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TOPIC:
Stock Guns

Q: What do you tell clients about shooting stock guns for Cowboy Action Shooting or Fast Draw?

Bob Munden: Don't. Stock guns will beat themselves to death. You don't shoot stock guns. They will tear themselves up, plus you'll never shoot a stock gun well because you're fighting creep in the trigger and heavy spring systems in it. Everything's against you. You have to overcome all the faults in the gun before you can actually shoot it right. Well, you're not going to be able to do that, so you have to upgrade the gun -- make it easier, set up better trigger pull. Now, you'll be able to really shoot the gun. You'll never shoot the gun well, factory, right out of the box. No gun. You'll never see a stock gun used by a pro. Why is that? Because they know what I'm telling you.

It's like saying, "Let's go down to the Ford Motor Company, buy a car and race it tomorrow." You'd tear it right up. It's not made for racing. It's made to drive up and down the street to take you to work and back, and maybe on vacation. No No.. You start talking racing, now you're talking high torque on the engine, high torque on the transmission, high torque on the transfer case, drive train. From front to rear, you're tearing up that car. If you're going to race a car, you've got to upgrade it. You have to upgrade every part of it. If you change the engine, you've got to change the transmission. You change the transmission, you've got to change the transfer case. And it goes on and on. If you've got a big, powerful engine in there now, you've got to beef up the frame to handle the power of the engine. All that's involved. It's a big, big change up. You have to change everything.

So, you're certainly not about to shoot fast draw with a stock gun. First of all, the action's so stiff you couldn't even cock the gun anyway. For that purpose. And the parts don't fit right, the notches aren't deep enough in the cylinder, they're cut to the wrong angle in 90% of the cases, you've got to run steel blocks in the frame to stabilize the gun… In other words, you've got to upgrade the gun for fast draw. You can not shoot a gun out of the box for fast draw. No way. You'll tear up the gun immediately. Right away. And, the damage you'll do to some of these guns is permanent.

For instance, if you take 1st or 2nd generation Colt single action worth thousands of dollars and fast draw and fan it and beat up the frame, the frame's not replaceable. They don't sell frames. Let alone, 1st, 2nd generations. You're gonna shoot fast draw and not set the gun up right? You've got to be some kind of idiot.

WARNING: DO NOT EVER FAST DRAW WITH LIVE AMMUNITION. NOT EVEN ONCE. IT IS EXTREMELY DANGEROUS.

Q: Describe how you build guns.

Bob Munden: I only build one way. Top of the line. If you want one, it will be just like mine. I would not build your gun any other way. There is only one way to build a top of the line gun and that's the way I build them. It's impossible to do it any other way. So when you have a gun from me, it is a mirror of my own gun. All of them are like that, with no exceptions. When a person comes to me and says "I want an Option #2 gun, a Race Gun," what he is telling me is that he wants a very serious gun. Okay… That's what you want, you got it. You know?

People do ask me, "Is that gun as good as your own?"

If possible, if I run across a way to make it better than mine, I will employ that and put it into your gun. Then I'll take my gun when you're gun leaves and I'll upgrade my gun. I'm always looking to make them better - and if I run across a way to do so, I'll do it.

Your gun will be just like my guns, and I consider my guns to be the very finest six guns in the world. The finest running guns in the world are my guns, and they're beautiful. No other guns are better. I've never seen equal, let alone better.

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Do you have questions about Bob Munden's Six-Gun Magic gunsmith work on single actions, Marlin Lever-Action Rifles, Stoeger (or IGA) Double-Barrel Shotguns, Smith & Wesson Double-Action Revolvers, the Bond Derringer and other guns? Call Munden Enterprises at (406) 494-2833 (8am- 8pm MST), or visit our contact page.

ARCHIVE:
Click on any topic below to access previous In His Own Words articles.

• Stock Guns - 05/05

• Grips  - 07/05

• Efficiently Cocking the Single Action & Primer Recommendations for Light Actions - 09/05

• Bob Munden -- The Collector's Edition DVD - 11/05

• Choosing a Barrel Length - 01/06

• Choosing a Caliber - 06/06

• Fast Draw and the World Fast Draw Association (WFDA) - 11/06

• Misfires - 02/07

• Remembering Jeff Cooper - 05/07

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