Show 7 PISTOL PRACTICE Some Odd Wajs of Firing Rapidly Explained TIlE SELrCOCKBR ABANDoNED It Was Too Apt to Get Out of Kilter and Delay the Shooter Who Wished Quick Work A writer in The San Francisco Examiner gives the true story of the shooting iron In the far west There have como many remarkable re-markable yarns as to the way quick work Is done ill the land of the cowboys gun but in the article mentioned the writer gets down to hard facts and snecialtles He avers that the western gunner strips his revolver of al superfluities and leaves nothing to keep it from being discharged but his own thumb Tho gun fighter says the writer who permits the gun maker to prescribe the manner man-ner of using a gun is not extant he is dead The live gun fighter is he who spoiled his weapon as soon as ho bought it by removing the trigger and reducing the working parts of the lock to hammer mainspring and cylinder cylin-der pawl fr pawlJk Jk J 1 Fanning the hammer 2 Curly Bills trick first position 3 Twirling the gun 4 Curly Bills game last posit Ion This has been brought about by that quickness quick-ness which is essential among people who dont trouble the law to take caro of them but do it all them lves The question often arises between two men Which of us is to die The matter is settled by the time taken 4 by each to lodge bullets ill the other person Scientists have measured personal equation equa-tion which is the time taken for the brain to convey an order through the nerves to the muscles and for the muscles to execute the order Perhaps the western cowboy will soon bring his firing dow 11 to so flue a point that his personal equation will settle the matter Then ho need only send to somo collego professor to measure it and the other fellow to know whether to arrange his affairs af-fairs for departure from the world When the self cocker came out it bid fan to bo immensely popular About this the afoesaid writer says f Tho makers of pistols thought they had produced a perfect weapon one that met ally r all-y the demands gentlemen in the killing line when they devised doubleaction revolver and for a short time the selfcocker had a great tale on the frontier A few years ago ro Texas cowboy or ranger no Colorado sheriff Arizona rustler or Panhandle tough consi rcd himself correctly dressed uuless he had a double action frontier six shooter or two at his Lelt Cut time developed the imperfections cud shortcoming of tho self cocke Theoretically Theoreti-cally it seemed perfect but in actual uso it developed a dangerous tendency to get out of kilter Its mechanism was too complicated complicat-ed and delicate After a little wear of the lock when a gentleman desired to assassinate an acquaintance he was likely to be disappointed disap-pointed by the failure of tho trigger to carry the hammer back to the proper notch or perhaps the cylinder would forget to revolve and the acquaintance would havo time to insert in-sert a Knife into his stomach or cave in his head with a club which was very unsatisfactory unsatis-factory Thus the self cocker incurred the deep displeasure of the fighting men They jeered at its eccentricities abused it for its little weaknesses and discarded it from their toilet The windows of rawnshops and second hand gun stores were filled with large dangerous looking double action revolvers which thereby were made familiar to the eastern tourist and the globe trotter Tho faster the cowboy and the sheriff threw away these guns the more firmly fixed became the belief in the lay mind so to speak that the self cocler was tho favorite weapon of the f ntier because that style of gun was most ffrequcutlj seen in the dealers windows I While the western gun fighter was ordering plain single action revolver the makers wero diligent unloading their tock of com pLcateU self cockers on the tenderfoot But vhre lifo depends on a fraction of i second the un i whose lifo is at stake will natura Ij ba hunting for some way of stealing steal-ing a march on his antagonist Some one interested improved upon the makes method in the single action pistol by what is called fanning the hammer This is holding the I weapon firmly gripped 1 with the forearm pressed against the side of the body for stead mess an J1 keeping the trigger back against tho guard with the forefinger so that it never engages with the hammer and rapidly striking the thumbcar of the hammer with the edge of the left palm This discharges several shots in quick u cession Time trick was first introduced in New Mexico Extravagant Ex-travagant yarns have bn tod about the unerring pr cijiou with which the cowboy will shoot bv fanning the hammer but these storilSre ersiggerated The trick does quick work but not accurate work In 18bl a cowboy named Bob Sinclair worked tins new trick in Albuquerque For some reason or other he had coiiclu led that Jack Rilov was an improper person and that the continued existence of Mr Riley was an impertinence not to be tolerated Wherefore he fanned the hammer at Uiley There is no doubt that Mr Smcliui made a great deal of noise ill a very short thus His nei forrianco on the sixshoolcrwaj rhythmic and mspir tog and the sweep of hj left hand was a f > pem carpenter shingling the reof of the new hotel received mo bullet in his right heel some glassware behind the bar of the corner saloon was broken ui Indian card party behind a lumber pile two blocks up tho street was dispersed with the lossof ono back a fourth ball inserted itself in Mr Sinclairs left foot and the other tO escaped la the I I confusion anti are still at large After tho smoke of buttle had cleared way Mr Riley picked np a board and svattjdlli Sinclair on the ear It is not claimed that this is the Mr Riley they sp > Vv of so highly but ho deserves all the cnco mums any ono of the name ever received re-ceived ceivedVhel1 When the novelty had worn ol this iricl the writer