Wild Bill & How He could Shoot

[Smoken D]

Just received this on my police news letter and thought it might be an interest for cowboys. Hope it comes out.

Wild Bill.pdf

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

Attachment not readable

 

[J-BAR #18287]

It opens ok for me.  An account of Hickok shooting revolvers at a 100 yard target.  I can take screenshots and repost if necessary.   Thanks for the article.

[Cactus Jack Calder]

Smoked D,

 

I got it and copied to my files. Thank you for the article.

My mother told me that her Great Aunt always claimed that William F. Cody was the Great Aunts, Great Uncle.

As a child I figured that made him my Great, Great, Great, Great Uncle.    If there is such a title.

 I still tell my grandchildren about my “Uncle Bill” and how they are related.

So far they are not that impressed, but at 12 years old they don’t have a big appreciation for history.

[Pat Riot]

I often wonder if there might be a little exaggeration involved with feats such as this. 

[Subdeacon Joe]

It opened fine for me.

 

Quote

(Clay Speers, the Great Grandson of Thomas Speers, the 1st Chief of Police of the KCPD (1874 – 1895) recently shared an article with me. The article “GUNS AND GUNFIGHTERS” was written by Stuart N. Lake and was published in “The Saturday Evening Journal” on November 1, 1930.) In the summer if 1871 Wild Bill Hickok performed a feat of pistol shooting, this has often been cited as one of the most remarkable on record. It was all of that, but the accounts which have been so widely circulated have invariably given the impression that Wild Bill did his shooting from the hip. What really happened may be of some interest. "Hickok was on Tom Speers' bench showing a pair of ivoryhandled six guns which Senator Wilson had given him in appreciation of his services as guide on a tour of the West. Tom knew, as we all did, Bill's two favorite exhibitions of marksmanship-one, driving a cork through the neck of a bottle with a bullet; the other, splitting a bullet against the edge of a dime; both at about twenty paces. So, when Tom asked Bill what he could do with the new guns, he added that he did not mean at close range, but at a distance that would be a real test. "Diagonally across Market Square, possibly 100 yards away, was a saloon, and on the side wall toward the police station a sign that carried a capital letter, 0. The sign ran off at an angle from Hickok's line of sight; yet before anyone guessed what his target was, Wild Bill had fired five shots from the gun in his right hand, shifted weapons and fired five more shots. Then he told Tom to send someone over to look at the 0. All ten of Bill's slugs were found inside the ring of the letter.”

 

[Springfield Slim SASS #24733]

Musta been a bit "O". Coulda been 2 feet tall, for all the story tells.

[Loophole LaRue, SASS #51438]

3 hours ago, Springfield Slim SASS #24733 said:

Musta been a bit "O". Coulda been 2 feet tall, for all the story tells.

 

Mighta been...but at 100 yards, one-handed, I would still be very impressed.

 

LL

[Pat Riot]

Like I said...exaggeration. 

 

Or...a bit of showmanship. Perhaps this was not the first time those guns were in his hands, but the first time anyone in the public saw him with them.

 

Or...it was actually 50 yards and 5 rounds in the “O” and over time it was 60, then 70, then 80...

 

Or...he was just that good. But, I don’t buy it. Sorry

[Loophole LaRue, SASS #51438]

I would not doubt Wild Bill's ability at 100 yards.....

 

Seems like Tame Bill was able to do it, too.....

 

 

LL

[Loophole LaRue, SASS #51438]

Just out of curiosity....

 

What is the drop at 100 yards for a .36 caliber round lead ball over a full chamber of black powder out of an 1851 Navy with a 7.5" barrel?

 

LL

[Sedalia Dave]

3 hours ago, Loophole LaRue, SASS #51438 said:

Just out of curiosity....

 

What is the drop at 100 yards for a .36 caliber round lead ball over a full chamber of black powder out of an 1851 Navy with a 7.5" barrel?

 

LL

 

With a max load of 30 grains of FFFg,  80 grain round ball,  BC = 0.053  MV = 975 fps, Pistol sighted for zero at 25 yards.

 

 

This is not rocket science. With good eyesight and practice shooting 3 MOA groups at 100 yards should be easy for most pistol shooters. 

 

BPCR shooters hit targets at 1000 yards with iron sights all day long. NRA BPCR targes for 1000 yards have a 10 inch X ring ( 0.955 MOA) the 7 ring is 60 inches or 5.73 MOA.

 

 

[Pat Riot]

1 hour ago, Sedalia Dave said:

This is not rocket science. With good eyesight and practice shooting 3 MOA groups at 100 yards should be easy for most pistol shooters. 

Here is the key. How many BP guns could shoot point of aim at 100 yards right out of the box at 100 yards?

Or I should say, "Would even an experienced shooter, like Wild Bill, be able to use a brand new, never been fired Colt Navy to hit a target at 100 yards without having to regulate the sights or do a thing to the revolver besides load it?"

 

Yes, I am "Doubting Thomas".

[Sixgun Sheridan]

Quote

Bill's two favorite exhibitions of marksmanship-one, driving a cork through the neck of a bottle with a bullet; the other, splitting a bullet against the edge of a dime; both at about twenty paces.

 

I'm afraid my BS meter is pegged regarding these two alleged feats as well.

[Utah Bob #35998]

 

[Loophole LaRue, SASS #51438]

1 hour ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said:

Here is the key. How many BP guns could shoot point of aim at 100 yards right out of the box at 100 yards?

Or I should say, "Would even an experienced shooter, like Wild Bill, be able to use a brand new, never been fired Colt Navy to hit a target at 100 yards without having to regulate the sights or do a thing to the revolver besides load it?"

 

Yes, I am "Doubting Thomas".

 

Some interesting issues, there.

 

I've never handled a brand new, just-out-of-the-box Colt 1851; in those days, did they test fire (and adjust the sights) on guns before they delivered them?  Did the good Senator have them adjusted before having them delivered to Wild Bill?

 

And, of course, without more details, we really don't know from the story as printed whether these Colts were "brand new" (as in never before fired) or just recent (as in just received them a week or two ago, and have been test firing and adjusting them since received).

 

But then, I'm a "glass half full" kind of guy - I even believe that Robin Hood split the arrow.

 

I'll give Wild Bill the benefit of the doubt.

 

What fun is it not to?  

 

LL

[J-BAR #18287]

Sedalia Dave’s table is informative, but remember that the 1851 Navy sights were intended to zero about 75 yards.  That is why we usually see them hitting too high on CAS targets.  So the ball drop below line of sight would not be quite as much as the table indicates.

[Pat Riot]

I do believe that the story of Wild Bill taking on Paul Bunyan while Johnny Appleseed refereed is definitely bull stuff.

[Sedalia Dave]

How about accuracy with more primitive weapons.

 

Watch world class Archer Byron Ferguson shooting progressively smallet objects using a long bow and wooden arrows.

 

 

[Carolina Gunslinger]

Wild Bill could have missed the whole hotel and the guy said he hit all ten. You wanna get shot over someone's honor?

[Shotgun Willie Nelson]

14 hours ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said:

I often wonder if there might be a little exaggeration involved with feats such as this. 

Only when I shoot.

[Sixgun Sheridan]

If Wild Bill were alive today he could write articles for Guns & Ammo.

[Sedalia Dave]

On ‎10‎/‎17‎/‎2018 at 12:52 PM, J-BAR #18287 said:

Sedalia Dave’s table is informative, but remember that the 1851 Navy sights were intended to zero about 75 yards.  That is why we usually see them hitting too high on CAS targets.  So the ball drop below line of sight would not be quite as much as the table indicates.

 

Same data but with a 75 yard zero