Could Gunfighters Really Shoot page 13

[Pee Wee #15785]

https://gunsmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/G0156.pdf Page 13

[Marauder SASS #13056]

An interesting article.

 

Plus some great stuff from 1956!

 

My Dad was raised around some of the old cowboys and he would have agreed with much of the article.  He and others much preferred rifles and sometimes shotguns.  And he WAS a crack shot with both.  But he said many did not own their own guns because of the cost of both guns and ammo.  So they were often furnished guns by their employers.  Not much "real cowboy" stuff available for his time so he was a "line rider" who would go out for a few weeks at a time, checking the cattle and the condition of the fences.  As such, he did take a rifle normally - to protect himself and get some game.  For those purposes, it was much more practical than a pistol and weighed only slightly more.  Plus his horse carried it for him.

 

But some were very good shots with pistols but more more with long guns.  Some old Texans discribed how they practiced with their pistols by "ringing a tree."  They circled a tree at a few yards shooting the tree.  Due to the motion, they had better hits by sort of throwing the pistol.  It was a vertical line and when the gun was lined up they pulled the trigger at the end of the "throw.".  Just holding it while riding didn't work as well for common folks.

 

Remember, in the more recent days of revolvers, the average hit rate for police was 17%.  That was a hit, not necessarily a very good hit.  Now training was not great, but shooting while under stress requires at lot.

 

Besides, interrupting a good poker game was a major distraction from the drunken gunfight. 

[Tex Jones, SASS 2263]

Due to the motion, they had better hits by sort of throwing the pistol.  It was a vertical line and when the gun was lined up they pulled the trigger at the end of the "throw."

That's the way Ray Hatton used to shoot in the movies.

[Colorado Coffinmaker]

When "most" gunfights occurred at 10 feet or less, you only needed "minute" of belly.

[Ramblin Gambler]

On 6/3/2021 at 3:11 PM, Tex Jones, SASS 2263 said:

Due to the motion, they had better hits by sort of throwing the pistol.  It was a vertical line and when the gun was lined up they pulled the trigger at the end of the "throw."

That's the way Ray Hatton used to shoot in the movies.

 

If I'm right about the motion being talked about, I read somewhere that the old timers shot like that because they learned on cap n ball pistols, and that extra movement made the gun more reliable by allowing the caps to fall out instead of getting jammed up. 

[Ramblin Gambler]

Oh and as a gunfighter, I would like to confirm that I could indeed shoot page 13.  Or page 11 or page 15 or any other odd numbered page you wanna put up against me.  Don't ask about even numbered pages.  After The Incident, I jut can't bring myself to shoot anything what's divisible by 2.