Archive for February 2009
Over the years, practically any single action revolver has been tried for fast draw. The only technical limitations in the revolvers used are, they must be single action and the minimum barrel length allowed is 4 5/8 inches. This barrel length just happens to be the shortest standard length available on a Ruger single action revolver.
Continue reading ‘The Fast Draw Gun’ »
Fast Draw is a fast-moving, fast-growing sport, which carries on the traditions of our western heritage. It is a test of speed, reaction and accuracy. It is exciting, entertaining and safe.
Continue reading ‘What is Fast Draw?’ »
This Colt has a Colt letter with it and was originally sent to a Mexican Railway in 1903. The backstrap is engraved with the abbreviated letters of the railway, Ex. Nat. Mex. I made the grips for it from whale jawbone. When I bought the gun it was in need of work. The barrel & cylinder were pretty rough so I decided to replace them.
Continue reading ‘Jim Martin – Pop Warner’s Mexican Colt’ »
If there is one person that personifies our sport of Fast Draw, it is 84 year old E.L. Warner, of Scottsdale, Arizona. “Pop” to his many friends.
The son of an itinerant horse trader, “Pop” learned to shoot a Colt sixgun from a retired gunhand turned cowhand. He grew up to become one of the last of the professional old west gunfighters, hiring his gun out in Mexico, the south western United States, and the last of the range wars in Wyoming.
Those Vegas Days
by Den Robinson
I was just a green kid when I first read about these, now legendary, contests hosted by the Sahara Hotel and Colt Firearms Company. I was just coming off a collapsed lung and I weighed in at my lowest – 122 pounds. I possibly would have been a great REAL gunfighter as, turned sideways, nobody could have hit me plus I ALREADY had a hole in my lung! Anyway, I was both determined and destined to enter in what would become the last Nationals contest. I was probably the first Canadian to ever enter an “OPEN” organized Fast Draw Competition.
Continue reading ‘Those Vegas Days’ »
The year was 1957. A Denver television station invited me in to do a live studio show with Hugh O’Brien. Hugh was in town promoting his TV show, “Wyatt Earp.” At the studio I met Marshal Faber who was an electronic engineer in charge of the station audio and visual equipment. Marshall was a very nice fellow and quite talented in many technical fields. The studio invitation was offered quite unexpectedly and required that I be there the afternoon of the late morning call. Eager to share my new found potential fame, I called my sister who lived in Denver and suggested she watch the show.
The year was 1958 …. Sammy Davis, Jr. was the hottest of club entertainers – and one of the best in Hollywood at handling a Colt Single Action. Interest in Single Actions was booming as the most popular TV shows were serial westerns. A whole bunch of Hollywood wannabe cowboys were learning to draw, shoot and twirl their six-guns and Sammy was right up front leading the “Pack”. Many of Sammy’s fellow actor friends were also active in the fledging sport and held private contests at each other’s homes. I was in LA drumming up fast draw timer business and received a call from my employer, the Faber FasDraw Timer Company in Denver. Both of Sammy’s timers had quit working and he wanted them fixed before he went on a road trip. I knew Sammy had ordered two clocks about a month earlier but I had not met him. I was told I should meet him back stage around 9:00pm at the Moulin Rouge Night Club in Hollywood.
Continue reading ‘Bob Crismon – The Check is in the Mail’ »
Fast Draw Champion and gun leather craftsman, Ernie Hill, was one of the first veterans who put up with the millions of questions I had when I got started in Fast Draw in 1997. He also built my first fast draw rig. I emailed him trying to understand the difference between all the draws I read or heard about. This is his response.
Tuning a Hahn .45 for Fast Draw
by Dee Woolem
Guns Magazine, December 1959
Excerpt from the article Tune-Up Tips for Fast Draw
Reprinted with the permission of Tom Blasgen
from his book “Fast Draw… Yesterday, Today”
It is foolish to think you can take any single action gun, regardless of make, in its production-line condition, and attain any kind of real speed, or without getting a torn thumb from its sharp edges. Do you think any of the top target shooters in the U. S. are using production line guns? Well, possibly a few, but if so it is only because the manufacturers of target guns have recognized the needs of competitive target shooting. Has any company done like-wise for the Fast Draw boys? We must have special guns, finely tuned for our sport. Crosman Arms Company has done a lot in this direction with their low-cost Hahn 45 and their CO2 Single Action Six. So has Ruger, with the positive action of their Single-Six. But even these fine guns can be improved for fast draw speed and fast draw safety. And for this improvement, each fast draw sportsman must be his own gunsmith. He must sweat it out over the work bench.
S-o-o, Cowpokes, hand and rattle. Here’s a few timely tips on “Tuning for Time.”
