Pistol Work
by Jim Taylor

I have been around men who were fast with a gun since I was a kid.   You would probably not recognize any of their names for they were (and are not) nationally known.  But they were fast never-the-less.  My Dad is one of them.    He  has always been quick, having fast natural reflexes.  I can remember as a small boy watching him do fast work with both single action and double action pistols.  Working in law enforcement, he specialized on the double action later on and even today in his late 70's he is mighty sudden.  Barrel length never was a problem to him.  He was equally fast with a 4" or a 6" barrel.   Years   ago he used an 8" barreled Remington .44 cap & ball revolver to do fast draw.  An original 1858, he used it efficiently.  He would stand arm's length from a fence post, toss a quarter at the fence post with his gun hand, then draw and shoot the post before the quarter hit it.  Rarely did he not beat it.

Ed Piper was a prospector in the Superstition Mountains of Arizona when I was a kid.    Though I never got to meet him personally I was around people who did.   He carried a Model 1917 S&W .45 slung low and was pretty good with it.  He once had a man throw a cocked .30-30 on him.  The man began to cuss Ed, telling him he was going to kill him.  I guess he was working himself up to it.  While the guy was cussing him,  Ed jerked the old Smith and shot the guy 3 times.  Then he walked into Apache Junction and turned himself into the authorities.  The Sheriff investigated it and ruled it justifiable.  Ed later said that the guy talked too much.  If he was going to shoot him he should have shot first, then cussed him.

To become proficient with a handgun means (to me) that the gun can be used accurately without conscious thought.  It has become an extension of the person.  Just as in driving a vehicle, if you have to think what to do when someone pulls out in front of you - it is too late, so with the proficient use of a firearm.  The reaction should be instinctive.....and correct.  Again, as in driving, hitting the brakes many times is the last thing you want to do.  But gaining that knowledge and skill does not come by reading books or watching TV.  It is the result of having practiced, practiced, and practiced.....and of having been "there" a time or two and survived.  And I don't mean in a gunfight.  I mean having used a firearm to make a quick shot on a snake that is about to strike, or to drop a critter that is intent upon getting you!  Or any other situation that would call for a fast, quick, accurate shot.

Most people today don't seem to want to spend the time, energy and money required to be really good - whether with a car or a gun.  However there is no other way.  Some things have to be sacrificed to attain one's goal of being really good.  (And this does include being SAFE while you are using the gun. To be proficient means you are good at every aspect of the use of the firearm.)  Once you have attained a level of workmanship with a gun, PRACTICE is the ONLY way to maintain it.

Someone once told Ed McGivern that a certain trick was impossible with a sixgun.    I think it was the feat of hitting a can in the air that was dropped from the height of 20 feet.   Ed says in his book that after shooting approximately 30,000 rounds he found he could do it quite easily.   Most people don't shoot that much ammo in several years, let alone months.  But to get good you have to shoot a lot.  I was told that Ad Topperwein's driveway was "paved" with empty .22 shells.  Back in the '60's when I visited Nick Seivers who used to shoot for various ammo companies,  I noted the ground around his shop was covered with empty .22 shells.  My Dad put over 300,000 rounds through his S&W 586 in the first 10 years he owned it.  He still shoots it. It has been rebarreled once, had the crane tightened once, had the end-shake tightened once and had the trigger and hammer replaced twice.  I do not know how many he has put through the gun but it has to be close to a half million rounds.

Part of my routine has been to dry-fire 1/2 hour a session, twice a week.    Sometimes I will spend another half hour drawing and snapping the gun, practicing pointing the gun at some object and seeing how I am lining up on it.  All this is done along with shooting 100 or so rounds each week.  Some years back Tom Peterson and I practiced together  at least twice a month.  We got to the place where we could shoot palm-sized groups at 15 feet in total darkness.  I had an indoor range in those days where we would shoot in the winter and both of us got fairly good at it.

