Vaudeville Rifle Trick Shots - Oakley and more

The Bullet:In

Oakley.

I’m not talking sunglasses here. I’m talking Wild West legend Annie Oakley, famous for being able to shoot a lot of things very quickly, without missing too many shots. She was a nationally-renowned trick shooter, firing her rifle upside down and backwards dozens of times in succession, in the days when hearing protection was only just invented.

Annie and other trick shooters of the time were living large as the Wild West was closing up shop. According to the Census Bureau of the time, the frontier closed resoundingly in 1890. The Wild West was, according to the numbers, decidedly less Wild. Its former role as the release valve of America, a place where settlers could start over or start fresh, was coming to an end.

And far be it from its inhabitants to reminisce about the Wild years for entertainment.

For our entertainment, however, we’ll be looking at the sort of post-Wild-West feats that could earn you critical acclaim on the vaudeville stage and in towns across America.

Contrary to modern shooting competitions, the purpose was not to achieve the most minute precision. You didn’t have to put 10 shots through one hole - mostly because the audience in the stands wouldn’t be able to see them a great distance away. Instead, the goal was simple. Hit as many breakable things as possible - and bonus if they were in motion. Even more impressive if you could keep hitting targets for a whole day.

As the Wild West slowly changed into the Midwest and Southwest of the nation, the vaudeville scene was alight with gunslingers claiming to be the best. To wow the audiences and earn some notoriety, these trigger-tapping top gunners fired relentlessly at tiny targets tumbling through the air. Though it’s unlikely that we’ll see many shows like Buffalo Bill’s in the modern age, it’s fun to look back and marvel at just how much ammo they were willing to expend in the name of fame.

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