The Man Who Teaches Hollywood Stars to Shoot
by Ben Irwin
Guns Magazine – March 1956
Reprinted with Tom Blasgen’s permission
From his book “Fast Draw… Yesterday, Today”
THE FASTEST MAN with a gun, 45 Colt or any other variety, to be found in that never-never land they call Hollywood is not John Wayne, Gary Cooper, Burt Lancaster or even Roy Rogers. He is a mild-mannered gent named Arvo Ojala and everyone of the movie colony’s western stars is properly envious of the man who bears the title of Hollywood’s fastest gun slinger.
In fact those who should know say Arvo Ojala may well be one of the fastest men on the draw in this country or perhaps anywhere. Which is a large statement, admittedly. The facts, however, would seem to support that contention.
Continue reading ‘The Man Who Teaches Hollywood Stars to Shoot’ »
Fast Draw demonstrations often include trick shots to entertain and amaze the spectators. The Christmas tree is a classic example. While you may have seen other gunfighters performing this gun trick Den Robinson has over 40 years of experience doing it. The designated target or “Christmas Tree” in this particular demonstration is Den’s son JR. Kids don’t try this at home!
Continue reading ‘Trick Shots – The Christmas Tree’ »
38 Gunfighters from the United States and Scotland joined me to write a new chapter in Fast Draw history by participating in the first GunFighter Gulch International Internet Shoot.
For the February 2009 Internet match let’s shoot one set of S/W at 10′, one at 12′ and one at 15′. Yee Haw… Shoot It All!!!
Jim not only hand tunes single actions he uses collectable guns as a canvas to express the artistic side of his personality. Each piece honors his passions in life – western history, western movies, country western music and competitive single action shooting. He rebuilds and/or refinishes the guns when appropriate, designs all the engraving and handcrafts each set of grips. I think you’ll agree they are works of art. Here is a small representation of Jim’s favorite pieces from his private single action art collection.
Ol’ Possum took a road trip all the way to the great state of Georgia to visit Alan and Donna Soellner proprietors of Chisholm’s Trail Old West Leather.
| April 25, 2009 | to | April 26, 2009 |
WFDA Mother Lode World Index Championship
Bob Mernickle Challenge
April 25 – 26, 2009
Hosted by:
Dan & Colby Qualls (209) 847-0483
Don Mowery (510) 886-6085
| May 2, 2009 | ||
| 9:00 AM | to | 5:00 PM |
| May 3, 2009 | ||
| 9:00 AM | to | 1:00 PM |
Well… Jim is up for another party at his ranch in Kingman Arizona so I signed on to organize it one more time. Of course when shooters get together, even if it is just for fun and food, it is mandatory that we have a gunfight so the 2009 Jim Martin Invitational Championship will be held on May 2 – 3, 2009.
The Gunfight at Apache Junction
Circa 1872
By Claude Gosney
S.A. Live Ammo World Champion
Midwestern Fast Draw Association Newsletter
March 1973
Me, “The Wild Irishman” and the Chicago Kid (Cal Eilrich) rode into town on a clear May morning. My horse Ole Charlie was feeling fine. I wish I was, I had a hell of a hangover.
The Challenge had been cast just a week before when all us good guys having one of our Sunday shoot outs in the small and little known town of Phoenix, Az. were challenged to a real gunfight by the California Kid himself “Thell Reed”!
Continue reading ‘The Gunfight at Apache Junction’ »
How I Started Tuning Single Actions
By Jim Martin
Back in the mid 1950s when fast draw first started we just shot the guns the way they were until they broke and then took them to a gunsmith and had them fixed. I was luckier than the others because I had met Bob Howard during WW II when I was his paperboy and he let me hang around the gun shop and didn’t run me off.
Bob did about 70% of Elmer Keiths work and had actually built several guns for William S Hart when Hart was making his silent movies back in the 20s,he also did a lot of work for James Serven.
Ergo Thumbing
By Jan Owen
This is to introduce you to the thumbing style I use; I suppose you could call it ergo-thumbing. It’s a little different than thumbing styles used by others. I developed it to minimize the amount of hand & arm movement during the draw, and to make the draw as compact as possible. If you read this and follow the instructions, you won’t end up thumbing just like me, because, for best results, you will need to tailor these moves to YOUR body.
I’m going to explain this draw in great detail. But you have to take this information and fashion it into YOUR thumbing style. Otherwise, it won’t be natural to you. And if it’s not natural, it won’t be as fast as it can be.
A Bad Day to Die
by Gary “Gringo” Addis
In the mirror behind the bar, I watched him watching me. The heat of the young man’s ambition made my neck itch. He wanted to call me out into the heat of the midday sun, and kill me. No, that’s wrong. He didn’t want to kill me; he didn’t have the hard eyes of a killer. He merely wanted to have killed me. He wanted the fearsome rep. The reputation I had earned.
Continue reading ‘Gary Addis – A Bad Day to Die’ »
