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(More customer reviews)The gun clearly was the most important piece of Wild West technology. "The Gunslingers" takes viewers through a review of each major gun development, illustrating its use in an important fight.
The first product illustrated was the ball and cap pistol, favored by Abilene, KS Marshall Wild Bill Hickok, who reloaded it every day because evening moisture and coolness could shrink the powder, causing a misfire. Unfortunately, immediately after a face-to-face gunfight (rare - usually shootings were by surprise), Hickok heard footsteps behind him, and turned and fired - killing his own deputy en route to help. Hickok lost his job, and was killed five years later in Deadwood, S.D.
Repeating firearms were a major advance, with the Colt pistol and Henry rifle, using self-contained cartridges offering major improvements in offense. The DVD illustrates the advantage of repeating weapons in two conflicts with Indians.
Holsters also evolved, though their role in Western towns was somewhat limited because carrying guns was illegal in most locales. (Violation of this ordinance led to the famous OK Corral shootout in Tombstone.)
Any discussion of gunslingers would be incomplete without reference to former ace marksmen. John Wesley Hardin, son of a preacher, practiced regularly and killed his 40th man on his 21st birthday. In one gunfight he killed his opponent with a shot through the heart at 75 yards. Jailed for 17 years in El Paso, he studied law, then became an attorney - only to be shot in the back of the head.
While pistols were easier to use, rifles were more accurate at a distance. The Northfield, MN. attempted bank robbery by Jesse James and Cole Younger's gang was foiled by alerted townspeople attacking with rifles from a distance that made pistols relatively ineffective.
"The Gunslingers" final vignette briefly covers the introduction of shotguns, and Billy the Kid's use of one in his 1881 jailbreak from a Lincoln, N.M. jail.
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