Of course the real foundation for my website is my long-time attraction with the cowboys and history of the old west. That attraction began as a young boy at the Saturday afternoon movies in the small town in the mid-west where I grew up. My introduction to the sport of cowboy action shooting fueled that attraction, and I could re-live my boyhood fascination with the old west. You will hear many other cowboy action shooters give you the same story.

This physical website, however, was a 2003 Christmas present from my son-in-law, Bill, who was aware of my new-found interest in cowboy action shooting. He designed the masthead, background, and organization of the website which I still use. Bill also used his photography skills to help me show some of the guns in the website. For example, he used an incredible setup (to me) of lights and umbrellas and special photography knowledge to photograph the engraving on the cylinder of the Colt 1860 Army Model with a scene of the Texas Navy engaging the Mexican fleet in the story of Handguns of the Old West, to photograph the Allen pepperbox in the story on Deringers, Pepperboxes, and Other Small Firearms, and the photograph he took of the of the Griswold replica in the story of The Griswold and Gunnison Revolver of the Confederate Army. Throughout the website, I've credited Bill for many photos. Below is a photo, however, I took of Bill taking the photos of the Griswold revolver for the story of that handgun and the Confederate Army.

Bill was assisted in setting up this website for me by his friend Rusty. In addition to the initial set-up, Bill gave me a number of lessons in webpage programming to help me develop this site further. I thank Bill and Rusty for starting me on a very satisfying voyage over the years .