What would Wyatt carry today?

[Universal]

Old Fluff knows his history. Earp was indeed known to be a brawler and to use his sidearm mostly to bash suspects in the head. He did not carry a gun around in a holster all the time like in the movies, but would rather stick one in his coat pocket or waistband if he felt he may need it. To be a good sport and play along, I would say he would carry a full size 1911 of some sort if he had to carry a semi-auto. He would probably not carry anything double action as the orginal post suggests due to the fact that he was known to carry a single action revolver in his time. On a side note, another western lawman, Chris Madsen, actually described how to best "pistol-whip" a suspect. He made it very clear that anyone who knew anything would be sure to hit the victim with the barrel of the gun, and not with the grip. Madsen did obtain some semi-auto pistols later in his career, a Luger and a Colt 1911, but said that he always went back to the Colt SAA due to its reliability and, you guessed it; its usefulness as an impact weapon.

 

[NewShooter]

Somehow I think he would still be a revolver man. Maybe a 500 magnum

 

[Pilot]

Lorcin, Jennings or Bryco. Pick one.

 

[22-rimfire]

I think old Wyatt would probably carry a Smith 442/642 in his pocket and a derringer hid somewhere else. I believe his weapons of choice in a fight would be a 357 double action revolver such as a 4" Colt Python and a 12 gauge pump shotgun.

 

[SixForSure]

............................During his tour of duty with the Border Patrol, Charles Askins mentioned a incident where a fellow patrolman used his Colt Government Model .45 pistol for a head-knocker, and discovered thereafter that the slide was aligned at an angle and no longer went back and forth... ..................................

When Bill Jordan was consulting on the development of the Model 19 with S&W he suggested the ejector rod shroud, and when asked why he said "in case somebody accidentally bumps his head on my gun" It seems the Earps weren't the only fans of combining impact and ballistic capabilities in a single package.

 

[Old Fuff]

The fine practice of head-knocking (known as "buffaloing" in the Old West), is not unknown along the Southwestern border country, but the current crop of plastic-bodied pistols may soon reduce it to a lost art...

There is no historical evidence of any merit that any of the "Fighting Earps" bothered with small back-up guns. In fact sometimes Wyatt didn't carry any revolver at all. He had a well-established reputation for taking care of trouble with his fists and bare hands, and this skill made him especially attractive to town councils that didn't want the kind of attention shootings would bring. The whole idea was to attract settlers, investors - and whatever money they might have - not provide a wild and wooly format for Hollywood in the distant future.

 

[Universal]

Old Fluff, I am not sure if your comment about small back-up guns is in reference to what I wrote about Earp putting a revolver in his pocket or waistband. If so, that is not what I meant. My point was that Earp often did not even carry a gun, just like you said, but would stick his pistol in the waistband of his pants or in his coat if he felt the need to bring one. The image we see of western law men with holsters on was not always correct. With regard to what type of firearm Earp may have used, I am pretty sure it was a Colt but not the long barrel version called the Buntline I believe. Thats was given to him by a western dime novel writer later in life. Do you know what he did carry as a peace officer?

 

[RyanM]

The fine practice of head-knocking (known as "buffaloing" in the Old West), is not unknown along the Southwestern border country, but the current crop of plastic-bodied pistols may soon reduce it to a lost art...

I dunno about that. A Glock's slide is where 90% of the weight is, and it balances pretty close to the middle. Would be kind of like the difference between a plain old hittin' stick, or a hittin' stick with a heavy, metal handle that moves the balance further back towards the hand. The hittin' stick with the heavy handle weighs more overall, but all that weight in the back slows down your swing.

 

[Inline_6]

A 14+1 45ACP of course...

...something like this:

 

[palerider1]

probably a colt .45 1911 series

 

[Old Fuff]

As with the old .45, the problem is that some heads are hard enough to warp a frame enough to misalign the rails so the slide won't go back and forth. Not a good situation to be in. The same might be said about knocking the cylinder of a hand-ejector or top-break revolver out of line, but the solid frame Single Action was up to it. That's why as late just before World War Two, A Texas Ranger and Maj. George Patton Jr. (he hadn't made general yet) agreed that the old Peacemaker made the best club.

But not necessarily the best revolver...

================================================

We know that Virgil Earp sometimes used waistband carry from his own testimony in Tombstone. This was a fairly common practice among "town officers," but they unquestionably used holsters (called "scabbards" at the time) and belts when out on horseback.

The questions about the (so called) Buntline Special could fill yet another book, but the following description was given by an eye-witness when Wyatt pistolwhipped Tom McLaury before the big gunfight. He was named named A. Bauer: (The revolver) "seemed to me to be an old pistol, pretty large, 14 to 16 inches long, it seemed to me."

 

[1911Tuner]

Earp

Talked to a guy once who claimed that his father knew Wyatt on a first-name basis. Said the the report was that the old lawman-gunfighter still carried daily...and the pistol was a 1903 Colt auto...likely a .32 hammerless
"Pocket Model". Unsubstantiated, understand...but that was the skinny.

 

[Illuminaughty]

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=42704593

 

[Glockman17366]

A Glock...probably a .40 caliber.

