The men's ISSF 25 meter rapid fire pistol was a shooting sports event held as part of the Shooting at the 1924 Summer Olympics programme. It was the fifth appearance of the event (including the "muzzle-loading pistol" in 1896, the 20 metre pistol in 1900, 30 metre "dueling pistol" in 1912, and 30 metre "revolver" in 1920). The competition was held on 28 June 1924 at the shooting ranges at Versailles. 55 shooters from 17 nations competed. Nations were limited to four shooters each. Henry Bailey won the United States' second consecutive championship in the event (though separated by 12 years). Sweden also earned the same medal as in 1912, with Vilhelm Carlberg's silver. Lennart Hannelius took bronze in Finland's debut in the event.

Background

This was the fifth appearance of what would become standardised as the men's ISSF 25 meter rapid fire pistol event, the only event on the 2020 programme that traces back to 1896. The event has been held at every Summer Olympics except 1904 and 1928 (when no shooting events were held) and 1908; it was open to women from 1968 to 1980. The first five events were quite different, with the 1924 competition being the first that closely resembled a modern rapid fire pistol competition. The scoring system in 1924 was quite different from current scoring, however.

Eleven nations competed in the event for the first time: Argentina, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Egypt, Finland, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, and Portugal. France, Great Britain, Greece, and the United States each made their third appearance in the event, tied for most of any nation.

Switzerland withdrew due to their pistols having too much recoil and their team being unable to afford the pistols used by other teams.

Competition format

The format was 18 shots in 3 series of 6 shots each. For each series, there were six separate standing silhouette targets that appeared for 10 seconds; the score for the string was how many targets were hit (there were no scoring rings). Maximum score was thus 18, 1 per shot. Ties were broken through additional series of shots, with the time reduced to 8 seconds per series. One series was shot at a time until the tie was broken.Official Report, p. 574.

Schedule

Date Time Round Saturday, 28 June 1924 Final

Results

A maximum of four competitors per nation were allowed. The format consisted of three strings of six targets shot within ten seconds, for a total of 18 targets. Tied competitors fired successive six-shot strings, each completed within eight seconds, until all ties were resolved. The exact results of the shoot-offs are unknown, except the order of elimination and the gold medal shoot-off.

Seven shoot-offs were needed to determine the gold medalist. Bailey's gun jammed after his first shot, but he pulled the spent case out of the breech, and got off the five shots required in what remained of his eight-second time limit.

Rank Shooter Nation Total Notes Henry Bailey 18 Won in seventh tie-breaker (6 hits) Vilhelm Carlberg 18 Eliminated in seventh tie-breaker (4 hits) Lennart Hannelius 18 Eliminated in fifth tie-breaker 4 Lorenzo Amaya 18 Eliminated in fourth tie-breaker 5 Matías Osinalde 18 Eliminated in third tie-breaker 6 Arnaud de Castelbajac 18 Eliminated in second tie-breaker 7 Unio Sarlin 18 Eliminated in second tie-breaker 8 Einar Liberg 18 Eliminated in second tie-breaker 9 André de Schonen 17 Bernard Betke 17 William Frazer 17 William Whaling 17 Charles Bounton 17 Marian Borzemski 17 Eric Carlberg 17 António Martins 17 Francisco Mendonça 17 Manuel Solis 17 Krikor Agathon 17 Jean Theslöf 17 21 Charles Riotteau 16 Charles Mackie 16 Jalo Autonen 16 Víctor Bigand 16 François Marits 16 Georges de Crequi-Montfort 16 Stanisław Kowalczewski 16 Walerian Maryański 16 Alexandros Theofilakis 16 30 Sten Forselius 15 Rezső Velez 15 António Montez 15 Tirso Hernández 15 Dingenis de Wilde 15 Sikke Bruinsma 15 Carlos Balestrini 15 37 Emilio Piersantelli 14 Georgios Moraitinis 14 Emil Werner 14 40 Philip Griffiths 13 Victor Robert 13 François Lafortune Sr. 13 Ioannis Theofilakis 13 António Ferreira 13 Jan van Balkum 13 Josef Pavlík 13 47 Elemér Takács 12 Bolesław Gościewicz 12 Jaroslav Mach 12 50 Jacques Thuriaux 11 51 Giovanni Scarella 8 Paul Van Asbroeck 8 53 Sándor Prokopp 7 Georgios Vafeiadis 7 Josef Kruz 7

References

External links Official Report