After pitching fastpitch softball in Denver, Colorado, for several years, I moved to Southern California in 1971 and pitched in a variety of leagues 5 times a week all over Southern California for 20 years. In 1974 and 1975, I pitched in a Sunday morning league in East LA at Evergreen Park on the corner of 4th and Evergreen, and then starting in 1976, the better players, for miles around, started playing in a Sunday morning league in Watts at Hoover Park on the corner of Manchester and Hoover just west of the Harbor Freeway.
Hoover Park was so large that four fastpitch games could be played at the same time on softball diamonds located at all four corners of the park. All of the games started at 10 am, and then after the games, some players from teams at all 4 diamonds gathered around under the trees on the first base side of the softball diamond located on the northwest corner of the park to joke around with their friends. With the help of his teenage children, an enterprising man sold barbecued chicken, hot links, ribs, and a variety of cold drinks to wash it all down. The best part was all the joking and storytelling. Ballplayers, fans, and old-timers all joined in to have a good time. It was great!
One older gentleman used to come to the games dressed in a suit. I guessed that he was stopping by after church. He would stand behind the backstop, watch whatever game was being played on the northwest softball diamond with some of his older friends, and then stay for the storytelling afterward. I looked forward to the times when he would show up. I enjoyed kidding him and listening to his stories.
One time he told me a funny story about the .45-52 Zulu gun. I couldn’t remember the whole thing. I would try to repeat it, but couldn't remember all the little parts of it, and begged him to help me with a word or two, but he would never give me any help. The next time I saw him, I would pester him to tell me again about the .45-52 Zulu gun. It would just drive me nuts because he would only tell it one time, and then that would be it. He would never repeat it. He would always say, “I’ll tell it to you again the next time I see you.”
Sometimes, I wouldn’t see him for months, and I used to worry that I might never see him again. I put a small cassette tape recorder in a zip-lock bag to keep out the dust and began to always carry it in my game bag.
Finally, in 1982, I saw him for the last time, and this time I told him that I wasn’t going to let him go without him telling me about the .45-52 Zulu gun. I showed him the tape recorder and told him that I had a C-90 cassette in it.
After some barbecue, he said, “Let’s take a walk.” I let him do all the talking as we walked away from all the others and continued walking down the left-field line toward the other softball diamond on the northeast corner of the park, which was almost deserted by then. I sensed that he just wanted to talk. He talked about his life and an assortment of topics. We quit walking and sat in the stands at the other softball diamond and just talked about ball playing and life in general.
When the first side of the tape ran out, I flipped it over to the other side. We talked for a while longer and then he said, “Before your tape runs out, I’d better tell you about the .45-52 Zulu gun.” We started walking back to join the others when he began to tell the story, and, as any good storyteller would do, he took his time.
With his gravelly voice, he slowly related the tale about his marvelous gun: “I want to tell you about the .45-52 Zulu gun. It’s the most amazing gun you’ll ever see. You’d have to see it to believe it. It’s the .45-52 Zulu gun built upon an automatic frame. It'll shoot nine times before you can cock it and ten times before you can stop it. If you hold it on the left, it says, "If you hold me square, I'll shoot him fair." If you hold it on the right, it says, "If you hold me level, I'll shoot the Devil." Then he moved his old, bony hand back and forth past my ear in a snake-like fashion when he said, "It shoots the bewitching cannonball. If it goes by and misses you, it'll back right up and hit you. Don't allow you no chance at all!"
He was a real gentleman, and I miss him.
When anyone asks me if I have any guns, I jokingly tell them that I have one of each. Seriously, in Texas, my small collection of guns might be called just a good start at a real collection. I have a variety of new guns in all of the various actions—single-action and double-action revolvers, single-shot handguns and rifles, semi-auto pistols and rifles, bolt-action rifles, lever-action rifles, semi-auto shotguns, black powder revolvers and rifles, and an assortment of BB guns, pellet pistols, and rifles. My AEG (Automatic Electric Gun) battery-powered KWA Airsoft rifles are really fun. Unlike compressed-air guns that lose air and are never ready to shoot at a moment's notice when you really need them, the large, rechargeable Airsoft batteries maintain their state of readiness for about 2 years. They are perfect replicas of a full-size military M16 rifle and a more compact M4 rifle with a collapsible stock and a shorter barrel. They shoot in the semi-auto and full-auto modes at a rate of 20 hard, plastic 25-grain BBs per second out of a 120-round magazine. The BBs travel at 400 feet per second and will slightly penetrate human skin, but only bounce off a dog's fur. I like dogs, but when some stray dogs roam through our property chasing our cats, with the battery-powered, full-auto Airsoft rifles, I just wash them out of our yard like using a very powerful garden hose. You don't even have to use the sights; you just follow the stream of white BBs.
