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NAPCA's monthly periodical, originally titled Automatic Magazine was first published on April 1, 1968 out of Tulsa, Oklahoma by Dan Byrne, one of the organization's founders.
This first masthead had special meaning to the organization. An explanation is provided in this first paragraph and introduction from the premier issue:
Our "artist" hopes you will recognize the Borchardt magazine in our masthead. It was selected for several reasons,
not the least of which is that the inventor was an American. It was also picked because the Borchardt is generally acknowledged to be the first commercially successful automatic.
The main reason we honor this magazine, however, is that the Borchardt was the first automatic to have a separate magazine in the pistol grip and it established that as the basic location of the magazine in thousands of automatics to follow.
Among other topics, the first issue included the opening of a discussion about making Dr. J. Howard Matthews, author of the reference Firearms Identification, an honorary member of the Association; a call for future articles; and a call for the final Charter Members to flesh out the initial forty (40) semi-auto pioneers.
These forty charter members were comprised of the four (4) founders: Daniel M. Byrne, John R. Carlson, Donald G. Crews and Ernest J. Lang, as well as 36 other charter members.
Following Association business, the first issue began with the most poignant, and to date, the most important aspect of NAPCA as an Association and AutoMag as its publication--a question:
Is the Sauer and Sohn H38 D.A. 32 automatic really supposed to stay with slide back after the last shot, as Smith's book says? I have never seen one that would stay open on an empty magazine, nor can I see any means to accomplish this, but Smith is usually right. What do you think?
Perhaps most telling about this question, the first question in the history of AutoMag, was its very questioning of accepted thought.
This aggressive approach to research and documentation is the core spirit of NAPCA and AutoMag.
Since this question was asked, member Jim Cate (one of our many member authors) has written two volumes which have answered many questions about the Sauer pistol.
As it turns out, a Sauer pistol does not hold open on the last round, contrary to what had been published at that time.
This search for knowledge and accuracy is the exact reason our members love this publication and why back issues are so highly sought after.
To begin your subscription to this dynamic periodical, join today.
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