Please enjoy reading about each artifact and the anecdotal information provided by the Munden family.
Bob Munden:
1. These two revolvers were Bob’s favorites. Purchased in the late 1960s, they have custom unfluted cylinders. They both have coil hand springs, coil main springs, custom actions and steel blocks to strengthen the gun and protect the frame. Bob altered the front sight to create a better sight picture when shooting in bright light. Bob did all of the custom work. This is the work offered today by Munden’s Six-Gun Magic by Jeff Ault. Grips are Munden recoil-control grips. Bob used these Colt single-action revolvers in exhibitions before live audiences and also on television programs including American Shooter, Shooting USA, Shooting USA’s Impossible Shots, You Asked For It!, Ripley’s Believe it or Not, and many others. He split playing cards he threw in the air. Among other feats, he threw a knife with a bullet, spun a coin, and opened a safety pin without damaging the pin. Bob also shot aerial targets including coins, and other targets as small as a BB that he tossed into the air.
2. This firearms sponsor shirt showcased some of the companies the Mundens represented over the years.
3. This is the gun Bob used when he demonstrated radical fast draw speed in a style only he could do. He started using this revolver in the 1970s and set many records with it including the record caught on camera and shown in the film Bob Munden, Outrageous Shooting. This revolver has custom parts. The cylinder locks and lead-ins have been machined deeper on a radius for positive lock-up. The locking bolt has been improved to prevent wear on the cylinder locks when slammed into position. It has a coil hand spring and coil main spring of Bob’s design and a steel block to protect the frame—another of Bob’s innovations that made the gun practically unbreakable. Bob built this hammer that allowed him to draw and fire the gun with a “twisting” motion, and instantaneously hit the hammer. Bob checkered the backstrap by hand. The grips are elephant ivory.
4. This well-worn glove is one of many Bob Munden used throughout his career. He would use up one or two a year. The glove protected the hand that “fanned” or hit the hammer on the gun to fire it. A Colt single action revolver that hasn’t been “tricked out with gimmicks like short strokes,” can only be fired if the hammer is pulled all the way back to the full cock position and then released. That gives the hammer enough momentum so when the hammer falls, it has enough force for the firing pin to detonate the primer on contact. When you “fan” a gun, you pull the trigger and hold it back with one hand, and then use your other hand to cock the hammer in a sweeping motion as you move your fanning hand across the hammer to complete the draw.
5. This beautiful, high-quality, fast-draw holster and belt with silver letters was sent to Bob in the 1990s when Galco International sponsored Bob and Becky Munden. The holster includes Bob’s design which is an added leather flap over the top of the front of the holster to protect the threads. When Bob drew and fired his gun, he kept it very close to his side. To eliminate motion and time, he fired the gun right over the top of the holster. With this method he would eventually burn the threads with the side flash of the cylinder and ruin other holsters. This added piece of leather gave the Galco holster a much longer life.
6/7. Two items that were synonymous with Bob were his cowboy hat and sunglasses. Bob wore both of these when performing exhibition shooting outdoors. At a mall in Boise, Idaho, one gentleman came up to the Mundens’ table at the food court and asked if he was addressing Bob Munden. Bob replied, “Just a minute.” He pulled out his sunglasses from his shirt pocket, put them on, and the man exclaimed, “There you are!”
8. In 2006 Smith & Wesson surprised Bob by sending him one of their nickel 1911 .45ACP pistols. Engraved on the slide is “Bob Munden, The Fastest Gun Who Ever Lived.” Bob used this stock gun on the television program Impossible Shots. Off-hand, he split a playing card mounted on a board vertically and then one mounted horizontally. For the same episode, he drove a nail with a bullet, and shot a quarter he threw into the air. The grips are imitation pearl. Bob always preferred the challenge of using iron sights rather than optics. He often said if he could see it, he could hit it.
