History of the Old West
Gunfighter and Gunslinger

Gunslinger, also gunfighter, is a name given to men in the Old West who had gained a reputation as being dangerous with a gun.

Origin

According to the Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang the word was first used in the 1928 novel Whispering Range by Ernest Haycox.  It was soon adopted by other western writers such as Zane Grey and became common usage.  

• What is fact?  What is fiction?
• The Myth of the Gunfight

• The Gunfighter: Outlaw, or Lawman?

• Famous Gunfights of the Old West

• List of Famous Historical Gunfighters

In his introduction to The Shootist author Glendon Swarthout says that gunslinger and gunfighter are modern terms and that the more authentic terms for the period would have been gunman, pistoleer, or shootist.  While Swarthout seems to have been correct about gunslinger we know that Bat Masterson used the term gunfighter in the newspaper articles he wrote about the lawmen and outlaws he had known.

Use of "Gunslinger"

Often the term was applied to men who would hire out for contract killings or at a ranch embroiled in a range war where he would earn "fighting wages."  Others, like Billy the Kid, were notorious bandits and still others were lawmen like Pat Garrett and Wyatt Earp.  A gunslinger could be an outlaw, a robber or murderer who took advantage of the wilderness of the frontier to hide from, and make periodic raids on, civilized society.

The gunfighter could also be an agent of justice, sometimes a lone avenger, but occasionally a sheriff, whose duty was to face the outlaw and bring — or likelier, personally wreak — justice upon him.  Gunslingers frequently appear, along with cowboys, as stock characters in Western movies and novels.

In Western movies, the characters' gun belts were often worn low on the hip and outer thigh, with exposed trigger and grip for a smooth fast draw, shot and reholster.  Twirling revolvers was a stylish trademark of gunslingers, and spinning the gun was from time to time a habit.  

Fast draw artists can be distinguished from other movie cowboys because their guns would often be tied to their leg.  Long before holsters were steel lined, they were soft and supple so they could be comfortably worn all day long.  These old rigs molded themselves around the wearer and almost became a part of the person using them.  Tie-downs were used to keep the pistol from catching on the holster as it was drawn.