Bill Jordan: No Second Place Winner
Free download of a classic book.
Bill Jordan was a lawman, famed trick-shot artist, and competitive shooter. His book No Second Place Winner remains a classic. Download a free copy below.
The book details his thoughts on training with handguns and the state-of-the-art as it was back then.
Here are Bill Jordan’s thoughts on the value of competition shooting:
It has been previously mentioned that nervous tension makes it difficult to squeeze a trigger smoothly. This is further complicated in a gunfight by a natural disinclination to pull the trigger at all when your weapon is pointed at a human. Even though their own life was at stake, most officers report having this trouble in their first fight.
The only dependable way to learn to shoot a handgun is to start with deliberate, aimed, single action fire at a bull’s-eye target until the fundamentals of trigger squeeze and sight alignment are thoroughly mastered. Only then should the shooter concern himself with fast double action shooting.
Any competitive pistol shooter will tell you that the most difficult action under the stress of competition is to exert a smooth, even pull on the trigger. This is a result of nervous tension, caused mostly by a desire to make a good showing before the public. Here is where training takes over or you break up.
A question often asked of themselves by young officers is, “How will I comport myself in the face of fire? Will I stand up or will I break?” On the surface this would appear to be a question which can be answered only if it becomes an actuality. As a matter of fact the answer can be given with very little chance of error. Almost invariably a man, provided he does not have too much time to think, will automatically do what he has been trained to do. Again provided that his training has been thorough and intensive.
An example in support of this statement comes to my mind: A few years back a Border Patrol team became involved in a discussion with some contrabandistas in which they were considerably embarrassed by one of the smugglers holed up in some brush about 200 yards away. His presence unduly complicated the proceedings in that he was armed with a .30-30 rifle with which he was enthusiastically underscoring points in the argument made by the main group of his compatriots. The Border Patrolmen were armed only with .38 Special revolvers which put them at somewhat of a disadvantage under the circumstances. However, two of the three men applied themselves to the task of routing the nearby enemy while the senior officer, Sam McKone, took up the question of the rifleman in the brush.
They tell of a western epitaph which reads, “Here lies Tom Jones. Committed suicide by betting his pistol against a rifle at 200 yards.” This could be a normal result of such a contest, but Sam McKone is not one of the Jones boys. Among his other marksmanship awards is a gold medal declaring him to be a Distinguished Pistol Shot. Additionally, being shot at was not a matter to distress Sam unduly, since it was not exactly a novel occurrence in his life.
To make a long story short, by applying a little Kentucky windage and an educated trigger squeeze, Sam scored three hits which made the rifle shooter lose all interest in the fate of his companions and start thinking solely of his own welfare, here and hereafter.
Border Agent Sam McKone used a .38 Special revolver to land hits and defeat a rifle-armed attacker at 200 yards and won. While Precision Pistol (Bullseye) competition excludes aspects useful for “real world” use of the handgun, it makes you a skillful shooter and that always helps. Earning a Distinguished Pistol Shot badge worked for Officer Samuel McKone.
Well, the comments about the superiority of the revolver, and definitely the ones about throw down guns are a bit sketchy.......
But mostly still relevant advice.