Pictured here is a copy of the Wild Wild West #7 from Gold Key from the 8.5 Bethlehem pedigree with Robert Conrad on the cover. This comic is newsstand fresh and looks and feels like a brand new comic with a very small impact dent bottom left corner. The was the last issue with the Wild Wild West and is a very valuable sought after collectible.

Take a look at some more wild west vintage comics to start or complete your collection.

The atlas was distributed in a very limited context to be distributed to government officials in the three houses of government as a reference for assessing the Civil War. This is from the original first publishing, that lasted from 1891-1895.

This very detailed and remarkable map shows forts, wagon trails and routes. Idaho is actually labeled as Washington Territory and Arizona is still part of New Mexico Territory. This map is available on eBay with a buy it now price of just $149.

Take a look at some more antique maps to start of complete your collection.

This set includes the following titles:

• Heart of the West
• The Gentle Grafter
• Rolling Stones
• The Trimmed lamp
• The Voice of the City
• Roads of Destiny
• Strictly Business
• Sixes and Sevens
• Options
• Cabbages and Kings
• The Four Million
• Whirligigs

Famous for the short story, O. Henry wrote with realistic detail based on his first hand experiences both in Texas and in New York City. In 1907, he published many of his Texas stories in The Heart of the West, a volume that includes “The Reformation of Calliope,” “The Caballero’s Way,” and “The Hiding of Black Bill.” Another highly acclaimed Texas writer, J. Frank Dobie, later referred to O. Henry’s “Last of The Troubadours” as “”the best range story in American fiction.”

This set is available on eBay with a buy it now price of just $875. Also make sure to take a look at some more antique books from the wild west era.

Santiago Pérez is an artist living near Tijeras, New Mexico, was born in San Antonio, Texas and also lived in many small towns around the south Texas area.
Santiago’s artwwork has been purchased by several corporations and many individuals throughout the United States. He is represented by the Sandy Carson Gallery in Denver, Victoria Boyce Galleries in Scottsdale, A Muse Gallery in Columbus, Ohio, Nuart Gallery in Santa Fe, and the Bison Legacy Gallery in Cody, Wyoming.

Stimulated by his family and an artist uncle, Santiago performed drawing and painting, learning mostly by copying from TV cartoons, horse and wildlife magazine, and children’s books on the West. He was an elementary school teacher for a brief time, illustrated children’s materials, and then served in the Air Force for 24 years. He pursued his art interests, practicing figurative drawing and painting, as well as immersing himself in art history. Santiago first exhibited his work when the Air Force stationed him in West Berlin, and he continued to develop his painting in Colorado Springs, Pueblo, and Denver, Colorado.

The attractive Colorado terrain inspired Santiago to develop into a landscape painter working in numerous styles and approaches, from naturalist to symbolic/abstract works. An enthusiastic student and open to many forms of creative expression, Santiago also painted on metal, made cutout painted forms, and installed several thematic environments.

Take a look at some more Wild West paintings.

This saddle has Floral Tooling On The Skirts, Pommel And Fenders, a 15″ padded suede seat and the fleece appears to be in top condition. This saddle is available on eBay with a buy it now price of $3,995 or best offer.

Take a look at some more vintage saddles.

Take a look at some more vintage holsters.

Scenario Procedure

Shooter starts lying in bunk inside the Pig House, holding a stuffed pig. At the buzzer, shooter says, “Don’t worry,Little Darlin’, I’ll save you!” Shooter must keep stuffed pig on his or her body at all times. (We had shooters holdthe pig in their hand, between their legs, balanced on their hat, inside their suspenders, in their teeth, and oneinnovative lass stuffed the piggie in a cup of her bra, declaring, “I’m breast feeding! “) Shooter goes into theadjacent room and retrieves his/her rifle. Shooter returns to the left window and engages the single rifle targetswinging back and forth on a pendulum-nine times. Shooter then goes outside to the pig pen to engage pigpistol targets (mounted on springs to bounce around when hit), alternating right to left. A cowboy target isbetween the two pig targets and is a no-hot target. Once both pistols are emptied, shooter places stuffed pig withwooden pigs in pig pen, grabs shotgun, and engages two swingers left to right.