9. Browning sent this .44 magnum rifle to Bob when they were Bob and Becky Mundens’ primary sponsor. Bob used it at the first End of Trail Cowboy Action Shooting tournaments at Coto de Caza, California, in the early 1980s. The Single Action Shooting Society made a rule that competitors could not use magnum ammunition because it damaged the steel targets used, so Bob had the rifle re-chambered to .45LC. He also used this rifle in performances at various other venues through the years. He had it chrome plated and had his signature engraved on the receiver. Since Bob felt that shooting a rifle was not enough of a challenge, the only thing he did with a rifle in the shows was to shoot a “happy face” on cardboard. That was Becky’s introduction to the live ammo part of their performance. Becky would verbally point out to the audience that his “happy face” was not perfect—maybe the smile or the bullet hole eyes were crooked. He would then challenge Becky to do better. He would say something like, “Women can’t shoot. Shooting is a man’s game”—all in fun of course. Becky would then shoot multiple targets with her lever action .357 rifle.
10. This fast draw timer was used in most of Bob and Becky Munden’s live performances and many television shows. They also used computer timers with digital displays, but for the audience, they preferred the large face and sweep second hand of this timer. One sweep equaled one second. The face was divided into hundredths of one second. This was very visual and the Mundens found that the audience could readily understand the concept of one second on this timer. When they drew their guns and fired, the sound stopping the clock, sometimes after just a few hundredths of a second, visually the audience could grasp the speed as all of this happened. When Becky and daughter Natalie were preparing this timer for shipping to the firearms museum, they decided to plug it in and test their reaction times just for fun. Well, after decades of use, for the first time ever, the timer would not work. Becky and Natalie were moved by the thought that it wouldn’t work without Bob.
Becky Munden
11. These two six-guns were originally 5 ½-inch Colts. The Colt Firearms Co. shipped to Bob ten of these guns to be customized by him, eight of which would be used by the winners of each division in a shoot off for the Top Gun award at End of Trail one year. The remaining two would belong to the Mundens. Bob configured the backstraps for birdshead style grips. He had the rose-design grips made and shaped in Munden Recoil Control style. Becky used these two guns sometimes during their demonstrations, but primarily when competing at Cowboy Action Tournaments. Becky wore a special Galco Cowboy Action two-gun holster to carry them.
12. This custom, finely crafted holster was made for Becky by Galco International of Phoenix, Arizona. The brass letters on the belt spell out Becky. The holster has a special added leather flap over the top of the holster to protect the threads; this was a Bob Munden innovation. Becky used this fast-draw holster in almost all of their performances and for most television appearances. It is the same holster style as Bob’s.
13. Becky’s Colt is what Bob called a race gun, a gun customized by Bob that could be fanned without damaging the gun. He originally built this gun for a customer in the 1980s. When the customer died, his widow called Bob to say the plan had been that in the event of her husband’s death, she was to make sure this special six-gun was to be returned to the Mundens. Bob had the special rose-design grips made and had Becky’s name engraved on the gun. Bob crafted the fanning hammer by hand. Becky used this Colt in all of their live audience shows and for most of their television performances. Because it is pretty, it created quite an interest, especially with women. That interest would usually open up conversations about women joining the shooting sports.
14. Becky’s fanning glove. As previously stated, the glove protected the hand that “fanned” or hit the hammer on the gun to fire it.
15. In 1990, these custom boots were made especially for Becky Munden. The rose design was stitched on top of the instep. Becky wore these boots during every performance thereafter.
16.This blouse is one of many Becky wore through the years during her and Bob’s performances. Becky preferred bright colors but could not resist having this white blouse embroidered with roses to match her grips and boots. She said, “I am a woman, no other explanation needed here.”
About Ashley Hlebinsky
Ashley Hlebinsky was formerly the Robert W. Woodruff Curator of the Cody Firearms Museum. She worked between the Smithsonian’s National Firearms Collection and the Center in various capacities. She then joined the Center as a full-time staff member in July 2013, eventually serving as the Robert W. Woodruff Curator of the Cody Firearms Museum. She earned her Bachelor and Master of Arts in American History and Museum Studies from the University of Delaware. While earning her degrees, Ashley was a competitive ballroom dancer in New York City and has recently begun teaching dance in Cody when she’s not locked away in the gun vaults. She is now a private consultant.
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