How Accurate Were Guns in the Wild West?

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The discussion revolves around the accuracy and effectiveness of firearms from the Wild West era, highlighting the Colt's Single Action Army pistols and Winchester lever-action rifles as notable examples. Participants argue that these guns were more accurate than many modern firearms, with references to historical performance and specific calibers like .38-55 and .45-70. The conversation takes a humorous turn with jokes about hunting endangered species, particularly the California Condor and Spotted Owl, leading to a debate about hunting regulations and the consequences of violating wildlife protection laws. The dialogue also touches on personal anecdotes related to hair length and regional experiences in Southern Ontario, showcasing a blend of humor and nostalgia. Overall, the thread combines technical discussions about firearms with light-hearted banter and personal stories.
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Of the wild west?
 
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Guns aren't accurate, shooters are.
 
wolram said:
of the wild west?

+/- 7
 
Good enough to kill you. :smile:
 
Colt's Single Action Army pistols were very good for their time (and still are), as were Remington's offerings. For long-guns, Winchester lever-actions were pretty accurate and had impressive firepower (fast repeating action). Best of all were the long-barreled single-shots, but they were best used on game that could not shoot back.

Even today, some very accurate rounds (in a properly-made rifle) are from the black-powder era - .38-55 and .45-70 are both tack-drivers when mated up with the proper rifles.
 
Guns were more accurate back then than they are now. You used to be able to hit a California Condor, or Spotted Owl from 50 yards, but not any more.
 
turbo-1 said:
Colt's Single Action Army pistols were very good for their time (and still are), as were Remington's offerings. For long-guns, Winchester lever-actions were pretty accurate and had impressive firepower (fast repeating action). Best of all were the long-barreled single-shots, but they were best used on game that could not shoot back.

Gets his info from Red Dead Redemption.

Jimmy Snyder said:
Guns were more accurate back then than they are now. You used to be able to hit a California Condor, or Spotted Owl from 50 yards, but not any more.

Gets his info from old prospectors.

EDIT: Oh crap... that was a hilarious joke that I totally missed! Sigh... good job, Jimmy. I'm sorry.
 
Nicely done (Jimmy).
 
Jimmy Snyder said:
Guns were more accurate back then than they are now. You used to be able to hit a California Condor, or Spotted Owl from 50 yards, but not any more.

Clever :biggrin:
 
  • #10
I'm going to go on a limb here and guess those birds are extinct now? Or else I'm totally missing the joke :biggrin:
 
  • #11
Mentallic said:
I'm going to go on a limb here and guess those birds are extinct now? Or else I'm totally missing the joke :biggrin:

I'm with you on that. And if they aren't extinct, I will henceforth dedicate my life to making them so, lest the joke never make sense.
 
  • #14
turbo-1 said:
They are not extinct, but bag-limits are very restrictive. :devil:

Time to drag out the DNA-targeting micro-nukes! Kill 'em all with one shot, it's just one fine... what $500 or so? I can live with that.
 
  • #15
Mentallic said:
I'm going to go on a limb here and guess those birds are extinct now? Or else I'm totally missing the joke :biggrin:

Nope, they're just much much smaller now. :-p
 
  • #16
Danger said:
Time to drag out the DNA-targeting micro-nukes! Kill 'em all with one shot, it's just one fine... what $500 or so? I can live with that.
Hmm. Violating the Endangered Species act by killing a condor can send you to jail for a year AND a $100,000 fine. A bit more than $500.
 
  • #17
turbo-1 said:
Hmm. Violating the Endangered Species act by killing a condor can send you to jail for a year AND a $100,000 fine. A bit more than $500.

That is assuming that I target them from your side of the border, where I'm not allowed. If I launch from the top of Mount Yamnuska, there isn't much that can be done about it.
 
  • #18
Wow! If you shoot a wild turkey out of season here, or without the proper permit, you pay a $500 fine, pay a $500 "replacement fee" (despite the fact that the turkeys breed like rabbits and need no "replacement") AND lose your hunting and fishing license for 5 years.
 
  • #19
turbo-1 said:
Hmm. Violating the Endangered Species act by killing a condor can send you to jail for a year AND a $100,000 fine. A bit more than $500.

How do you type responses with your arms around that tree, hippy?
 
  • #20
FlexGunship said:
How do you type responses with your arms around that tree, hippy?

