Innholdsfortegnelse for Spring 2023 i Guns of the Old West

The Single Action Shooting Society was founded in 1987. Although the members of SASS compete in Cowboy Action Shooting (CAS), about the closest most get to a horse is one made out of an old barrel with a saddle cinched tight atop it. CAS match stages are all generally shot with the cow folks’ feet planted firmly on terra firma. However, some cowboys and cowgirls who actually owned and rode horses decided to see what it would be like to shoot their six-guns from atop a moving equine. In the mid-1990s, cowboy-mounted shooting competitions started being held. Basically, it was like mounted barrel racing at a rodeo, but while galloping around barrels on your horse, you also shot at balloons using blank cartridges to pop them. In the Saddle In…

The introduction to the 1992 film Unforgiven shows a tatterdemalion Clint Eastwood, armed with a Model 1858 Starr revolver, struggling, without success, to hit a tin set atop a fence post about 25 feet away. On the surface, you could say that scene was a fairly embarrassing cameo for a pistol that rarely appears in the movies. As the film unfolds, we realize that it wasn’t the gun (it rarely is), just that the shooter was long out of practice. I’m not bragging, but at 25 feet, I could hit that target almost every time shooting double-action with my Pietta replica Model 1858 Starr. The Starr is more than just a decent gun. Operational procedures aside, the 1858 Starr revolver was very advanced for its day. In it, I see…

It doesn’t seem that long ago that I was at the SHOT Show and got my first glimpse of the Henry Lever-Action .22, which became known as the “Golden Boy.” It looked like a scaled-down Winchester Model 92 but had an ejection port on the side and cartridge loading was accomplished via a slot in the magazine tube. However, the two most remarkable features were its shiny brass receiver and its incredibly smooth lever action. It was being produced by Henry Repeating Arms (HRA) at a small manufacturing facility in Brooklyn, New York. The founder and CEO of the company is Anthony Imperato. Anthony obtained the rights to the Henry name, but the company has no lineage to the inventor other than to honor B. Tyler Henry. Back then, I…

HEADING WEST OREGON TRAIL was littered with personal belongings, tables and chairs, grandfather clocks, dressers and wooden boxes—all stuff deemed unnecessary as the trip began to take its toll on the wagon, oxen and the emigrants. By the end of the journey, not much was left but the necessities to help them start a new life in Oregon. But what were some of the edible things found in an average prairie schooner? Joel Palmer, a pioneer who made his first trip in 1845, wrote the travel guide Journal of Travels Over the Rocky Mountains in 1847. In it, he recommended the following list of supplies for each adult: “…Two hundred pounds of flour, thirty pounds of pilot bread, seventy-five pounds of bacon, ten pounds of rice, five pounds of coffee,…

Often, the words pioneer and frontiersman are used interchangeably. Though they are similar, they have their own distinct meanings. A pioneer is a man or woman who leaves a highly populated area to settle land further away from civilization, while a frontiersman (or woman) is a person that was born on the fringe of civilization and grew up already apart from the “hustle and bustle” of busy, established communities. Like these two comparable words, historic figures Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett are often grouped together due to their attire, their weapons and their time in history. However, Daniel Boone was the pioneer of the two, as he established “Boonesborough” west of the Appalachians. Davy Crockett called the “West” home from birth, only visiting the 13 colonies as an inquisitive tourist.…

Renowned for her bravery, toughness, keen marksmanship, relentless work ethic and generosity, Mary Fields (ca. 1832–1914)—also known as Stagecoach Mary and Black Mary—became a beloved citizen of Cascade, Montana. So much so that the town’s public schools were closed to celebrate her birthday. But because the exact date of her birth was unknown, Mary’s birthday was apparently whenever she said it was. Some years it was even celebrated twice! Mary was said to be a “solid woman,” at least 6 feet tall and weighing more than 200 pounds. She never married and had no children. Apart from her apron and skirt, Mary Fields normally wore men’s clothes. She was celebrated for her work ethic and widely admired for her great skill at hunting, shooting, gardening, construction, raising livestock, packing horses…

Before delving into the subject of this article, I wish to unequivocally state that I have the highest regard for the indigenous peoples of North America. I became fascinated with Native Americans during my youth and remain a student of their cultures and history. Though the outcome of the westward tide of pioneers and settlers was inevitable, it has been so throughout history, across all continents and cultures. The story of invasion, of conquering another culture to gain power, wealth or real estate is not a new one, nor one limited to this country’s growth. So, let’s abstain from the political rhetoric and take a closer look at the tools of the trade of some of the greatest warfighters in history. Timeless Tacticians In publications such as this, much has…

For fans of Western movies, 1973 was what might well be described as a pretty darned good year. Fine Westerns just seemed to dominate the silver screen that year, and I’ll admit I’m old enough that I caught a few of them when they first came out in the theater. From “Cahill U.S. Marshall” to “High Plains Drifter” and several others, the early to mid-1970s was a magical time for Western movie fans. If you haven’t watched these five films in a while, this 50th anniversary year would be a good time to give them a gander and remember just how great a year 1973 was for Western moviegoers. Cahill U.S. Marshal As you likely recall, in this great movie John Wayne plays widowed U.S. Marshal J.D. Cahill, a…

