Innholdsfortegnelse for Fall 2022 i Guns of the Old West

In the last issue of GOW, we covered creating an alias and a persona for your Western Action Shooting (WAS) character. Going hand-in-hand with a name and back-story is a proper costume. In general, the period covered in WAS is 1865 to 1899, and this applies to both SASS (Single Action Shooting Society) and NCOWS (National Congress of Old West Shootists)—the two major governing organizations for WAS/ CAS (Cowboy Action Shooting). Unlike many other shooting sports, competitors at NCOWS or SASS shooting events can’t show up in shorts, t-shirts and sneakers. Part of the appeal of WAS/CAS is dressing the part and portraying a character from the Old West. The rule book for the Single Action Shooting Society is the SASS Shooters Handbook (January 2022 edition). This online publication (available…

As a collector and historian, I’ve come to appreciate that not all things that are rare are valuable, and not all things that are common are unimportant. Recently, a very nice early 1880s vintage, six-shot, Forehand & Wadsworth No .32 rimfire double-action pocket revolver found its way into my possession after the exchange of $170. I didn’t intend to buy it when I first saw it on the gun show table at 9 a.m., but by show closing I’d pondered its significance sufficiently to go back and bargain for it. While its place in history is not as dramatic as winning the Indian Wars, it’s none-the-less important—as important as the first rule of gunfighting, which is… have a gun. In the days of the Old West, just like today, the…

Charles Leeming Tutt Sr. was born in Philadelphia on February 14,1864, a descendent of the Tutt’s who came to America in the late 1600s to become prominent in American politics, business and even war, with them and President George Washington even sharing the same grandfather! Charles went west in 1884, bought a gold mine in Cripple Creek, Colorado, and convinced his best friend, Spencer Penrose, to join him. The two made millions of dollars, mainly in copper, going on to develop land in Colorado Springs where the famous Broadmoor Hotel would eventually be built. Charles and his wife had four children, one of them Charles Leaming Tutt Jr. (January 9, 1889, to November 1, 1961). Charles Senior loved the West and horses, and around 1899 he bought a great stagecoach…

It all started when I joined SASS and registered as a Classic Cowboy. Under the guidelines of this category, I selected my outfit to resemble an 1880’s working cowpuncher. As I began to assume my new persona, Curly Strait, research led me to believe they were mostly a rather “down at the heel” bunch—generally good, honest and hard-working fellers, but underpaid and lacking in top of the line “eeequipment.” I just couldn’t see myself in brand spanking new duds with brand spanking new guns assuming the role of a working cowpoke. I bought my duds secondhand and proceeded to age them by falling down in the dirt and dust, mud and grass, and wiping them with oil and grease, generally abusing both the clothes and me right down to bleeding…

GUN TEST THE most recognized OldWest sixgun was the 7.5-inch Colt Single Action Army, the version of the 1873 Peacemaker chosen by the U.S. government for its mounted soldiers. Solid in the hand with a hefty cartridge that delivered knockdown power and a brel long enough to improve accuracy and increase velocity, the big Colt .45 proved well-suited to cavalrymen. The Peacemaker became legendary as one of two quintessential American arms famously known as “The Guns that Won the West.” In truth, by the time the Peacemaker was in general use, the West had already been won by men armed with post-Civil War era guns and early cartridge conversions of the same. But the Colt .45 became the crown jewel, anointed with legend alongside the Winchester Model 1873, which also…

WESTERN STEEL THE BOWIE KNIFE IS AS DISTINCTIVE AN AMERICAN AS the kukri is for the legendary Gurkhas. Artist images from James “Jim” Bowie’s September 1827 Vidalia Sandbar Fight wielding a knife that became famous as the “Bowie knife” is the starting point of the Bowie legend—both man and weapon. Debate rages over the actual knife design used by Jim that day in 1827 on the Vidalia Sandbar. There is speculation that the knife belonged to Jim’s older brother, Rezin, who had it made by Louisiana blacksmith and neighbor Jesse Cleft (or Clift). I said speculation because no one is certain. Commentaries from eyewitnesses at the Vidalia fight reported Bowie’s knife blending the shape of a large butcher knife with the style of a Spanish navaja knife. This rings true…

One of the interesting aspects of the Lewis and Clark Expedition was their encounters with “Grisly” bears. Armed with the small bore Kentucky/Pennsylvania long rifles, expedition members found their rifles inadequate to kill a grizzly bear. Their journals relate numerous encounters where they had to pursue a wounded grizzly and several hunters would shoot it repeatedly until it finally died. Their experiences with the inadequacies of the long rifle undoubtedly led to the development of the big-bore Mountain and Plains rifle. The best known of these was the Hawken Rocky Mountain rifle produced in the St Louis, Missouri, gun shop of Samuel Hawken. I have a special interest in Hawken rifles due to my spending my entire professional career of 45 years working at what was originally the St Louis…

Western movies have been around for decades, and nearly everyone has their favorites. Fact is, determining a favorite movie requires a moviegoer to consider plot, screenplay, cinematography, underlying lesson or theme, and a number of other factors that all work together to make a movie worthy of watching. One such factor, which we’ll concentrate on today, is a solid, bigger-than-life character combined with the perfect actor to make the movie a blockbuster in your mind. If you’re reading this story today expecting to learn who the Top 5 greatest movie cowboys really are, you’re in for a disappointment. In truth, you can ask five different Western fans and get five different lists—often with very little overlap. What I can do, however, is tell you who my five favorite movie cowboys…

GUNS OF THE WEST FINAL he Winchester Model 1873 has been credited as the "Gun That Won The West," and it remains a true symbol of America. Likewise, Sharps rifles became icons of the Old West due to appearances in many Westerngenre films and books. One long gun that doesn't get nearly as much of the “glory” is the Rolling Block—despite that fact that it was produced in massive numbers. Consider it a case of bad marketing: Winchesters became practically infamous thanks to "Cowboy" movies, while the Rolling Block is largely an afterthought. Burk Mantel has sought to rectify that fact, and for good reason. He's the great, great grandson of Leonard M. Geiger—the gunsmith who designed the basic action of the Rolling Block while working at the Remington Arms…