The Guns Of The Wild Bunch

It has been 50 years since the movie The Wild Bunch hit the silver screen. Before you conjure up images of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid blowing up railroad cars, redirect your thoughts to the other Wild Bunch, the movie starring William Holden, Ernest Borgnine and Ben Johnson.

I don’t want to spoil the plot for those who have never seen the movie but it’s key to our story. The movie is set against the backdrop of the Mexican Revolution in 1913 and follows an aging band of misfit desperados looking for one last grand haul in a changing world. Their first attempt becomes a miserable but violent failure, which pulls them into their second attempt. To everyone’s amazement, it’s an overwhelming success. But, in the process, a cost is extracted, and by the end of the movie, the ill-fated antiheroes can no longer tolerate the price they paid and seek to right their wrong.

The Rise Of The Antihero

At the time, the movie shocked and yet delighted the viewing public. After 60 years of sterilized westerns featuring larger than life heroes like John Wayne, Hopalong Cassidy, Roy Rogers and Gary Cooper, The Wild Bunch had antiheroes whom many identify with to this day.

In most westerns, the good guys didn’t die because they were good. The bad guys died or went to jail because they were bad and when anyone did die, the violence and gore was either implied or hidden. The Wild Bunch was just the opposite. The wounds and death were shockingly realistic. Blood flew like a Quentin Tarantino flick. Even women were not immune from the graphic novel-like gore as the anti-hero used them for human shields or exacted revenge as a jilted lover.

Filmed in 1968 during the height of the Vietnam War, director Sam Peckinpah tried to show war and killing wasn’t fun, clean, or sterile as shown in other westerns of the time. He felt the excessive use of violence would shock and appall the audience and turn them away from the violence raging in Southeast Asia. Perhaps true for a few, but the general public delighted in the blood and guts as it sprayed on the screen, which bothered Peckinpah and movie critics both.

In the decades following, the movie developed a cult following. According to Wikipedia, “In 1999, the U.S. National Film Registry selected The Wild Bunch for preservation in the Library of Congress as culturally, historically and aesthetically significant. The film was ranked 80th in the American Film Institute’s 100 best American films and the 69th most thrilling film. In 2008, the AFI listed 10 best films in 10 genres and ranked The Wild Bunch as the sixth-best Western.”

If watching The Wild Bunch wasn’t enough entertainment, along the way the Single Action Shooting Society (SASS) decided to hold Wild Bunch three-gun shooting matches. While many firearms were featured in the film, SASS focused on the key firearms used by the protagonists in the movie — the Colt 1911 pistol, the Winchester 97 shotgun and the Winchester 92 lever-action rifle. Not ironically, all three designs came from the fertile mind of John Moses Browning.

The Winchester Model 97

The Winchester Model 97 has a long and storied history. In reality, it is an improved version of the Winchester Model 93, a shotgun made for black powder at a time when the industry was rapidly turning to smokeless powder. To make matters worse, the Model 93 suffered from mechanical issues.

The Model 97, like the Model 93, was a pump-action shotgun with an exposed hammer but it was a huge improvement over the Model 93 and became an instant hit with hunters, lawmen, and the military. No other exposed-hammer shotgun approached the popularity of the Model 97, with over a million being made over its lifetime when production ceased in 1957.

The Model 97 doesn’t have a trigger disconnect, which made it popular in the trenches of WWI. Without the disconnect, the gun could fire as fast as the action could be worked without releasing the trigger. In the fields of WWI, upland game hunters-turned-soldiers supposedly stood watch with the Model 97 where the quick-acting reflexes of grouse and quail shooters helped them blast German grenades lobbed from enemy lines.

The Model 97 is a key firearm in The Wild Bunch as can be seen with devastating effect from the bloody beginning to the gruesome end.

The Winchester Model 92

The Winchester Model 92 lever-action rifle is beyond a doubt the most filmed “cowboy” rifle in history. The reason is easy. The production of the Winchester Model 92 ran from 1892 until 1941 when wartime production changed Winchester’s priorities. In short, Hollywood could buy all the new rifles they wanted for decades. It’s no wonder we see the Winchester 92 get slammed to the ground, scratched across rocks and bashed to bits in fight scenes. To paraphrase a Doritos slogan — “Destroy all you want; we’ll make more.”

In the Golden Age of westerns, few knew the most commonly seen rifle on the silver screen hadn’t even been invented yet during the time being portrayed. The Model 92 looked cowboy and nothing else mattered.

John Wayne carried one in countless films. It didn’t matter if he was portraying 1869 in The Searchers, 1875 in True Grit, or 1901 in The Shootist, the rifle in his hands most of the time was the Model 92

Wild Bunch Matches

Competing in the SASS Wild Bunch matches is addicting. The action is fast, close and exciting. The steel targets are big and in your face, giving the impression no shooter could miss. But, as soon as the shot timer starts, the mantra of getting a good sight picture is often forgotten!

To make things even more interesting, the shooter must shoot the targets in a pattern and sequence changing from stage to stage. This tests not only marksmanship but also memory.

Since it’s a fun game, many shooters follow the lead of our antiheroes. In the opening scenes of the movie, the gang disguised themselves as U.S. soldiers in uniforms to rob a railroad office. Don’t be surprised if competitors wear sergeant stripes, campaign hats and canvas spats!

Contrary to the fierce and bloody violence shown in the movie, Wild Bunch matches couldn’t be any friendlier. Everyone is there to shoot cool guns, have fun with friends (old and new) and take home memories.

Watch the movie then attend a SASS Wild Bunch match and you’ll see why their motto is “Come for the shooting, and stay for the friendships.”

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