Who Needs A Rifle? The Walker At 100 Yards

[Zapadach]

That is because they don't practice at 100 yard distances, isn't it?
I'm always surprised at people shooting or sighting in at 25 yards, that's a good distance to retreat from.

On horseback, two forces closing at a gallop, the time elapsed between the hundred yard shot and hand to hand contact would be 5-6 seconds. With a moving platform and a moving target, closing speeds of ~40mph, or ~58' per second, I imagine all hits to be more or less accidental. With each ~20 stride of the horse though the odds of getting a hit would increase.

Unless of course, you learn to shoot your pistol the way the Mongols and Tartars shot their bows. They would not fire unless all four hooves were off the ground, thus, having a more stable platform to shoot to from. But you would have know your horse as good as you know your pistol.

 

[D Yager]

Anyone here ever try shooting from the back of a moving horse? I tried it my misspent youth. It was a hazard to everything in the area except the intended target. On top of that the horse is another factor, if the horse you're shooting from is a jughead it makes things even more interesting. Yes a horse can be trained to handle guns going off from behind their head but the question remains...why in this day and time?

 

[M. De Land]

I get amazed at how many folks seem to think 100 yards is equivalent to a half a mile. It's 300 feet. I've personally dropped jackrabbits at 130 yards with a pistol. Not a big deal.

It would be a big deal for me unless seated with my back against a rock and the gun propped over my elbow supported knees. One can make hits out to several hundred yards thus supported with a modern hand gun. Never tried it with a percussion gun.

 

[M. De Land]

Anyone here ever try shooting from the back of a moving horse? I tried it my misspent youth. It was a hazard to everything in the area except the intended target. On top of that the horse is another factor, if the horse you're shooting from is a jughead it makes things even more interesting. Yes a horse can be trained to handle guns going off from behind their head but the question remains...why in this day and time?

They can be thusly trained to lower their head and turn away but I've never heard of one liking it! Usually they come unglued ! Wonder how Calvary mounts were trained as it's pretty hard to lower the head while in full gallop. Must have turned down their ears soon as they saw the pistol rise as they have great lateral and night vision.

 

[45D]

They can be thusly trained to lower their head and turn away but I've never heard of one liking it! Usually they come unglued !

I get it !!!!
UNGLUED! (horse humor!!)

Mike

 

[maillemaker]

Yup, the pistol designed to put your horseback enemy afoot.

I believe this is a myth caused by a misunderstanding of the term "horse pistol".

I have found no correspondence with Colt or Walker describing a requirement to be able to shoot horses.

A "horse pistol" simply means it was designed to be carried on a horse. Similar to how a "pocket pistol" is not for shooting pockets, but describes how it was to be carried.

As far as shooting the Walker at long distances, when we clear off the line at N-SSA matches at our usual Deep South Regional location, we often aim at a gong on the backstop to discharge any extra rounds. Revolver is shot at the far-left of the range, and the gong is at the far right - about a 120 yard shot. I hit it once with my Walker. Gong is about 2 feet square.