Penalties:

Misses: 5 seconds
Dropping the pig: 10 seconds

The Guns:

Rifle:loaded with nine, chamber empty, staged beside right window inside Pig House.Pistols: two holstered, loaded with five rounds each, hammers on empty chambers.Shotgun: empty, leaning against fence in pig pence beside feed trough.Safety is the first consideration regarding all scenarios.  The scenario may need to be modified based upon shooters or range capabilities.  Shoot! Magazine does not accept liability for any accidents,injuries or other difficulties arising out of the use of its scenarios.Range officers and participants should always check out their scenarios for safe conditions before proceeding to shoot.

By: Cactus Tubbs

Circa 1880. As the warm wind rolls across the Great Plains, it pays a visit on the cowtown of Dodge City, Kansas. The aroma of the longhorn cattle rides piggyback in the wind. Late at night one lone man methodically checks store and shop doors as he walks across the echoing boards of the town’s boardwalks. Glimpses of his badge of office reflect in the glow of oil street lamps and the Kansas moon. The sound of each of his steps drowns out the howl of the wind. Each time a boot heel meets the wooden planks, a sharp “jingle” immediately follows. As he lifts the next foot for another step, a crisp “jangle” is clearly heard. This distinctive “jingle-jangle” can only mean one thing; Festus Hagin from “Gunsmoke” is filling my TV screen.

I will forever remember Ken Curtis’s character, “Festus” and his trademark “jingle-jangle” sound with each step. As a young lad growing up in West Texas, I would suspend after-school activities until after “Gunsmoke”. Dad and I would sit like two bumps on logs glued to the screen, waiting for Matt Dillon to nab the outlaw, or for Doc and Festus to have one of their famous and usually hilarious arguments. But I noticed early on that Festus had to have the loudest set of spurs north, south, east, and west of the Pecos. I get amused now when I watch an episode (EVERY Sunday thanks to satellite TV!) and Festus is “jingle-jangling” trying to sneak up on a bad guy. Somehow, even with those amplified spurs he manages to surprise his opponent.

While I have no recollection of ever getting a good view of the spurs he wore in the series, had his spurs been “authentic” they likely would have been the “OK” style of spur. This type of spur was a very simplistic design and widely used throughout the West from 1880 through the 1930′s, inexpensive and practical to use and very functional. Literally thousands of these spurs were manufactured by one of the two large manufacturing companies; August Buermann of Newark, New Jersey, and North & Judd of New Britain, Connecticut. However, by the 1880′s a spur became an indicator of a cowboy’s status or a measure of his experience. Cowboys began seeking out more stylized spurs and the mass-produced spur began to give way to the custom-made set. The “OK” spur eventually became a sign of bad luck or inexperience.

“Buzz Saws,” “Gut Hooks,” “Cowboy Steel,” “Persuaders,” these are some of the colorful descriptions sometimes given to the cowboy’s spurs. But the spur dates back much farther than the 1880′s. In fact, some of the earliest spurs date back to 700 BC. By the 15th Century, spurs identified rank for Old World cavaliers, knights, and caballeros. Kings even awarded a horseman the “right” to wear spurs. The Spanish conquistadors introduced spurs to the New World by the 16th Century.

The early conquistador spurs were made of iron and had narrow heel bands, drooping shanks, and sizable rowels, six, eight and even up to ten inches in diameter. The spokes were long, narrow, and blunt.