He sounds more like a good lawyer than a tree hugger. :smile:
 
  • #21
stevenb said:
He sounds more like a good lawyer than a tree hugger. :smile:
I am an avid hunter and I cut down trees to burn in my wood-stove.
 
  • #22
turbo-1 said:
I am an avid hunter and I cut down trees to burn in my wood-stove.
Many of you may remember the Sahara Forest before turbo-1's trip to Africa.
 
  • #23
stevenb said:
a good lawyer

Isn't that an oxymoron? :-p
The appellation "hippy" is no insult to me whatsoever. Despite my home of Alberta being touted as the "Bible Belt" of Canada, it has nothing at all compared to southern Ontario. I was stuck down there for 13 years. When I was 16, my hair started to creep down to almost the tops of my ears. I received death threats, from not only fellow students but also their parents, if I didn't get a haircut. I was a "hippy". Didn't matter that I didn't drink, take drugs, party, and had a perverse attraction to astrophysics... my hair was more than 1/2" long, so I was an evil influence. Needless to say, I never cut my hair again until the end of Grade 12. For one reason or another, those who threatened me slipped off of the map.
 
  • #24
Jimmy Snyder said:
Many of you may remember the Sahara Forest before turbo-1's trip to Africa.
That wasn't me. I had something to do with the Gobi Forest though.
 
  • #25
Danger said:
Isn't that an oxymoron? :-p
The appellation "hippy" is no insult to me whatsoever. Despite my home of Alberta being touted as the "Bible Belt" of Canada, it has nothing at all compared to southern Ontario. I was stuck down there for 13 years. When I was 16, my hair started to creep down to almost the tops of my ears. I received death threats, from not only fellow students but also their parents, if I didn't get a haircut. I was a "hippy". Didn't matter that I didn't drink, take drugs, party, and had a perverse attraction to astrophysics... my hair was more than 1/2" long, so I was an evil influence.

:raises an eyebrow:
You smokin' that prairie weed?
 
  • #26
Danger said:
Isn't that an oxymoron? :-p
The appellation "hippy" is no insult to me whatsoever. Despite my home of Alberta being touted as the "Bible Belt" of Canada, it has nothing at all compared to southern Ontario. I was stuck down there for 13 years. When I was 16, my hair started to creep down to almost the tops of my ears. I received death threats, from not only fellow students but also their parents, if I didn't get a haircut. I was a "hippy". Didn't matter that I didn't drink, take drugs, party, and had a perverse attraction to astrophysics... my hair was more than 1/2" long, so I was an evil influence. Needless to say, I never cut my hair again until the end of Grade 12. For one reason or another, those who threatened me slipped off of the map.

I grew up in Southern Ontario. I had longish hair when I was younger.. one my way home I used to pass by a Barbour shop that was owned by a family friend of something like 60+ years, his grandfather was my grandmothers good friend etc etc

One day while walking past I got grabbed by my shoulders and one ear by the older guy and his son, dragged into the shop and held down while they shaved my head short - then sent me on my way but not before telling me my father had instructed them to "cut his damned hair off". lol
 
  • #27
encorp said:
I grew up in Southern Ontario. I had longish hair when I was younger.. one my way home I used to pass by a Barbour shop that was owned by a family friend of something like 60+ years, his grandfather was my grandmothers good friend etc etc

One day while walking past I got grabbed by my shoulders and one ear by the older guy and his son, dragged into the shop and held down while they shaved my head short - then sent me on my way but not before telling me my father had instructed them to "cut his damned hair off". lol

How far south? And when? I was 2 miles north of Ruthven, 5 miles out of Leamington, 35 miles SE of Windsor/Detroit. I was there from '65 to '78, and the hair thing (meaning high-school days) occurred from '70 to '74.
 
  • #28
turbo-1 said:
I am an avid hunter and I cut down trees to burn in my wood-stove.

not a lawyer, ... but a hunter ... well, same killer instinct at least.

Tough crowd here. Trees, forests, animals and Danger's enemies are all slipping off the map. :smile:
 
  • #29
Danger said:
How far south? And when? I was 2 miles north of Ruthven, 5 miles out of Leamington, 35 miles SE of Windsor/Detroit. I was there from '65 to '78, and the hair thing (meaning high-school days) occurred from '70 to '74.

Ah. Land of latex rubber gloves...
:eek:
 
  • #30
DaveC426913 said:
Ah. Land of latex rubber gloves...
:eek:

:confused:
 
  • #31
Danger said:
How far south? And when? I was 2 miles north of Ruthven, 5 miles out of Leamington, 35 miles SE of Windsor/Detroit. I was there from '65 to '78, and the hair thing (meaning high-school days) occurred from '70 to '74.

