Shooting at the 1908 Summer Olympics – Men's 50 yard pistol

Olympic shooting event

The men's individual revolver and pistol competition was one of 15 shooting sports events on the shooting at the 1908 Summer Olympics programme. The competition was held on Friday, 10 July 1908. Each nation could enter up to 12 shooters. Forty three sport shooters from seven nations competed. Nations were limited to 12 shooters each. The event was won by Paul Van Asbroeck of Belgium, with his countryman Réginald Storms taking silver. They were the first medals for Belgian shooters in the free pistol. American James Gorman finished with the bronze medal after an unsuccessful protest, claiming he had put one bullet through a previous hole. Great Britain and Sweden each made their debut in the event. Belgium, France, Greece, the Netherlands, and the United States each made their second appearance, tied for most of any nation. Van Asbroeck used a Sauveur HS 6.

The competition had each shooter fire 60 shots, in 10 series of 6 shots each, at a distance of 50 yards. The target was round, 50 centimetres in diameter, with 10 scoring rings. Scoring for each shot was up to 10 points, in increments of 1 point. The maximum score possible was 600 points. Any revolver or pistol could be used; only open sights were allowed. Any ammunition with a metal cartridge case could be used.

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

Sixty shots were fired at a distance of 50 yards. Each hit counted between 1 and 10 points, for a total maximum score of 600. Rank Shooter Nation Score Paul Van Asbroeck 490 Réginald Storms 487 James Gorman 485 4 Charles Axtell 480 5 Jesse Wallingford 467 6 André Barbillat 466 7 William Ellicott 458 8 Irving Calkins 457 9 John Dietz 455 10 André Regaud 451 11 Geoffrey Coles 449 12 Jacob van der Kop 447 13 Henry Lynch Staunton 443 14 William Russell Lane Joynt 442 15 René Englebert 441 16 William Newton 440 17 Léon Moreaux 438 18 Franz Albert Schartau 436 19 Thomas LeBoutillier 436 20 Vilhelm Carlberg 432 21 Reginald Sayre 430 22 Jean Depassio 427 23 Charles Wirgman 425 24 Piet ten Bruggen Cate 421 25 Frangiskos Mavrommatis 419 26 Alexandros Theofilakis 409 27 Johan Hübner von Holst 408 28 Peter Jones 407 29 Ioannis Theofilakis 406 30 Léon Lécuyer 401 31 J. Nelson Fevre 399 32 Defkalion Rediadis 397 33 Eric Carlberg 396 34 Maurice Robion du Pont 391 35 Otto von Rosen 386 36 Jan de Blécourt 381 37 Jacques Pinchart 372 38 Walter W. Winans 368 39 Henry Munday 358 40 Gerard van den Bergh 343 41 Christiaan Brosch 337 42 John Bashford 329 43 Antonie de Gee 226