Alamo Fast Draw

Fast Draw Guns
by Bob Graham

This article is one that Bob Graham wrote some time ago. Bob has given me his permission to post it here on the Alamo Fast Draw Blog. Thanks Bob

Back in the fifties, when Fast Draw as we know it today, started, most of us thought the "Colt .45" was the gun best suited for the western style of fast shooting, since it was the gun depicted in the TV westerns and movies of that era. However, after some hard competition and many repairs later, the practical shooter realized that the Ruger version of the single action gun seemed to hold up better under stress than the Colt, Great Western, Hawes, and other colt clones. Much of this success was credited to the major changes Bill Ruger built into his gun. Coil springs throughout the gun instead of the old flat springs smoothed the action, eliminated the "bounce" that was prevalent in the action with flat springs, and virtually removed the breakage factor, a frequent happening of the early competitor. Ruger also changed the lock-up system to a solid locking bolt or sear dropping into a narrower notch that is deeper and more adapted to fast action shooting. Removing the spring part of the sear stopped the breakage and loss of tension problems that were prevalent in the Colt and clones. The hand spring was also subject to these undesirable problems as well, and using the coil spring here eased the pressure on the star or ratchet at the rear of the cylinder, and smoothed the action even more. Overall, coil springs lightened the action and decreased wear and tear on the internal parts, providing better response from the weapon, and reliability far superior to the flat springs. Most important was putting the firing pin in the frame instead of the hammer. This allows the shooter now to dry fire without fearing the firing pin will fall out of the hammer, and most importantly, removes the chance of taking a chunk out of your fanning hand or finger when you happen to mis-time your recovery fanning motion or second shot in some events. In the fifties and sixties it was shoot-till-you-hit, and everyone was fanning two or more back up shots at the target for good measure. If you ask any of the old shooters like myself, they can probably show you scars from this era. Having used the Colt in my earlier years of competition (I started out as a thumber), I found myself working constantly on them to keep them in "competition form". Now don't misunderstand me, I love the feel of the Colt, and quite honestly the slant of the grip frame is a little different than that of the Ruger…this positions the end of the barrel slightly higher in the shooting position, which allows a shooter to get the barrel up and on target a bit faster when competing. Except for the firing pin position, the Colt and clones make a good thumbing gun for competition, but when you start fanning them, problems start manifesting themselves due to the old design of the internal workings. Fast Draw is a great test track for single actions. Nowhere else will they be submitted to the stress and battering we give them here. Read more »

Fast Draw story No, but a good lesson to keep in mind yes!

An old prospector walks his tired old mule into a western town one day.  He'd been out in the desert for about six months without a drop of whiskey.  He walked up to the first saloon he came to and tied his old mule to the hitch rail.  As he stood there brushing some of the dust from his face and clothes, a young gunfighter walked out of the saloon with a gun in one hand and a bottle of whiskey in the other.
The young gunfighter looked at the old man and laughed, saying, 'Hey old m an, have you ever danced?'  The old man looked up at the gunfighter and said, 'No, I never did dance.  I just never wanted to.' Read more »

Alamo Fast Draw: Dennis Robinson my guest one of these days, if I had my way.

Gunfighter Bob Mernickle: Pardon?

Alamo Fast Draw: He's going to be one of my guests on the show some day if I have my way.

Gunfighter Bob Mernickle: You know, and he should be he's a neat guy. He's full of knowledge and he loves fast draw and always has and I actually cut my first holster (fast draw)out on his floor in the kitchen. My problem was I didn't know the knife was going to go not only through the leather but the linoleum too, so his wife, Karen, was not overly happy with me.

Alamo Fast Draw: Well, I had heard that story, and if it didn't get in there, I was going to get it in.

Gunfighter Bob Mernickle: Oh, it was very true, it was just priceless. I thought she was going to kill me, but anyway, we got through that and I managed to live and I built that first fast draw holster and then I went and I critiqued it again within probably a month to two months. I critiqued it and I built another one but I changed things again and that's when I started understanding patterns and working with patterns and the second holster that I built – incidentally the second one that I built is on my shop on the wall here.

Blackbird: Does it contain any linoleum?

Gunfighter Bob Mernickle: Pardon?

Blackbird: Does it contain any linoleum?

Gunfighter Bob Mernickle: No, that was the first one. [laughs] I don't know what happened to that first one. I'd sure love to have it though. Anyway, the second one that I built, I went down to a shoot in Kenmore, Washington and I set my first world record ever, it was a sanction fast draw contest, records were available at that time and it was a vice-chairman, they had records available and vice-chairman contests in those days and I set a world record. Well, I set the world record and somebody that I had never met before came up to me and he says, hey! Where did you get the rig, and I said, I built it, and he said, can you build me one? And I said, sure! So there it started. And that was, oh god! That was in probably the early-to-mid seventies so

Read more »

Alamo Fast Draw about John Chisum

John Chisum was born on 15th August, 1824 in Madison County. in 1837 the family moved to Texas were John Chisum found work as a building contractor. He also served as county clerk in Lamar County.

in 1854 Chisum began his career in the cattle business and was on the trial to becoming one of the first to send a herd of cattle to New Mexico. John bought land along the Pecos River and eventually became the owner of a large ranch with over 100,000 head of cattle.

