John Henry Fitzgerald: An Underrated Innovator

John Henry Fitzgerald is a name that’s unlikely to be known by the average shooter, but the average shooter is likely familiar with his contributions to the world of firearms. Fitzgerald came into this world in 1876, and the ripples from his contributions to firearms and defensive shooting are still felt to this day. The majority of his innovations are somewhat unknown these days, and most only know him for his famed Fitz Special Revolvers. 

The Man 

Mr. Fitzgerald had been interested in firearms and shooting since he was a youngster. Like many of us, he started with .22s and worked to become a proficient shot. His interest in firearms never waned, even as he spent time as a bare-knuckle prizefighter. He rose to become a champion pistol shooter and was a fan of Colt revolvers. 

Fitzgerald became well known for his ability to tune a Colt New Service revolver to increase its potential performance. While the practice started to improve his own competition revolvers, he became so skilled at adjusting springs and smoothing out internals that he began doing it for other shooters. His reputation made its way to Colt, who hired him as a salesman in 1918. 

The move was smart. In this era, police, military, and civilians likely relied on demonstrations to prove the quality of a firearm. If you hire a skilled shooter with an innate understanding of your firearms, then you’re likely to have one heck of a demonstration. He would later become an expert in charge of the testing department at Colt. 

Fitzgerald also served as a New York State Trooper, where he became a firearms instructor. In this role, he was able to bring a practical aspect to his firearms education. He would also go on to train bank guards and armored car employees. 

The Contributions of John Henry Fitzgerald 

Fitzgerald’s combination of diverse firearm experience led him to be a natural innovator in the field of firearms and training. He took this work seriously and eventually compiled his knowledge into a book called Shooting. Outside that fantastic volume, he had several innovations that clearly inspired some of the ideas that are still around today. 

The Fitz Special 

John Fitzgerald is most well known for the Fitz Special, his take on a concealed-carry revolver. These guns are famous for their cut trigger guard, which was novel and admittedly didn’t catch on with most companies. Fitzgerald built his guns from the bodies of Colt revolvers. He worked with the .38 Special Police Positive revolvers and the Colt New Service in .45 Colt. 

The process of creating a Fitz Special meant hopping the barrel to approximately two inches. This required him to fit a new front sight and shorten the ejector rod. Fitzgerald would also bob the hammer, which effectively made the revolver a double-action-only design. The grips would then be rounded, and the front half of the trigger removed. The idea was to create a small, easily carried powerhouse of a firearm that could sit in your front pocket. Fitzgerald reportedly carried two New Service guns in .45 Colt in his front pockets. 

A lot of effort went into creating a design that would be snag-free when drawn. The Fitz Special revolvers were made in small numbers, officially listed as under 200. Some historians, however, contest that it was actually less than 40. Some very famed folks carried Fitz Specials. One was gifted to Rex Applegate, notorious gunfighter Charles Askins carried one, and so did Charles Lindbergh and Clyde Barrow. 

The Fitz Special was influential enough for Colt to make the Detective Special. The Fitz Special would go on to influence the future of all snubnose revolvers. To this day, the current crop of deep-carry J-frames isn’t all that far off from the Fitz guns. 

The Colt Police Silhouette Target

Fitzgerald and his peers grew up in a time when bull’s eye targets were the norm. Target shooting and bull’s eye shooting methods were the hip thing to do. Did these things have anything to do with actual gunfighting? Or practical shooting in any way? Nope. Fitzgerald recognized that bull’s eye targets aren’t exactly the best thing for practical training, specifically combat training. 

While Fitzgerald worked with Colt, he developed the Colt Silhouette Target. This is one of the earliest examples of a practical target design. The target goes back to 1923, and Fitzgerald’s idea was to present a man-sized target for police and military use. This target would provide a more accurate representation of an actual combat situation. 

The silhouette target was made up of numerous zones with designated areas that marked the vital zones of the human body. This target would later be called the B-21. It was adopted widely by law enforcement agencies, including the FBI. The target isn’t seen too often today, but it’s a clear influence on a multitude of police training targets, as well as IPSC and USPSA targets. 

Champion for Two-Handed Shooting  

Not only did police departments utilize bull’s eye targets, but they also instructed their officers to use a single-hand target shooting style to hit those tiny targets. This single-handed shooting style was oriented towards bull’s eye shooting and was far from practical. John Fitzgerald became an early advocate of two-handed shooting. In his book, Shooting, he advocates for two-handed shooting, and he takes a stance not too far from the modern era. 

The grip shown in the book looks like a Weaver stance, with the left foot in front of the right foot and both hands engaging the gun. He states that a two-handed grip allows for accurate shooting, especially if the shooter is trembling and out of breath. It’s also mentioned that shooters can fire faster with this two-handed style. 

While two-handed shooting is often credited to Jack Weaver and Jeff Cooper, it’s worth noting that Fitzgerald was talking about the practice in 1930. That’s decades before Jeff Cooper and Jack Weaver popularized the idea. Fitzgerald was ahead of his time but clearly didn’t have the same reach as Cooper and Weaver had in the 1950s and 60s. 

Developed One Of The First Practical Shooting Qualifications 

During his time with the New York State Troopers, John Fitzgerald developed a practical firearms qualification. It tossed away the idea of using a Bull’s Eye target and a dainty one-handed shooting style. Instead, Fitzgerald wanted to make a combative, practical qualification. The New York State Troopers used the qualification, and it was published in Fitzgerald’s book Shooting. 

The qual called for shooters to exercise a wide variety of skills. This included shooting with one hand, including both your dominant and weak hands (independently). The exercise had tons of draws to the first shot, which was new for the time. Troopers had to run and shoot and practice hitting various parts of the Colt Silhouette target. It was even timed, with time being a factor in passing the qualification. 

This laid the groundwork for the practical police and military qualifications we see today. In fact, Fitzgerald’s own qual is tougher than many modern ones. 

Looking Forward 

The name John Henry Fitzerald is well associated with his contributions to concealed carry revolvers, and rightly so. The Fitz Special was a revolutionary firearm, but that’s not the sum of Fitzgerald’s contributions to the world of firearms. The man was an innovator in targets, training, and modern shooting styles. 

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