Alamo Fast Draw

Ruger 357 3 Screw

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.

The FD gun of choice is the early model Ruger .357, distinguishable from the “new” model by the 3 screws in the side of the frame (the new models have 2 pins readily visible to the eye in place of the 3 screws). This gun has not been made for over 30 years now, and if you find one at all, the prices are escalating almost daily. The .357 3-screw has a smaller frame and cylinder than the .30 cal, .41, and .44 of its time, and this alone made it preferable for FD, as it created a lighter, better balanced gun when bored to .45 cal and fitted with a lighter aluminum barrel. As we run out of this particular gun the second choice is the other caliber 3-screws. These also will disappear with time, so we are facing choice number three. The original Ruger Vaquero is a viable FD gun for thumbing when tuned and the action lightened. However, the weight of the cylinder is way more than the notches and internal parts can take when fanned with a fanning hammer. As of 2005, Ruger has modified the Vaquero, making it a smaller framed gun the same size as the Colt, and even went back to the smaller grip frame of the old model .357 Blackhawks. This grip frame is the same as the Colt, with thinner grips than other Ruger SA’s. The hammer spur is also longer than normal, helping the thumb draw considerably. With some modifications this weapon makes an ideal competition gun.

Barrels are most important to the Fast Draw shooter. We have found over the years that the lighter aluminum barrel helps to gain speed in the draw. But the all aluminum barrel quickly looses its accuracy due to the constant cleaning. With even the nylon bristle brushes, cleaning wears the lands and groove edges inside. Copper or steel wire brushes are devastating. After a few years of cleaning, the opening at the front of the barrel is sometime worn so badly that the barrel gauge will drop down into the barrel too far to make it legal. Many a shooter has faced barrel replacement before he can use the gun in competition. Shooting powerful blanks will add to this wear factor, as they are hard on the soft aluminum. Sleeving aluminum over a steel bore is the most common way to provide the lightness, and keep the steel inner barrel that will maintain accuracy longer. The steel inner barrel will also keep the barrel from splitting or blowing out when using powerful blanks. This has happened a number of times, as aluminum will fatigue over a period of time, loosing its strength, similar to aircraft paneling on planes. I strongly recommend anyone using the full aluminum barrel to replace it with a sleeved one, first for safety, and second for improved accuracy. Of course a titanium barrel is the optimum choice. You gain strength, lightness of material, and longevity. With any barrel, be sure to clean and oil it after use so rust doesn’t pit the inner lining. These pits will accumulate wax and build up enough over a few shots to cause your next shot to shatter the wax, and there won’t be a large enough piece to stop the timer on impact. I know, because I’ve experienced it.

For those who like the old four-click action, with a safety, half cock position for loading, and no safety bar, the new model Ruger can be converted to the old Colt action, but will work as well with the sliding safety bar and the loading gate feature. The frame on the original Vaquero is going to be larger and heavier, but this is a trade off that new shooters will have to accept if they cannot find an old model .357, or a “New Model Vaquero” to build from.

Hopefully this will give the new shooters some insight into locating a suitable gun for Fast Draw competition, and a few tips learned over the last 45 years or so. If anyone has any questions, feel free to call me at 210-946-2826 (daytime or evening Texas time, thank you).

Alamo Fast Draw Editors Note: You can also check out Bob’s gunsmithing web site.

Image via Wikipedia

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.’

A crowd had gathered by then and the gunfighter said, ‘Well, you old fool, you’re gonna’ dance now,’ and started shooting at the old man’s feet.  The old prospector was hopping around and everybody was laughing.  When the gunslinger fired his last bullet, he holstered his gun and turned around to go back into the saloon.
The old man reached up on the mule, drew his shotgun, and pulled both hammers back making a double clicking sound. The gunslinger heard the sound and everything got quiet. The crowd watched as the gunslinger slowly turned around looking down both barrels of the shotgun.
The old man asked, ‘Did you ever kiss a mule’s ass?’

