Rapid-Fire Pistol, 25 metres, Men

This was the only pistol event in the 1924 Olympics. The shooters fired from 25 metres, with the targets exposed for 10 seconds for each series. Only hits on target were scored. Each shooter fired three strings of six shots, for an 18 possible. Eight shooters fired perfect scores. Tie-breakers consisted of single strings of six shots, with the time reduced to 8 seconds. All eight scored possibles in the first tie-breaker. In the second tie-breaker, three shooters were eliminated. Three more tie-breakers eliminated one shooter each time, leaving Henry Bailey of the USA and Vilhelm Carlberg of the Sweden to shoot-off for the gold medal. They again went clean in the next tie-breaker. In the final tie-breaker, Bailey’s .22 autoloader malfunctioned, when the bullet failed to eject after the first shot. But he reached out with his other hand and removed the casing, and managed to get off five more successful hits on target. Carlberg missed two shots during his string and the gold medal went to Bailey. The Swiss team withdrew because they could not afford the popular American-made weapons used by the winners, and their own material had too much recoil to be competitive in this event.