As time passed, the sizeable large rowels began to diminish, and early metal artisans often replaced the spiky rowels with more of a serrated disk. The shanks also got shorter, and of course, engraving began to show up, as well as inlay of silver, brass, gold, and sometimes semi-precious stones. Often a “jingle-bob” or “dangler” was hung from the rowel, enhancing the “jingle-jangle” sound. I’m certain Festus had jingle-bobs on his spurs! But the fancy spurs were the exception, not the rule. Most early vaqueros and cowboys wore very simple spurs. The fancier the spur, the more it cost, although later a set of spurs often became a rather important part of the cowboy’s overall appearance.

While American cowboys initially wore Mexican spurs, it didn’t take long for specific styles to emerge distinguished by region. Texas-style spurs, made in Texas, Colorado, Kansas, and Oklahoma, were generally cruder than the California-style spurs from California, Nevada, and Oregon.

“In a general way, the latter were a trifle larger and silver-mounted, while the former lacked much of the ornament,” wrote Jo More in his book Trail Dust and Saddle Leather. Spurs that were developed in the Northern Plains often combined the styles.

California vaqueros were partial to their fancy spurs, which were generally of two-piece construction consisting of the shank and the heel band. The spurs were usually full-mounted with silver inlay on both sides of the heel band and shank. The engraved designs were intricate, the metal blued, and the edges of the heel bands often beveled. Often they featured fancy chap guards decorated with engraved spirals. Toward the later part of the 1800′s, G.S. Garcia was one of the most renowned of the California-style spur makers. He established his saddle shop in Elko, Nevada, in 1894. Mr. Garcia employed some of the most distinguished spur makers of the time. Garcia is best known for his Dandy patterns, which were advertised in his 1901 catalog as the “finest spur ever made with 100 different inlays.” It was double-mounted with the distinctive patterns of a pinwheel on one side and a diamond on the other and embellished with a 1¼ inlaid rowel. The most common marking on his spurs was the name “G.S. Garcia” inside the heel band of one spur and “Elko, Nev.” inside the other.

The Northern Plains and Great Plains spurs, which essentially combined elements from the California and Texas styles, were generally of one-piece construction and decorated with inlay or overlay, as well as silver conchos used on both the shanks and heel bands. Many of these spurs featured beautifully engraved surfaces and fine workmanship.

In the late 1800′s, Texas-style spurs were forged of one piece and were constructed with either swinging or stationary buttons, usually on turned-up heel bands. Often they were only half-mounted, featuring overlaid decorations on the outside of the band. Because these spurs were generally plainer and more utilitarian than the California spurs, they rarely featured chains or chap guards.

By the 1880′s, several Texas craftsmen started making fancier spurs, which in some collectors’ eyes surpassed the dashing style of the California spur. Two of the most distinctive spurs were the gal-leg and gooseneck. Considered the granddaddy of the Texas-style spur and the first in Texas to market a handmade spur, John Robert McChesney hammered his first spur out of forged iron in 1887. He ultimately opened the McChesney Bit & Spur Company in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma after working in Gainesville, Texas. His company became a respected leader in the business nationwide. Some credit him for the gal-leg design, but

others believe R.L. Causey or Tom Johnson of Texas made this sensuous shank. Some historians are yet undecided. There is no doubt, however, that McChesney was famous for this style.

Not every set of cowboy spurs was made by a commercial manufacturer or skilled craftsman. Western penitentiaries started arts and crafts programs for inmates that ranged from saddles to furniture to hitched-horsehair bridles. A popular prison-made item was spurs. Many of the Western inmates had often worked on ranches and were therefore familiar with spurs. From the turn of the century to 1930, many fine spurs were produced at the Colorado State Prison in Canon City. Prison spurs are typically stout with bold silver inlays and engraving. Other productive spur making prisons included the Arizona Territorial Prison, Utah State Prison, Wyoming State Prison, and Washington State Prison at Walla Walla. And, of course, inmates serving time in the Lone Star State of Texas were adept at making spurs.