Even though I have ten AR-15 rifles with various sights, accessories, and barrel lengths, I still have a soft spot in my heart for my collection of lever-action rifles and single-action revolvers. I have an entire room in my house and part of my very large garage/workshop dedicated to guns, ammo, and all sorts of reloading stuff, including my Hornady 5-stage Lock-N-Load Auto-Progressive Reloading machine with an automatic case feeder that will make 500 completed rounds per hour. Incidentally, if you don’t reload, Buffalo Bore makes the most powerful off-the-shelf ammo.
I own eleven .22 rimfire guns in all of the various actions. The .22 rimfire revolvers, pistols, and rifles have minimal noise and recoil. Shooting a mountain of rimfire ammo is a great way to train your mind to disassociate pulling the trigger from any noise and recoil. Then, when I shoot my more powerful guns, my mind is only concerned with proper trigger control and not concerned with whatever happens after I press the trigger. Remember to concentrate on your front sight because the #1 reason for having to reload is missing your target. When shooting my revolvers, sometimes I leave one of the cylinders empty so that I can be surprised when the gun doesn’t fire. I can then make sure that the barrel had absolutely no movement and that the sights stayed perfectly aligned on the target.
My Freedom Arms Premier Grade, Model 83, .454 Casull, 10" barrel, single-action revolver with a factory trigger job and a 4-port Mag-na-port muzzle brake is the world’s finest-made single-action revolver. It has twice the muzzle energy of my Ruger Super Blackhawk .44 Magnum, 10.5" barrel, single-action revolver and is just one example of some of my “thumpers.” I can hit soft drink cans at 100 yards with these long barrel revolvers and I can also hit soft drink cans at 100 yards with Spanky, my Smith & Wesson Model 640 double-action .357 Magnum, 2" barrel, fixed-sight, concealed-hammer revolver. Contrary to popular opinion, the length of the barrel has nothing to do with the accuracy of the gun. It's just easier to keep the sights aligned when the sight radius is longer. When I'm shooting, I just concentrate on controlled breathing, using a consistent, firm grip on the gun with my off-hand while keeping my shooting hand relaxed so the movement of my index finger is not influenced by my grip, using just the pad of my index finger to press the lower part of the trigger straight to the rear, keeping the sights aligned, and maintaining consistent control of the gun after it has been fired and while the bullet is still traveling down the barrel. As the big boys say, “If the recoil's gonna kill ya, there's no sense flinchin.”
When I lived in California, every weekend for over 4 years, I used to drive my motorhome up to the high desert about 6 miles south of Barstow to an exit off of the I-15 Freeway called Hodge Road. There was nothing off the Hodge Road exit except sand. I would park about two miles west of the freeway, where all the shooters practiced against a nice, big hillside. It was all BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land and I could park from Friday night until Monday morning when I had to go back to work at 1:00 pm. All my friends knew where I was on the weekends, and they would usually stop by for a few hours and sometimes camp out overnight. Because I shot a lot of .22 rimfire ammo and not a lot of the bigger stuff, I probably spent more money on steaks and beer than I did on ammo. Walmart used to sell bricks (550 rounds) of Federal Bulk .22 Rimfire, 36 grain, long rifle, copper-plated lead, hollow-point ammo for $8.99, and when they had a sale, I would really stock up. I would always shoot at least 2 bricks or 1,100 rounds of .22 rimfire every weekend in addition to the bigger stuff. 2 bricks of ,22 rimfire every weekend times 52 weeks a year equals 57,000 rounds a year and times 4 years equals 228,800 rounds of .22 rimfire and in addition to all the other stuff, that adds up to about 250,000 rounds over more than 4 years. I’m an athlete with good eye-to-hand coordination and a steady hand, but if you cannot become a good shot after shooting a ton of ammo every weekend for over 4 years, there might be something wrong with you. Sometimes, I would get so "in the zone" that the gun just seemed to shoot itself, and I couldn't miss.
