Customer Reviews

Fast and Fancy Revolver Shooting

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Written prior to WWII this book may seam dated but remember that most of the revolvers in use today where introduced in the first third of the 20th century. Ed McGivern was not an author, he was a showman. One of the best hands with a gun who ever lived. His writing style is a bit run on but the book is well worth the read. Mr. McGivern tells how to train yourself to be accurate, fast and fancy with a revolver. It's going to keep me practising for years.

This is one of the greatest books on revolver shooting ever written. The use of run-on sentences and the redundancy make for difficult reading, but Mr. McGivern discusses every last minute detail with respect to equipment and technique. Jerry Miculek may be as fast on man targets, but McGivern's aerial target shooting, hip shooting ability and fanning of the Colt SAA make him the undisputed king. Long live the revolver, and long live the memory of Ed McGivern.

This book was originally written around 1930 +/- and republished in 12/97. The author doesn't look like a "gun slinger" but his speed tests and aerial shooting displays are incredible. After reading this book just going out plinking will never be the same. I had reached a plateau with pistol shooting and needed new challenges. This book has given me many years of new challenges to try. If you can even partially relate to what I've said then you'll never regret getting this book. Besides the price is very good.

I've read some of the reviews and I've concluded I must have received a different version of the book. Ed McGivern's focus was marksmanship for law enforcement with specialized training techniques. The exhibition content was intended to make the process interesting and to create a framework for preparing students for shooting within less than ideal and dire circumstances. In fact, McGivern coined the term "practical pistol shooting" prior to 1938.

Language and writing skills - Mr. McGivern wrote in the style typical for that period in time. I saw no difference between his writing and that of Julian Hatcher, Phil Sharpe or early Elmer Keith. McGivern wrote with humility, descriptively and with tone of America in 1938, including the country's values.

Description of techniques - I do not believe I have ever seen a more deliberate set of descriptions, illustrations and theory of concept explanations in another training volume. He wrote and documented with a patience not found in the works of modern authors.

Application - This book is for anyone who wishes to learn how to shoot a double or single action revolver, based on a premise that was incredibly advanced for the time. Essentially, McGivern suggests firearms are of fixed dimension and function as an accommodation to manufacturing. Humans are all different, so shooting stances and techniques cannot be universal. Instead, McGivern offered many approaches in component description and means for the shooter to assess what component works for them. I use material in the book, all of the time, for my own training purposes.

Great book, easy to read and a must for anyone involved in defensive or recreational handgun shooting, or has an interest is the history of shooting skill development.

Ed McGivern's book "Fast and Fancy Revolver Shooting" is the book you're looking for if you want to learn to shoot. Ed McGivern was amazing, and I believe he still has records that are unbeaten. You'll see the "Taylor Speed Rock", the "Ayoob Wedge", and other tactics since named by egomaniacs who would lead you to beleive they invented them, this book was written in the late 1920s prior to most of these guys being born.

This book is a classic and should be a part of every serious sixgunner's library. However, any English teacher would give it an "F". Why? It's so poorly written, from a technical viewpoint. Expect sentences that have 80 to 120 words to be the norm and not the exception. The same point is said over and over again, in a flowery yet pedantic manner, in an apparent attempt to fill space. You will often have to read a paragraph over and over to understand what Mr. McGivern is trying to say. The excellent content of the book could have been written in 60 pages. Written in 1937, the book is very dated, but interesting reading. Many names and addresses are given for people that have certainly been dead for decades. Also, Mr. McGivern has great praise for the "new" S&W .357 Magnum, which had just been introduced in 1935.

Mr. McGivern's speed and accuracy feats with a revolver go unmatched even today. As I said, it is a must-have for the bookshelf of any serious sixgunner. Get a copy while they're still available.

I first read Fast and fancy revolver Shooting in 1973. Serious revolver buffs recognize Ed McGiverns accomplishment. While his style may not pass an english test,I've never met an English teacher that could shoot like Mr. McGivern.

Pros: Man, that guy knows how to shoot. Very interesting.
Cons: Mostly trick shooting, which takes tons of practice. I was looking for something to help with regular situations, but quickly. It applies, but not as well as I'd hoped. Also, the language is getting dated and it's a little wordy.
Overall: I'm glad I bought it.

I want to say up front that I am a gun guy from way back, and a revolver man through and through. I have heard so many good things about this book that I could not wait to get it, but it is pretty boring to me. Of course, the material is dated, but McGivern's writing leaves something to be desired too. Very technical, and dry. I respect him tremendously for what he did, and for conducting these experiments with the revolver, but the book is boring no matter how you sugarcoat it!

I picked up this book when I has having difficulty shooting my S&W 617 revolver (it's a 22 caliber handgun). The writing style was old and I became accustomed to it after a chapter or so. I dug around through the text and found the Ed McGivern's instructions on grip, trigger control, body stance, and sighting. I followed these instructions precisely at the range while firing double action. Amazingly, my group sizes dropped from three to six inches at 21 feet to 1/2 to 1 1/2 inches in size! I continued practice using his advice and my revolver shooting has continuously improved--even after transitioning to a S&W 625 in 45 ACP.

It has been a year since I started this process. Over that year, I have reviewed the content of this book several times. There are *many* concepts inside that form the foundation for modern combat handgunnery. He discusses a variety of techniques for moving while shooting, draws, and so forth.

He does spend a substantial amount of time describing trick shooting. This is interesting, but probably not possible given today's range rules. There are techniques to be learned though; in particular: his process for breaking down a trick into a series of shooting exercises. Learning to speed shoot is a particular challenge with a double action revolver; his procedure is difficult and one born of experience. Most likely, the reader will need to burn a bunch of powder in order to figure it out (which is one thing I like about this book: to "get it" you really need to apply the concepts while on the gun range).

I found the sections that "justify" the double action revolver to be interesting. Apparently, the argument over single action versus double action had been going on for a decade or two. McGivern applied some sense and some science to show "what is possible." Today, we see the same argument between 1911 shooters and double action pistol shooters. Some things never change!

In all, I recommend this book to any shooter...new or old. Its style is a bit odd, but the results are well worth the effort. My double action revolver shooting has dramatically improved as a result of this book.