How proficient were the man killers of old?

[JohnO]

Rob Leatham and Brian Enos changed shooting forever with their experiments on how to shoot.

I think I read somewhere that Elmer Keith only fired 12 rounds a week through his .44 Mags.

Seeing this topic and then thinking about legendary individuals like Bat Masterson, Wild Bill, Wyatt Earp, Jelly Brice, Bill Jordan and more I can't help but think that a USPSA Master shoots more rounds in a year than all those guys combined in a lifetime. Granted it doesn't take thousands and thousands of rounds for a talented individual to perfect a skill but I sure bet it helps. Since Mike Dillon came along things certainly evolved differently.

[Joe in PNG]

I get the odd feeling that Pat Garrett may have sold the gun he used to kill Billy the Kid to a bunch of different people at different times.

[rd62]

I get the odd feeling that Pat Garrett may have sold the gun he used to kill Billy the Kid to a bunch of different people at different times.

Smart man

[HCM]

Seeing this topic and then thinking about legendary individuals like Bat Masterson, Wild Bill, Wyatt Earp, Jelly Brice, Bill Jordan and more I can't help but think that a USPSA Master shoots more rounds in a year than all those guys combined in a lifetime. Granted it doesn't take thousands and thousands of rounds for a talented individual to perfect a skill but I sure bet it helps. Since Mike Dillon came along things certainly evolved differently.

You are off base with regard to Jordan and Brice. Both had fairly high round counts for their day.

Both had access to institutionally supplied ammo. In the case of Jordan (and Askins) hand loading was not only a thing at home but something done in the field via the old Lyman tools. Before TV and the interwebs there was time for such things. Jordan was also known to practice regularly dry and with wax and rubber bullets powered by primers only.

Both Brice and noted FBI gunfighter Walter Walsh were known to shoot daily when working at places with ranges like Quantico or the FBI HQ building.

All three were competitive shooters in addition to their real world experiences.

[Borderland]

I get the odd feeling that Pat Garrett may have sold the gun he used to kill Billy the Kid to a bunch of different people at different times.

Wyatt Earp's Colt SAA that he used at the OK Corral is still being sold at auctions. The problem is he used a S&W model 3 according to a witness.

That really makes a lot more sense as reloads would be a hell of a lot faster.

Just about everybody that was anybody had a model 3.

For example, the Smith & Wesson Model 3 was popular with lawmen and outlaws in the Old West. Among those who favored the Smith & Wesson Model 3 in its different design changes with its faster reloading capability were outlaws John Wesley Hardin, Billy the Kid, Frank and Jesse James, showman Buffalo Bill Cody, trick shooter Annie Oakley, and lawmen Virgil and Wyatt Earp, Dallas Stoudenmire, and Pat Garrett among others.

http://www.americancowboychronicles....-not-colt.html

[Stephanie B]

I get the odd feeling that Pat Garrett may have sold the gun he used to kill Billy the Kid to a bunch of different people at different times.

Sounds like what Bat Masterson was reputed to have done.

[Wondering Beard]

Sounds like what Bat Masterson was reputed to have done.

And Jesse James' mother

[Jim Watson]

In their later years, Bat Masterson and Buffalo Bill touted the Savage automatic "Ten shots quick."
"Anybody can shoot it straight without practice."
I NEED one of those.

https://averagejoeshandgunreviews.bl...07-32-acp.html
Period adverts at the bottom of the page.

[Dave T]

Just about everybody that was anybody had a model 3.

That's painting with a broad brush. I know of several 'somebodies' who carried SAAs in their hay-days. Masterson carried a special ordered nickle plated SAA in 45 when he was a lawman in Kansas. In fact he ordered several of them. What Earp was carrying at the vacant lot next to the photo parlor is controversial to say the least. The S&W on display in the Cochise County museum has be mostly de-bunked. And no one believes he had a "Buntline Special". My personal hero among Western lawman, Jeff Milton, carried SAAs up until the turn of the century and probably beyond. And if I'm not mistaken Frank Jame had a Remington 1875 when he turned himself in to the authorities, not a S&W.

Dave

[entropy]

Great. Now I’m looking on GB for 1907’s...lol