Wellll. I was in Niagara. But I have lived in Windsor before... for a bout a year...

My hair thing was high school days, although it's long again now too.. but I wasn't even born until 82' LOL! So it wasn't -that- big of a deal for me.
 
  • #32
encorp said:
I wasn't even born until 82' LOL!

Bloody 'ell, lad! I'm wearing socks that are older than you!

edit: And before some smartass chirps up... I washed them last month.
 
  • #33
Danger said:
:confused:

I went for a weekend trip through S.Ontario a few years back.
When I left my hotel to seek a movie, a local said "Movie theatre?? Sure, I think there's one off Windsor way about an hour..."

Anyway, in the course of an hour of dropping in on a half dozen corner variety stores, I saw more racks of latex rubber gloves than I have ever seen in my entire life. Every single store had at least one giant shelf, ten nooks broad and five high, filled with every variety of latex rubber gloves.

Not hardware stores, mind. convenience stores. The kind that are open all night.

My wife and I spent very little time speculating as to why so many Leamingtonians needed late night access to the perfect size, quality and grip of a pair of latex rubber gloves.

We hightailed it back to civilization faster than http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068473/" ...
 
Last edited by a moderator:
  • #34
DaveC426913 said:
My wife and I spent very little time speculating as to why so many Leamingtonians needed late night access to the perfect size, quality and grip of a pair of latex rubber gloves.

Okay... Leamington had one convenience store when I left. There was an A&P, an old-folk's home, a funeral parlour, (briefly) the factory where I worked (Speedbelt Canada), and the main plant of Heinz Canada. If you had seen the number of tipped-over wagons of rotten tomatoes being skip-shoveled out of the ditch to be sent back on their way back to the plant, you would never eat ketchup again. :eek:
Believe it or not, I've never seen "Deliverance" and have no interest in doing so.
 
  • #35
Danger said:
How far south? And when? I was 2 miles north of Ruthven, 5 miles out of Leamington, 35 miles SE of Windsor/Detroit. I was there from '65 to '78, and the hair thing (meaning high-school days) occurred from '70 to '74.

Amazing, Leamington is just 6 miles from me.
 
  • #36
wolram said:
Amazing, Leamington is just 6 miles from me.

Small world :smile:.

And apparently, one with a shortage of place names.
 
  • #37
wolram said:
Amazing, Leamington is just 6 miles from me.

Well, what the hell are you waiting for, man? Grab a tomater and meet me at the Devonshire Mall.
 
  • #38
Danger said:
Believe it or not, I've never seen "Deliverance" and have no interest in doing so.
It's actually a very good film. Good like Jaws.

Danger said:
Well, what the hell are you waiting for, man? Grab a tomater and meet me at the Devonshire Mall.
Was that there back then?
I just drove past that last week. (Went to Windsor). I thought Devonshire Mall was recent.
 
  • #39
DaveC426913 said:
It's actually a very good film. Good like Jaws.


Was that there back then?
I just drove past that last week. (Went to Windsor). I thought Devonshire Mall was recent.

Yeah, I thought that Jaws sucked.
I will have you know that the Devonshire was built when I was in first year high-school Grade 9 ('70). I had the singular pleasure of causing chaos in that realm. All of we kids carried rolled up posters that we bought in one of the local shops. So one day I brought my own pre-purchased poster... filled with laundry detergent. I casually tipped its contents into the central fountain and lingered to watch as the centre of the mall filled with foam. :devil:
 
  • #40
Danger said:
Yeah, I thought that Jaws sucked.
Get off my planet.
 
  • #41
DaveC426913 said:
Get off my planet.

Even though you appear to be solar-powered (based upon your hairline), my roots run deep. My planet is not up for grabs without a scrap.
 
  • #42
Guns to hairlines in 41 posts, must be a pf record.
 
  • #43
wolram said:
Guns to hairlines in 41 posts, must be a pf record.

Which way - that long, or that fast?
 
  • #44
wolram said:
Guns to hairlines in 41 posts, must be a pf record.

Of course, hairlines to guns can occur much faster.
 
  • #45
stevenb said:
Of course, hairlines to guns can occur much faster.

YEEEAAAAAAHHHHH!

flowbee.jpg
 
  • #46
Borek said:
Which way - that long, or that fast?

That fast.
 

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