Modern Technique Trivia

[EDW]

Seems I recall the target was a 12” steel plate. I *think* I recently read that on the Elden Carl(RIP) website.

The steel plate seems to have been introduced when they adopted a five-draw qualification round to determine which 16 contestants would advance to the man-on-man shootoff. I think this went hand in hand with the development of the J-Ladder.

In 1996, Olympic Champion shooter and Marine Major Bill McMillan entered the Leatherslap and ended up 17th in the qualifying round, thus missing the shootoff for the trophies and money. Cooper noted that “[t]his serves to point out the pre-eminence of Big Bear Lake as the modern center of combat pistol competition. No matter how good a man may be elsewhere, how he measures up here is what counts.”

The first year things were not that sophisticated. So no steel plates yet.

[1Rangemaster]

Diving deep, I see a reference to “paper silhouette targets”, so I’ll try that…

[john c]

In 1996, Olympic Champion shooter and Marine Major Bill McMillan entered the Leatherslap and ended up 17th in the qualifying round, thus missing the shootoff for the trophies and money. Cooper noted that “[t]his serves to point out the pre-eminence of Big Bear Lake as the modern center of combat pistol competition. No matter how good a man may be elsewhere, how he measures up here is what counts.”

Was that a typo in the year? Or were they still holding Leatherslaps in '96?

[1Rangemaster]

Good catch-I don’t believe there were Leatherslaps past the 60’s. The Southwest Pistol League was formed-Cooper comments the CA Attorney General objected to the word “combat” in the incorporation papers and the word was dropped-and eventually ended up on ranges near Lake Piru(as did the CA Steel Challenge).
So, I would opine 1966 as the last year(?)

[EDW]

Was that a typo in the year?

Oops. 1966 was the year. Thanks for catching that.

[EDW]

Diving deep, I see a reference to “paper silhouette targets”, so I’ll try that…

Rangemaster gets the K5 hit! What was your source?


The targets were black on white silhouettes of a man drawing a gun “donated by the Los Angeles City Police Department” (presumably via Nowka) and were similar to the Colt police silhouettes used by the FBI for many years.

[EDW]

Question 6: When did Jack Weaver first enter the Leatherslap? How did he do that year?

[1Rangemaster]

Rangemaster gets the K5 hit! What was your source?


The targets were black on white silhouettes of a man drawing a gun “donated by the Los Angeles City Police Department” (presumably via Nowka) and were similar to the Colt police silhouettes used by the FBI for many years.

Source: An American Rifleman article by Finn Aagard from 1993.

[Gun Mutt]

Ok, so it wasn't the first Leatherslap, but I knew I'd read about them shooting balloons. This might not even be the article from my memory, but this blurb is at the top of the article:

"As the story goes, the late Col. Jeff Cooper and a bunch of like-minded shooters were participating in Cooper's Leatherslap competition back in the late 1950s--shooting from the hip as they blazed away at balloons less than 10 feet away..."

Handguns magazine, 2010

[EDW]

Gun Mutt, you are right that the balloons became a signature feature of the Leatherslap.

That first year, Cooper had a line judge stand behind each shooter observing his target. When the judge saw a hit he would raise his arm, the director would blow a second whistle to signify cease fire, and the director would signify who had won that run. It took three wins to take the bout.

This use of line judges necessarily involved variables in eyesight and reaction time. More importantly, the spectator appeal was not optimal because it wasn’t always easy for them to immediately identify the winners. The second year they introduced the balloons and that solved the problem. In later years, Cooper would note that he had found that the unanimous opinion of three line judges as to which competitor had broken his balloon first gave pretty reliable results.

To my knowledge they never “blazed away at balloons less than 10 feet away.”

Which brings us to —


Question 7: What was the range for the targets at the Leatherslap? Did it ever vary?