Wild Bill Hickok vs. Major Frank North Drill

Hat tip to Gary Hughes for bringing this "Wild Bill Hickok vs. Major Frank North" drill to my attention.

From The American Mercury, October 1937:

"Did you ever see Wild Bill Hickok shoot?"

"Many times."

"Was he pretty good?"

"Yes. But Frank was better.

Even Bill said so."

"Just how well could they shoot?"

You put up a letter envelope ten paces away, and if you could keep all six shots in the envelope you were counted good. One of the sbots had to be in the stamp which was pasted on the back of the en-velope, in the center."

"How big were the envelopes?"

"Five inches square. And the stamp an inch square."

Course of fire:

• 10 yards
• Primary hand ONLY
• Six shots
• All must hit within the 5" square
• One must hit the center stamp, 1" square
• No time limit

I shot it today with three of my pistols. I passed easily with the Ruger 50th Anniversary Blackhawk, shooting my .38 Special black powder handloads.

I did not pass this test shooting two of my double action revolvers: my S&W Model 432UC .32 H&R Mag and my S&W Model 15-3 shooting .38 Specials. Shooting double action with only one hand I have a tendency to push the point of impact to the right, which caused shots to lands outside the 5" square. While I can nail these targets shooting two-handed, I need to work on my one-handed double action shooting.

I actually did better with the 432UC J-Frame than the Model 15 K-Frame, but I shot the Model 15 last and had already done a fair amount of shooting by that point. I.e., I was tired.

Give it a try. You may find it more challenging than you think.

Link to the target: https://thetacticalprofessor.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/hickok-v-north-stamp.pdf

Edit: Most likely this is the Major Frank North referred to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_North