Growing Up - Shooting
by Allen Taylor
From the time I was little my ambition was to be a Trick-Shooter. I was born in 1922 and when I was a young boy Trick Shooters were traveling the country putting on shows. They did some amazing things and I wanted to do it too. I read stories of Ad Topperwein and his wife, Ed McGivern lived not too far from me and I heard of his skill from time to time. I got to know Nick Sievers who shot for Winchester. So I practiced. I practiced long and hard. I shot every chance I could get. Money was hard to come by and though .22's were cheap, it was hard to make a dollar in 1934. I would work on the ranches and save all my money, then make a run to town and buy as many .22's as I could. I usually bought shorts since they were the cheapest to get. Then I would shoot!
I shot everywhere I could. My Uncle went to the World's Fair (I think it was in Chicago that time) and I stayed on his ranch and took care of it. I had an old gunny-sack "full" of .22's and shot 'em all up by the time he came back. I killed rats and pigeons in the barn. The rats got to where they would hide behind the 4x4 posts, so I used my Uncle's high-powered rifle ( a .32-20 Winchester) to shoot through the posts and kill the rats. Uncle was a bit put out when he returned and found holes in the roof of the barn AND his posts shot up. But I got lots of pigeons and rats!
I would throw stuff in the air and shoot at it and got pretty good. Eventually I got to the place where I had someone throwing bottles in the air for me and I would break the bottle where they asked: "at the top of the throw"; "halfway to the ground"; "two feet off the ground"; etc. We would stand on the edge of the dump and shoot bottles for hours. I spent nearly all my hard-earned cash on cartridges, and when you consider most of us kids made about 50 cents a day, well..........
I remember one time some boys from town came out to the ranch and wanted to shoot. They had some .22 shells but no gun. I had the gun but not many shells at the time. We went out to shoot and they told me to shoot first. The gun was an old H&R top-break .22 that had a real tight bore (about .2175") and was really accurate. I had one of the boys put a thumbtack in a post, then I stepped back about 30 or 40 feet. I only had 1 Long Rifle shell and 1 Long. Everyone knew the Longs were not as accurate as the Long Rifle. I told them, "I am going to shoot the tack with the Long." I held on it, squeezed and managed to hit the tack slightly off center. Then one of the boys tossed something in the air and I broke it with the Long Rifle. I was doing real well and decided to quit while I was ahead (and I was out of shells also) so I handed the gun to the guys and let them shoot up their ammo in it. They went back to town and bragged around town that "Allen hits everything he shoots at"! I had only fired 2 shots that day, but I did not explain it to anyone unless they asked.
I read every book I could get a hold of about shooting. By the time I was 14 I had read Mann's book, "The Bullet's Flight". I read gunsmithing manuals and books and started making pistols when I was 14. They were single-shot .22's for the most part, but they worked. I used them for Trick Shooting and for hunting. When I was 15 I dropped a rabbit at a measured 100 yards with a single-shot .22 pistol that had a 4 1/2" barrel. It was real accurate. My Dad was a blacksmith and in my early teens I learned how to temper steel, how to case harden steel etc. I enjoyed making the pistols. I once made a nice .45-70 single shot pistol from an old Rolling Block rifle. During the summer I fired a load using a 45 Colt pistol bullet over a case full of black powder. The powder flash set the weeds on fire and I had a time getting it put out.before it got into the wheat.
There were not many "big" guns in my part of the country. Not too many people could afford them. My Uncle had one, a real Colt Single Action Army. It was a big gun. A 4 3/4" in .38 Long Colt! He killed 3 bears with this gun. The 4th bear nearly got him and cured him of shooting bears with it. But to us it was a big gun. One of the neighbors had a Colt Single Action that was in .45 Colt - the magnum of my day. A tramp came by the neighbors house while he was gone and tried to open the front door. The neighbor's wife met the tramp with the .45 Colt. He said, "Lady, you don't even know how to use such a big pistol." and she said, "See that fence post with the knob on top?" and proceeded to shoot the knob off. Needless to say the tramp went on down the road.
When I was 18 I went to work in the Portland Ship Yards. I made enough money that I could buy some of the guns I had dreamed about. I went to a Pawn Shop and bought a silver-plated Colt 45 Single Action. It had a 7 1/2" barrel and was a beauty. I dreamed of doing Trick Shooting with it. Then World War Two came along and derailed my plans. When the War was over and I returned home I found the Trick Shooters were gone. Probably the "liability" thing put a stop to it.
Over the years I kept up the "trick shooting" just for the personal fun of it. And to entertain people now and then. I switched to Double Actions back in the 1950's and have pretty much stayed with them. I shot the Colt Model 1911 some, but I am better with the Double Action pistols. Mostly Smith & Wesson's. I have shot my old Smith loose several times over the years, but we keep rebuilding it and keep it going. It is smoother now than it ever was.
Although it has been some time since I have done a lot of the things I used to do (I am 77 now) I would like to give it a try once again. I have thought about having someone video-tape it so the family would have it.. The years have stove me up a lot, yet I think that if I get out and limber up I could do some of the things I used to do. It's all still there in my mind. If I can just get the body to co-operate........
Webmaster's Note: I grew up thinking it was normal to shoot small things out of the air with a sixgun, to shoot small targets at extremely long range with a sixgun, and to carry one every day. I thank God for my Dad's influence. He introduced me to Elmer Keith, Ed McGivern and other old-timers not so well-known. He has worked in Law Enforcement and as an amateur ballistician most of his life, and has invented a number of things including the Taylor Throat and the .22 SGB. One of the things he has played with in recent years is a gain-twist, choke-bored handgun barrel. He made all his own tools to do the rifling! Today at 77 he still shoots every day, keeping the skills sharp that he learned so many years ago.