United States Revolver Association

W

wsg

New member
I've read references to the USRA for years and am curious about it. It seems to have been founded in 1900 to conduct competition as well as being an early advocate for the 2nd Amendment. The last reference I can locate for it is in 1936 when it selected, trained, and financed the U.S. Olympic pistol teams. I can find nothing after that date.

Does anyone know if it still exists? If not, when and what happen to it?
 
I joined the United States Revolver Association around 1954 or 1955. It was then located in Springfield, Mass., home of Smith & Wesson.

Their hand book showed men dressed in the old state trooper uniforms, with the Sam Browne belt and billed military style hat. The officer shown was posed to depict the "ready, raised pistol, and firing positions."

Match regulations were centered around use of a revolver, and NRA targets were the standard, as were the courses of fire.

Standards for the revolver set maximum sight radius, the revolver could have sights that were open and contained no glass. Dimensions were set for weight, trigger pull, and grips.

Target scores could be sent to both the NRA and USRA, and both association awards could be made for the same targets.

I don't know of the demise of the USRA, but the preponderance of autos on the target range has certainly forced the USRA into the background.

Bob Wright
 
I remember shooting some USRA matches in the late 1980's. We had to join the USRA to shoot in the matches, so I had a USRA revolver sticker on my Pachmayr gun box.
They were the typical 900 point NRA bullseye match with the appropriate revolver.
I was shooting a K17 smithed by Bob Chow, a Smith 586 4", and a SW 625 using auto rim reloads.

I have an old patch from my father who shot competitive bullseye at the end of the 1940's and early 1950's. It's a big cloth patch of the USRA. If I can dig it up, I'll post a pic.
 
Henry Stebbins mentioned the USRA in his 1960 book.
He said he had a S&W Single Shot and holster made for a USRA competition in which the pistol was drawn and fired one shot at a time.
USRA had a 20 yard course. NRA lists one but I have not heard of it being done, most shooting at 50 ft and 25 yards, if 50 is not available.
 
One of the clubs we use to shoot at in Sacramento had a unique 20 yard range for bullseye. It was the only one. All the others were outdoors 25, 50 yards, or indoors 25 yard or indoors 50 foot. Those 20 yard slow fire targets seemed extra small for some reason.
It was an old bowling alley I believe as the lanes were polished wood flooring. You had to be careful walking out to change targets!LOL
note: we never shot bowling pins, it was strictly precision pistol.
 
I was mistaken. The USRA patch is mine from the mid 1980's. The patch to the left was my fathers from the San Francisco Police Revolver club. He shot bullseye in the late 1940's with Colt Officers target models with rosewood target grips. They were modified for short action cocking.
And for fun, the patch on the right was when he shot in the national matches in 1951 in San Francisco.
http://www.wwmcmillan.info/natMatches_1951.html
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I was a member of a gun club in Massachusetts that had an association with the USRA around 10 years ago. The USRA at that time sponsored a number of postal-style competitions - not all of which were shot with revolvers - and I joined to participate in some of them (still have a USRA sticker on my gun box). I was aware then that USRA was having some organizational problems and wasn't expected to last much longer. I moved north to gun-friendly New Hampshire shortly thereafter and hadn't thought much about USRA since then. Apparently those that thought they were about to fold were correct.
 
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Flyfish, thanks for the jog in memory. Yes, our local club was involved in the USRA postal matches every winter. I held the California double action record for one year! We shot at 50 feet indoors.

They were fun and you could win nice medals to hang on the wall.
Without digging too much into my bag full of medals, I found this example from 1989. !st place in grand aggregate for sharpshooter class in the state (CA).
You could choose to receive points to spend or medals. I knew the points would be long gone, but the medals would hang around as memories.

You shot the matches in the comfort of your own club with a witness, and then sent in the results to compete individually or team wise across the nation.
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I was a member many years ago.
Held a couple of state records in 2 states.
They were still around in the early 2000's but I think they are now defunct.
Would love to hear that are still around or have been resurrected.
Would join again, even though I'm an old shooter now and skills aren't what they once were.
 
IIRC it merged with the NRA sometime back, a couple of decades if I remember right. It was the first national association to organize matches and was affiliated with shooters internationally.

tipoc
 
^^^^^
The USRA postal matches weren't for revolvers only.
The Grand Aggregate was shot using semi autos by most particpants just like any other precision pistol match. Grand aggragate in this case included your total from both .22 and centerfire and .45 matches.
 
I believe, in their matches, they had an "open class" in which one could use a semi.
The vast majority of the matches were revolver only.
So, it is not as absurd as it first seems.
 
I was one o the officers of the USRA when it went defunct. I kind of "inherited" the position because I was the club member that ran the USRA matches at my own club. There were matches for .45, CF and .22LR pistols and revolvers. Same targets as NRA 50 feet targets. There were also separate revolver matches in single action and double action on a reduced silhouette target. The rule book had a 50 yard "free pistol" match for single shot pistols, but I never saw one run. Double action slow fire is a unique experience, IMHO.

Interest just seemed to wane away to near zero and we couldn't justify even the expense of printing USRA targets. When we finally packed it in, there was no merging with the NRA. All of us were NRA members anyway and members of NRA clubs.
 
If anyone is interested, I have issues of "The US HAND-GUNNER" from July-August 1992 to Oct, Nov, Dec 1996. You may contact me at joecyr657@gmail.com. My only claim to fame being a USRA member and competitor was receiving the Hammond Trophy for most improved shooter in 1992, I think, when I first started competing. I could see then, and shortly thereafter, that interest in this form of competition, unfortunately, was on its way out but I enjoyed the competition and tried my best to keep the interest going in my club.
 
Slight hijacking question here,

IS there a way to hunt down records from state sanctioned police shooting competitions from the 1940-1960 era? I had a lot of law enforcement relatives at that time who were participating in the shooting matches in michigan at that time, as well as the Governors cup in michigan.

I have tried contacting most of the remaining organizations in michigan and some of the ranges, and even the State Police, and cant get anything at all. The state police personel today didnt KNOW that they sponsored shooting matches back then.
 
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