Making the Hickok-Tutt Shot

[duelist1954]

I’ve been fascinated by Wild Bill Hickok since I was a kid, I’ve read all of Joseph Rosa’s books on Hickok, along with a lot of less well-researched books and articles. His shot in the Davis Tutt fight is one of history’s iconic shots. It is to Colt Navy revolvers what Billy Dixon’s one-mile shot at Adobe Walls is to Sharp’s rifles.

At six o'clock on the evening July 21, 1865, Wild Bill Hickok made the most famous cap and ball revolver shot in Western history, by shooting Davis Tutt through the heart, at a distance of 75 yards, during their gunfight across the city square in Springfield, Missouri.

In this video I'll discuss the history of that fight, and I'll dispel some persistent rumors that have been associated with the affair. After that I'll attempt to re-create Wild Bill's 75-yard heart shot. This video is a bit on the long side, so I hope you’ll stick with it. Let me know if you like it.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7gGgHs2lPU&t=25s

 

[Dave Marsh]

Nice video Mike. Thoroughly enjoyed it. I guess I'll have to try 75 yards but the target will probably be a barn as I think I could hit that with my pistol. :rotf:

Dave

 

[Cruzatte]

Fascinating. I've always wondered about that fight, even if the reported 75 yards was indeed a fact, and not a bit of western folk lore. Good video. Thanks for posting that.

 

[Nativearizonan]

Real nice video as are all your videos; a joy to watch.

Everyone has made lucky shots outside their own normal ability. Hickok was facing a drawn gun about to be fired, so taking a shot was the prudent thing to do, once he had drawn a bead; even if he knew it was a game of odds being played out that he would be the one left standing.

They were both cool customers who had come through the war with their share of kill or be killed moments. What transpired after the fact, was the awe from the many people who drew various conclusions about Hickok's particular ability or some kind of divine favoritism which allowed him to live while Tutt died. At another moment in time, the very same chain of events could have placed Hickok in a coffin and $45 dollars of his money in the hands of Tutt.

Hickok, as well as those who hired him for law enforcement duties, used this event to bolster his reputation, and it did, indeed, prove he was a man who could be counted on in a clutch to hold his own, and not someone that you should take lightly or expect to spook off by brandishing a gun his way. But, the fact this event happened in no way proved he could easily repeat the shot at a level near 100% of the time. It did prove he could face a man with a gun pointed at him, and not back down. That was more important than where the bullet struck, IMO.

 

[Robert an saa fan]

Very interesting video Mike! Thanks for posting it. You did clear up some misinformation and poor memory I had about the gunfight and events leading up to it.
The Colt Navy 1851 .36 has always been my favorite cap and ball revolver. Nice 75 yard shooting you did! :hatsoff:

 

[Canute Rex]

That is spectacular shooting with a cap and ball revolver.

Of course, it reminds me of the story of a revenue agent in Kentucky during prohibition. In a showdown with a bootlegger at a similar range he shot the gun out of the man's hand. It made his reputation and suspects always surrendered to him without a fight. Only after he had retired did he admit that he had been aiming at the man's belt buckle.

I'd say that Hickock was a good shot who was also damned lucky.

 

[tenngun]

I think that's a trueism. Lazarus Long(Robert Hienline) said 'get the first shot off fast, this rattles them enough that you have time to make your second shot count". It is easy to think Hicock was just a few steps above avarage. I don't think I could hit that gong at all.... but if I did I sure would at least act like it was skill not luck.

 

[BillinOregon]

I wonder if Hickok aimed for Tutt's belt buckle, as the Colts were said to be sighted to strike in the thorax if so aimed.

 

[Robert an saa fan]

Mike/duelist1954 says in the video that machismo was probably the main reason the events escalated to a shootout.

Wondering how much machismo was fueled by alcohol drinking, if any, with either Wild Bill or Davis Tutt or both?

 

[Wes/Tex]

Wondering how much machismo was fueled by alcohol drinking, if any, with either Wild Bill or Davis Tutt or both?

