What makes a good gunfighter

[latigo_allen]

I think mind set and willingness is probly the most important. Being able to hit what you aim at is important, but getting in a shoot out  and freezing up or panicing isnt going to cut it. That skill is a hard one to practice.

[AtlLaw]

getting in a shoot out  and freezing up or panicing ... That skill is a hard one to practice.

 

[Glanceblamm]

I cannot believe that this one is still going so I had to come back and read some more of the post's which were good.
 
Here is my 2 cents...
 
Cowboy A: I have seen that Jeb empty his six gun into a fence post in under one second.
Cowboy B: Was the fence post shooting back?

[coyotejoe]

I like the movie line from "Unforgiven" where "Little Bill" is explaining it to the writer "Beauchamp", he says:
"bein' good with a gun, fast & accurate, that don't do no harm but it really don't amount to much up against bein' cool headed. The man who can hold his nerve under fire-- like as not he'll kill ya." 

[357]

No one can answer the question until they are in a gunfight. Everone that has not been in one always has that question in the back of their mind. " Can I pull the trigger." I myself have answered that question twice now, in my career. It is not a pleasant experience but had to be done.

[jlwilliams]

Seems a bit of luck wouldn't hurt.

[tinman]

the one still breathing at the end.

[nw_hunter]

Sometimes the best gun fighters are the sorriest of humanity!
Take this guy!



"In all the criminal lore of the country there is no record equal to that of Harry Tracy for cold-blooded nerve, desperation and thirst for crime. Jesse James, compared with Tracy, is a Sunday school teacher."    -- Seattle Daily Times, July 3, 1902

Harry Tracy, aka: Harry Severns (1874?-1902) - Born in Wisconsin, Tracy's real name was Harry Severns. At a young age, he ran away from home, first landing in Chicago, where he worked in the stockyards. Later, he migrated to Colorado, where he labored in the gold fields before moving on to Billings, Montana, and learning the cowboy trade.

 

However, it appears that Tracy was more interested in making his way more easily -- rustling cattle. After killing a deputy sheriff named Arly Grimes, he fled back to Colorado, where he reportedly killed two more men.

 

He soon hooked up with Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch, again rustling cattle and committing highway robbery. In 1898 after the gang had killed a boy named William Strong during a robbery, the Wild Bunch was aggressively pursued and when a gunfight erupted, posseman, Valentine Hoy, was killed. Tracy and three other men were arrested but Tracy escaped an Aspen, Colorado jail, by nearly killing a guard with a lead pipe.

 
   

He then made his way to Portland, Oregon, where he hooked up with outlaw, Dave Merrill, and continued his life of crime. Both men were arrested again in February, 1899 and Tracy was sentenced to 20 years in the Salem, Oregon penitentiary. Merrill was also sent up. However, on June 9, 1902, with the help of a female accomplice, Tracy and Merrill escaped the prison, killing three men and wounding another in the process. With the two on the lamb, Tracy felt that Merrill was becoming weak and killed him on June 28th, near Chehalis, Washington. Continuing on his own, he made his way to the Seattle area, where he killed Detective Charles Raymond and a deputy named John Williams during a shootout on July 3rd.

Fleeing once again, the killer was pursued to a ranch southeast of Creston, Washington, where once again, a gunfight occurred on August 6th. In the melee, Tracy killed posse members Cornelious Rowley and Enoch Breece. However, he the cornered outlaw took a shot in the leg.  Surrounded by authorities and unable to escape this time, Tracy committed suicide rather than being taken in again.

[Glock Doctor]

Lots of good thoughts and ideas in this thread!  However, I’m not going to focus upon the, ‘mechanical requirements’ of gunfighting.  Instead I’m going to focus on the psychological aspects of surviving an armed confrontation.  First, you have to be able to, 'read' other people well; Yes, you’ve got to be faster and more accurate than most; and, in my opinion, you also have to understand, ‘Why’ you never want to be the second person to draw and fire.  So, I'd have to say that being able to, 'see it coming' is a highly desirable personal attribute for surviving a gunfight. 

Once you realize that you're in physical danger - danger from someone who might be bigger, stronger, younger, or has an equal ability to reach out over distance in order to strike you dead - then you have to possess the inherent ability to mentally and emotionally, 'go cold'.  I'm sure that different people accomplish this in different ways.  Me?  I'm  a very passionate person; I feel my emotions quite strongly; consequently, when I get mad - I really get mad!  (I think it’s the Sicilian in me!) 

Personally, this reactionary state causes me to identify emotional, 'passion' as the single most important motivational factor behind, 'going cold' or divesting yourself of any sense of, either, duality-in-thought or hesitancy-in-action.  A hesitant or distracted mind does not a good gunfighter make!  Anyone who intends to survive a gunfight needs to be able to swiftly push aside many of the customary moral and political considerations that all of us usually carry around inside our heads. 

