By Mike Nesbitt | Contributing Editor
A new “shoot-out” has been added to the sport of shooting percussion black powder revolvers.
It is called the “Gunfighters Shoot-Out Challenge” and it is named that way because there is some reference made to Wild Bill Hickok and another shooter named Major Frank North. Everybody has heard about Hickok but Major North was a well-known shooter during the same era. Back in those days, in the 1860s and ‘70s, a good shot could keep his (or her) shots on a square 5 X 5-inch envelope while shooting from ten paces.
So, a 5 X 5-inch square became the target for today’s Gunfighter Shoot-Out Challenge, along with a 1-inch square “postage stamp” in the middle of the larger square. The object of the challenge is to shoot six shots from a percussion revolver and keep all six shots within the 5-inch square with at least one shot hitting the 1-inch square. Those shots are fired offhand, with a one-hand hold, not timed, from a distance of 10 paces, more accurately stated as 10 yards or 30 feet. While that kind of good shooting is not impossible, it is a real challenge.
The way to learn more about this Gunfighter shoot-out is to hop on to the computer and look up the Cap & Ball Fanatic Channel Group on Facebook. There you’ll find information on the shoot-out plus a lot more. The ‘ramrod’ of the outfit goes by the handle of J. Stone and he runs the shoot-out by email. Contact him and he will set you up with a target to copy along with the easy-to-follow rules. And, one of the best parts about this friendly competition, there are no entry fees or costs to participate.
J. Stone lives in Grand Rapids, Mich. He started shooting and collecting percussion revolvers because of his love for 19th Century history. That focusses on the Westward migration, Indian relations, and a good bit of our Civil War. He says all of that interest turned into creating shooting events with the guns of the era and gathering shooters who like those guns into some friendly competition. He started his Cap & Ball Fanatic Channel on Facebook and on the YouTube during the summer of 2023 because he was shooting almost all of the time and he has video experience. In his opinion, that channel has done better than he ever imagined. He says it isn’t about making money; it is to encourage having fun, learning about history, and getting new shooters and historians involved.
Last year he had a playing card match, shot with percussion revolvers. If I had known about that, I would have joined in. But this year is different. I did get to join in for the 2025 Gunfighter shoot-out but I must apologize to you, because it is too late for you to join. With this story, I’m only reporting on the way the event was handled, how it was shot, and how much fun it was. On the good side, however, J. Stone says we’ll be doing it again and the same target and rules might be used once more in 2026. We’ll have to look on the Cap & Ball Fanatic Channel to find out for sure.
While I can’t vouch for too many other shooters, I can talk about the group of shooters I do my shooting with. We are members of the Black River Troublemakers, at the Capitol City Rifle & Pistol Club near Olympia, Washington, and I’ve mentioned some of our activities before, along with the Black River Buffalo Runners, such as our Old West Centerfires Matches and our annual Buffalo Camp. What I’ll say about this group now is how the shooters really turned out for this Gunfighter Shoot-Out Challenge, and at least two of our “gang” bought new percussion revolvers just to participate.
One of those guys, Mike Holeman, shot his target for the competition with a flintlock muzzleloading pistol. The rules for this game do say that a muzzleloader could be used. That target of Mike’s was a good one but even he agrees that it just wasn’t the same thing, so he bought a nice used and customized Uberti 1851 Navy model with a 5-inch barrel. The little bit of customizing included a new front sight, mounted in a small dovetail on the octagon barrel, new nipples from Slixprings, and the very nice ivory-like carved grips. Mike, of course, didn’t use that gun in this year’s shoot-out but he will use it for next year’s plus a lot of shooting in between those yearly events.
Jerry Mayo also bought a .36 caliber Navy Model, an 1861 version this time. Now he’s getting that gun all equipped with a new bullet mold, for .380” diameter round balls, plus a new set of stainless-steel nipples. We’ll be hearing more about him and his six-gun after he does more shooting with it. Jerry didn’t get his gun soon enough to participate in this year’s Gunfighter Shoot-Out but he might be a top contender for next year’s Challenge.