Hickock claimed he was sober and Tutt drunk, but who knows. He blew a lot of sunshine up the jumpers of anyone who'd listen. The good "Colonel" wasn't the only account...he hadn't even been there and took his source from ole Bill himself, a champion of self-aggrandizement! Tutt didn't stagger and drop or just drop but managed to high-tail it to the courthouse porch and back out into the street before Bill's shot took affect. Even the local paper admitted he was brave but generally full of it!

 

[Wes/Tex]

I wonder if Hickok aimed for Tutt's belt buckle, as the Colts were said to be sighted to strike in the thorax if so aimed.

A lot of that will be compensated for in drop of the ball over the longer range. Sighted for 25 yards, just the ball drop will be an additional 22 inches at 75 yards. I experimented to a great degree with an old Navy Arms M.1861 Navy. The standing blade made it a lot easier than the pointed brass tip on the standard M.1851. Hold over got tricky and wind just made it worse. However Wild Bill did it, I tip my hat to him! :hatsoff:
In fact, the military specified the M.1851 was specifically sighted for 75 yards, so if the shoot out was anything like the legend, a shot at the belt buckle should have resulted in a hit at the belt buckle. Tutt was hit left side between 5th and 7th ribs...guess Bill aimed sort of there! At that range the energy is down to around a .22 LR but it's larger mass ad diameter has to be factored it. Tutt got from where he was standing to the courthouse porch and back out into the street before collapsing...the hit was vital, even if not a slamming knockdown.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

I think if folks look up the coronor's inquest report they will find some interesting facts.

First for Tutt to have been struck with the wound entering the right side of his chest cavity and traversing to the left side of the chest, stopping where the bullet did, Tutt was in a firing position with his arm raised, since there was no wound on his arm as there would be had it been at his side. From the description it appears that Tutt was using an one hand, target shooting position akin to the old "bullseye" target competitions.

There is a fellow who not only can make the famous Hickok shot..., but he can do it as far away as 100 yards ! :wink: So..., the shot is quite possible, just that the folks who saw it didn't think it was anything less than amazing.

But NOTE... Tutt thought the shot was possible. Why else would somebody draw and aim at Hickok if he didn't think his shot was going to hit? If it was a situation where a hit would be wild luck, then one would close the distance, then raise and fire. You wouldn't march down the street for what..., 50 of the 75 yards with the gun pointed in front of you, hoping Hickok would let you get within range before Hickock had you in Hickok's range and dropped you. :nono:

YET from the wound description, Tutt probably had his gun hand raised toward Hickok, with the revolver in that hand, since it was reported that both simultaneously fired. So Tutt must have either been a huge fool, OR Tutt was confident that he could hit Hickok while Hickok probably couldn't hit him, so he was going to murder Hickok..., :shocked2: Tutt wasn't looking for a fair fight, he was looking for a huge advantage (unless Tutt knew something about Hickok that nobody else in the town knew...that Hickok could in fact hit Tutt at that distance.)

(IMHO) Tutt found out the hard way that he had under estimated his victim/opponent and died for it.


Nothing is ever mentioned of anyone who spoke to Hickok afterwards. As mentioned in a previous post about the fellow who shot the gun from the outlaw's hand, or the movie scene where James Coburn in The Magnificent Seven shoots the bandit from the horse and is upset because he was aiming at the horse..., we don't know if Hickok was surprised he dropped Tutt with the first shot. We might also deduce that Hickok knew the revolvers were accurate at that distance, since he immediately engaged Tutt when he saw Tutt was engaging him.

LD

 

[George]

It seem likely that the trajectory of the shot wasn't as much of a problem as some are assuming. A Navy .36 caliber sighted to hit point of aim at 25 yards shooting 26 grains of 3F will only be 6+ inches low at 75 yards.

I was an enthusiastic pistol shooter years ago and regularly hit a 12" gong offhand at 100 yards shooting a ROA sighted for 25. Most days I could hit 4 out of 10. The shot Hickok made doesn't seem all that exceptional, especially if we assume his gun was sighted for 75 yards, as some say those guns were.

