ed McGivern

* ''Ed McGivern's Book on Fast and Fancy Revolver Shooting,'' Springfield, MA: King-Richardson, 1938.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McGivern, Ed 1874 births 1957 deaths American male sport shooters World record holders in shooting People associated with firearms People from Lewistown, Montana