John Chisum was a business associate of Alexander McSween but McSweens role in the  Lincoln County War is unknown. On the 1st October 1878 Lewis Wallace took office as Governor of New Mexico, and proclaimed an amnesty for all those participants in the feud. Although after Billy the Kid surrendered to the authorities, he was informed he would be charged for the killing of William Brady. Read more »

I thought some of you mite enjoy the lyrics for Gunfighter and Cowboy songs. I am going to add a new catagory for Gunfighter and Cowboy songs and I will add more song lyrics as time goes by. IF any of you want to suggest or submite song lyrics let me know by entering a comment or emailing me.

Bad Company

Come all you young companions,
And listen unto me
I'll tell you and sad story
Of some bad company.
I was born in Pennsylvania,
Among the beautiful hills,
The memory of my childhood
Is warm within me still.

I had a kind old mother,
Who oft would plead with me
The last word that she gave me
Was pray to God in need.
I had two loving sisters
As fair as fair could be,
Oft beside me kneeling
They too would plead with me.

I did not like my fireside,
I did not like my home.
I had in view farm rambling,
And far away did roam.
I bid adieu to loved ones,
To my home I said farewell,
And I landed in Chicago,
In the very depths of hell.

It was there I took to drinking,
I sinned both night and day,
But still within my bosom,
A feeble voice would say,
"Oh, fare you well my loved one,
May God protect my boy,
May God forever bless him,
Throughout his manhood joy."

I courted a fair young maiden,
Her name I will not tell,
fir I would never disgrace her,
Since I am doomed to hell.
It was on one beautiful evening,
The stars were shining bright,
And with a fatal dagger
I bid her spirit flight.

So justice overtook me,
You all can plainly see.
My soul is doomed forever,
Throughout eternity.
It's now I'm on the scaffold;
My moments are not long.
You may forget the singer,
But don't forget the song.

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A Fast Draw Gunfighter Joke

A young kid in the Old West was looking to be the fastest gunfighter alive.
While sitting in a saloon one evening, he spotted an old graybeard man who had a reputation of having been the greatest gunfighter of his day. The kid saddled up to the old man and told him of his dream. The old man looked him up and down and said, “I have a suggestion that’s sure to help.”
“Tell me, tell me!” said the kid.
“Tie the bottom of your holster lower down on
your leg.”
“Will that make me a better gunfighter?”
“You damn right it will,” said the old man.
The kid did what he was told, drew his gun, and neatly shot the bow tie off the piano player.
“Wow, that really helped! Got any more suggestions?”
“Yeah: If’n you cut a notch in the top of your holster where the hammer hits, the gun will slide out a lot faster.”
“Will that make me a better gunfighter?”
“You damn right.” Read more »

Blackbird: My god, my chamber was soiled up in that Winchester 92 and I'm just glad I quit shooting it when I did that day because if I would have kept on, I'd probably have blown the damn thing up. Well, Tom Browning who's designed it was very proud of that design, he had used it previously on the 86 which was again a very strong tight but clean handling action, and the Winchester 92 action was so positive and so smooth, one of the first experimental machine guns was actually made out of a 92 and this will make you think of Chuck Connors and his 92 in The Rifleman because I can't help but think someone was inspired by the actual history of this. Browning took a 92 and you can picture this in your mind. You imagine a lever running to the front of the barrel with a disk with a hole in the middle of the disk, snug against the muzzle of end of the gun barrel and you attach a spring to the lever of the gun and that spring runs from the end of the lever to the butt of the Winchester 92. all you have to do – and this is what Browning actually did to see what it would be like to have full automatic gun is you loaded it, you loaded the magazine, you cocked it, you touched it off the first shot and it had a trigger, that is, like what The Rifleman had. It wasn't a screw, but it was the same idea. The action was closed and it would fire another shot. He pulled the trigger, the gun went off. It pushed that disk, which pushed that lever that sort of like the lever that you would see on a railroad train, that connects the wheels. Jim knows what these are called; I don't. But it pulled the lever forward and that started working the action. Then the spring would catch hold of that lever and pull it back again and that would trip off the trigger again and that would push the disk again, which would open the lever and that was the first machine gun that Browning designed, and it was based on the Winchester 92 and it was the same idea as what The Rifleman was doing only it was a lot faster. It was  real fast.

Read more »

Now seriously, Would you quit drinking !

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