While shooting at Hodge Road, I had a tradition. Later in the afternoon on Sundays, when I was done shooting, I would load up the 5-shot, .454 Casull, and anyone still standing around could try to hit a clay pigeon on the hillside 80 yards away. I always shot last but one time when I pulled the trigger…nothing happened! I was very happy to discover that the barrel never moved at all. I kept the gun pointed downrange for 15 to 20 seconds to make sure that it wasn't a delayed firing…a misfire. I reasoned that if it weren't a misfire, then somebody might have pulled the hammer back incorrectly and bypassed a cylinder. I decided that it would be good practice for me to keep pulling the hammer back and pulling the trigger while never knowing when or if it would fire, and keeping the barrel rock steady. After a couple more tries, the gun finally fired, and I hit the clay pigeon even with all the distractions. My attorney, Steve Johnson, was one of the shooters and can verify the story. I gave him one of the pieces of fired brass from the .454 Casull to put on his desk to commemorate the occasion. The two loudest sounds you will ever hear are when the gun goes bang when you were expecting a click, and when the gun goes click when you were expecting a bang.
Speaking of misfires, I used to start every Saturday morning of the weekend by emptying 2 bricks (1,100 rounds) of .22 rimfire into a .50 caliber ammo can. Incidentally, for consistency, I only use .50 caliber ammo cans for storing all of my various types of ammo. Well, as luck would have it. I accidentally dropped a full beer into the ammo can. As quickly as I could, I dumped the whole ammo can onto a towel and tried to dry the ammo as fast as I could. Needless to say, I found that .22 rimfire ammo is not as waterproof as all the other types of ammo, and I had quite a lot of misfires. That made for a very long and frustrating weekend of shooting, but I got good at malfunction clearance drills.
Even though I had a 32-foot motorhome, I always cooked outside under the awning. I brought a 5-gallon can filled with unleaded gas for my Coleman gasoline stove, Coleman gasoline lantern, and anything else that needed gasoline, like lighting up numerous ant hills. In the evening, the smell of cooking steak attracted some foxes. For their protection, I never tried to make pets of them so they would stay wary of humans and avoid getting shot by someone who didn’t appreciate watching wildlife. From where I sat near the stove, I could see them at the edge of the lantern light, eating my food scraps and drinking the water. I enjoyed the crunch of their feet on the sand as they cautiously wandered about on the fringe of the camp, searching for various smells before coming in to eat. I was always amazed at how big the foxes’ tails were, nearly as large as the rest of their bodies.
From the time I stepped outside the motorhome in the morning until all the shooting was done in the evening, I always wore a set of electronic, noise-cancelling shooting ear muffs. The electronic noise-cancelling, shooting ear muffs instantaneously cut off the sound when you are shooting, but allow you to carry on a conversation without missing a word. I had the sensitivity turned all the way up so I could hear a squirrel climbing up a tree 100 yards away, and no one could sneak up behind me. As I remember, a nine-volt battery would last about 2 months. Every month or so, I would fill up each ear canal with hydrogen peroxide and let it bubble for a few minutes to kill all the germs. All radio announcers and anyone who wears ear muffs for extended periods know that moisture gets in your ears and that moisture is a breeding ground for bacteria. In the inner ear, there are semi-circular canals which are filled with liquid and really small hairs. When you spin in a circle, the liquid flows by those little hairs, and you have the feeling of spinning. When you stop spinning, the liquid flows back and bends hairs the other way, and you think you are spinning instead of just standing still, and you get dizzy and fall over. Those little hairs also serve another purpose. Each of the little hairs is of a different length, and they vibrate at different frequencies and allow you to hear low, medium, and high notes. When you shoot and hear a ringing in your ears, irreversible hearing damage has taken place. Some of those hairs have been broken off, will never regrow, and you will never hear those frequencies again. When you shoot without hearing protection, you are destined to go about saying “What” all the time. Even the little bones around the outside of your ears feel the harmful vibrations, and that is why simple earplugs without ear muffs are not enough to protect your hearing.
When you are outside shooting, make sure that you keep your ammo covered with a towel so that your ammo doesn’t get heated by the direct sunlight. Black powder is an explosive, but smokeless gunpowder doesn’t explode. It only burns to create pressure. In chemistry class, you are taught that increased heat will speed up any chemical reaction. When the primer is struck by the firing pin and the priming mixture burns, the hot gases go through the primer hole and into the main powder charge, where a much larger burn occurs and pressure is generated. If the ammo is exposed to direct sunlight, the pressures created are much higher than if the powder were at normal room temperature, and those pressures will exceed the safe limits set by SAAMI, the Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers' Institute. Increased pressure can blow up your gun and body parts.