The gunslinger swallowed hard and said, ‘No. But I’ve always wanted to.’
The lessons from this story are:
1. Don’t waste ammunition

2. Don’t mess with old people.

From Alamo Fast Draw   Especially Ones With Shotguns

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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

Blackbird: You really sound like a person who likes things just-so you have a picture in your mind of something special and you just can’t wait to make it happen.

Gunfighter Bob Mernickle: Oh yeah, that’s me, and the funny thing is I’ll have people like phone me up or ask me about something and they have a requirement or whatever, because we do a lot of different things in our shop and sometimes I’ll say look! Let me call you back, and it’ll take me a month. And I’ll call them back and I got it it’s in my head now. And sometimes they think, I thought you forgot about me and I go, no. I just have to figure out what I got to do. And sometimes you can’t just jump on it you got to tink (sic) about it and sometimes when you’re thinking about it if you think too hard you can’t figure it out and so I keep it on the back burners until all of a sudden I start seeing a picture. Once I see the picture in my mind, then I can do it, and then I just got to start

Blackbird: Sometimes you sleep on it a little bit.

Gunfighter Bob Mernickle: Yeah, oh yeah. I haven’t done it for years, but I used to sleep with a pen and paper by my bed. I haven’t done it for years, now, but I used to sleep with it, because I would wake up in the middle of the night with an idea because I was sort of the up-and-coming holster builder and I was trying to – I don’t want to call it create a name for myself because it really didn’t have anything to do with that – but I wanted to have a product line that people would remember and I didn’t want to just be another holster builder. I wanted to do my own thing, and that’s why I’ve always done that, and I still am to this day and anything and everything you ever see on the my site is that way, and I’m hands-on. I’m constantly hands-on. I have.

Gunfighter Jim Martin: Well, you don’t get to go out and shoot as often as you used to.

Gunfighter Bob Mernickle: No.

Gunfighter Bob Mernickle: No kidding! I’m sitting here as I’m speaking to everybody and I’m looking about a hundred feet away from me, we have a double French doors in our office here and I’m looking through and a hundred feet away from me there’s a big black opening if if I turn the light on. I have a 16-32 indoor climate controlled shooting range in my shop that I hardly get to walk into.

Gunfighter Jim Marttin: That’s pretty funny.

Blackbird: You mentioned Alfonso earlier?

Gunfighter Bob Mernickle: Yeah.

Blackbird: When Al first went into business, just a little bit of history here, he had been with Ojala for years, as had Andy before that too, and they moved over on to Sunset Strip. You remember the old show 77 Sunset Strip?

Gunfighter Bob Mernickle: Yeah.

Blackbird: That was an actual restaurant, that wasn’t a site.

Gunfighter Bob Mernickle: Oh, isn’t that something.

Blackbird: The shop was right down from that, and then Alfonso got a backer, I can’t remember his last name now, but his first name was Dick, and Alfonso moved and left Ojala and went back into the old Ojala shop back across from Andy’s shop there on Lankershim. The very first double carved rig he ever made he made for me.

Bob Mernickle: Oh wow!

Blackbird: And you mentioned carving down in the pockets. He did.

Bob Mernickle: Yeah.

Blackbird: And then he went on to put my initials or my name on it, and I said, no, I don’t like that. Alfonso says, look! Well, of course his English was very broken, and he says, I’m building the holster, I want to build it my way. I says OK, fine, we’ll build a whole holster your way. I don’t want my name on it. And so finally we agree that he would carve my initials above the holster in the belt there and blend it in with the carving so it didn’t stand out. I shot out of that rig, I can’t remember how many years, but I donated that rig to Bob Arganbright.

Gunfighter Bob Mernickle: Oh cool.

Blackbird: His museum and it’s stamped Al & Dick’s Holster Shop before it became Alfonso’s of Hollywood.

Gunfighter Bob Mernickle: Oh, isn’t that cool.

Blackbird: That’s the very first one he ever made and the thing I never really understood thoroughly is he says don’t let Andy see this rig. And I said, well why? He says, well I don’t Andy to know that I do all this carving and all this kind of work, I never understood that. So I never said a word to Andy about it, but Bob Arganbright owns that rig today, he’s got it there in his museum.

