Bob Munden, known perhaps equally as a fierce Fast-Draw competitor who was recognized by Guinness World Records as The Fastest Man with a Gun Who Ever Lived, as an exhibition shooter of the highest order with all kinds of firearms; an entertainer as well as a master gun smith who developed groundbreaking methods of customizing to perfection the beloved .45 caliber single action revolver and other guns, died Monday of heart failure.

What Made Bob Munden So Great:

Besides being an all around great person Bob did things with firearms that left people in awe…

Bob Munden was born in Kansas City, Missouri, United States, and started his shooting career at age 11. Beginning in high school, Bob competed in Jeff Cooper’s Big Bear “Leatherslaps” shooting competitions at Big Bear Lake, California in the 1950s. The Leatherslaps eventually became the South Western Combat Pistol League (SWCPL). When Bob Munden was 17, he placed second in the 1958 Leatherslap using a Colt .45 Single Action borrowed from Cooper. He claims to have won over 3,500 fast draw trophies.

After taking up exhibition shooting, Bob Munden gave many demonstrations to audiences, once with John Satterwhite. Munden also gave shooting demonstrations on television shows the world over, most notably featured in “Super Humans” on the History Channel, American Shooter, Shooting USA, Shooting USA’s Impossible Shots and Ripley’s Believe it or Not. Munden was also a custom gunsmith.

Of all the special shooting he has done for television, the shot people comment about the most is when he hit a 14″x 24″ steel, rectangle target 200 yards away 4 times in a row using a stock, iron-sighted (no scope) Smith & Wesson Model 60, .38-caliber, double-action revolver with a 2″ barrel. Or… perhaps it is the shot where he opened a safety pin with a bullet, using a 1911. Now that we think about it… the splitting two playing cards by splitting a bullet on an axe blade is pretty popular too.

Bob says the most difficult shot he has accomplished, many times, in front of a camera and on DVD, is a shot that to his knowledge had never been done before. He throws and splits (not only hits) a playing card in two while it is in the air, using a Colt .45 single-action revolver. The first time Bob accomplished this feat was at the 1986 SASS End of Trail Tournament in Coto de Caza, California, using someone else’s gun. It was a .45 single action he had never touched before that belonged to EMF’s Boyd Davis.

Bob holds 18 unbroken World Records in Fast Draw competition that he set with a real, stock-weight, Colt .45 single-action revolver. Though the World Fast Draw Association erased the records more than once when they changed regulations or timing equipment, Bob set them again, always using a real gun and a real holster, no light-weight “funny guns” or gimmicks.

Read about the rest of Bob’s amazing feats here

Bob has always been a great friend of the Bond Arms crew, he loved the guns and showed everyone the things you could achieve with them.

Bob Munden “The Fastest Gun Who Ever Lived”

February 8, 1942 – December 10, 2012

Bob, you will truly be missed.