Editor’s note

In this book a mixture of metric and US customary measurements is used. For ease of comparison please use the following conversion table:

1 mile = 1.6km

1yd = 0.91m

1ft = 0.30m

1in = 2.54cm/25.4mm

1lb = 0.45kg

Cover images. Top: A Winchester Model 1873 (NRA Museums, NRAmuseums.com). Bottom: A youthful John Wayne in a studio portrait, carrying one of his favorite screen Winchesters, a Model 1894 “Mare’s Leg” with the much-enlarged loading lever (© Corbis).

Title-page image: Taken by N.A. Forsyth in the early 1900s, this portrait entitled “Bear Chief and His Hudson Bay Coat” depicts a Piegan Blackfoot as he stands, Model 1873 Winchester at his side, before his horse in a campsite, Browning, Montana. Interestingly, he carries a revolver in an improvised, but practical early version of a shoulder holster. (Photo by Transcendental Graphics/Getty Images)