I recently finished readying Reilly's Luck by Louis L'Amour. I've read a fair number of L'Amours and even wrote book tests to test reading comprehension for a couple dozen of them when I was a junior high student. That includes two of his three "larger" novels: The Walking Drum and Last of the Breed. I went looking for The Haunted Mesa this last weekend but was unable to find it. So, I added a trio of his standard paperbacks to my book pile as a bit of a palate cleanser from all of the epic and high fantasy I've been doing lately. True to style, the book featured valiant heroes, evil villains and a couple of gun battles. It got me thinking about the often pictured "fast draw" and the way that L'Amour portrayed it.
There are plenty of L'Amour's books in audio formats and I've listened to my fair share of them. The last one, however, had an interview with him that was rather enlightening as far as the his understanding of gun-battles. He mentioned a showdown within his life time (I wish I could remember the details) where a marshal entered an establishment to apprehend a suspect and the man "went for his fun." In the end both men were dead having short each other multiple times and covering a distance of ten to twenty feet each. Even though they were being hit by bullets their adrenaline kept them moving and shooting. Many of L'Amour's books feature both people in a gunfight being hit with the winner of the fight the one who survives. The single shot duel to the death is unrealistic and, according to a number of sources, a creation of Hollywood. L'Amour's account also demonstrates what author and gun expert Larry Corriea says about handguns in his blog post on home defense. Handguns "poke holes in people." compared to long guns, pistols are not very effective at killing people. There are very few places you should shoot somebody with a pistol that will kill them quickly.
Competitive fast draw competitions (that is the non-lethal kind) have been going on since the 1950s with different clubs favoring speed or accuracy. The standard methods of testing and timing fast draw is either to use blanks and pop balloons or use wax bullets and a metal target. Different clubs have different rules, but from what I can see the Cowboy Fast Draw Association appears to be one of the largest. They use wax bullets and ask their competitors to dress in period clothing - which I think is appropriate as they focus on period firearms. While the "Wild, Wild West" is a creation of fiction, it's still an era with a look and a feel. The start position is with the hand on the gun, which to me only makes sense as if you know you're going to be in a fight you are going to be holding your gun. They use single action revolvers so the hammer has to be pulled back first before the trigger can be pulled. A double action pulls the hammer back on the first trigger pull and then drops it on the second. Interesting note, the Sig Sauer line of pistols often do not have a safety but a level that engages a double action trigger. This is why the line, "No safety on the Sig" shows up in the movie Red 2.
The way people draw looks rather odd. Many will crouch down, bending their holster leg quite a bit. This is so when they draw, they can straighten their leg which pulls the holster down limiting how far they have to lift the gun. The real fast shooters also fire from the hip which I imagine takes some practice in order to hit the target. This works well for single shots, but I would hate to have to fire a second from that position. The real impressive things is how fast these folks can react, draw, and fire. This video shows shooters with their times displayed.
Bear in mind that most people blink between .1 and .4 seconds which means that with most of these folks, you might literally miss their draw if you blink. That's kind of intimidating.
Granted, This guy didn't see Trinity coming when he got into this fight. But then unless you've seen They Call me Trinity, you'll never see him coming.
There are plenty of L'Amour's books in audio formats and I've listened to my fair share of them. The last one, however, had an interview with him that was rather enlightening as far as the his understanding of gun-battles. He mentioned a showdown within his life time (I wish I could remember the details) where a marshal entered an establishment to apprehend a suspect and the man "went for his fun." In the end both men were dead having short each other multiple times and covering a distance of ten to twenty feet each. Even though they were being hit by bullets their adrenaline kept them moving and shooting. Many of L'Amour's books feature both people in a gunfight being hit with the winner of the fight the one who survives. The single shot duel to the death is unrealistic and, according to a number of sources, a creation of Hollywood. L'Amour's account also demonstrates what author and gun expert Larry Corriea says about handguns in his blog post on home defense. Handguns "poke holes in people." compared to long guns, pistols are not very effective at killing people. There are very few places you should shoot somebody with a pistol that will kill them quickly.
Competitive fast draw competitions (that is the non-lethal kind) have been going on since the 1950s with different clubs favoring speed or accuracy. The standard methods of testing and timing fast draw is either to use blanks and pop balloons or use wax bullets and a metal target. Different clubs have different rules, but from what I can see the Cowboy Fast Draw Association appears to be one of the largest. They use wax bullets and ask their competitors to dress in period clothing - which I think is appropriate as they focus on period firearms. While the "Wild, Wild West" is a creation of fiction, it's still an era with a look and a feel. The start position is with the hand on the gun, which to me only makes sense as if you know you're going to be in a fight you are going to be holding your gun. They use single action revolvers so the hammer has to be pulled back first before the trigger can be pulled. A double action pulls the hammer back on the first trigger pull and then drops it on the second. Interesting note, the Sig Sauer line of pistols often do not have a safety but a level that engages a double action trigger. This is why the line, "No safety on the Sig" shows up in the movie Red 2.
The way people draw looks rather odd. Many will crouch down, bending their holster leg quite a bit. This is so when they draw, they can straighten their leg which pulls the holster down limiting how far they have to lift the gun. The real fast shooters also fire from the hip which I imagine takes some practice in order to hit the target. This works well for single shots, but I would hate to have to fire a second from that position. The real impressive things is how fast these folks can react, draw, and fire. This video shows shooters with their times displayed.
Bear in mind that most people blink between .1 and .4 seconds which means that with most of these folks, you might literally miss their draw if you blink. That's kind of intimidating.
Granted, This guy didn't see Trinity coming when he got into this fight. But then unless you've seen They Call me Trinity, you'll never see him coming.
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