FOREST AND STREAM 
159 
HISTORY MAKERS OF THE REVOLVER 
THEIR RECORDS SHOW THAT THE OPPORTUNITY IS EVER 
OPEN FOR HANGING YOUR NAME ON THE ROLL OF HONOR 
By FRED O. COPELAND. 
i f> T " 1 RE’MBLE, darn yer ! I guess I can 
stand it as long as you can.” 
This sarcastic retort was addressed 
to a hand, a hand that held a revolver. If 
the reader had looked over this revolver 
through opera glasses he would have seen 
nine little black spots in or touching a 
larger one, a bull’s-eye, and if he were a 
revolver enthusiast he would have sym¬ 
pathized with the earnest endeavor to 
squeeze of? the tenth shot at the appointed 
twinkling of an eye and thereby secure a 
better than eighty per cent, score. Eighty 
per cent, or better, on ten properly made 
and witnessed targets, is the necessary effi¬ 
ciency for an artistic medal donated by the 
United States Revolver Association to its 
members who in deliberate fire—ten shots 
in twelve minutes—strive to this end over 
12, 20 and 50-yard ranges' at 1V2, 2.72 and 
8-inch bull’s-eyes respectively. 
Pistol and revolver shooting smacks of 
two widely differing yet equally interesting 
periods: the one, the ancient period of 
duelling; the other, our own thrilling period 
that saw the clearing of the plains of the 
golden West. Those were days that sur¬ 
pass romance; those days of the pony ex¬ 
press, the overland mail, the buffalo; those 
day of the Blackfeet and Sioux which 
turned strong men’s hair grey in a few 
short years. And whether on the Laramie 
trail or the Santa Fe, the revolver was 
ever present, accumulating a fame that 
now is its heritage. To the sportsman, the 
remembrance will ever be one of sun-lit 
plains, not one of gold-heaped card tables. 
And surely, in these latter days, the re¬ 
volver can be naught but fascinating. 
N O one in this wide world is more 
keenly alive to the skill which must 
be acquired in order to group his 
shots in the black than the experienced 
Land with the revolver. And assertions, 
while they may be listened to courteously 
enough, will not be secretly credited un¬ 
less accompanied by recognition by the 
United States Revolver Association—may¬ 
hap in the form of a “rating medal.” But 
this is not at all strange, when it is known 
that competitive skill at targets with the 
hand arm was born in Missouri. 
The writer’s turning back to the ancient 
history of revolver shooting will perhaps be 
pardoned when the reader learns that, as 
a schoolboy, the writer lived and trudged 
to school on a street where there resided 
a member of the famous James family of 
Missouri; and in less than a year he was 
attending school in sight of the house 
where lived a Cody. But it was many 
years before this—57 years ago. in fact— 
that Captain Travers of Missouri intimated 
to a gentleman, whose name has not come 
■down to us, that he was ready to be shown 
that he was second best with the hand arm. 
The conditions were at once arranged: one 
-shot at each of fifteen china plates nine 
inches in diameter, at a distance of one 
hundred feet. The Captain was careful 
and left only four of the plates, while his 
adversary skilfully broke but nine of them. 
With this encouragement, the Captain 
joined forces with a Captain Schaaf and 
made a three years’ tour of the United 
States giving pistol shooting exhibitions. 
It was at this time that William Frederick 
Cody (Buffalo Bill) stepped into the lime¬ 
light as a champion of the art of revolver 
shooting. 
Not till fifteen years later, in 1880, was 
a real wizard developed. That year saw 
the rise of Ira Anson Paine, and so great 
had his skill become that in the next year 
he went to Europe to give exhibitions in 
the art. While in Europe he came in con¬ 
tact with Gastine Renette, the famous 
pistol manufacturer of France, and since 
Paine had been turning over in his mind 
the advisability of adding revolver shoot¬ 
ing to that of his pistol shooting exhibi¬ 
tions, he consulted Renette on the matter, 
and together they went through exhaustive 
tests with every make of revolver obtain¬ 
able. It is common knowledge that his 
How 80 Per Cent. Looks on the Target. 
skill became so great that he was supposed 
to accomplish his feats of shooting by 
tricks, but how accomplished he really was 
may be known from the fact that in the 
presence of a notable assemblage, he was 
knighted by the King of Portugal and 
made chevalier of an ancient military or¬ 
der. Thus it is that his name will go 
down through coming generations of re¬ 
volver shooters as Chevalier Paine. 
I N 1886 the Massachusetts Rifle Associa¬ 
tion ran an event for revolvers which 
precipitated a veritable land-slide of 
popularity for the side arm. The 200-yard 
rifle target at fifty yards was adopted for 
standard, and the revolver shooters of the 
period jumped on the stage together for a 
see-saw that, for intense rivalry, may never 
be seen again. Chevalier Paine was the 
first to make a record (791 out of a pos¬ 
sible 1,000) under the conditions now in 
vogue in the revolver shooting world. 
Others at once started in to beat this score, 
and as they promptly succeeded it kept the 
Chevalier constantly cleaning his weapon 
and ordering ammunition. 
Like all such things, it had to have a 
climax; and it was made way for wjien, 
in 1888, F. E. Bennett scored 100 out of a 
possible 100 at thirty yards on the stand¬ 
ard American 50-yard revolver target. The 
climax itself took the form of a champion¬ 
ship of America between Bennett and the 
Chevalier, with $1,000 a side, one hundred 
shots a day for six successive days, at the 
standard American 50-yard revolver target. 
Three of the 100-shot targets were to be 
made in Springfield, Massachusetts, and 
three in Providence, Rhode Island. 
The writer has talked with eye witnesses 
of the contest at Springfield, who declare 
that there was a great difference in the way 
the two contestants shot. The Chevalier 
shot in very brilliant form, dropping his 
arm on the target very quickly and seem¬ 
ingly on the instant firing. Mr. Bennett 
was of a very different make-up. He took 
great pains, even lowering his weapon to 
dry his hand with a handkerchief after he 
had once sighted. At the end of the third 
day Paine led by sixteen points. At the 
end of the first day at Providence Paine’s 
lead was cut down to nine. 
Then an unfortunate happening occurred. 
Paine protested the sights on Bennett’s 
arm, and withdrew from the contest in 
spite of the fact that his own sights had 
been protested once and the trigger pull of 
his arm hand had been protested twice. 
Paine’s protest was not allowed and Ben¬ 
nett finished the match with an average of 
about eighty-five per cent., thereby be¬ 
coming champion. Scarcely was the news 
in the ears of revolver shooters when in 
the following month Sergeant W. C. John¬ 
son made a possible score of 100 at fifty 
yards on the standard target. This feat— 
for it was the first time it had been ac¬ 
complished—as can well be imagined took 
the last prop completely and suddenly 
away from a long line of hopefuls. 
I N 1900 the United States Revolver As¬ 
sociation was formed, and three years 
later published the regulations which in 
the future would determine the legitimacy 
of record scores. The association holds 
two shoots annually: the outdoor cham¬ 
pionships which are held in summer, and 
the indoor championships, held in the 
winter. 
In the outdoor championships there are 
four events: 
Match A. Any revolver; any ammuni¬ 
tion ; 50 shots at 50 yards. » 
Match B. Any pistol; same conditions 
as Match A. 
Match C. (Military Championship.) 
Shot at 25, 50 and 75 yards on regular 
50-yard target, five 5-shot targets at each 
distance with a time limit of 15 seconds 
for each string. Any military revolver, 
and full service ammunition. 
Match F. Any pocket revolver with 