Spence

 

[smoothshooter]

As for pure hand-held accuracy, I don't consider the shot to be overly difficult either, for someone who knew his gun and practiced deliberately with it at least once or twice a month.
Adding some stress to the occaision could hamper things some.

Interesting observation on stress:
Years ago I was in law-enforcement, and my partner and I got a call about a man ( who was possibly armed ) who was reported as scaring a couple of neighbors by peering in their front screen doors.
Coming up on the address, we parked in front of the house two doors down the street and quickly got out of our patrol car.
A few seconds after getting out, we spotted a suspect matching the description of who we were looking for walking away from us in the front yard of another house approximately 40 yards away. When we yelled at him to stop, he casually turned to face us, pulled a large revolver out of a holster, thumb-cocking it and deliberately aiming it at me. I already had my Glock .40 out, and aiming at him, began pressing the trigger.
About a half-second before I would have fired, he lowered his gun, holstered it, and continued to walk away.
To make a long story short, soon we had him disarmed of his loaded Single Action Army-type .44 Magnum revolver after he hit his head and other parts of his body a few times on a flight of concrete steps and a sidewalk.
Where the interesting part comes in is that it all happened so fast that I did not have time to get rattled to the point that my aim was affected. My sight picture was steady as a rock. I had been shooting a lot of tactical and bullseye matches for years prior to this incident, and had no doubt that I could make the shot.
Got a few shakes later, after having time to think about it, but was kinda' proud of myself for remaining cool enough to have made the shot if it had come to that.

Point being that sometimes being surprised, like Hickok may have been, can work in your favor.

 

[Wes/Tex]

Actually "Colonel" George Ward Nichols interviewed Hickok afterwards and it was this extensive article in the 'Harpers New Monthly' that generated so much comment and derision...the 'Springfield Patriot' issue of Jan. 31, 1867 was fairly verbose and basically called in a bunch of bean breeze. I've read it and still can't figure out just where "across the square" the two men actually stood. If the square is still roughly the same size, maybe we'd be able to work out what the real distance was.

Most accounts agree Tutt was standing with pistol raised and that both shots were fired virtually simultaneously. If so, LD is right...Tutt was hit in the right chest side between the 5th and 7th ribs...or so a period account maintains. Still more questions than answers!

 

[smoothshooter]

I have a reproduction Colt Navy .36 that I have fired at least 1,000 shots through, almost all offhand, mostly 2-handed, and believe that I can hit a human silhouette in the upper part of the body with it at 100 yards 70+% of the time, and at 75 yards, 90+% of the time, two-handed, and almost as many times one-handed, on a good ( not necessarily average ) day.

I know from having practiced doing it on a pretty regular basis.

But no one was aiming a loaded gun at me.

 

[smoothshooter]

I think we be assuming way too much that Bill was using a .36 Navy.
He was known to use the Colt .44 Army as well during the war, and may have still been carrying one of those when he shot Tutt.

BTW, I have never bought for a minute the story that Hickok always shot his pistols empty and cleaned and loaded them with fresh loads EVERY DAY.

Not busting on you Mike- I have enjoyed many of your videos, and, not having seen the one you mentioned above, look forward to watching it as well as soon as I can get a chance.

 

[smoothshooter]

I live about 8 miles from that square now, but have never been there to figure out where the two shooters stood. Don't like Downtown very much.
Maybe I should read up on the incident again, and go look things over.

 

[Wes/Tex]

It would be interesting to know though I've never seen anything like "ole Bill was by the horse trough in front of the cat house and ole Dave was over yonder in front of the Dew Drop Inn". Not exactly sure how you'd figure it out. No one said for sure if they were in the middle of the street across the square, or which way across the square since the saloon involved isn't specified. Probably will remain as mysterious as what card number 5 was in his last hand of poker. "Aces & eights" but what was the other one? :wink: