The road agent's spin, also known as the "Curly Bill spin" (after

Curly Bill Brocius William Brocius (c. 1845 – March 24, 1882), better known as Curly Bill Brocius, was an American gunman, rustler and an outlaw Cowboy in the Cochise County area of the Arizona Territory during the late 1870s and early 1880s. His name is like ...

) or the "Border roll", was a gunfighting maneuver first identified in the days of the

Old West The American frontier, also known as the Old West or the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that began with European colonial ...

. It was utilized as a

ruse Ruse may refer to: Places *Ruse, Bulgaria, a major city of Bulgaria **Ruse Municipality ** Ruse Province ** 19th MMC – Ruse, a constituency *Ruše, a town and municipality in north-eastern Slovenia * Ruše, Žalec, a small settlement in east-ce ...

when forced to surrender a

side arm Sidearm, side-arm or Side Arm(s) may refer to: *Sidearm (weapon), a backup weapon *Sidearm (baseball), a baseball throwing technique *Sidearm, a flying disc (Frisbee) throw *'' Side Arms Hyper Dyne'', a 1986 arcade game *AGM-122 Sidearm The ...

to an unfriendly party.

The maneuver

Normal

procedure for surrender of a loaded pistol called for it to be handed over backwards (butt-first). A well-trained gunslinger could, upon demand for surrender, surreptitiously insert their

forefinger The index finger (also referred to as forefinger, first finger, second finger, pointer finger, trigger finger, digitus secundus, digitus II, and many other terms) is the second digit of a human hand. It is located between the thumb and the mid ...

through the

trigger guard A trigger guard is a protective loop surrounding the trigger of a firearm designed to prevent unwanted contact with the trigger, which may cause an accidental discharge. Other devices that use a trigger-like actuator mechanism, such as inhalers, c ...

of the reversed pistol while extending it toward the party being surrendered to. When the other party reached for the pistol with their (presumably dominant) hand, a sharp, practiced motion of the wrist would pivot the gun around the forefinger, flipping it back into firing position for an immediate shot. This maneuver could also be done with the pistol upside down as well as backwards. It is worth noting that the maneuver relied upon a suitably inexperienced or overly-confident mark; an unwise captor might well underestimate their target's lethality and fail to carefully dictate the manner in which the surrendering party turned over their live weapon(s). A more experienced lawman or gunfighter could (and did) easily negate any trickery by a number of methods, including forcing the surrendering party to throw their gun(s) to the side or to return them to their holster, then drop their entire

gun belt A police duty belt (sometimes referred to as a gun belt, "duty rig" and/or kit belt) is a belt, typically constructed of nylon or leather used by police, prison and security officers to carry equipment easily in a series of pouches attached t ...

and step backwards several feet.

Famous incidents

*In his autobiography,

John Wesley Hardin John Wesley Hardin (May 26, 1853 – August 19, 1895) was an American Old West outlaw, gunfighter, and controversial folk icon. Hardin often got into trouble with the law from an early age. He killed his first man at the age of 15, claiming h ...

claims to have demonstrated this technique to

Wild Bill Hickok James Butler Hickok (May 27, 1837August 2, 1876), better known as "Wild Bill" Hickok, was a folk hero of the American Old West known for his life on the frontier as a soldier, scout, lawman, gambler, showman, and actor, and for his involvement ...

. *

Clint Eastwood Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western TV series '' Rawhide'', he rose to international fame with his role as the "Man with No Name" in Sergio Leone's "''Doll ...

recreated the border roll in a scene in ''

The Outlaw Josey Wales ''The Outlaw Josey Wales'' is a 1976 American Revisionist Western film set during and after the American Civil War. It was directed by and starred Clint Eastwood (as Josey Wales), with Chief Dan George, Sondra Locke, Sam Bottoms, and Geraldin ...

'' where two buffalo hunters momentarily get the drop on him in an Indian agent's outpost.

Footnotes

References

*Adams, Cecil (June 25, 2004).
Did Western gunfighters really face off one-on-one?
.

The Straight Dope "The Straight Dope" was a question-and-answer newspaper column written under the pseudonym Cecil Adams. Contributions were made by multiple authors, and it was illustrated (also pseudonymously) by Slug Signorino. It was first published in 1973 in ...

. Retrieved on May 1, 2011. *Bankes, James (June 12, 2006).
Wild Bill Hickok
. Historynet.com. Retrieved on May 1, 2011. *Marks, Paula Mitchell (September 1996). ''And Die in the West: The Story of the O. K. Corral Gunfight''. University Of Oklahoma Press. {{ISBN, 0-8061-2888-7.

External links

Road Agent's Spin
via

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

Gun Tricks: Curly Bill Spin
via YouTube American frontier

The maneuver

Famous incidents

Footnotes

References

Further reading

External links