What kind of gun did Pat Garrett use to kill Billy the Kid? Billy Patscher Jr. Clifton, New Jersey Garrett used a 7.5-inch barreled, blued steel...
Wasn’t there a TV program about Elfego Baca?
The October 2010 True West shares an article about Elfego Baca. Wasn’t there a TV program about him? Ray Rodriguez Waxahachie, Texas Yep, in 1958,...
Where did the term “shoot from the hip” come from?
Where did the term “shoot from the hip” come from? Alexander F. Durvin Jr. Fort Washington, Maryland “Shoot from the hip” refers to gunmen who...

Quanah Parker Looks Promising
Lonesome Dove author Larry McMurtry and his writing partner Diana Ossana have their plates full with a number of new Western-themed movies in the...

Hart Ranch Reopens
After he finished what would be his last, and one of his best films, Tumbleweeds, in 1925, William S. Hart bought the land where the picture was...
Mangold’s Texas Ranger
James Mangold didn’t get quite as much attention as the Coen brothers when he retooled the black-and-white Western 3:10 to Yuma. But his ambitious...

True Grit
Fans of the original version of True Grit may be divided in their opinions about the remake, but we all have the Coen brothers to thank for...

Robert Conrad Dares Ya
Robert Conrad is tough. He might even be tougher than James West, the rough-and-ready secret agent he played on television in the CBS series The...

Guidebooks to Tombstone
When reviewing travel guide books, Samuel Johnson’s quote often comes to mind: “Every writer of travels should consider that...he undertakes either...

Sweetgrass Mornings
The backcountry smells fatalistic in Sweetgrass Mornings, the memoirs—sprinkled with some tall tales—of Slim Randles, a veteran outdoorsman who has...

Law of the Gun
The gunfighter is one of the most famous archetypes in Western literature, and his killing eyes and vengeful heart have been humanized by the...

Best of the West 2010: New Stories from the Wide Side of the Missouri
If you’re looking for storytelling that focuses solely on the current struggles and triumphs of the contemporary American West, James Thomas and...