Cowgirl Shooting
Jul02
I only ever got to try this kind of thing at a friend’s place in the Mojave, when I as a teen. Although I managed to fan all six shots of .45 LC, I managed to hit nothing at all. I don’t know how folks do that Cowboy Shooting stuff. Aside from using blanks, underpowered rounds, prop guns, etc. It should be noted that fanning a single-action cowboy revolver is very bad for it. Don’t do these things, folks.
All of that aside, I went to a Cowboy Action shoot a few years back, and was duly impressed by some of the skills of the competitors. Saw a gal shoot a silver dollar out of the air at 30 yards with a .44-40, which blew my mind.
Fun stuff.
Here’s a dude who became a legend/cliche. Some love him, some hate him. I just wish I had his skills.
Well at least Mike gots a gun store all to himself now.
Big empty gun store with attractive semi-professional shooter.
Better close it for the day.
Squid, your words intrigue me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
*turn* *spit* Nice grouping.
aww, Munden. still sad he’s gone.
I miss Bob.
Wait: no trash-talking Bob Munden. He’s a hero. Here’s the backstory.
Before, during and after the FBI employed an agent who was very likely the single most dangerous handgunner who ever lived. Went by the name “Jelly” Bryce. He killed a shit-ton of bad guys with nothing but a DA revolver, shooting it from the hip. We was downright superhuman at it and he never lost a gunfight. Here he is standing crouched in his preferred shooting position next to the much taller Bill Jordan – this is from near the end of Bryce’s career, probably early fifties, late forties:
http://s695.photobucket.com/user/1911canebrake/media/jellybrycebilljordan.jpg.html
Note the one-handed hold.
The FBI figured Bryce needed to teach this stuff and for a while it became standard FBI handgun protocol:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwg1F7hdRqw
Problem was, if you weren’t a superhuman mothafucker like Bryce this shit would get you killed.
At the time that video was made (1961) the techniques in it were already obsolete. A group of guys in Southern California had got together for a series of competitions called “Leatherslap”. For the first time they did draw-and-fire-at-paper with street-compatible guns, holsters and full-powered ammo, to see what really worked. Given the poor equipment of the time (esp. holsters) what they were doing was dangerous as hell and they risked knees and toes figuring out how to shoot handguns correctly. The competitors were a mix of local cops, Hollywood stuntment and a few others known to be able to handle guns correctly – it was invitation-only due to the risks.
Around 1956 if I recall right, deputy Jack Weaver figured out the two-handed hold in a crouch with eyes on sights that still bears his name. Jeff Cooper took the lead in documenting it. A guy name of Chapman was there, as was Thell Reed, a Hollywood guy who’s still active and did the fight scene choreography for the recent remake of “3:10 To Yuma”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PAjRrtoLaE
James Hogue achieved fame in handgun grips. And the youngest member of that bunch, still a teenager?
Bob Munden.
Leatherslap is the ancestor of IPSC, IDPA, SASS and more. Don’t diss Leatherslappers.
🙂
Damn…that should have been “before, during and after WW2″…sigh.
I really dig that second panel.
And Clint Eastwood is a complete dick.
Serves Omar and Mick right for not testing the ammo in the other guns before blaming the ammo. How is Omar to get laid in Moscow? Fetlife?
Oh hell, I fully expect Omar to return with at least 3 Russian mail-order brides in tow.
Seriously, that’s the first rule of testing anything. If something doesn’t work, you don’t assume A is faulty, you swap out the various components until you discover if it might be B or C that’s got the problem.
That seems to be the way auto mechanics operate as well. ( Then charge customer for replacing A, B and C. )
That is one hell of a nice grouping. Mick is right in getting a boner from watching that.
an erection with no place to go…oh wait..no more redhead…hmmmmm…..
nahhh he can’t be that lucky LOL
I wonder if the redhead shows up right about now….
How is fanning the hammer bad for the pistol? Isn’t that just making the hammer do what it is going to do anyway when the trigger is pulled?
P.S. If anyone is thinking “Gosh he’s dumb, any gun owner should already know this”, please regard the first three words of my sign-on name.
From what I understand, there are two issues.
The first is that any revolver that allows fanning has no transfer bar – the hammer impacts the frame of the revolver directly, and fanning can put extra pressure on the impact, causing the frame to bend.
The second is that fanning puts way too much pressure on the thingy (forgive my lack of knowledge of the precise name of the part) that rotates the cylinder. This can cause it to damage the cylinder dimples that allow for rotation/locking, or even knock the whole thing out of alignment.
If any cowboy shooters want to respond here, tell me if I’m right or wrong, please do.