The practice of drawing and firing,  whether on the range or dry-firing, is not done at top speed.  The idea is to build smoothness and consistency.  What you put into the "computer" will come out when you start running on adrenaline.    Speed comes with fear and excitement.  When I get scared I want to be smooth and consistent.  For instance, I was walking in the desert with a visiting minister one afternoon, not paying too much attention to where I was going.  As I went to step down with my left foot I noticed a rather large, fat diamondback rattler under my foot all cocked and ready to go off.  Somehow, with my left foot still in the air, I levitated upwards to a pretty decent altitude. During this time I found my six-shooter in my hand and I was firing it.   Two shots hit the snake in the head and two hit him in the body.  I have the mental impression of firing all 4 shots while still in the air, though that does seem unlikely.  However it is the way I remember it.   The draw and firing were totally unconscious, simply an instinctive reaction.  If you practice for smoothness and consistency there will be a time when you will be faster than you can believe.

I do not know all the tricks the oldtimers used but I have come to understand that there were very few of the "face off, walk and draw" type shoot-outs made popular by the movies.  There were times when men faced each other in combat, but they usually had their guns in their hands.  Turkey Creek Jack Johnson faced two men at once in Deadwood.  They met in front of the cemetery, which was thoughtful of them.  They started toward each other at about 50 yards distant with their guns in their hands.  Before they had gone very many steps the two men coming at Johnson had each emptied their guns and switched to backup guns.  It is recorded that Johnson only fired two shots and that he killed both his adversaries.

Josephine Earp (Wyatt's wife) recorded in her memoirs "I Married Wyatt Earp" that Doc Holliday and Morgan Earp cocked their guns in their holsters as they walked up on the cowboys behind the OK Corral that fateful day.  It makes sense to me.  I would do the same thing - and have when I thought I was going to need it.  It is what was known as an "edge".  The "edge" was whatever the person felt would give him an advantage in a deadly situation.  Luke Short stated that he liked to use the .45 Colt and to crowd in close in a gunfight.  If he missed the first shot the blast usually set his opponent's clothes on fire.  That was Mr. Short's "edge".  Another old-time Sheriff said he used talcum powder in his holster to help speed up his draw.  Whatever each person's "edge" was, the express purpose was to give them extra confidence in a bad situation. 

One thing stands out with all the people I have know who were really good with a gun......they were familiar with them.  It showed in the way they handled them.    There was no fumbling, bumbling around.  No "accidental" shots fired.  They were in control. These men handled their guns a lot, used them, shot them and worked with them consistently.  I sometimes cringe when I see people trying to unload a single action.  The barrels point this way and that, the ejector rod is poked, prodded, thumbed, slipped and there is a lot fumbling around.  Not a picture to inspire confidence.  I am sure some of the old timers are spinning in their graves!   It is said that Bat Masterson practiced in front of an audience quite often.  John Wesley Hardin was very good at handing his guns and could do spins, rolls and border shifts with ease.  Once, when he had been arrested by the Texas Rangers,  they gave him an empty gun and had him put on a show for them.  The Rangers said his skill was amazing. 

That kind of gun handling was done for several reasons, not the least of which was to maintain dexterity.  I don't go in for it myself, having dropped a gun once and been embarrassed by it, but it is fascinating to watch a master at it.  And the man who is familiar with his gun has the best "edge" of all - personal confidence.  It only comes with PRACTICE!!  Most all of my gun work has been done over the years with single actions. They are not the only type to use and I would not try to convince you that they are.  They are they type I have chosen to use.  Whatever type of firearm you use, PRACTICE with it.  Use it. Handle it daily.  Learn to manipulate it safely with either hand.  Shoot it - if not daily - at least weekly.  Get so familiar with the feel of it that when you use it, it lays in your hand naturally as if it were a part of you.  Treat it as least as well as you treat your lover.  It may someday save your life.  Mine has.

Click HERE for Part II