Exhibition Shooting

[airedale]

At one time exhibition shooters were quite prominent, Tom Frye brings back some memories, he is in the video below and was Remington's hired gun, he made the Remington Nylon 66 famous. Saw some old footage of Smith and Wesson's Ed McGivern doing some fancy trick revolver shooting, always liked watching Tom Knapp Benelli's man doing trick shots. Jerry Miculek and Bob Munden with handguns and Byron Ferguson and Howard hill with long bows.

I liked the competition show I think was called Top Shot that was on the history channel a few years back, some of those folks could really shoot.

Al

 

Edited April 3, 2023 by airedale

[airedale]

 

You will not see this kind of stuff on NBC these days.

 

[airedale]

In 1959, Tom Frye, a field representative for Remington, set out to surpass Ad Topperwein's world record (set in 1907) of shooting 72,500 2 1/2-inch wooden blocks as they were tossed into the air while missing only nine. Frye used three Nylon 66 rifles and maintained an average pace of 1,000 shots per hour (one shot every four seconds) for 13 consecutive eight-hour days. When the smoke cleared, he had shot at 100,010 blocks and hit 100,004, missing only six! The rifles were cleaned only five times during the Marathon trial. The Nylon 66 was accepted enthusiastically. 

Nylon 66 Legacy
The Nylon 66 was a huge gamble for Remington, as traditionally guns had wood stocks. But it was a huge success. The end result was that it became the most successful .22-cal. rifle Remington has ever made, with total production of more than 1,000,000 by 1991 when the Nylon 66 was discontinued. The Nylons have been a "love-'em or hate-'em" gun ever since they were introduced. The appearance and feel were certainly non-traditional. The "love-'ems" seem to be winning, judging by the collector interest and price escalation of the less-common variations.

[airedale]

 

[airedale]

 

[Doc]

I remember a guy that I saw put on a show with all kinds of primitive weapons (mostly archery). His name was Stacy Groscup. Read that he died in 2005, so the show must have been before that. He was shooting aspirins out of the air and shooting disk out of the air, and shooting his longbow from a prone position, if you can imagine that. He held the bow with his feet and shot flying targets that way. It was just one trick shot after another. He also used a blow-gun, and axes and hatchets, and knives. The guy was phenomenal.

Anybody ever hear of that guy?

[airedale]

2 hours ago, Doc said:

Anybody ever hear of that guy?

I have not heard that name myself Doc, when it comes to exhibition archery Byron Fergusen and Howard Hill come to mind for me. They have done similar shots to what you have described above.

 

Edited April 17, 2023 by airedale

[New York Hillbilly]

18 hours ago, Doc said:

He was shooting aspirins out of the air and shooting disk out of the air, and shooting his longbow from a prone position, if you can imagine that.

lol.  I'm lucky to even be able to see an aspirin in the palm of my hand let alone seei one flying through the air. 

[Doc]

5 hours ago, New York Hillbilly said:

lol.  I'm lucky to even be able to see an aspirin in the palm of my hand let alone seei one flying through the air. 

What you could see was a little puff of white dust when the aspirin got hit.  He threw them up himself so they weren't very far away from him. But still an amazing feat. This was a great show because I got to see it in person, and not just on TV. 

It was a long time ago but I believe it was at Creekside Gun Shop near Holcomb, NY. That place has been history now for quite a few years.

Some of the things that these guys can (or could) do seem to be super-human. They are all instinctive archers and somehow internally between their brain and arms and fingers could pull off these amazing trick shots. But then think of what a Quarterback in football can do with an awkward shaped thing like a football with his target zig-zagging down the field and a pile of monster coming to destroy him. That's all instinctive too. Throwing a baseball is also instinctive. There are some crazy things that some humans can do without sight pins. 

[airedale]

Ed McGivern

 

[airedale]