One time, I saw a guy shooting a huge .50 BMG bolt-action rifle. A .50 BMG rifle is a high-caliber firearm designed to fire the .50 Browning Machine Gun cartridge, known for its power and long-range accuracy. These rifles are often used for military applications, long-range shooting, and anti-materiel purposes. The round is 5 1/2 inches long, and the bullet weighs five times as much as the bullet for a normal hunting rifle. This guy left his ammo in direct sunlight while he set up his shooting bench and made preparations to shoot the rifle. After he fired the rifle, he couldn’t get the bolt open. So, this genius used a hammer to pound on the bolt. Luckily, he couldn’t get the bolt to open and had to quit shooting the rifle. It was like watching a train wreck, and I couldn’t take my eyes off him.
One of the most accurate guns that I own is a Ruger New Model, Single-Six .22 rimfire, single-action revolver with a 9.5" barrel that I bought in 1981. When I first bought it, it would shoot around a corner because Ruger installed the barrel crooked. When I got it back from being repaired for free from Ruger’s custom shop, it shot perfectly. In addition to shooting .22 rimfire, it came with a .22 Magnum cylinder. Most people don't know that .22 Magnum ammo uses a .224" diameter bullet, and the regular .22 rimfire ammo uses a .222" diameter bullet. So, how is it that a revolver with a .224" maximum internal groove diameter accurately shoots a smaller .222" diameter bullet? The answer is that a new rimfire barrel is drilled to a lesser diameter or bore of .219. Then, barrel reamers are pulled through the bore, and grooves are cut in the bore. The reamers remove metal until the larger barrel diameter of .224 is attained, and only the raised material that is still a diameter of .219 remains. This remaining metal of what was once just the bore is now called the lands. A typical barrel would have 6 lands and grooves with a right-hand twist because the bullet is usually made to spin in a clockwise direction. Even though the diameter of the groove is .224", the smaller diameter .222 rimfire bullet easily engages the .219 lands and is accurately spun in the barrel.
When I ordered my .454 Casull, I specified that I also wanted a .45 Colt and a .45 Auto cylinder. The nominal bullet size for all 3 bullets is a diameter of .452". The .45 Auto needs a special cylinder because it doesn't have a rim on the brass to hold it in the cylinder and must headspace on a step or groove in the cylinder. The brass for the .454 Casull is longer than the .45 Colt, and the explosion of .45 Colt in the .454 Casull cylinder will create a worn spot and make it harder to extract the .454 Casull brass once it has been fired. The .454 Casull also came with a taller front sight for the times when you want to shoot .45 Colt and .45 Auto. Due to the much slower speed of both of these rounds, they will spend more time in the barrel, and the barrel will rise more. Therefore, the bullets will be launched at a higher trajectory. If a taller front sight is not used to make the barrel point further downward, the bullets will fly right over the target.
The same problem is encountered to a lesser extent when shooting .357 Magnum and .38 Special ammo without adjusting the sights. The slower .38 Special bullet will spend more time in the barrel, the barrel will rise more, and the bullet will be launched at a higher trajectory. Therefore, the .38 Special bullet will hit higher on the target than the .357 Magnum bullet.
I have a Glock Model 20, which shoots 10mm Auto ammo. It holds 15 rounds in the magazine and with a two-round magazine extension and one in the barrel, so you have 18 total rounds at the ready. I only keep 10 rounds in the magazine so that the magazine spring doesn't get overly compressed and cause a failure to feed malfunction. I do the same thing with any of my guns that have springs in their magazines. I just keep them half loaded while they’re just sitting around the house. 10mm is about equal in power to a .41 Magnum. I love Glock pistols because I think they are the most reliable semi-auto pistol made, and that is the pistol that I keep beside my bed for things that go bump in the night. The problem is that I hate picking up brass, and so I wanted a revolver that would shoot 10mm Auto. Ruger finally decided to make a New Model Blackhawk, Convertible, 10mm Auto, single-action revolver with a 6.5-inch barrel and an extra .40 S&W cylinder. I love convertible revolvers, and now I don't have to pick up the brass.
