Posted on 01/06/2011 3:47:58 AM PST by marktwain
Michael Bane is pleased and Paul Helmke is having heart palpitations. The Wall Street Journal just ran a front page story on the American Zoot Shooters Association - and it was favorable.
The story notes the contrast between the quest for authenticity of the Zoot Shooters and cowboy action shooting. While zoot suits are more properly associated with the 1940s, the Zoot Shooters' stages are more from the Roaring 20s and 30s.The story notes that some cowboy action shooters criticize them for it. However, "Judge Roy Bean" - co-founder of the Single Action Shooting Society - had this reaction:
Among them was Harper Creigh, the 74-year-old founder of cowboy action shooting, who goes by the alias Judge Roy Bean.
"I at first thought they hated us," Mr. Huss said.
Instead, Mr. Creigh said he knew who Mr. Huss was and told him that about 25 years ago he and a buddy contemplated creating a shooting sport with Tommy guns called the "Roaring Twenties." The idea never came to fruition. "If I wasn't so old and beat up I'd probably jump in and get involved," Mr. Creigh says.
It is good that the Wall Street Journal is running stories on action shooting. Stories such as this help remove the stigma from the gun culture that the Brady Campaign and some in the mainstream media have tried to propagate.
Right.
Yep, that's a fact.
And thanks to Harper Creigh and his SASS, wheel guns have not went the way of the Dodo. Granted they're 'cowboy' guns but they helped Colt keep the wolves away from the door and people stay employed.
Now there's almost too many Single Action Army (aka: 'Peacemakers') clones to choose from as everyone is making them(1). And one of them, in .45LC, is on my 'wish list' of guns. Weird thing though - a Ruger Vaquero feels better in my hand than an actual Colt 'Peacemaker'. The Colt has a fairly tiny grip.
(1) that's a joke, there can never be too many guns
A few of years ago my son brought one of his fraternity brothers by the house to do some shooting. The boy liked to shoot but didn’t own a firearm yet. He was in the market for a pistol but couldn’t decide.
So we cleaned out the vault and went down to the range. After trying my son’s excellent Sig .40S&W, my entire Colt “snake” collection, S&W’s in .38, .357, and .41 Mag, a Colt Gov. model and a Defender, he stumbled into one of my Colt SA Army in .45 LC.
At this point I must say that the boy had barley put a round on paper yet. He stepped up to the firing line and immediately put one in the X ring. The other five were all “in the black”.
He stepped away from the firing line with the greatest expression on his face. I laughed and told him, “Son, I think we’ve found your gun.” He has since picked up a nice little Umberto clone with a 41/2” barrel in .45LC. I understand that he carries in a shoulder holster.
I’ve got a Colt Diamondback in 38 Special that has a fond place in my heart. It’s 100% reliable and accurate. I sent it back to Colt in 1991 to have it reblued because of holster wear. It came back looking brand new and with an action job. I’m not sure if it was an accident or what, but it shoots better than it ever did. I have a safe full of firearms, but it’s the one I reach for when I have to deal with snakes in the yard. My wife loves it. The first time she fired it, she claimed it as her bedside gun.
I know it sounds lame, but when I hold it in my hand, I feel like I'm holding a link back into the mists of history and the Wild West, even thigh the gun was made in Brazil in about 2004. Crazy, I know.
Sweet. And yeah w/ a 4½: barrel that would work nice in a shoulder holster.
For some reason the 45LC round got no respect. Maybe was even close to extinction. But even today, with an 'underpowered' Cowboy load, it will put the bad guy is 'Boot Hill' :-)
My 'wish list' is for one with the 5½ barrel. Coloring / finish makes no difference, ditto for the grip material. Only that its strong enough to handle full load 45LC rounds, not just Cowboy Loads. But being in IL I'm 'protected by the state'(/s) from 'cheap' clones that'd blow up in my face. So I'm limited to a few mfgs, like Colt, Beretta, US Firearms, and maybe EAA.
(Gun Shop informed me of how the state was looking out for us with this - he wasn't pleased either)
[They're so fricken benevolent]
I have the same pistol. It was actually the last gun I added to my “Snake Collection”. I also have a Python 6” .357 Mag, and an Anaconda 8” .44 Mag., and that’s just the “Snakes”.
I saw a Diamondback .22 LR yesterday that I just gotta have. I am a Colt fanatic and have been since I was a kid.
Lexi, turning a barrel, has , not visible, in her right hand a single action revolver, and is targeting a baloon soon to be deflated.
The ultimate tweak to leftie pansies is not Lexi's proficiency with a handgun, but her age of fifteen.
More about this sport is available at Western Shooting Horse Magazine (www.wshmag.com).
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