Gunfighter Bob Mernickle: Yeah, he has a number of – Bob Arganbright and I go way back and he’s a really nice man, and he’s got a number of holsters of my really early stuff in his shop as well as a lot of new stuff that we’re doing, and I’ve been fortunate that he’s somewhat of a fan of our product line and in specifics, anything to do with western right, and so as a matter of fact I just sent him here, there’s an article coming out on it, and it’s not even out yet, but I just created a sort of our version of the roughed out spaghetti western, whose holster that Clint Eastwood wore in a high-ride though that sets the gun and the grip frame above the beltline, and but it’s all roughed out and with the stitching and the gunfighter stitching on it and stuff like that but it’s our rendition of it, but at the same time capable of shooting extreme contests and cowboy fast draw which was really important that I got that balance in there, and he just took possession of it and he said he fell in love with it so we’ll see how much on the article [laughs]

Blackbird: You’re aware that the gunfighter stitching was originally designed by Andy?

Gunfighter Bob Mernickle: Was it really? I see, I didn’t know that.

Blackbird: That was one of his trademarks there, he’s the one that came up with that design of stitching across the rear of the belt and around to the holster and everything.

Gunfighter Bob Mernickle: Yeah, you know, I’ve seen it on his. I’ve also seen it on John Bjanke early stuff before he sold the company and I don’t take anything away from anybody, and here I am critiquing something I shouldn’t be, but anyway, I found that the gunfighter stitch was too wide. I wanted a balance between space between the border stitching and the gunfighter stitch so that the space was sort of equal all the way through so I created something that would create that stitch throughout, and to me it looks balanced. Some, and I don’t want to throw names out there, but some of them made the stitch too wide. They ran it to the edge of the belt and back down again.

Blackbird: Yeah, I know what you mean.

Gunfighter Bob Mernickle: Yeah, and then some went too skinny and they just had these sort of zigzag lines going through the center of the belt almost, and so I found that, that wasn’t my way either, but and I’m not taking away from anything anybody ever does, I would never do that. But it’s just kind of neat to see all these different types of holsters and where they’ve evolved too.

If any of you Gunfighters would like to hear more of this interview you can listen to episode 31on the audio player(red) on the right side of this page. If you would like to join in the show live or listen live to the Alamo Fast Draw show or call 1-724-444-7444 show#16056. Whether you are a gunfighter or not its a fun show.

Gunfighter Gulch Is a great place to get a lot of info on Fast Draw History.

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• Alamo Fast Draw Episode 31 part 3 Bob Mernickle

Image via Wikipedia

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.

Billy the Kid escaped from jail and went to see John Chisum. Billy believed that Chisum owed him $500 but Chisum refused to pay. Billy promising to steal enough cattle to make up the $500 sum. Billy the Kid held true to his word with the help of a gang that included Dave Rudabaugh, Billy Wilson, Tom O’Folliard and Charles Bowdre. Billy and his gang also rustled  from other cattlemen in the area and became a serious problem in Lincoln County.

John Chisum was instrumental  in getting Pat Garrett elected as sheriff of Lincoln County in 1880. Garrett immediately started out with attempting to deal with the problems Billy the Kid had been causing. Pat Garrett killed two of the Kid’s gang in December 1880, Tom O’Folliard and Charles Bowdre. Shortly after Billy the Kid, Billy Wilson and Dave Rudabaugh were captured by Garratt.

John Chisum died on the 20th of December 1884 in Eureka Springs. Chisum was unmarried and left his estate worth $500,000 to his brothers.

Note From Alamo Fast Draw: How In this group would you call a Gunfighter? Here is my opinion.

John Chisum  Not a Gunfighter Dave Rudabaugh   Not a  Gunfighter

Alexander McSween  Not a Gunfighter Billy Wilson   Not a  Gunfighter

Lewis Wallace  Not a Gunfighter Tom O’Folliard  Not a  Gunfighter

Billy the Kid  Yes a Gunfighter Charles Bowdre Not a  Gunfighter

Pat Garret  Yes a Gunfighter

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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.