In order to participate in the GunBroker Member forums, you must be logged in with your GunBroker.com account. Click the sign-in button at the top right of the forums page to get connected.
Have gun, will travel (in 0.05 of a second)
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
Using blanks, Lee Walker of Vinton uses his modified single-action Colt .45-caliber revolver to practice "twist and draw" speed-shooting. This photo shows that the shooter can be as close to the gun as possible without touching it.
Monday, July 08, 2002
After speed-shooting for only 2 1/2 years, Vinton man is one of the fastest guns in these parts
Have gun, will travel (in 0.05 of a second)
"He's the best of what America can offer; he's the best of us, that's a gentleman, a warrior and just a dear friend of mine."
By EMI KOJIMA
THE ROANOKE TIMES
His six-shooter sits ready in its holster.
His steely gaze stares out from under his black cowboy hat.
Then, in the blink of an eye, smoke surrounds him, and an ear-piercing blast resounds.
Lee Walker , 59, of Vinton is one of the fastest guns ever known in the Roanoke Valley. He's in a select group of men who know how to shoot the "pure" way - with no gimmicks or fancy guns. He fires his Colt single-action .45 in an average of 0.05 second.
Even though he's worked with guns all his life, Walker only started speed-shooting two and a half years ago, after he saw a television show about Bob Munden , "the fastest gun that ever lived." Walker enrolled in Munden's week long school in Butte, Mont., the following year, in 2000, and went again last summer.
"You're trying to build up to where you just explode," Walker said about speed-shooting. "Drawing fire has to be emotional, while concentrating on speed."
Unlike most fast-draw artists, Walker shoots from the hip and across his stomach, the way that Munden taught him. This "twist and draw" is faster than the conventional draw seen in Western films. But at a cost: Just by practicing, Walker made his way through four shirts and three pairs of trousers from gun powder burns. Now he puts a piece of electrical tape on his side for protection.
Munden, who holds 18 world records and is cited several times in the Guinness Book of World Records, speaks highly of Walker as a student, a shooter and a friend.
"The way Lee Walker shoots is the pure way," Munden said. "Maybe there are 30 to 40 people who use that draw. A lot of people are afraid of it because you hold the muzzle of the gun next to you and you feel that."
The hobby isn't cheap. Walker practices on the shooting range and in his basement about three times a week. Equipment for the racing gun and special holster cost about $2,100. Walker said he probably spends about $10 to $15 per week on ammunition, blanks and wax bullets. His wife, Lynda , supports him in his hobby, although he said she thought it was silly at first.
The Colt .45 -caliber revolver is his favorite, although Walker owns four handguns, five rifles and a shotgun.
Ever since Walker saw Western movies as a child in Wichita Falls, Texas , he has been interested in shooting. Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, John Wayne and, of course, Clint Eastwood embodied what heroes should be, he said.
"It was good guys, always on the side of the law," he said. "Clean, wholesome movies."
That stuck with him. When he was 9, he got his first BB gun, and at 11 he got a .22- caliber rifle that he used to hunt rabbits. Later, when he joined the Marine Corps, he learned he could make a profession out of firearms instruction . He spent 30 years in the Marines, surviving two helicopter crashes and a plane crash. He once went into battle in Vietnam with 258 men - and was one of six who came out alive.
Munden expands on his modest friend's military career: "He's the epitome of what a good American is," Munden said. "He's the best of what America can offer; he's the best of us, that's a gentleman, a warrior and just a dear friend of mine."
Now, Walker works as training director at Roanoke's Professional Security Service Range and Training. Walker said his hobby doesn't come up when he's teaching a basic firearms class, although Tom Harris, the general manager, said people at the store talk about it.
"There's not many people who do that style of shooting," he said. "We're very proud."
Sometimes people ask if the range offers speed- shooting classes when they see the photos of Munden on the walls. Walker said he's considering teaching a class in the future - but only with Munden's blessing.
For now, Walker is trying to improve his own time. His best shot is 0.03 second , and he'd like to achieve that consistently.
Walker has competed in four regional enthusiasts' competitions. He placed first in three of them and third in the most recent. The next step is a national competition, where he would be ranked. So far, Walker said he hasn't had the courage. But he said he'll enter next year if Munden supports him.
He also plans to be more involved in the local chapter of the Single Action Shooting Society, a California-based organization that seeks to preserve the legacy of 19th-century weaponry such as Colt .45 revolvers, Winchester rifles and shotguns.
At Single Action Shooting Society competitions, participants dress up, light campfires and sing songs to get into the spirit of those Western movies.