Many a set of spurs were often made on a ranch by the local blacksmith and sometimes even by cowboys themselves when time permitted. Needless to say, these ranch-made spurs ranged widely in quality. Sometimes very crude spurs were fashioned from scrap iron, buggy axles, or barn hinges. Often, they were not exactly works of art. But from time to time the more skilled hand was able to copy the latest fashions and produced spurs to be proud of.

Spurs can be, and often are, works of functional art. A necessary tool for the horseman, cowboy, vaquero, knights, the mounted soldier, and the Western shooter of today. In what has turned out to be the never-ending quest in my household for “cowboy stuff” and “cowboy clothing,” I am always impressed by a handsome set of spurs. I was once the proud owner of an original set of Spanish Colonial spurs. Some enterprising thief relieved me of that treasured item years ago. The welcome interest across the country in the Old West (and earlier) might someday

cause another set to make its way to me. If not, I’m content to enjoy visiting the vendors at shooting matches selling a wonderfully wide variety of spurs, and viewing the wide variety of spurs being worn by fellow shooters.

Obtaining more information about cowboy spurs:

I could easily take up a few pages listing reference material available for someone interested in learning a great deal more about cowboy spurs. Since space won’t permit that, I can mention a couple of folks and some publications that I highly recommend. In upcoming issues in our book review section, we will be taking a detailed look at these and other cowboy-related publications.

Some of the information and photos for this article were obtained from an article from the New England Antiques Journal™ entitled “Collecting Cowboy Spurs” by Joice Overton. Joice is also the author of the book “Cowboy Bits and Spurs” published by Schniffer Publishing. Joice and her husband, Bill, are collectors, and her knowledge on the subject of cowboy spurs is quite complete. She has earned the title “expert.” She has truly spent her life living the cowboy way and knows cowboy gear.

Other photographs and a significant amount of the information for this article were obtained from the book, “Cowboys & The Trappings of the Old West” published by Zon International Publishing Company. This publication is practically a “must” for the cowboy enthusiast, historian, or shooter. William Manns and Elizabeth Clair Flood composed an absolutely spectacular book that has and will continue to give me hours of fun and educational reading on the cowboy and his accessories. I recently had the pleasure of speaking to Bill Manns, and as my ole’ daddy would have said, “…Now that’s a feller who is welcome to ride with me!” “Cowboys & The Trappings of the Old West” has an honored place on my cowboy bookshelf, right next to my pair of gal-leg spurs.

By:  Smith n’ Jones

Are you just getting started in cowboy action shooting?  If you are, here are some safety tips that are definitely important for a new shooter, as well as a friendly reminder for the experienced shooter:

·     It is advisable to use the same caliber for both your rifle and your sixgun.  This ensures that you don’t load the wrong caliber in your firearm.  You may not think this could happen, but it has, even to experienced shooters, and usually with the rifle.

·     Make sure the safety glasses you wear have sides so back splatter does not get into your eyes.

·     Keep the barrels of your rifles and shotguns pointed up at all times, except at the loading and unloading table.  If you do not have a gun cart and have your firearms cased, then take the cases to the loading table to remove them and recase the firearms at the unloading table.

·     Refrain from talking at the loading table while you are loading.  If you don’t concentrate on the job of loading, it is easy to load the incorrect number of rounds for the stage, or slip the cylinder on your sixgun so that the empty chamber is not under the firing pin.

·     When shooting the sixgun, hold it tightly.  This doesn’t mean that one should squeeze it so hard that it is shaking, but tight enough to have a solid hold on the grip.  This tighter grip will improve your accuracy and will also give you more control.

·     Move through each stage slowly, concentrating on where you put your feet and hands, and how the rifle and shotgun are picked up and restaged, as well as how you draw and holster your sixgun.  Don’t worry about speed, for this will come as the process of shooting the stage becomes smoother and more comfortable.

·     Always keep the thumb off the hammer when drawing your sixgun, regardless of what class you are shooting in.  The hammer should not be pulled back until the firearm is pointed safely downrange.

