The first one you showed.

@@dennisobrien2578 both holsters were made by Mernickle Custom Holsters back when Bob Mernickle owned the company. The first one is one of his Hollywood holsters. The second one is an FD7 for WFDA Fast Draw. www.mernickleholsters.com/

@@fastdraw101 thank you for the reply.

The ammo for the majority of major contests held these days is provided by the contest host to make things fair for everyone, and it's always .45 Colt caliber, so that's what you'll want to use.

Hey there. I saw your question on the WFDA page, so know that you're from Hawaii. I don't know of any shooters in Hawaii, but in point #4 of this video I mention to use the Facebook Fast Draw group to ask about shooters in your area, or maybe the FB page for the different organizations (maybe check with CFDA as well). There may be shooters online from your area that haven't formed an official club yet that will see your message. Good luck with it.

Hello. When you mention "practical purposes" I assume you mean self defense, and I don't think the single-action pistol with the old holsters is your best choice for that. Our sport is re-creating the Hollywood style of shooting from the movies and TV shows, with some of the organizations using more stringent rules on the guns and holsters being more like were used in the old west of the late 1800s. A fast draw using these styles and equipment wouldn't be what you'd want to use in current situations. Having said that, the most accurate style using the guns and holsters in the sport of fast draw is the one-handed thumbing draw. That was proven in the early 2000s when the sport went to the more historically accurate equipment and farther distances (up to 21' with wax bullets)... everyone went to the thumbing draw since it was more accurate. With the fanning draws (mainly done with the trigger pulled back and the fanning of the hammer cocking the hammer and immediately dropping it to fire the round) there is a slight jerk of the gun when the hammer is fanned, which is fine at the shorter distances, but once you get past about 10-feet it definitely affects the accuracy.

Many people that use the fanning draw do pull the trigger as soon as they grab the gun in the holster, then fan the hammer when the gun comes in line with the target. However, myself and some others use a method where we do fan the hammer as we're drawing the gun, then delay the trigger pull until the gun comes in line with the target. If you look closely at the slow-motion clips you'll see the hammer does stop in the full-cock position for a brief delay until I pull the trigger. In both situations timing is a big part of it since the actual delay in either case is often less than 1/100th of a second. It takes a lot of practice to get that delay just right and not waste any time.

What sort of fast draw are you looking to get into? The majority of shooting these days is the Cowboy style, where it's using the thumbing style with guns that must be pretty much stock with maybe a tune job, so you can't have a "race gun" as was used in the past. Turned up hammers, cut down trigger guards, aluminum barrels, shaved top-straps are all illegal in most contests these days. Having said that, if you are looking to shoot with the World Fast Draw Association that uses these guns for fanning I'd suggest asking on the Fast Draw group on Facebook to see who's out there that can advise. You can find them at facebook.com/groups/2341482906 . Good luck with it.

Thank you for the advice! I am looking into getting into fanning (double shot, triple shot) etc...​@@fastdraw101

You bet! I shot in Cowboy Fast Draw contests for the first few years using my set of matching original Ruger Vaqueros, and they worked just fine. The New Vaquero is slightly lighter, and the cylinder notches will hold up a bit better because the cylinder is a bit smaller and lighter than the original Vaqueros, but they worked fine for me for quite a few years and many thousands of rounds through them. Good luck with it.

@@fastdraw101 Thank you very much for the info and your work putting these videos together. They are really helpfull!

Hi Charlie. Thanks for the question, and please excuse the long answer. There are 2 main reasons. I had developed the first ever site for the sport of fast draw on the internet in the mid-90s (fastdraw.org), and had managed to also win a number of championships in the 2000s, so was getting quite a few emails from people asking if I had an instructional DVD they could buy. I didn't want to make money on it, so just created a website (fastdraw101.com) and these videos that gave new shooters a starting point into the sport. It was intended to answer the common questions they had so they could start on the right path, and I had never intended it to be an on-going thing. When I ran out of topics I wanted to talk about I asked for input from people online for their questions, and got feedback that resulted in the Masters Series of videos where I interviewed top shooters to pass along their tips. Around 2021 the second reason happened... I retired from my job and my wife and I started traveling full-time. To do this we I sold our house, cars and all our possessions so we could travel around the world, which included selling off all my guns and shooting equipment. I now spend more than 90% of the year outside North America. You can read about these travels at d2detours.com . As such, I haven't touched a fast draw gun or been to a contest since 2019 prior to Covid, so there's not much chance to do any more videos, but you never know.