Incidentally, the Glock 10mm pistol can shoot .40 S&W ammo with no modifications. Regardless of the length of the brass, the 10mm Auto ammo and the .40 S&W ammo are held in place against the bolt face by the extractor. There is no extra wear on the extractor, the pistol functions perfectly, and I highly recommend giving it a try. Some Glock shooters say that they have fired over 20,000 rounds of .40 S&W through their 10mm Glocks without any problems.
My 2-inch barrel .357 Magnum S&W Model 640, 5-shot revolver will definitely spank your hand, and that's why I named it "Spanky". Concealed hammer revolvers like Spanky are the only guns in the world that can be shot all 5 times in your pocket without taking it out of your pocket because there isn’t a hammer to catch your pocket lining. Suppose the noise in your backyard is just the neighbor's kid retrieving his football and you have your hand on Spanky in your pocket. In that case, he doesn't go running home saying that you pulled a gun on him, but if it's a bad guy who is already in your face, you can immediately start defending yourself while Spanky is still in your pocket.
Whenever a group of people would park next to my motorhome, I would let them shoot for a while and then go over and introduce myself. I loved to do a little "show and tell" with Spanky and tell them that they should get a concealed hammer revolver for self-defense. I had my S&W Model 617, 8 3/8” barrel, .22 rimfire target revolver hidden in my armpit. I would start my little demonstration with Spanky by having their best shooter shoot at a big target about 15 to 20 feet away after telling him how hard the gun would recoil. Naturally, he would miss way low because he anticipated the recoil and jerked the gun downward. I would ask him if he wanted to shoot it again, and most people would decline the opportunity. While he was shooting, I would secretly hand the long-barreled .22 revolver to one of his friends. I would then tell him that I knew what the problem was. He was shooting at something way too big and way too close. I would then point out a small clay pigeon on the hillside 80 yards away. I used to love to see their eyes get as big as silver dollars when I hit the clay pigeon on my first try. What they didn’t realize was that I would do the same demonstration several times on a Saturday and several times on a Sunday with my special .357 Magnum reloads. Over the years, I averaged 4 to 6 demonstrations per weekend, and with 52 weekends in a year, that added up to 200 to 300 demonstrations a year. Over more than 4 years, I probably put on that same demonstration around 800 to 1,200 times. So, given that much practice, even if I didn’t hit it on my first try, I would almost always hit it with one of my five shots. On the rare occasion that I missed it on all five shots, I was so close to the target that you’d almost wonder why I didn’t hit it. Then I would hand their shooter my S&W Model 617 .22 rimfire target revolver and tell him to shoot it. Because the revolver had such a long barrel, he assumed that the recoil would be fierce, and again he jerked the gun and shot way low on a very big and close target. His friends already knew what was going to happen because I told them while he was shooting Spanky. All of us would enjoy a good laugh, and then they would invite me to shoot all of their guns. I shot a lot of their guns and ammo for free, and everyone had a good time.
In California, it used to take a long time and a lot of patience to be willing to jump through a lot of hoops to get a Concealed Carry Weapons Permit. When I retired, I wanted to move to a gun-friendly state, and so, after I moved from California to South Dakota, I asked the Sheriff what it would take to get a Concealed Carry Weapons Permit. His answer was, “$10 and 20 minutes.” Now, with constitutional carry, I don’t have to have a permit to carry in the state, but I still buy the permit so that I can legally carry in all other states that have reciprocity agreements with South Dakota. The $10 permit used to be good for 4 years, but last time when I renewed, the $10 permit was good for 5 years. 30 states have now passed Constitutional Carry laws, with more to come. Hopefully, one of these days, all 50 states will have Constitutional Carry laws, and we can finally do away with permits of any kind to carry a concealed gun. Crime has decreased in every state where concealed carry permits are easily obtained. As the old saying goes, “Society is safer when criminals don’t know who’s armed.”