In all of the discussions, in all the gun forum threads I have ever read or participated in, never once have I noticed anyone (other than on occasion, myself) disagree with the strong political axioms:  'Thou shalt not shoot first!' or, ‘Thou shalt not be the aggressor!’  (You want to stay alive, right!) 

In today's often overwhelming and always politically correct western world any sort of self-defense behavior like this simply isn't publicly tolerated; and, yet, without the willingness to shoot first - to strike the other guy BEFORE he's achieved that physical presence or position from which he is, both, confident AND comfortable to strike out at you - other personal attributes like:  being able to, 'read' other people well, being practiced, accurate, and competent with a firearm, or being able to, 'keep your wits about you' in the midst of real physical danger, all, mean next to nothing. 

Remember, there's no advantage to driving a Lamborghini roadster if all you ever do is drive it slower than 35 miles per hour.  35 MPH does not win auto races; neither does any strict adherence to modern political correctness tend to keep you alive in a CQB pistol gunfight! 

At the same time I do not think a successful gunfighter needs to be a, 'saint'.  There is little, if anyplace, in CQB pistol gunfighting for what I will refer to as, 'the noble virtues'.  Anything that slows you down - i.e.:  an unwilling (perhaps moral) hesitancy to kill, a rational (perhaps habitual) tendency to control your temper, an active (and consequently restrictive) sense of personal guilt, or a strong fear of either getting caught or ultimately having to face the presumed consequences of surviving the event - is very likely to get you suddenly wounded or killed inside of a CQB gun battle. 

A skillful CQB pistol gunfighter has to be, both, willing and able to instantly act beyond the normal societal rules - Rules which usually govern all interhuman social behaviors and of which, albeit by varying degree, all of us are rationally aware and habitually obedient to. 

A good CQB pistol gunfighter needs to be unfettered by any extraneous (outside) intellectual considerations; he is ready, able, and willing to end life in, (literally) 'the blink of an eye'.  You don't have to be particularly smart; you don't have to be particularly honest; and you don't have to be especially morally inclined.  However I like to think that, at one time or another, in addition to being a competent gunfighter I have, also, been all of these other things - Just not while I was gunfighting.  (I think it’s called, ‘staying alive’.) 

Neither do I believe that a competent gunfighter is, of necessity, a man of good character or strong personal conviction.  Strong personal conviction helps; it'll certainly allow you to, 'get some sleep' the night before going into action; but a, 'cold mind' a steady hand, and an unfettered willingness to take life continue to predominate.  To paraphrase Dr. Walter Prescott Webb’s sage aphorism; 'It is the absence of fear rather than the presence of courage that universally characterizes a true gunfighter.' 

One thing's for certain:  All guns have the real world ability to reach out and kill very quickly.  Nobody is going to last very long at the gunfighting game if he prefers to wait before taking decisive action or has an (habitual) inclination to generally allow the other guy to make up his mind for him - In other words to give his opponent the opportunity to begin the fight. 

Calling a, ‘spade a spade’:  Either intense personal alarm, (fear) or strong personal rage (anger) are both highly effective motivators of successful self-defense behaviors; and every skillful CQB gunman should always remember to recognize these necessary emotional characteristics as such!  At risk of contradicting Dr. Webb's comment:  In a CQB pistol gunfight, if you aren’t genuinely afraid, if you aren’t very angry, then you are going to be fighting at a distinct disadvantage. 

Now, while I would be (and, I hope, am) among the last people to advocate any sort of immoral behavior - individual action(s) devoid of moral consideration - at the same time I fully realize that a personal willingness to allow time to pass, or a hesitant and waffling mentality are antithetical opponents to successfully surviving a gunfight.  The key - the secret - to successful CQB pistol gunfighting is to be able to (perhaps, instinctively) present a clear and instantaneous mental and emotional focus. 

Fear is actually OK as long as you control it.  Anger - while, perhaps, atypical for you - is also acceptable.  Again, focus on the threat and control your emotions.  The only other thing I’ll add is that every morally inclined gunman needs to know when to let his (useful) combat emotions go and stop shooting. 

Here, you can read the whole story about many of the old west's most famous (or infamous) gunfighters.  Truly, by no stretch of the imagination were any of them, ‘saints’ - We’re talking about:  cold, hard, cruel, CQB pistol gunfighting; and even the very best of today’s modern pistoleros should seek to avoid it whenever possible. 

http://www.darkcanyon.net/gunfighters_of_the_old_west.htm 

[EastKY_DO]

Having a pulse when the bullets stop flying.

[SHOOTALL]

Better to still have high blood pressure