So Called OK Corral Shootout, October 26, 1881,  … 131 Years And 1 Day Before Our Shoot!

If you stayed away from the October Shoot because you’re sugar and didn’t want to melt from rain, well, pardner, you blew it. It didn’t rain.  Halloween weather demons probably thought about it, but we had the Rev. Adam Jones with us, and he’s responsible for weather. So, he kept the rain away and kept all 73 shooters dry: however, we lost 1 after 1 stage.

 Did you know that 131 years a 1 day before our shoot, the Tombstone shootout that became known as the Gunfight at OK Corral occurred?  Of course it didn’t occur in the OK Corral, but that name sure sounds nifty, doesn’t it? If it had been called, “the shootout between Fly’s Boarding House and the Harwood House, nobody would remember it.  No poetic ring, right? And after all, John Ford said that the legend is more important than the truth, or words close to that.

 The gunfight occurred in a vacant lot between the 2 houses in a space that was about 15 feet wide. Sounds like some of those 3 ½ yard targets that Horseshoe John sets up at our shoots, doesn’t it? 

And from start to finish, the battle lasted about 30 seconds. Of course in those 30 seconds, about 30 shots were fired.

The picture above shows a bit of what the Tombstone shootout might have looked like in the confined space where it took place. Our 4 black powder shooters represent the Earps and Doc Holliday. We couldn’t get anyone to stand down range and represent the cowboys. Too Tall thought about it, until Sundance told him that he looked a lot like Ike Clanton, but with his short legs, he probably couldn’t do the bunny rabbit scamper and run away as quickly as old Ike did back in Tombstone. So, Too Tall decided that with all that generated smoke, no one was needed down range. He was correct. Our recreation isn’t as smoky as the real Tombstone shootout.  Our Earp – Holliday posse fired only 8 shots of black powder, on a breezy day and not in a 15 feet wide confined space between 2 buildings.

Back to the present, Loose Cinch had an unusual experience. He shots Outlaw style, and on 1 stage, he didn’t miss a shot.  But he left the range without firing a single shot from his rifle. He thought he’d shot it, and so did the range officer. They only found out what happened when he got to the unloading table with rounds in his rifle. Because of the range officer not catching the omission and prompting him to shoot, he was offered a re-shot.  But he declined and took 10 misses on the stage.  He said it was too funny to ruin it with a reshoot.  That’s sportsmanship, cowboys & cowgirls.

Cumberland Drifter captured the TOP GUN POSITION, edging out Unpleasant and Ocoee Red.  Last Kiss was the Top Lady Shooter. The Top 10 Shooters were (1) Cumberland Drifter (2) Unpleasant (3) Ocoee Red (4) Clancy O’Conall (5) Marshal W.D. (6) Hurricane Charly (7) Marshal Too Tall (8) Tabasco JOT (9) Papa Dave and  (10) Polecat Carl. 17 shooters shot matches with no misses.

SHOOT RESULTS:

TOP GUN  –  CUMBERLAND DRIFTER

 TOP LADY SHOOTER  –  LAST KISS

49er: (1) Cumberland Drifter (2) Happy Pappy

B-Western: (1) Marshal W.D. (2) Sundance McNeyman

Lady B-Western: (1) Mrs. Pleasant

Lady Duelist: (1) Feather Dancer

Lady Double Duelist: (1) the Duchess

Lady Wrangler: (1) Miss Kitty Kat

Cowgirl: (1) Impatient

Lady 49er: (1) Lulu McGoo (2) Amorous Ali (3) Shez A Pistol

Lady Senior: (1) Roma Jane (2) Sassy Motchie (3) Cotton Ginnie

Lady Buckaroo: (1) Rhinestone Rachel

Elder Statesman: (1) Tabasco JOT (2) Papa Dave (3)  Wildcat Wilkey

Elder Statesman Duelist: (1) Owlhoot Hardin (2) Vinegarroon

Silver Senior: (1) Purly (2) Frank Canton (3) Tin Pot

Silver Senior Duelist: (1) Horseshoe John

Senior: (1) Ocoee Red (2) Marshal Too Tall (3) Tellico

Senior Gunfighter: (1) Yankee Dutchman

Senior Double Duelist: (1) Sudden Sam (2) Double Eagle  (3) Pop Dawson

Gunfighter: (1) Slater (2) Widowmaker (3) Last Kiss

Outlaw: (1) Yazoo City Gal (2) Loose Cinch (3) Fast Harley

Frontier Cartridge: (1) T-Bone Angus

Frontier Cartridge Duelist: (1) Long Gulch

Wrangler: (1) Clancy O’Conall (2) Undertaker (3) Dusty Dollar

Duelist: (1) Ranger Roger (2) Citico Kid (3) Lucky Lightburne

Cowboy: (1) Unpleasant (2) Hurricane Charley ( (3) Long Creek Stranger

Modern: (1) Polecat Carl (2) Jackson Longstreet

Young Gun: (1) Tatar Salad

Buckaroo: (1) Jon Autry

Buffalo Shoot:

 

Single Shot Rifle: Jackson Longstreet

Lever Action Rifle: Marshal Too Tall

Long Range Pistol: Sundance McNeyman

.22 Cal.:   Marshal Too Tall

This entry was posted on Friday, November 2nd, 2012 at 10:21 pm and is filed under Newsletter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.