The hand rule has evolved for safety sake. There were a few incidents with dropped guns that caused a change in the rules in the early 2000s that now allow shooters to have their gun hand on the grip and thumb on the hammer, but no finger in the trigger guard or starting to pull back the hammer before the light comes on. It has pretty much eliminated those safety issues. There are still some shooters who have been around the sport since before the rule change that still use the hands off position... to each their own. This hand position rule is for every class... you may have been looking at some old videos or ones of shooters who still use the hands off position.

micah the rat

Black lung

I can't see any in the immediate area, but if you contact the clubs within a state or so they may know of members in your area that can help out. cowboyfastdraw.com/cfda-affiliated-clubs/

I'd check on the Facebook Fast Draw group and see if anyone knows of a "fanner" that's available. facebook.com/groups/2341482906

That depends on the organization you're shooting with, but in general the holster boot is connected to the belt in some form for all organizations, either directly a part of the belt, or as a slip-on. The CFDA and other "Cowboy" organizations require the holster to be the slip-on variety. No buscaderos or rigs where the holster boot is directly connected to the belt with Chicago screws or other methods. The WFDA on the other hand does allow firmly connected holster boots, and the majority of rigs are this design. Either way works fine, and doesn't hamper the shooter in any way, so you'll see both designs in use at their contests.

I'd suggest checking in the Facebook Fast Draw group at facebook.com/groups/2341482906 . Good luck with it.

Thanks for the comment. No, I had to stop 2 years ago. I retired and sold my house and all my possessions to travel the world with my wife, and that included selling all my guns. I did keep my best holsters, so you never know what the future may hold.

Not ideal, I grant you, but the very first thing they do at all gun checks is confirm that all guns are unloaded as soon as they're handed to them, and the way they were handling the guns was for the video.

@@fastdraw101 YUP, SERIOUS LACK OF GUN SAFETY

Not all organizations allow metal in or on the holster (like CFDA, XFDA, WFPG), but for those that do (WFDA for one) there is often metal between the two layers of leather in the holster boot so it won't get blown apart by the very powerful blanks we use during an early ignition. In addition to that there is often a metal insert placed down inside the front of the boot to protect the leather. This helps direct any early shots (blanks or wax bullets) down the holster boot and out the bottom of the boot where there is often a "deflector" guiding the blast away from the leg. These inserts usually have a lip that comes up and over the top edge of the boot, like you can see in this video's thumbnail.

@@fastdraw101 Thank you

It depends on the type of contest and the host. For a smaller contests the entry fee might start around $40 or $50, but for larger multi-day contests they can be $150 or $200. On top of that you usually also need to be a member of the organization sanctioning the contest.

Nope, all guns must operate as they came from the factory. There are some minor parts changes that can be done to make them smoother (change springs, polish parts), but they must have all operating parts working as the guns was designed.

Nope. The gun must fully operate as it was designed, and most organizations these days don't allow parts deletions or changes from stock operation.

To tell you the truth, all I've ever used is the Ruger products, specifically the Blackhawks (pre-1972 3-screw "Old Model" .357 converted to .45 calibre) for fanning style (this is the ONLY gun that will stand up for years to speed fanning), and Vaqueros for thumbing style. Pretty much all of my club uses these same guns, so I don't have any experience with the others, so don't feel right not recommending them. When I started out 40 years ago when fanning was the main way of doing the sport it was the Blackhawks that were accepted gun for Fast Draw due to it's superior strength. With Cowboy Fast Draw starting up in the last 20+ years there are a lot more stock cowboy guns around from other manufacturers, so they are playing catch up, and I've heard good things about them, but no personal experience so won't advise on them one way or the other.

@@fastdraw101 thank you for the great reply. Have a great day

Sorry for the delay getting back to you, William. If you're looking for Cowboy style fast draw gun tuning I mention it in the video. I don't know of anyone personally as I did the work myself. If you're looking at WFDA style tuning I'd suggest posting your question on the Fast Draw Facebook group at facebook.com/groups/2341482906 since the people who know that the best hang out there. Good luck with it.

Thanks for the update. I can't change the video, but I've added the new address in the video's description.

Hi William. Serious answer: There's no reason for me to do that. I know that for a single shot a lead bullet would go exactly where the wax bullet goes... the extra recoil would only come into play with multiple shots, which we don't do much of in the sport of Fast Draw. Also, when you're trying to shoot really fast just as you clear leather you usually put a shot down the holster every once in a while due to a brain-fart or too much of an itchy trigger finger, and the results just aren't worth it. The club I started with in Fast Draw used to shoot "real" ammo in the early days, and when the club switched to the safer ammo in the late 1950s some stayed with lead bullets, and a few of them put shots into their legs or knees. One of my friends met up with one of those guys decades later and he was walking with a limp and still had pain. That being the case, and knowing the results wouldn't be any different from a wax bullet, there's really nothing pushing me to try it with "real" ammo.