 

[JohnKSa]

Given his proclivity for whacking heads with his gun, I have to think that he'd carry either a long barrel GP100, or maybe a Super Redhawk. Offhand, I can't imagine a better headknocker than that...

 

[Illuminaughty]

Given his proclivity for whacking heads with his gun, I have to think that he'd carry either a long barrel GP100, or maybe a Super Redhawk. Offhand, I can't imagine a better headknocker than that...

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/Vie...?Item=42704593

 

[Old Fuff]

Talked to a guy once who claimed that his father knew Wyatt on a first-name basis. Said the the report was that the old lawman-gunfighter still carried daily...and the pistol was a 1903 Colt auto...likely a .32 hammerless
"Pocket Model". Unsubstantiated, understand...but that was the skinny.

I doubt it... At least if he did it escaped notice by anyone else that knew him and might have left mention of it.

Wyatt Earp was unusual for a frontiersman in that he didn't feel the need to carry a revolver except at certain times during the years he was a peace officer in Iowa, Kansas and Arizona. On a number of occasions he got caught short and had to borrow a gun. As I mentioned before he was justifiably reputed to be a good man with his fists, and apparently believed this was enough except for special occasions.

When he died the only gun listed in his estate was an old top-break .32 Harrington & Richardson revolver, but his friends and associates belived that it belonged to his wife, Josephine. However it is quite possible (and even probable) that any other arms he might have had were destributed to friends and relatives before the estate was tabulated.

He supposedly gave "Doc" Holliday a small .22 revolver shortly before his friend died, but the evidence supporting this claim was very questionable.

If I had a dollar for all of the Earp/Holliday guns that folks have brought to show me I'd be a rich man...

I don't believe any of the "fighting Earps" had any use for small guns...

 

[1911Tuner]

Thutty-Two

Wait! Nix that! it was Alvin York that reportedly carried the little pocket Colt.
But...the guy did say that Earp was carrying. Maybe it was Josie's Iver Johnson. I'd tend to believe that it was at least probable. Given his age and his reduced ability to "mix it up"...and the knowledge that he had made many enemies during his career...he may have felt that a little gun was better than
trying to fight against a young son or nephew of somebody that he had problems with.

My father's second cousin...John Gilley...was a turn of the century U.S. Marshall. Murdered while he slept when he was in his 80s. Somebody stood on a rain barrel and shot him through a window. John made many enemies...

 

[EllisWyatt]

I dunno about that. A Glock's slide is where 90% of the weight is, and it balances pretty close to the middle. Would be kind of like the difference between a plain old hittin' stick, or a hittin' stick with a heavy, metal handle that moves the balance further back towards the hand. The hittin' stick with the heavy handle weighs more overall, but all that weight in the back slows down your swing.

OT: Weight near the fulcrum is almost irrelevant to the inertia of a lever. Drop a fiberglass-handled sledgehammer and watch how the handle dances around madly. It will smack you with more speed than a (heavier) wooden handle, but won't deliver much of a blow.

 

[grendelbane]

I believe that Wyatt is currently carrying a model 58 S&W, because I can't seem to find mine.:banghead:

Oh wait!!!! Here it is, in the back of the safe, .

I don't have a clue as to what Wyatt would be carrying today. It does seem to me that a lot of those old-timers were pretty quick to embrace new technology. There were a few exceptions, Hickock comes to mind, but by and large, most of them seemed very happy to use those new-fangled cartridge guns.

Compare that to what old fuff and 1911 tuner and myself are packing. We have become much more conservative as the decades roll by.

I have to go now, I am cleaning my Savage .32

 

[U.S.SFC_RET]

Definitely a 1911 .45 acp although he would have to get edjucated to the gas system.

 

[Old Fuff]

I have to go now, I am cleaning my Savage .32

NO.... NO.... NO!!

Ya' have your western lawman mixed up...

Savage hired Wyatt's good buddy, Bat Masterson to push their "10 shots quick!" pistol. He said it was much better then the six-guns he had during his frontier years...

You have to keep up on these things...

 

[IndianaDean]

Still the same old Wyatt?
Take care of business?

Poor Wyatt wouldn't last a week with the disciplinary actions and lawsuits.


Suddenly comes back from the grave?
Is this zombie Wyatt Earp (aka Kevin Costner)?

.

For one thing, he'd be suspended from the US Marshals for being intoxicated during the OK battle.

 

[Old Fuff]

For one thing, he'd be suspended from the US Marshals for being intoxicated during the OK battle.

On what do you base that?

First of all, at the time Wyatt wasn't a deputy U.S. Marshal, but his brother Virgil was, and had been for some time. After Virgil was disabled in an ambush the U.S. Marshal in Prescott wired Wyatt a commission.

I have copies of the verbatim testimony taken in the Coroner's Inquest (Doc. #48) and the Preliminary Hearing before Justice of the Peace, Wells Spicer. (Doc. #94). In neither is there any testimony suggesting that anyone on either side was intoxicated at the time of the fight, although Ike Clanton was earlier during the morning.

Also, the "Tombstone Nugget," a local newspaper that was very much anti-Earp made no mention of any of the Earps being intoxicated - something they would have done gladly if they had evidence to prove the charge.

 

[thepanda]

S&W 500, maybe 4" barrel