When writing the Josiah Sutton series, I've had to make choices about how to portray gunfights. As a Western novelist, I walk a line between historical accuracy and the cinematic excitement readers expect from the genre. While my novels lean toward the dramatic, quick-draw confrontations that make Westerns thrilling, I think it's fascinating to explore what gunfights were actually like in the 1880s—even if my stories take creative liberties for the sake of entertainment.

The Myth of the Quick-Draw Duel

We've all seen it: two gunfighters face each other on a dusty street, hands hovering over their holsters, waiting for the other to draw. The faster man wins, the loser crumples to the ground, and the town watches from behind shuttered windows.

The Reality: Documented face-to-face quick-draw duels are extraordinarily rare in historical records. The famous "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral" in Tombstone (1881) wasn't a formal duel—it was a chaotic 30-second shootout at close range involving multiple people on both sides, with participants already holding weapons.

Most real gunfights were ambushes, occurred during arguments that escalated, or happened when lawmen tried to arrest armed men. Wild Bill Hickok was shot from behind while playing cards. Jesse James was shot in the back of the head by a member of his own gang.

Why I Write It Differently: There's something deeply compelling about a face-to-face confrontation where skill and courage are tested in a moment of truth. These dramatic showdowns tap into something primal about honor, justice, and consequences. While they may not reflect historical frequency, they reflect the spirit of the West—or at least, the West as it lives in our imagination.

Accuracy Was Terrible

The Myth: Western heroes could shoot a gun out of someone's hand from fifty paces or hit a target while riding a galloping horse.

The Reality: Handguns of the 1880s were wildly inaccurate. The Colt Single Action Army (the "Peacemaker") was effective at maybe 25 yards under ideal conditions. In the chaos of a gunfight, with adrenaline pumping, hitting anything beyond 10-15 feet was difficult.

Contemporary accounts describe gunfights where men emptied their six-shooters at each other from across a street and both walked away unharmed.

Why I Write It Differently: Readers want to feel the protagonist's skill and capability. When Josiah Sutton makes a crucial shot, it needs to land—not for historical accuracy, but because that's what makes a satisfying story. I try to balance this by making those shots matter, by having characters who are genuinely skilled, and by occasionally showing the limits of marksmanship when it serves the plot.

Most People Didn't Carry Guns Daily

The Reality: Many Western towns had strict gun control ordinances. Visitors were required to check their firearms with the marshal when entering town limits. Dodge City, Tombstone, and Deadwood all had such laws.

Cowboys carried guns on the trail for practical reasons, but townspeople often didn't carry firearms routinely.

Why I Write It Differently: A Western where everyone checks their guns at the town line loses some of its tension and danger. The ever-present possibility of violence is part of what makes the genre work. While I acknowledge these laws existed, my stories focus on the rougher, more lawless corners of the frontier where danger feels immediate.

Why I Choose Hollywood Over History

Here's the truth: I'm not writing documentary history. I'm writing entertainment that captures the essence of the Old West—the freedom, the danger, the moral clarity of confronting evil face-to-face.

The historical West was often messier, less dramatic, and more random than fiction. Real violence was frequently quick, inglorious, and anticlimactic. But the mythic West—the West of legend and story—speaks to something deeper: our desire for heroes who stand up for what's right, for justice that's swift and clear, for conflicts resolved by courage rather than bureaucracy.

When I write a gunfight, I'm honoring the tradition of Western storytelling that goes back to dime novels and pulp magazines, through John Wayne and Clint Eastwood, to modern writers keeping the genre alive. That tradition is built on excitement, tension, and heroism more than strict historical accuracy.

Finding the Balance

That said, I do try to ground my stories in authentic period details—the settings, the language, the social realities of the 1880s. I research extensively to make the world feel real, even if the action within it is heightened. The goal is to create stories that feel true to the spirit of the West, even when they're not always true to the letter of history.

Some readers want gritty realism. Others want the romantic adventure of the classic Western. I aim somewhere in the middle—dramatic gunfights and heroic moments, but characters who feel human and a world that feels lived-in.

The beauty of the Western genre is that there's room for both approaches. Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove and Louis L'Amour's novels are both Westerns, but they take very different approaches to realism. Both are valid. Both have their place.

The West We Need

Ultimately, I write the kind of Westerns I want to read—stories where good and evil clash, where courage matters, where a man can stand up for what's right and make a difference. That's not always how the historical West worked, but it's how the West works in our hearts and imaginations.

And sometimes, that's exactly what we need.

Do you prefer your Westerns historically accurate or more Hollywood-style? What makes a great Western for you? Let me know in the comments!