More Paladin

He travels on to wherever he must

A chess knight of silver is his badge of trust

There are campfire legends that the plainsmen spin

Of the man with the gun of the man called Paladin.

Thanks to Cookie for sending all of this nostalgic email that escorts me back in time. I practiced my quickdraw until my blisters had blisters then practiced some more. When it came time to learn how to use a real revolver, a quick round or two from a Colt .45 sent me back to the drawing board.

How the hell DID those guys draw and shoot so fast and accurately. Bah, they didn't, the critics were quick to point out. Then along came Bill Jordan who could get off a shot, from the holster, in a quarter of a second. And hit an aspirin at 30'.

Bastard.

"I don't think you got a very good look at this gun while you had it. The balance is perfect. This trigger responds to a pressure of one ounce. If you look carefully in the barrel you'll see the lines of the rifling. It's a rarity in a hand weapon. This gun was handcrafted to my specifications and I rarely draw it unless I mean to use it. Would you care for a demonstration?"

Okay, okay. 1 ounce is downright impossible, but who knew? I didn't. And no one could EVER convince me otherwise. I wouldn't have put in all that dry-fire, the work that made it so very much easier to shoot for real when for real reared it's ugly head.