I remember Bob Munden. I saw him do a demo in the 1970s. He was amazing fast as well as accurate.
Your post also made me remember Colonel Larson - aka, The Marlin Man. (Colonel is his real first name.) Munden and Larson both claimed to have the fastest draw. Larson shot 5 balloons in one second to set a record. Munden could draw and fire an accurate shot in less than .2 seconds. Larson used a .22 to shoot his records, and Munden used a .45 Colt, so their records are in different categories.
I met Larson in person back in the mid 1960's at a local sporting goods shop. He did a demo inside the store with nothing but a small backstop that looked like an open briefcase. He would shoot aspirin and saccharin tablets and split playing cards in half with a fast draw pistol and with his Marlin rifle. He did a fast draw and shot a hole in the middle of an Ace of Spades, the shot triggered a mechanism that turned the card 90° instantly, and he cut it in half with a second shot before you heard the first shot.
He and my dad were both polio survivors. Larson was a big time athlete when he got polio at age 27 , my dad was a a year old. Both were not expected to live. It was less than a 50-50 chance of surviving polio back then. If you did survive, your muscles were destroyed. Like my Dad, Colonel's legs and arms were severely damaged. Both were told they would never walk again. Dad was very young and he slowly regained his strength by playing outside every day. To rehab his weakened leg muscles and strengthen his arms, Larson stood and practicing shooting every day for hours on end. As his muscles got stronger, he got fast and accurate at shooting. Around 1960, he was hired by Marlin Arms as their representative to do demos and PR work.
I was 15 when I saw his demo. He also was selling Marlin rifles at a special "Demo" price. I went back to the house, got my savings, and bought a Marlin 39A gold trigger special from him for $75 (regular price was $89). That was an insane amount for a teenage boy to spend in those days. The rifle came with a photo of him, which he autographed for me. He signed the Ace of Spades pieces and gave them to me, too. I asked him what would happen if he missed the small backstop while shooting inside the store and he smiled and said, "I never miss."
Amazing as it seems today, back then a young boy could mow lawns and deliver papers, save his money, and walk into a store and buy a rifle or shotgun and ammo with no paperwork or questions. Sears, Penny's, Robert Hall, hardware stores, sporting goods shops, pretty much any large store sold long guns and ammo.
I gave the rifle to my son many years ago. I am told it is worth several thousand today.
Larson held many world records for fast shooting and sharpshooting. Some showed his endurance built up from endless hours of shooting.
Here are a few I found online:
1. Hit 3,600 aspirins without a miss, at 50-60-90 Feet.
2. Split 125 Playing Cards consecutively at 50 feet.
3. Shot 750 aspirins at 50 feet over the shoulder while sighting them through a mirror.
4. Hit 1,100 eight inch targets in 4 1/2 hours without a miss.
5. Leveled a gun and hit 17 blocks of wood dead center in 18 seconds.
6. Discharged over 1,000,000 rounds through the Marlin Mountie 39, his World Championship Record Setting Rifle.
en.wikipedia.org