Hope this helps all you shooters, both new and experienced. Lock up you guns in a gun safe when not in use. Here are a few to choose from:

By:  The Hangman Will Lynch, SASS #7623, WASS #15

The Western Action Shooting Society, Inc. (WASS), New Zealand (NZ) 3rd Annual Cowboy Championship and New Zealand End of Trail was held October 22-25, 1999. WASS is the organizing body in New Zealand for Western Action Shooting and, as such, assists clubs throughout the country to run CAS style events. This year the Rifle Rod and Gun Club, in Palmerston North, was the chosen club and the WASS County Rangers organized a fair dinkum, full on, cowboy weekend.

Out of about 2,500 total pistol shooters, New Zealand has about 300 dedicated cowboys. Forty-five of these arrived at the range Friday evening for a Bar-B-Q and drinks social night.

Saturday was a magnificent morning with brilliant sunshine. The bacon beans and eggs were sending out the required message and soon all shooters were in the dining hall, fed and rearing to go.

The group was formed into three posses of fifteen and, although initial thoughts were they were too big, the numbers proved to be an asset when chores were needed to be done. Every competitor did their job and not one person shirked the responsibility of scoring, resetting targets, picking up brass or the other countless tasks that require teamwork to ensure the day ran smoothly.

The courses of fire followed a theme. Saturday, the scenario involved Ralph Sutton, a one-time gunfighter who had long since hung up his guns. Each competitor took on this persona and was challenged by present day gunfighters and desperado gangs.

The first stage was the Shoot up at the Saloon. The shooter began in the doorway rolling a candy imitation cigarette. It was then placed in the mouth, and a knife was thrown into a gunfighter before all hell broke loose.

The second stage, Outhouse Blues, involved being occupied on the dunny (down-under terminology for outhouse) and through the cracks, Red Thomas and his gang were seen approaching the house. Ten pistol shots, six shotgun rounds-while on the run, and nine rifle shots saw to it that Red and his boys didn’t bother you again.

After lunch it was onto the third stage, Hang Tough Gus. Gus was sitting on his horse about to be lynched. The shootist surprised four bad guys with his/her shotgun and Gus was left swinging after his horse bolted. A well-aimed rifle shot cut the rope to let Gus drop. The rest of the shots, including the handgun, were directed at the swinging target in the doorway, which was activated as Gus fell.

As if that weren’t enough, Seth Harris had kidnapped Jamie in the last stage of the day and had held him in the local jail. Ten pistol shots through the windows saw those inside dispatched. Grabbing the necessary key, shooters were to race around the corner and unlock the jail door (which, I might add, came from a genuine jail). Six shotgun rounds were sent into approaching baddies and then Jamie had to be dragged into the street and thrown over the horse. Using the nearby wagon as a rest, ten rifle shots made sure nobody dared to follow.

On Saturday afternoon, the ultimate challenge took place. The man-on-man pistol event set shootists up against Flash Conover: the slickest gunfighter of them all. The man-on-man is a regular part of all competition in New Zealand and involves shooters who stand side by side each facing four targets. On the signal, each shooter has the five rounds in their pistol with which to drop all plates. Only one miss is afforded. Payden Kash proved the deadliest and after eliminating all of the shooters, went on to become “Gunslinger of the Year”.

For the first time, man-on-man shotgun was included as a championship event. This is almost identical to the pistol stage, except shooters have one more target and six rounds. This is a pure adrenalin rush with two reloads against another competitor as well as the clock. The spectator appeal is outstanding. For crowd participation, this event could have been run constantly over the weekend and nobody would have stopped shouting for their own champion at the line.

After the Gunslinger Competition on Saturday, Ralph Sutton was eliminated and the story took a novel twist. The scenario now told us that Ralph’s younger brother, Jamie, was the lead character. Flash Conover had

gunned Ralph down and Jamie’s mission was to hunt him down and put an end to his killing. Each stage had Jamie confronting Flash in a different situation and each time it appeared that he escaped by the skin of his teeth.

