Showdown at the L-Bar-T

The Orygun Gunfighters, the state’s first cowboy fast draw club, celebrates its one-year anniversary with a shootout

By Debby De Carlo

The Forest Grove News-Times, May 27, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (1 Reader comment)

<< Prev. Page 1 | 2

Fast draw has been around since the 1940s. The CFDA, the newest expression of a sport that finds its origins in Saturday matinees and made-for-TV serials, was organized in Deadwood, S.D., in 2000. Guns used in the sport are .45 caliber single action revolvers containing no more than six grains of black powder behind a wax bullet.

The gun must be cocked with the thumb, and holsters must be pre-1890s style and worn on the side of the leg. In fact, the group is recreating the West of the 1870s. That’s why everyone gathered at the L-Bar-T is dressed in period costume.

Townsley, a security officer and trainer at Tuality Hospital in Hillsboro, enjoys his alter ego in “Ronin,” boasting a black hat and bandana, spurs and tall leather boots. A man who can play classical piano and talk about a myriad of intellectual subjects, he’s strangely at home in the western garb he wears and the Colt .45 he carries.

“I loved cowboys as a kid, and I love books about the West – ‘Lonesome Dove’ and ‘Tombstone,’ to name a few,” Townsley said.

Jon “Doug Graves” Larson, a Forest Grove CPA, is next to walk in. He’s downloaded a good selection of western music on his MP3 player and soon everyone is practicing, with Frankie Laine singing “Rawhide” in the background and Elmer Bernstein’s theme music to “The Magnificent Seven” in the queue.

“I’m a newbie,” Larson noted. “I was sitting in a saloon when Gregg (Ronin) told me about it. My wife was little upset at first ... she is not a gun fan.”

When Larson was musing on his alias, Julie Larson suggested “Newly Single,” he said with a chuckle. “Luckily, she came around,” Larson added – not enough to join herself, but to give her husband’s membership her blessing.

Cowgirls are just as welcome to join the club as their male counterparts. “Tatonka Rose” and “Generous Kate,” aka News-Times Associate Editor Nancy Townsley, both of Forest Grove, have their own guns and dress in western clothing.

Dan “Orie Gunn” Esteban, of Gresham, is the last to arrive at the gunfight. “My wife is a better shot than I am,” he said. “She’s not into this kind of competition, though. And she prefers her .357.”

Esteban, who drives a delivery truck for Delco batteries, lassoed the club’s “Top Gun” award last year for winning the most matches.

“After the initial start-up costs of a holster and gun, it’s a pretty inexpensive hobby,” he said. “You can borrow a gun from the club when you’re just starting out.” Wax bullets run about $25 for 1,000.

Esteban learned about the club from Don Brown, a Tigard resident and co-owner of Ted Blocker Holsters there. “It’s the most fun I’ve had with a gun in years,” he said.

“They’re the best people you’re ever going to meet,” said Arends of his fast draw compatriots. “It’s the cowboy way. Your word is your bond. I’d trust them with anything.”

It’s time for the competition to begin. Over the course of almost two hours, shooting adjacent to a hand-painted western town facade, the gunslingers are eliminated one by one. In the end, Kid Creggar walks away with the best time, and a new club record, of .360 of a second.

When the dust clears, the cowboys eat a few Oreos and pack up their guns. As quietly as they came into town, they leave – until the next showdown at the L-Bar-T, that is.

<< Prev. Page 1 | 2

Facebook	Digg	Del.icio.us
Newsvine	Stumbleupon	Reddit