In the world of exhibition shooting and competitive fast draw, few names carry the weight of Bob Munden. Born Robert William Munden Jr. on February 8, 1942, in Kansas City, Missouri, he became known as the "Fastest Man with a Gun Who Ever Lived": a title once bestowed by the Guinness Book of World Records. He died on December 10, 2012, at age 70 of heart failure while traveling with his wife Becky near Butte, Montana.
Munden started competing as a teenager in Southern California, placing second at age 16 in one of Jeff Cooper's early "Leatherslap" matches using a borrowed Colt .45 Single Action. He claimed more than 3,500 trophies over a long competitive career and later built a parallel reputation as a dazzling exhibition shooter and custom gunsmith specializing in single-action revolvers.
The Records That Made Him Famous
Munden's legend rests on extraordinary speed with a full-weight, stock-style Colt .45 single-action revolver and a conventional holster, not the ultra-light "funny guns" and specialized rigs common in some modern open-class events. His official site and contemporary accounts list 18 world records in fast-draw competition. Among the most frequently cited:
Self-start times around 0.0175 to 0.02 seconds (draw, cock, and fire), demonstrated at the Guinness World Records Museum in New York in 1976.
Competition times in the 0.15–0.16-second range in events such as Walk and Draw and Standing Reaction Balloon.
These times are so short that the human eye struggles to follow the motion. On Stan Lee's Superhumans, high-speed footage showed his hand experiencing roughly 10 Gs of force during a draw, and he could hit two balloons six feet apart in less than a tenth of a second, so fast the shots often sounded like one. He also performed classic exhibition feats: splitting cards edgewise, lighting matches, and hitting aspirins tossed into the air.
Guinness listed him as the "Fastest Man with a Gun Who Ever Lived" through the 1980 edition. Later editions dropped most shooting records (including those of Annie Oakley and others) so the book could remain acceptable for school libraries. That decision fuelled ongoing debate.
Is Anyone Faster?
This is where things get complicated. Modern World Fast Draw Association (WFDA) records are measured under strict, standardised conditions that include reaction time to a signal, draw, fire, and hitting a target (usually a balloon). The shortest widely recognized official time is Ernie Hill's 0.208 seconds in the open-style single-shot standing balloon event, set decades ago and still cited as a benchmark. Other top competitors (Howard Darby, Ioan "Nick Quick" Nica, Nicole Franks on the women's side, and various Cowboy Fast Draw Association shooters) regularly post times in the 0.22–0.30-second range under competitive rules.
These official times look slower than Munden's claimed numbers for several reasons:
They include the full reaction time to an electronic start signal.
Equipment rules differ. Open-class shooters often use lighter guns and specialized holsters; traditional or cowboy-style events stay closer to period-correct gear.
Timing systems, event formats (index vs. elimination, blanks vs. wax, distance), and verification requirements have evolved. Records generally require a backup shot within a tight margin to prevent anticipatory draws.
Munden's defenders emphasize that he set his marks with a real, full-weight single-action revolver and conventional leather, conditions closer to practical or historical gunfighting than pure speed-equipment races. Critics note the lack of detailed contemporary documentation for some of his fastest claimed times and the absence of current official WFDA listings in his name. Wikipedia summarizes the scepticism: his records are not considered sufficiently well-documented by some modern competitors, and he holds no current official Fast Draw world records under today's association standards.
Direct, apples-to-apples comparison is nearly impossible. Different eras, different rules, different measurement methods, and different equipment make it hard to declare a single absolute champion. Jerry Miculek, for example, is legendary for rapid fire and reloading with double-action revolvers, but that is a different skill set from pure single-action quick-draw speed.
Whether or not every one of his 0.02-second claims would survive modern electronic scrutiny, Bob Munden's combination of competitive dominance, exhibition showmanship, and technical gunsmithing remains unmatched in popular culture. He performed on television for decades, customised revolvers for shooters worldwide, and embodied the romantic ideal of the lightning-fast Western gunman in a modern age.
In pure measured competition under today's standardized rules, several shooters have posted official times that are slower than Munden's most extreme claims but are rigorously verified. In the realm of raw, almost supernatural single-action speed with a real gun, especially the self-start exhibitions that made audiences gasp, no one has clearly and publicly surpassed the performances that earned him the Guinness title.
The debate itself keeps his name alive. Bob Munden didn't just claim to be the fastest. For a generation of shooters and spectators, he looked the part, and the videos still do.
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