Hart House
This is a target I saved from my shooting days at the Hart House Revolver Club at the University of Toronto. (Hover your mouse on it and a larger image will pop up) I was a member of the club for about ten years, a Committee Member, Range Officer and competed on Team One. During the club's 50th anniversary year I won the Gold Ring (Now just called a 95 Spoon, I believe, and requiring only 10 targets - when I did it 20 targets were required, but I turned in 30.) for marksmanship. Two of us received this award and we were the third and the fourth members to have won it in twenty-one years.
The gun I used for this target was my Model 52-2 Smith and Wesson .38 firing wad cutters (which is all the 52-2 will shoot, being a target pistol). I bought the gun from an older club member. It was factory stock except for a minor trigger job and custom wooden grips. I could usually clear out the centre of a target with ten shots but on this particular day I thought the pattern formed by the first five rounds was worth keeping. I am glad now that I kept it. The target shows five consecutive shots fired at twenty yards with one hand.
I found handgun shooting at Hart House thoroughly enjoyable and I do miss it. I sold my guns in 1988, after I returned to the UK.
Times change, however, and Hart House is presently kicking the Revolver Club out. I imagine this is due to political correctness. This is a shame in my opinion. The Hart House Revolver Club is/was the oldest club in Hart House and, as I recall, is/was the biggest handgun club in Canada. It had an impecable safety and character record, which is more than I can say for some of the Toronto Police who visited to compete and participate in safety courses. During the coffee break in one match a police officer boasted about going down to the cells and beating up an Indian whenever he got bored. This didn't go down very well with me since I am the adoptive father of three North American Indian children and the natural mother of the oldest died in police custody after being beaten by three policemen. During one advanced safety course another idiot cop actually pointed a gun at me! (and said, if you can believe this, 'Don't worry, it isn't loaded') Who hires these guys?
I might well add, 'Who supervises these guys?'
Hart House is one of the most marvellous places on the planet! I suppose it is much busier now than when I was there (almost daily). I especially enjoyed the graceful swimming pool and the weight room. I continued weight training at grad school and eventually benched 330 pounds which was then twice my body weight.
I was a member of the University of Toronto Masters Swimming Club and competed at the 1985 inaugural World Master's Games in Toronto in the 50 metre freestyle, finishing well into the top half of my age group. This was with a painful shoulder I had pulled in training, so I was quite pleased. It was a great experience.