By Ed McGivern,another ded hero.
My brother just gave it to me.
It's the anniversary edition,not an original.
Starts off good,appears to be another keeper.
Jack

__________________
This aint Dodge City and you aint Bill Hickok

I found a copy and gave it to my dad after reading it. Don't even remember where I got it, maybe a used bookstore or garage sale.

A little dry reading, but quite an impressive shooter.

__________________
MikeG

Mike
It is dry reading but gosh what a shooter! What i like most about the book is that McGivern modified guns every way he coould think of and then went back to stock firearms. For the most part he did not need modifications. His shooting from the running boards of cars and long range shooting is interesting.

__________________
slim

Well, Mr. iorg, took the words right out of my mouth, particularly the "dry reading but gosh what a shooter". I wish they had more video of his shooting demostrations. From the pictures I've seen, he sure didn't look the part.

Dan

__________________
DOK

i have a signed copy. my dad met him, and my mother still has one of the playing cards shot up and signed by Ed McGivern. the part i find most amazing is the fact that the colt 1911 could not cycle fast enough for him, so he had to use the DA revolver. five rounds into a playing card @ 15 feet in four tenths of a second (if i remember correct, been a while since i read the book). one of the true great shooters of all time.

monty

had to do an edit and apologise. my copy of the book is not signed (could have sworn it was). i dug the book out after reading this thread and looked. i still treasure the book and hope to talk my mother out of the playing card someday...

Think it was a Bisley Colt with the trigger taped back for fanning. The name McGivern is interesting to me though I have never researched it. My Uncle Frank McGivern was from Minnesota, and a great lakes pilot for ore shipping for many years. He named his first son Edward, they lived in Stephenson, Mich until both of their deaths Frank 1999, Eddie 2002.

Old thread but….
The NRA’s Firearms Classics Library just added the McGivern book to their offering list. The FCL price is cheaper than many of the books on the used market.
The FCL did a good job with the pictures. Even in the first editions the pictures are not that sharp or in focus.
The McGivern book is a lot like Mann’s book and is more a documentation of experiments than a written story.
Several things are interesting, the fact that McGivern did his best shooting with unmodified guns, he did his best shooting with what amounts to full power loads and he was willing to allow anyone to watch the loading of the ammunition and the setup of the targets and then the shooting. Even better, McGivern then wrote a book telling you how he did it and how you could practice so you could do it too.
I have a variety of McGivern articles in pre-WWII American Rifleman magazines his writing is just as straight forward.

Monty, did you ever get that playing card?

__________________
slim

This is one book I do not have, though I think I borrowed a copy to read years ago. I missed seeing this one added and will have to shop for a copy. Thanks or the heads up.

I sure enjoy the book. What I like are the pictures and descriptions of shooting while riding the running boards of automobiles, the shooting of bullet proof glass and vests and the long range shooting.
Keith and McGivern wrote very descriptive articles on long range shooting with good discussion of the sights required. The sights in McGiverns book are similar to those described in Keiths famous article "Long Range Sixgun" from the May 1939 issue of the American Rifleman. Its hard to find the old magazines but at least the NRA and the FCL keep the old books circulating - and the price is right.

__________________
slim

I haven't read it for 20 years, and had a borrowed copy at the time. May have to pick up my own now that they've reprinted it.

My great aunt bought a new K-22 in 1936 (still have the receipt, box, and factory catalog leaflet that came with it) that has a McGivern front sight bead that was factory installed. I expect the store probably had ordered some in special that way. She paid $38 dollars for it according to the receipt. That old long-stroke DA is the smoothest revolver action I own. The single-action is flawless. The really knew what they were doing back then, except for how small the rear sight is and its lack of detents. Still, a very nice gun.

__________________
Nick

__________________________
Orange Hat Family Member
CMP Certified GSM Master Instructor
NRA Certified Instructor
NRA Patron Member

"First contemplation of the problems of Interior Ballistics gives the impression that they should yield rather easily to relatively simple methods of analysis. Further study shows the subject to be of almost unbelievable complexity." Homer Powley

Funny you brought that up, I just received my copy from them 3 days ago, He has been one of my heroes since I was 18 and first heard of him, That was a loooooong time ago.

__________________

What a legacy! If you ever have the camera and the handgun out at the same time it would be a great picture - the gun and the box with the papers.
The pre-WWII long stroke actions are great for double action shooting.
Chapter 24 “Selection of Sights For Various Situations” is one of the most interesting. The book was written before S&W began offering a wide variety of sights. There are many pictures of various sights from King Gunsights. The pictures are not the quality we expect today but they are good and interesting. McGiverns thoughts on sights and changing sights for various situations are sound.

What I like about the FCL copies of the book are the excellent binding, the pictures reproduced as good a quality as most editions I have seen. I like Jim Casadas new introduction. The best part is I can retire my old copy.
I like the section on bulletproof glass and wonder in the policeman actually stood behind the glass when McGivern fired the shot.
I have the reproduction of the 1939 Shooters Bible and the pictures of shooting the bulletproof vest - while the president of the company is wearing it - are authentic. A crowd of people standing around and a police chief fires the shot!
The long range shooting information is good and I enjoy reading about the shooting with both iron sights and scopes.

__________________
slim

The photo's a good idea. I need to do that!

__________________
Nick

__________________________
Orange Hat Family Member
CMP Certified GSM Master Instructor
NRA Certified Instructor
NRA Patron Member

"First contemplation of the problems of Interior Ballistics gives the impression that they should yield rather easily to relatively simple methods of analysis. Further study shows the subject to be of almost unbelievable complexity." Homer Powley

I’m looking forward to seeing it.
The chapter on the 357 Magnum - the cartridge and the revolver is very interesting. McGivern and shooters of the day did not feel the need to shoot full magnum loads every day - it was not a matter of recoil but of fitting the cartridge to the need.
McGivern gives credit to Elmer Keith - not as the first long range hand gunner but as a master of the art who wrote and taught others at the time.
I like the section on the wadcutter, it is interesting as the wadcutter was still a new bullet to a lot of shooters. The use of full power 38 Special wadcutter loads, mid-range and squib loads is addressed as is McGiverns loading.
McGivern did a good job of relating how he did things so others could understand his and others feats were not all talk and so others could do it too, he was a good teacher.

I am pleased the FCL added the book to their list as all I have seen latley on the new racks has been the paper back edition and that is not a good example.

__________________
slim

That is unreal, I cant even wrap my head around the thought that a semi auto could be too slow, and i dont know if i could even pull the trigger five times in under half a second on a revolver, let alone with any kind of accuracy..... Sounds like a book ill need to get

__________________
The more people I meet, the more I like my dog.

84,999,989 firearm owners killed NO-ONE yesterday.

I can't move my finger that fast either. McGivern was built a special timing apparatus by GE, IIRC, and he carted it around the country, running it at every demonstration until he got his best times. I don't believe that particular record has ever been broken. He said hanging onto a revolver shooting that fast was like bearing down on the handle of a horse-drawn plow. I recall reading that someone broke his two-revolver record at one point in the last couple of decades, but that five shot speed record stands, AFAIK.

__________________
Nick

__________________________
Orange Hat Family Member
CMP Certified GSM Master Instructor
NRA Certified Instructor
NRA Patron Member

"First contemplation of the problems of Interior Ballistics gives the impression that they should yield rather easily to relatively simple methods of analysis. Further study shows the subject to be of almost unbelievable complexity." Homer Powley