And more shooting will be easy to do because our group will be adding some cap & ball events to our own shooting contests. That’s easy to do because we commonly hold a short, maybe five or ten shots, “after-match” to our more headline events. The first one of these is an after-match following our Lever-Gun match, where we shoot our lever action black powder rifles, mostly .44-40s. In this after-match, we’ll be shooting at two paper targets, five shots each, with black powder revolvers. The reminder and invitation to this event does say, percussion revolvers preferred. To say that our group is embracing the cap & ball six-guns readily is putting it mildly, we’re enjoying the shooting wildly…
One more of our shooters must be mentioned and that is Mike Moran. He has a .44 caliber version of the 1851 Colt style replica revolver that he’d bought more than a few years ago but had still never fired it. So, to join in the fun, he dug his .44 out of the closet, blew the dust off of it, then loaded it for his first time to shoot the gun. He loaded the chambers with 25 grains of GOEX 3Fg powder, then a .451” diameter ball, put grease over the bullets, capped the nipples and took his first shot. Just after the ‘boom’ of the gun, Mike turned to the rest of us wearing an obvious grin and said, “This .44 packs a wallop!!”
We enjoyed gathering together for practice and for shooting our Gunfighter Shoot-Out targets to be submitted for score. According to the match rules, published by J. Stone, we could shoot and submit as many targets as we wanted but we could shoot no more than six shots per target. Those are simply easy rules to live by and trying to get a good target, with all six shots hitting within the 5-inch square as well as hitting the “postage stamp” with one of those shots was certainly a lot of fun.
Other rules are just as easy to follow. The guns which are permitted for use are mainly percussion black powder revolvers or pistols from the pre-1870 era, originals or replicas. J. Stone goes on to say, those can include the so called “fantasy” guns such as the Sheriff’s models and the .44 caliber Navy. By “fantasy” guns he means the versions of those guns which were never made in the 1860s and early ‘70s.
I must take a slight exception to his round-up of fantasy guns when I mention my own little .36 caliber 1851 Navy with the 5-inch barrel. In the book A History of the Colt Revolver (1940) there is a picture of an 1851 Model with a 4 ¾-inch barrel and that has an added note in the comments that it looks to have been factory made. If there was just one of them originally, that takes my replica out of the fantasy category, although we can quickly agree that a lot more short-barreled Navy Models are made as replicas than what were ever made in the old days.
My shooting with that short-barreled Navy Model went fairly well. I was getting close, but (as they used to say) no cigar. Then, toward the end of the time for the Shoot-Out, I tried one more target, printed on yellow as I like to do. With no time limit for the shooting, I’d fire a shot, then let my arm drop to give it a rest before bringing the gun up to take a following shot. That target held all six shots within the 5-inch square and two of those shots hit, side by side, in the 1-inch square postage stamp. To comply with the rules, that target was photographed with my gun (but not with me) and my name and organization were added to the picture before it was sent in for scoring and judging.
There are award categories for:
Top 5 places with all six in the 5-inch square and at least one hit in the stamp
Top 5 places with 5 hits in the 5-inch square with one hit in the stamp*
Top 5 places with four hits in the 5-inch square with one hit in the stamp*
*If none hit the stamp, tightest groups win.
J. Stone said, after the deadline had passed, that he had over 50 entries with almost 200 pictures of targets to sort through. That makes a jump of over 400% over last year’s playing card shoot. He added how that was “really humbling and cool.” He also said that they’d be giving out 20 awards for the match this year, so something was added to the list shown above.
The award ceremonies for this event took up 15 minutes on a YouTube video. A whole lot of folks were named in that show and I simply can’t mention them all. The Grand Champion was Ron Roberstson from Alabama and his target was certainly a good one, shooting a replica of the 1861 Colt Navy in .36 caliber, using paper cartridges, and with all six shots within the 5-inch square as well as having four of those shots hitting the postage stamp. That’s good shooting!
Tom Witt, from our group, did very well with his copy of the 1860 Colt Army .44, placing 16th in the Grand Championships, in the 2nd batch of Runner-Ups. Then Mike Holeman and I both received honorable mention in the Grand Championship class. That does provide us with bragging rights and it all adds to the fun.
The top five shooters (and maybe more) in each category receive frameable named certificates as testimony to their good shooting. In addition to that, they each receive a 2” X 3” Wild Bill Hickok sticker because his spirit is certainly behind the action for this cap & ball Gunfighter Shoot-Out.
Doing the shooting is simply a lot of fun. There is no entry fee, you just contact J. Stone, (either by visiting the Cap & Ball Fanatic Channel on Facebook, or watch for an announcement on Youtube, or just sending a note to J. Stone at capandballfanatic@gmail.com, request your target(s) which you can print, do your shooting as outlined, and submit your target(s) by email. I’m sure going to be watching because I want to do this again.
J. Stone has some good comments at the beginning of his on-line Shoot-Out. He simply says, “Safety first!! If you choose to participate, please practice all of the normal safety rules for firearms usage. And please consider using eye and ear protection.” Those are very good points to start with.
