Thell Reed A Real Deal Pistolaro

**Ronnies111** · February 16th, 2009, 07:23 PM

http://www.thellreed.com/html/publications___.html
http://gunsandammomag.com/cs/Satelli...y_C/Thell+Reed
I happen to come across this today & it's a good
story about a real pistolario Thell Reed. He actually
worked on the set of Gunsmoke & every western
& Most all BIG holllywood movies involving guns since.
He's personally trained, Bruce Willis, Gene Hackman,
Brad Pitt, Russell Crow, Sharon Stone & many many more
that you'll discover in this reading.

He made a living as the Fastest Gun Alive. At 15 years old
he was the worlds fastest gun , the real deal.
When you open his page there's some shotgun shells
on the left & each one you click starting at the top
takes you through his life which is really fasinating.
If you like guns?

And I'm sure if your reading this?
You do, this is surely the best story of anyone's life
& their guns you will ever read! I can not give it
enough praise, if you take the time to go through it?

You'll never regret it & you'll know more behind the
scenes Hollywood & Guns & the stars he trained
than you ever did before!

PS: I'm sure most of you have heard of Jeff Cooper, Thell
use to hang out with him as a kid & practice shooting.
I spent several hours going through the old videos &
reading about his life.

I normally only read to learn not for entertainment, but
Thell's life story is without doubt the most interesting &
entertaining thing I have even experienced. Because it's real,
not made up Hollywood legends. A Real Life Legend & even
at his age now @ 65 has beat the worlds best that we know
in quick draw. He use's real ammo NO blanks or wax bullits.

I've never read anything that excited me but once I started reading
about his life I could not stop reading it. It makes all the
difference in the world when you know it's Non Fiction

**nhughesmd** · February 17th, 2009, 09:10 PM

Thanks for the information. I recently read an article in Guns and Ammo magazine on him, http://gunsandammomag.com/cs/Satelli...y_C/Thell+Reed. It's funny but until then I had never heard of him. I am glad you made this post because it shows appreciation for our shooting heritage. We should all be a little more conscientous of the ones who have paved the way in shooting! Rep given!

nhughesmd

**Ronnies111** · February 18th, 2009, 12:35 PM

Originally Posted by nhughesmd

Thanks for the information. I recently read an article in Guns and Ammo magazine on him, http://gunsandammomag.com/cs/Satelli...y_C/Thell+Reed. It's funny but until then I had never heard of him. I am glad you made this post because it shows appreciation for our shooting heritage. We should all be a little more conscientous of the ones who have paved the way in shooting! Rep given!

nhughesmd

I'm sure happy you wrote back cause. I thought
more people would be interested but guess i was wrong.
At least there are 2 people who care about those
who came before us. Did you read the part where he
ended up with 60 brand new Colt single action pistols
at the end of one tour? That was funny as hell.

One other..
thing I was impressed by was how humble he was by being
from a era where sportsmanship & being a gentleman was allways #1
you don't find ,many REAL MEN like him any more.I was captivated
& spent several hours the other day reading his story. When I started
I had no intention of reading it all but once I started, I could
not stop & I'm not a guy that reads for enjoyment.(normally)
Thanks for writing back I'm glad someone else enjoyed it as I did!

**recoil freak** · February 18th, 2009, 03:55 PM

Thanks for the link. That was awesome. I to spent the better part of an hour (getting paid too) reading and watching the videos. I have heard of Thell but never knew he accomplished so much. I also have a great respect for the masters. About 6 months ago I ordered a poster signed by Jack Weaver himself. For those of you not familiar with Jack he invented the "Weaver Stance" Prior to that almost everyone shot with one hand only. The poster his son offers on the website is really cool showing Jack in the 50s in competition using the stance I posted the link below to his website for anyone interested

http://weaverstance.com/

**Ronnies111** · February 18th, 2009, 05:28 PM

Originally Posted by recoil freak

Thanks for the link. That was awesome. I to spent the better part of an hour (getting paid too) reading and watching the videos. I have heard of Thell but never knew he accomplished so much. I also have a great respect for the masters. About 6 months ago I ordered a poster signed by Jack Weaver himself. For those of you not familiar with Jack he invented the "Weaver Stance" Prior to that almost everyone shot with one hand only. The poster his son offers on the website is really cool showing Jack in the 50s in competition using the stance I posted the link below to his website for anyone interested

http://weaverstance.com/

From left to right:
Ray Chapman / Eldon Carl / Thell Reed / Jeff Cooper / Jack Weaver

http://forum.pafoa.org/pistols-41/48...pistolaro.html
Here's another article that provides other links to how these First Combat Master's created
& aided in most area's of the firearms competition as we know them today.
They also contributed just as much influence in most all our lives where firearms
are concerened, whether you know it or not.

The tales of these men's lives are the kind of stuff Legend's are born of
and movies are made of.

But the difference beings : These Men Are Legend's And They Are The Original Combat Master's

((( If you have any stories or articles of concern about these Combat Master's? Please add them! )))

**recoil freak** · February 19th, 2009, 10:47 AM

Cool post Ronnie!

**done** · July 19th, 2014, 05:02 PM

I met Thell, at the 1976 Columbia Conference that set up the IPSC. We had a leatherslap the Sunday before, which Thell attended but in which he did not compete, because Cooper had required that the hand start position be "surrender", which, at the time, Thell had not practiced. All he knew was the "hand hover" start position, from cowboy fast draw stuff, which had been allowed to carry over into hand starts for the SWPL "combat shooting". That was one of the problems Jeff wanted to sort out. He wanted to penalize the use of wussy loads (200 gr .45 swc's, at 700 fps, .38 wadcutters, etc) the use of insecure holsters, and the silly "hovering" hand start.

I met many of the greats, back in those days. Leonard Knight, Mike Harries. I even stayed in the homes of Bill Wilson and Mike Dalton, for big matches. I went to the first World IPSC champs, in Salisbury and got (a little bit, kiddingly) insulted by Ray Chapman. I had teased Ray, at the Conference, about him wearing a Milt Sparks walk and draw rig that had a bullet hole in the front of the "boot". :-)

the leatherslap that day in Columbia, was one by Raul Walters, using a walk and draw rig, averaging 1.05 seconds for 10 reaction, draws and hits. 2 years later, on that same timer, distance and target, averaged sub 1.00 second, for 10 draws, using a Bruce Nelson type concealed carry crossdraw, (but worn openly) and a Lightweight commander,and with a speed rig like used in 76, I averaged sub .80 second. We didn't even know what speed of draw WAS yet, in '76.

For realistic ranges, (ie, 10 ft and less) I averaged sub 1 second, for 5 draws and hits on the 10" disk, from hands at sides, concealed under a t Shirt. Now that is moving. I went to the Weaver for those shots, but I was not seeing the front sight before firing.