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Question about man mentioned in Unintended Consequences: Ad Topperwein

4K views 6 replies 7 participants last post by  dr_cmg 
#1 ·
Okay, I read Unintended Consequences a few years ago, and I enjoyed it.

John Ross mentioned (heavily) a man named Ad Topperwein, who in the early 20th century was known for being able to shoot 1.5" blocks of pinewood out of the air with a BAR!

Now, I haven't gone looking around the web yet, but why haven't I seen ANY mention of this man, outside of Unintended Consequences, anywhere in gun-dom? I mean, his name never comes up in any of the gun magazines I now and then read (or used to subscribe to). I never see any mention of an annual award called the "Ad Topperwein Exemplary Marksmanship Award" or anything.

He's not a fictional make-up on Ross' part, right? He was a real guy?

Is that stuff about how many thousands of blocks he hit without a miss, in the air, with a BAR, truth?! It's a bit hard to swallow. . .
 
#3 ·
I have had the pleasure of shooting with John at his quarry on several occasions. According to him, nearly every fact presented in the first section of UC is true, but the situations and main characters are fiction.

He's writing a sequel :) It won't be ready any time soon :(

Ed Topperwein and his wife Plinky were real exhibition shooters for Winchester. The record (still standing), and the photo in the book, are authentic. I don't know about his having shot block steel with a BAR, but I can't imagine it being beyond his skill to do so.

I've watched John himself shoot clay birds out of the air with a Suomi 9mm.

Heck, just ask him yourself! http://www.john-ross.net
 
#4 ·
There’s a real easy way to find out what you want to know. E-mail John Ross at jrinvest@earthlink.net and ask him.

By the way, the History Channel aired a special on exhibition shooters a while back, that included footage of Ad Topperwein and Plinky giving an exhibition shooting demonstration years ago. Also, when John Ross appeared on the Outdoor Channel’s Shooting Gallery show a couple of weeks ago, he showed the host, Michael Bane the .50 BMG rifle he built to shoot clay pigeons with. Yes, he has been using it to shoot clay pigeons.

The reason you’ve probably not heard of Ad Topperwein is he died decades ago. Most folks who have been dead that long, tend not to be mentioned much in current periodicals.
 
#6 ·
On either History Channel or TLC they had a show recently called Sharpshooters and they showed a very old & grainy film with Ad Topperwein doing his thing.
 
#7 ·
Here are a few sites with lots of info about both of the Topperweins. Among other things mentioned is that is Ad's wife Pinky was told by no less an expert than Annie Oakley that she was the greatest shooter of all time. Ad had lots of competition - his wife.

http://www.traphof.org/inductees/topperwein.htm
http://www.traphof.org/roadtoyesterday/november2000.htm
http://rmoa.unm.edu/docviewer.php?docId=wycob-m00064.xml
http://www.showmanshooter.com/html/body_toepperwein.html
http://www.rainbowsendbb.com/museum.html
 
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