When I was shooting in California, I rarely set up targets, but I loved to see a lot of empty, plastic shotgun hulls lying on the ground leftover from when somebody else was practicing shooting clay birds with their shotgun. Because .22 rimfire ammo was cheap to shoot, I used it for most of my shooting when I tried to go 6 for 6 on the same shotgun hull with any of my .22 rimfire guns. Thousands and thousands of times in over 4 years of shooting all day long, I would pick out a shotgun hull lying on the ground about 15 to 20 feet away from me and shoot it. Regardless of where it would land, I shot the same shotgun hull again and again. Each time I shot the same shotgun hull it bounced up in the air and landed farther away from me. So, when I finally shot at the same plastic shotgun hull for the sixth time, it was always a long way from me, and hitting it was fairly difficult but I still managed to do it quite often. Even though the desert floor was sandy and fairly level, there were still small undulations. If I were already 5 for 5 on a shotgun hull, the hull might be partially hidden behind one of those small undulations and almost impossible to see when it was time for my sixth shot. When I managed to hit it, beyond all probabilities, I just gave myself a mental high-five, reloaded, and moved on to the next shotgun hull. What was really disappointing was when I was already 5 for 5, and the shotgun hull landed where it was impossible to see. In that instance, I just picked out a target of opportunity to empty the cylinder. I always reloaded a full cylinder, so I was prepared to go 6 for 6 on my next shotgun hull.
All day long, I kept changing to one of my eleven different types of 22 rimfire guns, but I never loaded any more than 6 rounds in the magazine or cylinder. Even though I had various types of speed-loaders, I rarely used any type of speed-loader, so unloading and reloading the cylinder or magazine would build muscle memory, and I would get really good at it. I even got good at just picking 6 rounds out of my ammo can. My Ruger 10/22 semi-auto rimfire rifle has a $600, 20" Volquartsen air-gauged stainless steel fluted heavy barrel with a muzzle brake, a gray Fajen wood laminated thumbhole stock, and topped with a red dot scope. The 10/22 can also be fitted with an illuminated reticle scope. It's boring to shoot because it's almost impossible to miss the target. My Ruger 77/22 bolt-action rimfire rifle has the same $600, 20" Volquartsen air-gauged stainless steel fluted heavy barrel with a muzzle brake, with a matching $300 Fajen laminated thumbhole stock, and topped with a $1,000 Leupold 6.5 x 20 x 40mm AO (adjustable objective front lens) scope with target knobs and a tritium illuminated Mil-Dot reticle (the same reticle as on all my other bolt-action rifles). It's really boring to shoot because you just can't miss. When I shoot at targets over 200 yards away, the targets seem to take forever to fall over.
Limp wristing is a term used for when you don’t hold your semi-auto pistol, rifle, or shotgun firm enough that the bolt doesn’t function properly, and it results in a malfunction called a failure to feed. Semi-autos of all types need a certain level of resistance from a firm grip to be able to cycle the action on the gun. If you hold the gun too loosely, the spent cartridge might not be ejected if the bolt doesn’t go far enough to the rear during the reloading sequence. Also, the bolt must go far enough to the rear to fully compress the recoil spring so that when the bolt goes forward, it will have the speed necessary to pick up and fully seat a new round.
When someone else shoots a gun that you have sighted in, regardless of whether the gun has iron sights or a scope, the bullet will usually hit a different spot on the target. Because no two people grip a gun with the same amount of firmness, the gun may have more or less movement while the round is still moving down the barrel, which is still rising from the recoil of being fired.
Speaking of grip, I changed the grips on all of my revolvers to Hogue OverMolded Grips. Hogue doesn't make a grip for my Freedom Arms .454 Casull revolver or else I would change it. I even changed the pretty, white grips on my Ruger Vaquero to Hogue OverMolded Grips. I like the fact that the grip is the same whether I'm shooting my 22 rimfires, my .44 Magnum, or all the various calibers in between. I just want a secure grip that is consistent, so, just by the feeling of the grip of the gun, I don't know what gun I am shooting. The greatest shooter of all time is Jerry Miculek. Because he is involved in action shooting, which depends on a fast draw, he uses smooth wooden grips, and he even puts cornstarch powder on his hands to make them even slicker. Jerry reasons that, when he draws, he wants the gun to move in his hands to achieve the best grip while he is presenting the gun to the target. I'm just the opposite. I don't do quick-draw shooting, but I just want a firm grip.
