[Jeff Higgins]

I have personally met Bob Munden and have seen him perform on a number of occasions. I have handled the single action Colts he uses in his shows. The man is the "real deal", and a legend among us single action affectionados. He is also a master gunsmith, doing probably the best work in the world today on the SAA.

Many of his guns are modified into what we call "slip guns". It's an easy modification - one simply removes the trigger and replaces the hammer with a "fanning" or "slip" hammer. Many of the old gunfighters modified their "hideout" or "belly" guns in this manner. Without the trigger, the hammer will not stay at full cock. The piece is fired by simply pulling the hammer all the way back and letting it slip out from under the thumb. Alternatively, the off hand just "fans" the hammer, or more accurately, just slaps at it. It is a very fast way to shoot a single action, as Mr. Munden so ably demonstrates.

The trigger is removed in a large part because the delicate finger on the back of it that engages the notches on the hammer tends to break off under this kind of abuse. In doing so, it jams up the lockwork and ties up the gun.

Mr. Munden is a showman, there is no doubt about that. But the man definitely knows what he is doing, and he knows he knows what he is doing. The only man I have ever seen who has even come close with the single action is Thell Reed, who is equally fast, but a bit more modest about it. Mr. Reed actually used to win IPSC matches with single action Colts, back when he could carry two of them for stages requiring more than five shots. The race gun boys finally got tired of having their asses handed to them by some cowboy with a single action, so they passed a "one gun" rule, effectively ending Thell's run.

Don't ever discount the single action as a capable fighting gun. Anyone who practices with one is quite well armed indeed. I have, myself, thoroughly embarrassed an awful lot of semi-auto shooters at the old gravel pit...