CAP & BALL LAST YEAR MARKED THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE RUGER OLD ARMY, and even though the gun was discontinued by Ruger in 2008, black-powder enthusiasts still consider it the best 19th-century percussion revolver that was never made! These hefty, six-shot, black-powder wheelguns were produced for almost four decades, longer than any original Civil War-era percussion revolver. Aside from their popularity among Cowboy Action Shooters using the later fixed-sight Old Army versions in frontiersman competition, over the year the guns have proven almost indestructible, maintaining both value and unwavering availability on the secondary market. Their longevity can easily be attributed to Sturm, Ruger & Co. having built them to a standard that no 19th-century armsmaker could have achieved given the technology of the day. This makes perfect sense because…

HEADING WEST There is nothing more romanticized in the history of westward expansionism than the Oregon Trail. The iconic subject is the central feature of the largest mass migration of people in American history, as nearly 400,000 pioneers, braving an onslaught of dangers both personal and financial, used the famous 2,170-mile Oregon Trail (and offshoots like the Mormon Trail and the California Trail) to reach Willamette Valley, Puget Sound, Utah and California destinations. It started with a trickle of emigrants and ended in a surging wave of settlers clamoring for a better life, a new start and free, fertile land. ★ Early Pioneers Very early travelers included missionaries and religious men like Henry H. Spalding and Marcus Whitman, who established the Whitman Mission near Walla Walla, Washington. Whitman’s wife, Narcissa,…

In the last “Cowboy Stuff ” column, we saw how the 2022 Cowboy Fast Draw Association (CFDA) National Championship set a new attendance record for the entire history of Fast Draw with 266 shooters. Well, records are made to be broken. The 2022 CFDA World Championship, the Fastest Gun Alive shoot, broke that record with an attendance of 178 men, 82 women and 11 youth shooters for a total of 271 contestants! Unfortunately for me, the long trip from Illinois to Nevada proved not to be the best for the exceptional hand-eye coordination required, and I was eliminated in the eighth round of competition, placing 65th out of the 178 men with a fast shot in my last round of .426 seconds. Looking at the bright side, that means that…

Charles Russell, also known as C.M. Russell or “Kid” Russell, created more than 2,000 paintings and more than 4,000 pieces of artwork of cowboys, Native Americans and Western landscapes during his 44-year career. Growing Up Charles Marion Russell was born on March 19, 1864, in Missouri, where he grew up drawing sketches and making clay figures of animals. As the Show Me State was still the “gateway to the West” at that time, explorers and fur traders often passed through, which piqued young Russell’s interest in the “Wild West.” As a child, he spent hours reading about the adventures of those who were courageous enough to venture into the American West to make a living off the land. Russell’s interest in the West led him to learn to ride horses…

➤ Stogie is a nickname for a cigar, named after the Conestoga wagon and the men who smoked cigars as they drove them. ➤ Although most of the wagons were pulled by oxen, the Gold Rush in 1849 depleted the population of oxen in the East so much that horses were also used. ➤ Native Americans called the Oregon Trail “The Great Medicine Road” and referred to the prairie schooners as “horse canoes.” ➤ The famous Oregon Trail landmark Independence Rock in Wyoming was not named by early emigrants who arrived there on July 4th, but by fur traders decades earlier. ➤ Between four and six percent of all emigrants that attempted to traverse the Oregon Trail died. It amounts to about 15,000 people, most of whom were children and…

FRONTIER TOOLBOX IT’Snot easy to establish a new life for a family in a strange and different location with only what could be carried in a wagon or on horseback. But that is exactly what the early pioneers of this country did, and it took courage, mental fortitude and the trust in the simple tools that they brought along with them. These tools not only allowed them to build homes but also helped to clear and prepare land for crop growing, create fabrics for clothing, hunt game and defend themselves from dangers, both four-legged animals as well as two-legged. In today’s age, we take for granted many amenities that generations before us needed to survive on a day-to-day basis. The simplicity of going into a store and buying what was…

The long, sleek 1947 Lincoln Continental pulled through the front gate at Republic Studios, and the driver waved and called the guards by their names. The driver, resplendent in his Brooks Brothers suit with his long silver hair covered by a snappy fedora, pulled up to the parking space in front of his dressing room and disappeared through the door. A few minutes later, a shabby, ill-dressed galoot with patches on his pants came out and waved hello to a gaggle of young studio performers waiting for him to appear, as they often did. They were waiting for their pal, George “Gabby” Hayes! The group changed in size and personalities, but often Bobby Blake (Little Beaver), Michael Chapin and Eilene Janssen (The Rough Ridin’ Kids), Tommy Ivo, Buck Taylor and…

OLD WEST FORTS H istoric forts were at the spear’s tip of the expanding frontier, serving as critical bastions for the “taming” of the West. As we continue our study into these interesting encampments, we’ll travel way out yonder where the West was really wild. In this issue, let’s take a look at a huge fort that served the Army well for more than 30 years. Fort Assinniboine, Montana Fort Assinniboine was an important U.S. Army fort located in what is now northern Montana. Built in 1879, the fort saw duty for 32 years and even played home to the 10th Cavalry Buffalo Soldiers, made up of all African-American soldiers. The fort, which was the pioneer outpost of north central Montana, came about because of the threat of attack on…