Jerry Miculek – World Record Shooting
Jerry Miculek - World Records
Marshall Matt Dillon from the TV series Gunsmoke faced off against an unknown character and lived, even though a gunshot from the other guy was heard first in some episodes. Matt Dillon was cool under pressure and made his shot count even though the other guy shot first…and missed. The other guy was Arvo Ojala, a famous holster maker and quick-draw teacher to hundreds of movie stars, including James Arness, who played Matt Dillon. As a joke on the producers, James Arness and Arvo actually did the opener once with Dillon falling to the ground. Arvo was born to Finnish immigrants, and the “J” in his last name, Ojala, is pronounced as a J instead of the Spanish sound H. Ojala was "the genuine article" to those he tutored. His speed was clocked and verified a number of times. He could draw, fire, and hit the target in one-sixth of a second, faster than the eye can blink. Ojala’s holsters used a metal insert inside the holster, which kept the holster more firmly open and allowed the cylinder of the gun to rotate in the holster. His technique of cocking "in the holster" as he drew revolutionized the western cowboy movies. For further proof of his quick draw ability, Arvo would drop a silver dollar with his gun hand (right) from belt height, then draw and hit the coin before it could fall four inches. This was using "live", or full-power ammunition, not the wax bullets and quarter-loads used today in so-called "fast draw" competitions. In another exhibition, his opponent (using blanks) would face him with his pistol out of the holster and cocked, then nod as he simultaneously fired his revolver, while Arvo would draw and fire before the opponent could get a shot off. He never lost.
Arvo OJala - Gunsmoke Quick Draw
Bob Munden is an exhibition shooter who performed with handguns, rifles, and shotguns. He is best known for holding 18 world records in the sport of Fast Draw and having the title "Fastest Man with a Gun Who Ever Lived" bestowed upon him by Guinness World Records. In order to set his incredible speed records, Bob used a holster that could never be used in western cowboy movies because it just looked weird.
Bob Munden - Guinness World Records
Triple Shot
Triple Shot
I retired to a small town in northwest South Dakota, and, as luck would have it, there was a shooting range just south of town. A few years ago in 2018 when I was 73 years old and before I started to do a little plinking in the afternoon, I was still lugging a couple of guns and a few ammo cans up to the shooting bench at the local shooting range when, Bill Johnson, the local Deputy Sheriff stopped by the range. We talked about routine stuff for a while, but then Bill said that he had better leave because he didn’t want to interfere with my shooting practice. I told him to stay because he had never seen me shoot. Six years earlier in 2012, when I was 67 and shortly after I retired here in 2011, I was talking to Bill at the local grocery store, and I explained to him that when I shoot, as part of my shooting routine, I try to go 6 for 6 on the same shotgun hull. I was new in town, and I could tell he really didn’t believe me because most shooters are like fishermen, and the big fish they caught keeps getting longer and longer as the years go by. I usually shoot with any of my .22 rimfire guns because it’s cheaper, but this time I wanted to practice a little with my new Ruger New Model Blackhawk Convertible single-action revolver, which also has a 9mm cylinder. I loaded it with .357 Magnum ammo and shot at the first shotgun hull about 15 feet away—and missed! The bullet hit the ground under the target. I hadn’t been shooting in over a year and failed to mentally adjust my aim to shoot over the target for the first few yards because the distance was less than my first zero. When a gun is fired, even though the sights are aimed directly at the target, the muzzle of the gun is pointed at a spot lower than the target. The muzzle starts rising while the bullet is still in the barrel, and the bullet is launched in an upward trajectory. The bullet’s flight will start below the line of sight and, in about 5 yards, will rise through the line of sight (the first zero). It will then rise above the line of sight for the rest of the arc of flight, and then drop down to hit the bullseye on the target at its second zero. I sight in all of my iron-sighted handguns at 25 yards, and at distances over 25 yards, you naturally have to aim over the target. Well, back to shooting—I hit the shotgun hull with my second shot and then missed the same shotgun hull with my third shot. I joked that I hadn’t been shooting in about 2 years and was pretty rusty. I have to admit that, with all the talk about my fancy shooting, the thought that I might embarrass myself did cross my mind. I hit the shotgun hull with my fourth shot, and it landed farther away. I hit the shotgun hull with my fifth shot, and it landed even farther away. I finally redeemed myself by hitting the same shotgun hull with my sixth and final shot. After Bill left, I measured the distance, and the hull was almost exactly 40 yards away when I shot at it. I tried to make excuses for missing because I was not warmed up, but Bill said what was even more impressive was the fact that I was that accurate before any warm-up shots.