Sunday brought the shooters out in droves even though it was a miserable and overcast day, the complete opposite from the day before. Doc Cavendish and Goldie got up early to put breakfast on. Coats, blankets, and the closest canopy were the most sought after items on the agenda. Loading and unloading tables were brought under cover and for a while it looked like the only action was going to be defending the bar from an early opening.

The new day began with A Pair of Colts Beat Four Aces, which was set inside the saloon. Moving through, you needed to alternate between ten pistol and ten shotgun rounds to deal to the card-playing desperadoes.

The Ambush hardly seemed fair when shooters had to fire into a group of Pinkertons with a rifle and a pistol, then mount a horse, and shotgun the rest during the wild ride downhill.

When lunch arrived, there were forty five cold and wet shooters intent on an indoor gunfight which may well have happened had it not suddenly brightened up outside.

The third stage was Heads You Lose, but that was only if you had a good arm. Shooters began behind the wagon and threw a full bottle of rum at a snoozing guard (we could see this being a popular stage, so we substituted the rum for a bowling pin). Many variations of the throw existed and many different expletives came out as the bottle whistled within inches of the target. I think hitting the guard was more important to some than the following pistol, shotgun, and rifle shots.

As the event came to a close, observers watched Jamie chase Flash all over town in the final stage, Purgatory. What began outside the saloon and shooting over the batwing doors moved along quickly to the Drapery next door. As Flash disappeared out the back, so did Jamie, shooting all the way. With his shotgun in hand, he chased and shot down the alleys as he went. Unable to catch him, Jamie used his rifle on Flash as he rode out of town. Cutting his horse from beneath him, he could only take careful aim and hope to get Flash as he fled into the abandoned mine never to emerge.

The cloudy afternoon skies cleared up by dinnertime, and people turned up in all their finery confident that another night of revelry was not going to be dampened by the earlier bad weather. Maybe it was something in the water, but by now, half the gang thought they were rattlers. Some even began to look like them and it wasn’t a pretty sight.

As if we lived in some Jekyll and Hyde land, Monday was as clear and warm as anybody could hope for. The competition had finished and all that was left was the enjoyment of fun pot shoots, the suspense of the event results, and the anticipation of the team event.

New Zealand is a two-island country divided into the North and the South Islands (there are a couple of other small ones, but they don’t count in a situation such as this.) The sad thing is that us Northerners believe we are a better breed of folk than our Southern countrymen. This is fine until you have a North versus South log chop and them Southerners are there in person. With dozens of steel chickens, bowling pins and the like littering the grass, a huge log buried in the ground with a smaller one on top, the two teams of twenty or so set off to annihilate everything in sight. The teams had identical targets and the ground huggers had to be cleared with shotguns and pistols until nothing remained standing. The top log, which was ten inches in diameter and three feet tall, had to be knocked to the ground before any shooting was allowed on the main trunk. For several minutes I thought we had gone overboard on the logs. They were 16 inches thick and stood six feet tall about 25 yards away from the bunch. What we didn’t see initially, and it was only picked up by the eagle eye of the video camera, was that the South had two rifle shooters ‘stitch’ a line across the log at the beginning for the rest to aim at. They cut the top off a good three minutes ahead of the North. I estimate that between 2,000 – 3,000 rounds went downrange in the space of about 12 minutes. It was certainly an impressive sight made even more so by the fact at least half the shooters were using black powder. Barrels glowed and so did the smiles of satisfaction.

The results were the only thing left to analyze and trophies were duly given out. The winner of the Third Annual Cowboy Championship was Payden Kash. Payden is a relatively new cowboy shooter from the Golden Downs Rangers who shoot out of the Nelson Pistol Club and we all congratulate him on a fine effort and consistent shooting.