"It's reliving the past, the Old West days," Walker said. "Sometimes, I wonder if we would be better off going back to those days, too. People tell me I was born 100 years too late."
http://www.roanoke.com/roatimes/news/story133173.html
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
Monday, July 08, 2002
After speed-shooting for only 2 1/2 years, Vinton man is one of the fastest guns in these parts
Have gun, will travel (in 0.05 of a second)
"He's the best of what America can offer; he's the best of us, that's a gentleman, a warrior and just a dear friend of mine."
By EMI KOJIMA
THE ROANOKE TIMES
His six-shooter sits ready in its holster.
His steely gaze stares out from under his black cowboy hat.
Then, in the blink of an eye, smoke surrounds him, and an ear-piercing blast resounds.
Lee Walker , 59, of Vinton is one of the fastest guns ever known in the Roanoke Valley. He's in a select group of men who know how to shoot the "pure" way - with no gimmicks or fancy guns. He fires his Colt single-action .45 in an average of 0.05 second.
Even though he's worked with guns all his life, Walker only started speed-shooting two and a half years ago, after he saw a television show about Bob Munden , "the fastest gun that ever lived." Walker enrolled in Munden's week long school in Butte, Mont., the following year, in 2000, and went again last summer.
"You're trying to build up to where you just explode," Walker said about speed-shooting. "Drawing fire has to be emotional, while concentrating on speed."
Unlike most fast-draw artists, Walker shoots from the hip and across his stomach, the way that Munden taught him. This "twist and draw" is faster than the conventional draw seen in Western films. But at a cost: Just by practicing, Walker made his way through four shirts and three pairs of trousers from gun powder burns. Now he puts a piece of electrical tape on his side for protection.
Munden, who holds 18 world records and is cited several times in the Guinness Book of World Records, speaks highly of Walker as a student, a shooter and a friend.
"The way Lee Walker shoots is the pure way," Munden said. "Maybe there are 30 to 40 people who use that draw. A lot of people are afraid of it because you hold the muzzle of the gun next to you and you feel that."
The hobby isn't cheap. Walker practices on the shooting range and in his basement about three times a week. Equipment for the racing gun and special holster cost about $2,100. Walker said he probably spends about $10 to $15 per week on ammunition, blanks and wax bullets. His wife, Lynda , supports him in his hobby, although he said she thought it was silly at first.
The Colt .45 -caliber revolver is his favorite, although Walker owns four handguns, five rifles and a shotgun.
Ever since Walker saw Western movies as a child in Wichita Falls, Texas , he has been interested in shooting. Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, John Wayne and, of course, Clint Eastwood embodied what heroes should be, he said.
"It was good guys, always on the side of the law," he said. "Clean, wholesome movies."
That stuck with him. When he was 9, he got his first BB gun, and at 11 he got a .22- caliber rifle that he used to hunt rabbits. Later, when he joined the Marine Corps, he learned he could make a profession out of firearms instruction . He spent 30 years in the Marines, surviving two helicopter crashes and a plane crash. He once went into battle in Vietnam with 258 men - and was one of six who came out alive.
Munden expands on his modest friend's military career: "He's the epitome of what a good American is," Munden said. "He's the best of what America can offer; he's the best of us, that's a gentleman, a warrior and just a dear friend of mine."
Now, Walker works as training director at Roanoke's Professional Security Service Range and Training. Walker said his hobby doesn't come up when he's teaching a basic firearms class, although Tom Harris, the general manager, said people at the store talk about it.
"There's not many people who do that style of shooting," he said. "We're very proud."
Sometimes people ask if the range offers speed- shooting classes when they see the photos of Munden on the walls. Walker said he's considering teaching a class in the future - but only with Munden's blessing.
For now, Walker is trying to improve his own time. His best shot is 0.03 second , and he'd like to achieve that consistently.
Walker has competed in four regional enthusiasts' competitions. He placed first in three of them and third in the most recent. The next step is a national competition, where he would be ranked. So far, Walker said he hasn't had the courage. But he said he'll enter next year if Munden supports him.
He also plans to be more involved in the local chapter of the Single Action Shooting Society, a California-based organization that seeks to preserve the legacy of 19th-century weaponry such as Colt .45 revolvers, Winchester rifles and shotguns.
At Single Action Shooting Society competitions, participants dress up, light campfires and sing songs to get into the spirit of those Western movies.
"It's reliving the past, the Old West days," Walker said. "Sometimes, I wonder if we would be better off going back to those days, too. People tell me I was born 100 years too late."
http://www.roanoke.com/roatimes/news/story133173.html
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878