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Posted on 08/17/2008 12:30:19 AM PDT by Neil E. Wright
I wouldn’t try to shoot a center-fire rifle from before the modern age of metalurgy, but I occasionally see 22’s from the late 1800s which still drive tacks, particularly the Marlin lever actions.
One of my favorite stories:
My father and uncle were watching Topperwein shoot off the Galveston sea wall (sometime during the 1930s). Throwers tossing the wooden blocks, Topperwein picking them out of the air with his .22. After 100 or so shots, my uncle (standing close to Topperwein) said to my father, “I’d give a thousand dollars to be able to shoot like that!”
Topperwein heard him and looked at him when he retorted, “That’s just about what it cost!”.
My first impression was that he was using a shotgun, and I was thinking it wasn’t that big of a deal. But a .22 lever action??? Un Freaking Real. Wow.
>22 Automatic. Still Unbeleiveable.
There is display on this at the Buckhorn Hall of Horns on Houston Street in San Antonio.
Pretty cool stuff.
WOW ! Thanx for good start to a Sunday mornin....
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To demonstrate the reliability of the newly introduced Nylon 66.
“No greater tribute could be bestowed on any rifle than what it accomplished in the hands of Tom Frye, trick shooter and field representative for Remington. In 1959, to break Ad Topperwein’s world record of hitting 72,500, 2-1/2” wooden blocks thrown into the air, Frye used three Model 66’s to hit 100,004 wooden blocks out of 100,010 thrown. To do it, Frye shot 1,000 shots an hour, eight hours a day, for 13 consecutive days without one malfunction or misfire.”
True ... Tom Frye did shoot over 100K blocks with that Remington, but he used a different protocol. The person tossing the blocks in the air stood behind his shooting shoulder and tossed the blocks along the flight path of the bullet. Not quite the same as Ad, who placed his tossers 25-30 feet away and had them toss the blocks 20-30 feet into the air.
My Dad gave me a Remington Nylon 66 for my 16th birthday. I fired thousands and thousands of .22s through that rifle without ever having a malfunction. Sold it to a friend in 1976. Wish I still had it.
I didn’t know that, thanks! Some of McGivern’s aerial shooting is amazing as well.
Thanks for the great article.
“Go hunting with your boy today and you won’t have to hunt for him tomorrow.”
Herb Parsons
I’ll have to keep my eyes open for one when I am cruising through the shows.
Taurus makes a replica.
L
I first heard about him from Unintended Consequences.
I’d be looking for the real thing.
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