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Molly Silvernale
Black River Bandits
Black River Bandits shooters on the line. The club is affiliated with the national Cowboy Fast Draw Association.
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Bob Berg / Lake Superior Magazine
Black River Bandits
Debbie Stadin, Minnesota State Women’s Cowboy Fast Draw Champion.
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Bob Berg / Lake Superior Magazine
Black River Bandits
Debbie's championship belt buckle.
You place your thumb on the hammer of the .45-caliber single-action revolver in your holster, itching to touch the trigger, but you must keep your fingers off of it until you hear the command: “Shooters ready. Shooters on the line. Shooters set.”
Suddenly, the center of the target 21 feet before you lights up, signaling everyone to draw.
Bam, bam, bam … bam, bam. The Old West-style guns – .45-caliber Colts and Rugers – blast wax bullets.
It’s another Sunday of cowboy fast-draw shooting with the Black River Bandits in Superior.
The local fast draw club, affiliated with the national Cowboy Fast Draw Association, sponsors public events every year, the first one, “Yor a Daisy If Ya Do,” is April 11 and 12. The club hosts the Wisconsin State Championships July 17 to 19, with a charity shoot the first day. Both events are at Superior’s Head of the Lakes Fairgrounds.
Those with a hands-on hankering are welcome to the club’s Sunday practice sessions at the 4-H building at the fairgrounds. Your first time is free.
Newcomers can try the club’s equipment – belt, holster and six-shooter. If they decide to buy, the pistols average $500, the belt and holster about $200.
Bob Berg / Lake Superior Magazine
Black River Bandits
Jerry and Von Wittkopf started the local Black River Bandits club.
At the Sunday gathering, there is safety instruction, and you do your first few tries with an unloaded gun. Once you load up the wax bullets, it can be a challenge to hit the 2-foot-diameter target, but the real skill comes in being both accurate and fast. Think that’s easy? You’d be wrong.
Club members strive to keep equipment and clothing true to the period from 1873-1899, and everyone picks an alias.
By day, Debbie “Lightnin’” Stadin of Holyoke, Minnesota, works in Duluth as a St. Louis County records clerk. She stands tall in fast-draw competition: Debbie is the 2014 Minnesota State Women’s Champion and holds four other titles.
Debbie started shooting in 2009. Her husband, Marvin “Fossilman” Stadin attended Sunday practices, and for the first year she just watched and cooked for the club’s potlucks.
A few ladies in the club urged her to try the sport. “It’s something that I never thought I’d have any interest in,” Debbie says. But she was hooked quick as you pull a .45 from a holster.
Everyone develops his own style. Marvin, a heavy equipment operator, bends backward while keeping his 1972 model Colt .45 tucked close to his body for his quick draws.
Fast draw started as a sport in 2003 in South Dakota. The Superior club was organized in 2006 by Jerry Wittkopf (“J.W. Tracker”) and his wife, Von (“Vicious Von”). Today it has 15 to 20 active members.
“Shooters come from all walks of life to enjoy the camaraderie and the competition,” Debbie says. “If you ever wanted to be a cowboy, this is your sport.”