OK, fess up all of you old timers

[ed dixon]

I'd like to ... but .45 Colt Vaquero is much bigger and heavier than my average-size hands. Broken fingers and high-pitched yelping would probably blow the desperado fantasy pretty quick.

 

[DadOfThree]

I didn't realize the weight thing would be such an issue when I started the thread. The only revolver I ever "twirled" was a .22 Colt Buntline Scout. It had about an 8" barrel but that seemed to balance it really well. I never tried it with a full sized revolver. Glad to see I'm not the only one to give in to the temptation to twirl.

 

[Johnny Guest]

Oh, well - - -

Yeah, guilty as charged.

Did it with cap pistols. Did it with my first SA revolver, a Single Six, unloaded only, in about 1960. But I was really proud of that revolver - -- Only did it over a bed or couch.

I'd outgrown the urge by the time I got into centerfire handguns.

Best,
Johnny

 

[Ed Brunner]

Yeah, me too.

Guilty.

 

[444]

Sure, I did it. I started with a Fanner 50. I have done it with other guns over the years, after carefully checking their loaded condition (violation of rules #1,2,3).
After reading the book: Fast and Fancy Revolver Shooting by Ed McGivern, I bought one of those Italian SAA clones, bought a fancy holster in Tijunana, loaded up a bunch of .45 Colt cases with wax bullets and spent about 10 minutes learning to become an exhibition shooter. I realized it was silly and dangerous and gave it up. I also got too fat to put on the gun belt.

 

[Crimper-D]

Older than Dirt - But CLEANER!

Fanned but never twirled. Capguns kind of lost their appeal early on when the Old Man handed me a Red Ryder Daisey BBgun on my 7th birthday
I remember the Lone Ranger on radio and the Shadow (who used hypnosis, not guns - but then Llamont was a 'sissy' name too )/
TV = 9" B&W screen with a box the size of refrigerator and Uncle Milty and Gunsmoke - if Matt Dillon didn't twirl, why would anyone

Nowdays the closest we get to the Hollywood version of those days is the Cowboy Action stuff = try twirling at one of their shoots and they'll run you off the range (after a short group therapy session to recover from a mass attack of "Liability Neurosis"

 

[bigmtnman]

I've had no desire to 'twirl' since I was 7. I got a matched pair of Hopalong Cassidy cap pistols with black leather holsters/belt from Santa on Christmas morning. Immediately after strapping them on I just had to try the twirl and drop into holster routine. Never being well coordinated, I dropped them both and broke one of the shiny potmetal barrels clean off. Cried for hours.....
:banghead:

 

[Giant]

I was already old when Rifleman was on. No twirling here, folk in my age group arrived on the planet sans twirl and knowing four rules of proper gun handling. I did slip once and shot my brother between the rivets of his Levi's with a daisy BB gun.

 

[ed dixon]

I'm considering getting a .32 mag. Vaquero in the near future and have wondered if it'd be more manageable for the holster gymnastics. I remember Glenn Ford and Sammy Davis Jr. doing some genuinely cool stuff with the trick spinning. (Am I old now? Can't remember and that's good.)
BTW, cap pistol twirling? Absolutely! Stone-cold murderer on that count. (Captain Kangaroo was askin' for it.)

 

[TamThompson]

Yeah, I did it a lot with my toy revolvers when I was a little girl in my cowgirl outfit (we ALL had those outfits!) And I think I may've tried it when I got my Ruger SP101 .357 mag revolver, after checking 4 times to make sure it was unloaded. Haven't even thought of doing that in 12 years, though--thankfully!

Funny you should mention that. I was thinking about it the other day, and trying to decide how many of the basic firearms handling laws that silly old trick violates. Let's see: 1) The gun is always loaded, 2) Never point the gun at anything you don't wish to destroy, 3) Know your target and what's behind it, 4) Keep your finger out of the trigger guard until you've got your gun aimed at what you're shooting at (for beginners, until you get a sight picture.)

Yep, pretty much violates them all. I'd never do it again, most ESPECIALLY not with my two Glocks--good God!

 

[Stevie-Ray]

Sly Stallone twirls his Combat Elite in Cobra. It's all I can do to keep from trying that with my CDP, but I won't.