Later that summer, a friend from back east came to visit, and the conversation eventually got around to shooting. He mentioned that he wanted to shoot a couple of my big revolvers. I selected my .454 Casull and my Ruger .44 Magnum, and headed to the range. Well, as usual, I didn’t bring any targets, but my friend said he had 2 Coke cans that had been in his trunk for several months. We set them up at 90 yards away near some steel posts where people used to hang targets. He shot the .44 Magnum and missed. I shot the .44 Magnum and hit the can. Next, he shot the .454 Casull and missed, and I shot the .454 Casull and hit the Coke can. Later that evening, we went to one of the local bars for a beer. When we sat at the bar. I sat on my friend's left and another guy was seated on his right side. After a little conversation, my friend turned to tell the other guy about his trip to the shooting range that afternoon. He said that he set up a couple of Coke cans 90 yards away and hit the first one with his .44 Magnum and the other one with his .454 Casull. WAIT A MINUTE! He was telling a story about my shooting to the guy on his right while I was sitting on his left. INCREDIBLE! Did my friend think I was deaf or that I was invisible? I never mentioned anything about that to my friend, but I started to doubt some of his stories. That was way too funny!
When I moved to South Dakota, the first person I wanted to meet was the local FFL (Federal Firearms License) dealer, John Broadbent, who quickly became one of my best friends. John arrived at noon, a time when about 10 locals gathered for coffee every day, and left around 2:00 pm. Anyone looking to buy a gun or have a gun transferred always contacted him. John Broadbent was one of the most honest and fair men I have ever met. I purchased and transferred many guns through John Broadbent without ever asking the price. I used to have coffee with the locals daily. Eventually, I moved up in the pecking order to the head of the table across from John, and all 10 of us exchanged stories…some more truthful than others. One day, I told the group that I bought an autographed model of a lever-action rifle for $2495. They began asking numerous questions, and finally, I had to reveal that the autograph was “Red Ryder,” and I bought the rifle on sale from Walmart for $24.95. My mother would never let me have a BB gun while I was growing up, so finally, to complete my collection, I just had to have the first gun I ever wanted, and it shoots great.
Jens Hansen, a founding member of the Coal Springs Antique Club, and the other members are very honest. Around 2017, I bought 10 raffle tickets for the Coal Springs Antique Club's annual fundraiser. I simply put my name and phone number on the tickets. About two months later, a person named Jens Hansen called to inform me that the raffle drawing had occurred and that I had won the top prize, a Henry lever-action .22 rimfire rifle. Neither of us knew each other, so we spent a few minutes getting acquainted. I had lived in the Los Angeles area for 40 years before moving to northwest South Dakota in 2011. Jens Hansen wanted to know where I lived, as my Ontario, California phone number was on the raffle ticket. I could sense he was happy to discover that I lived locally instead of several states away. Jens Hansen and I met a few days later, and he handed me the rifle. I joked that I could imagine a scenario where the winning raffle ticket was drawn, the name was unknown, with an Ontario, California phone number, and they simply tossed my ticket and pulled another ticket out of the box. On the whole, I think that rural people are more honest than so-called city people.
Whenever I’m in a group of guys whom I don’t know and the subject turns to guns, it always seems that there is someone who is the ultimate gun expert. He is more than willing to tell everyone that he knows it all. After a while, I like to ask someone like that if he knows anything about the .45-52 Zulu gun. Quite naturally, he has something to say about the .45-52 Zulu gun. Then I take the opportunity to mention that I have a chance to buy the gun, but it seems like it’s going to use a lot of ammo. Then I start telling him that the owner says that it’s the most amazing gun you’ll ever see, and you’d have to see it to believe it. As I continue telling the story about it shooting 9 times before you can cock it and 10 times before you can stop it, everyone in the group starts to realize that I’m talking about an imaginary gun and then they start making fun of the supposed gun expert. The story is always good for some laughs. Some guys want to know if I could write it down for them, but it’s just easier to refer them to my website. Enjoy!
P.S. I’d like to give a special thanks to Smith & Wesson for their excellent customer service. I shot a mountain of .357 Magnum loads through Spanky, my S&W Model 640 revolver. After years and years of abuse, it started to get a little loose and occasionally spit little pieces of lead back at you. John Broadbent, my good friend and the local gun dealer, sent it back to S&W for repairs. I don’t know what John said in his letter, but they went through the entire revolver. They replaced the cylinder, reshaped the forcing cone, retimed the revolver, fixed unseen stuff, and even replaced the screws that looked a little worn. The total cost for all of the repairs was...FREE!!! I have always only bought S&W double-action revolvers because they are simply the best, and they bend over backward to make sure the customer has a reliable product. In the future, to protect my little friend, I will only shoot .38 Special ammo for practice and load .357 Magnum ammo for things that go bump in the night. I love S&W double-action revolvers!!!