goei on the men who carried car-ried guns for business purpj s and had a serious aim in life viz tho shortening of it for other jxople the men who wero not en I ainorcJ of mere noise end pisto pyrotechnics I Itook the triggers out of their guns orT or-T c lashed them firmly back against the guards thereby throwing them out of comnnsson The adoption ot the tri erlegs gun mado I necessary tho acquirement of skill in new method of handling the weapon I The first and most obvious scheme was to work the hammer with the thumb in the ordinary or-dinary way letting tho hammer slip and fall wten tbo aim was secured Anybody who txi3lthin for tho first time will discover that it L not easy to shoot where ho looks or to hold the weapon steady In quick firing the pistnl Is raised and carried bach over tho shoulder and then thrown sharply forward and downward The thumb grasping the hammer cocks it during tho downward movement and when the barrel is at the dos do-s sired position the hammer is released and the weapon discharged A receIver can be fired err rarwdLv in < J this manner but no great accuracy of nine can be obtained A novice would find it difficult diffi-cult to hit a door at twenty feet and an expert ex-pert is doing pretty well to hit within the outlines of a man at ten paces The cowboy who can hit an oyster can at ten feet throwing throw-ing the pistol down in the manner described is a rare bird This is the trick that a famous scoundrel called Curly Bill practiced on a sheriff in Tombstone Bill being ordered by Sheri White to give up his weapons took a self cocker from his belt and handed it toward the sheriff butt foieinost Just as the sheriff thrown off his guard reached for the weapon Bill whirled it over in his hand pulled the trigger and murdered the officer The same trick can be done with a trigger I2s3 l revolver The weapon is laid in the palm of the hand butt to tho front and right as shown in tho cut Tho forefinger slipped through the guard serves as a pivot upon which the pistol turns when given a quick twirl tho othe fingers assisting in giving the weapon impetus and grasping the butt whell it comes into position Just beforo the revel ver comes down to a level the thumb catches and retains the hammer long enough to draw it back The thumb is then allowed to slip I from tho hammer and bang goes the gun It will be found that a very sharp and sudden moement is required to perform this feat and the heavier the pistol the more readily it can be done It is useless to try it with the pocket toys usually carried The joyous jugglers with pistols who keep the ammunition factories going have devised some variations of Curly Bills great play all of them interesting as tricks but about as useful in border warfare as jig steps in a walking match For example the pistol is held as though to bo surrendered lying in the palm of the right hand the second linger hooked over the hammer A sharp twirl throws the barrel down and outward the Torearm is brought up and tho weapon come into the position shown in the sixth cut The second finger simultaneously pulls the hammer ham-mer back and the action of closing tho finger around the butt releases the hammer In the performance of this trick the strength of the middle finger Is the principal factor To do it well a man must have very strong lands and ho will got many a blister before he succeeds 111 the trick If he begins with a loaded weapon probably his first achieve ment will be filling his own stomach with lend A better variation is achieved by using the thumb to cock tho weapon The revolver rests in the palm in a very innocent looking position butt to the left and hammer under the thumb By sharply closing the hand and I giving the weapon a whirl downward tho hammer is drawn back to full cock and the barrel brought to a level wrong side up As the thumb slips over tho hammer to grasp the butt the revolver is discharged and tho other nan gets hit if he happens to be in tho way It is possible to imagine circumstances under which adroitness m juggling with pistols pis-tols might be useful but it is one chance m a million that a man ever will get caught in such a fix or have an opportunity to work such schemes A traveler might get away with a stupid roaj agent by an underhand shot but ordinarily the man who wants an others revolver is smart enough to keep the drop and take the weapon from holster or pocket with his own disengaged hand r 6 nT o I = 0 5 Juggling with gun 0 Difficult and useless 7 Deceiving the enemy 8 An underhand shot The common cowboy of commerce who is natonously a marvelous pistol shot but actually a very mediocre marksman and tell a regular duffer with a gun delights ill tricks and juggling He can twirl his pistol m the air and bang away at the wide wide world with great satisfaction to him self and danger to tho spectators but he cant do onetenth of the things that ho brag about doing In plain straightaway efficient shooting he is no match for any ono of half a dozen citizens of San Francisco Anybody who tells about seeing fron lersinen shoot dimes in the air perforate distant oyster cans with countless bullets while riding at full speed drive nails offhand off-hand and without taking careful sight and all the other popularly accepted marvels talks blue bosh The man who could do such things with a revolver could make mom money in a month by giving public exhibitions exhibi-tions than he can get punching cows for five years The revolver is of uso on the frontier in killing men who are unpopular or otherwise objectionable and the man who can draw quickly and hit a man across the street is a good enough shot for all practical purposes Mr beagle who is considered a pretty handyman handy-man with a pocket gun held his weapon in both hands when he shot Mr Terry who stood within two or three feet of him and oven then ho missed with one bullet |