Speaking of new Sheriff's... Who is your favorite Old West figure?

I Think Hardin used an 1860 colt army black powder revolver, but he could have used a cartridge top break in his later years. Black powder revolvers are way fun to shoot! My father always carried/shot his Remington new army .44 ever since I could remember during hunts and hikes in the woods.
 
Trident777 said:
I Think Hardin used an 1860 colt army black powder revolver, but he could have used a cartridge top break in his later years. Black powder revolvers are way fun to shoot! My father always carried/shot his Remington new army .44 ever since I could remember during hunts and hikes in the woods.
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Men of that time weren't much different from guys on this here forum I suppose. They went with what they had at the time and upgraded every time they had the opportunity. During a cattle drive Hardin got mixed up with a Mexican fella. Hardin's cap and ball pistol failed to fire... later he borrowed a friend's revolver and went after the man, killing him with a shot to the head. He later claimed that he killed 5 of the 6 vaqueros that opposed him.

Some say that he exaggerated... but no one at the time argued with his version of the story. And I can't blame them.


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PeterPHWS said:
Wyatt Earp ... firstly for making it through to old age because that was'nt easy to do ... he had a lot of deliberate concentration to never be caught out with his back to the wrong people ... secondly for his choice of pistol ... the long barrel Colt Buntline ... not a speed draw pistol but one which emphasises that you take the pistol out when your instincts tell you to and you aim deliberately to end the conflict ... it all says he was "cool under fire" and when in the presence of danger he was a "thinker" ... he was ahead of the game and that kept him alive ... he might crack a few heads to enforce the law but it makes sense to put someone down quick if there are others who need attention ... he epitomises for me what it takes to live through armed conflict and not be ashamed of what you have done ... he was'nt a back shooter ... and he finished trouble rather than started it ...
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Not much left to add to that and that was my choice for a "real sheriff" as well for similar reasons.

A few characters from books I enjoyed as a youth would be Arizona Ames, Lassiter and the like. Zane Grey is the writer of old west American (and a few other places like Australia) like no other in or after his time.
 
My favorite old west lawmen are-

Fictional Lawmen: Texas Rangers Captains Augustus McCrae and Woodrow F. Call

Real Lawmen: Wyatt Earp and Bass Reeves
 
Most of the best "gunfighters" kept abrest with weapon development ... of the old legends only Wild Bill Hickock stuck with his "cap and ball" nichol plated ivory handled Colt revolvers ... when they found John Wesley Hardin killed by being shot in the back of the head he was carrying a Colt Double Action .38 Lightening ... again nichol plated but this one had mother of pearl grips ... the move from cap and ball to cartridge S/A Colts and then on to cartridge D/A Colts was carried out by more than a few of the legendary names who lived through that era of development ... Doc Holliday was known for carrying a Nichol plated D/A Colt Thunderer in .41 and a smaller D/A Colt .38 Lightening ... again Nichol plated ... Billy the Kid was also a proponent of the Colt D/A .38 Lightening ... when D/A revolvers were released those whose lives depended on their pistols were quick to embrace them.

It shows that many of them were cool headed clear "thinkers" ... and John Wesley Hardin finished most of his recorded gunfights with shots to the head ... probably a case of "real life experience" showing that was the best way to ensure the other guy did'nt get a shot off ... and such development of skill to do so is still the corner stone of most S/F's pistol training today ...

I particularly like John Wesley Hardin in this category as he went to the trouble of having a custom vest developed to carry his pistols ... emphasising positioning of the pistols for the fastest of draws whether seated or standing up ... and he always "aimed" his shots ... he left a number of signed "aces" where he had shot out the ace at distances of seven paces ... his skill with a pistol and speed of delivery rightly have him regarded as the fastest gun of his day ... even Bill Hickock decided to take the friendly approach with him when he was Sheriff and Harding was in Abaline ... that was after Harding showed Hickock the "Road Agents Spin" when Hickock demanded he hand over his pistols ... and Hickock was no slouch on the draw at the time ...
 
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Well, I'm impressed that Wyatt Earp came up to my home state, that he left one of his pistols behind, and that he ran booze and whores. The place definitely doesn't need any more booze, but they could use SOMETHING more for entertainment...

However, I'm going to have to go a little further back. I'd say Jim Bridger and Jedediah Smith. Men who carved a piece of life out of the raw wilderness. In Jed's case, he actually fought a grizzly bear, then got his scalp stiched BACK ON. That's some kind of tough I hope I never learn in this life. I had to laugh when I read what Wikipedia said: "Smith did not practice sexual relations with Native American women." Yeah, I never PRACTICED it either. I moved past practice long ago. He was a bit of an enigma for a mountain man.
 
back then there was being an outlaw and the law got a little shady, kinda like who was right and who was wronged.

PBS , the American Experience has had some very good shows on a lot of the folks mentioned here, Wyatt Earp, Geo. Armstrong Custer, Annie Oakley, Billy the Kid. Jesse James, and Geronimo. Some of the "good guys" had shady sides then the "bad guys". But Jesse James was a murdering S O B.
 
I'd like to introduce you all to one of the forgotten ones, Jim Roberts, an Arizona Sheriff who was one of the last men standing at the end of the Tewsbury/Graham feud and a hellavu gunman - and as an old man in the in the 1920s, "Uncle Jim" went up against two modern bank robbers with automatic weapons in Cottowood, AZ. and killed them both with his old Colt .45.
 
Orrin Porter Rockwell

Man of God, Son of Thunder

Porter operated the Hot Springs Hotel and Brewery at the southern end of the Salt Lake Valley



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While I love the stories of Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie, I would have to go with Daniel Boone as my favorite. He was a true early explorer, and was the inspiration for James Fenimore Cooper's story "The Last of the Mohicans". He actually did have to rescue his Daughter Jemima and a friend from the Indians, aw well as helping to open up our country for folks.

Another great character was John Coulter, who survived running the gauntlet from Indians as portrayed by Charlton Heston in "The Mountain Men". And let us not forget George Rodgers Clark and his "Rodger's Rangers"!;):thumbup:
 
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