The Buckeye Rangers’ contest, from the Metro/Plain Dealer Paper, dated Sept. 6,’04.
Heads reads:
Gunslingers draw on western lore for awards
Competitors aim to blast record times at Mentor meet
Mentor –High noon at the makeshift OK Corral on Sunday drew some of the
nation’s fastest gunslingers – showing off their deadly aims with plastic bullets.
Among them was a lean and tall shooter named Howard Shingler, whose quick
draw and sure shot would have rivaled that of the legendary cowboy known as
Billy the Kid.
Shingler and about 30 other cowboys and cowgirls were in Mentor over the
weekend for the North Coast National Gunslinger Championship – the fastest timed
sport in the world.
Under the blinding sun these men and women of true grit – weaned on John
Wayne cowboy films and Sergio Leone’s Spaghetti westerns – filed into a
temporary shooting range at the Marine Corps League.
Some, cigarettes hanging from their lips, swaggered about as if they were
John Wesley Hardin, one of the most notorious gunfighters in the Old West. He was shot dead in a saloon in El
Paso, Texas, in 1895.
But neither Hardin nor Wild Bill Hickok would be a match for gunslingers
of today, said Ron Paul Duning, president of the Buckeye Rangers, one of the
event’s sponsors.
Gunslingers of yesteryear took about a second to draw and fire a pistol,
Duning said. Today, gunslingers using modified six-shooters do the same in half-second or
less.
But they do so in the digitized world of competitive gun slinging, using
plastic bullets, black-powder blanks and electronic timers to measure speed and
accuracy. “It’s the safest shooting sport in the world,” said Duning, who on Saturday won the “Fastest Gun
on Earth” title for the fourth consecutive year.
Competition shooters do not face off as they did in the Old West, Duning
said: competitors fire at targets.
Shooter like Melinda Shingler and her father, Howard Shingler, cut
impressive figures –sharply attired in their black Wranglers, with holstered
six-shooters hanging low on their hips.
Mindy Shingler was one among a handful or women shooters at Sunday’s
affair. Half the age of most of the slingers, she is one of the fastest in the
country. Over the weekend her quick draw won her two“Fastest Gun on Earth” awards in the women’s
competition.
“I’m a cowgirl on the weekends and dental assistant during the week,” said Shingler, 31, of Lancaster, Pa.
“There has to be a little cowgirl in me to do this.”
The championship featured a number of categories, from the fastest
six-shooter draws to the so-called “Rolling Thunder” – in which competitors used
a pistol, shotgun and rifle to shoot several targets in a saloon setting.
During his turn, Howard Shingler sat at a makeshift saloon table facing a
barroom set with several balloon targets. At the judge’s signal, Shingler began firing as an electronic timer
measured his shots.
Not good. He lost precious seconds with the slip of a finger. But it’s all fun for Shingler, 59. and others who have had romantic notions of being cowboys since childhood.
“Most of the people shootin’ are about my age,” said Shingler, a heating
and air-conditioning mechanic. “We
all grew up on TV westerns.
That’s where we saw our heroes … the Lone Ranger and John Wayne. Anything western makes me
happy.”
Heads reads:
Gunslingers draw on western lore for awards
Competitors aim to blast record times at Mentor meet
Mentor –High noon at the makeshift OK Corral on Sunday drew some of the
nation’s fastest gunslingers – showing off their deadly aims with plastic bullets.
Among them was a lean and tall shooter named Howard Shingler, whose quick
draw and sure shot would have rivaled that of the legendary cowboy known as
Billy the Kid.
Shingler and about 30 other cowboys and cowgirls were in Mentor over the
weekend for the North Coast National Gunslinger Championship – the fastest timed
sport in the world.
Under the blinding sun these men and women of true grit – weaned on John
Wayne cowboy films and Sergio Leone’s Spaghetti westerns – filed into a
temporary shooting range at the Marine Corps League.
Some, cigarettes hanging from their lips, swaggered about as if they were
John Wesley Hardin, one of the most notorious gunfighters in the Old West. He was shot dead in a saloon in El
Paso, Texas, in 1895.
But neither Hardin nor Wild Bill Hickok would be a match for gunslingers
of today, said Ron Paul Duning, president of the Buckeye Rangers, one of the
event’s sponsors.
Gunslingers of yesteryear took about a second to draw and fire a pistol,
Duning said. Today, gunslingers using modified six-shooters do the same in half-second or
less.
But they do so in the digitized world of competitive gun slinging, using
plastic bullets, black-powder blanks and electronic timers to measure speed and
accuracy. “It’s the safest shooting sport in the world,” said Duning, who on Saturday won the “Fastest Gun
on Earth” title for the fourth consecutive year.
Competition shooters do not face off as they did in the Old West, Duning
said: competitors fire at targets.
Shooter like Melinda Shingler and her father, Howard Shingler, cut
impressive figures –sharply attired in their black Wranglers, with holstered
six-shooters hanging low on their hips.
Mindy Shingler was one among a handful or women shooters at Sunday’s
affair. Half the age of most of the slingers, she is one of the fastest in the
country. Over the weekend her quick draw won her two“Fastest Gun on Earth” awards in the women’s
competition.
“I’m a cowgirl on the weekends and dental assistant during the week,” said Shingler, 31, of Lancaster, Pa.
“There has to be a little cowgirl in me to do this.”
The championship featured a number of categories, from the fastest
six-shooter draws to the so-called “Rolling Thunder” – in which competitors used
a pistol, shotgun and rifle to shoot several targets in a saloon setting.
During his turn, Howard Shingler sat at a makeshift saloon table facing a
barroom set with several balloon targets. At the judge’s signal, Shingler began firing as an electronic timer
measured his shots.
Not good. He lost precious seconds with the slip of a finger. But it’s all fun for Shingler, 59. and others who have had romantic notions of being cowboys since childhood.
“Most of the people shootin’ are about my age,” said Shingler, a heating
and air-conditioning mechanic. “We
all grew up on TV westerns.
That’s where we saw our heroes … the Lone Ranger and John Wayne. Anything western makes me
happy.”
RSS Feed