Bob Munden

1941

Fastest Man with a Gun Who Ever Lived
– Guinness World Records

• born in Kansas City, Missouri
• started shooting career at age 11
• 1950s in high school, Bob competed in Jeff Cooper’s Big Bear “Leatherslaps” shooting competitions at Big Bear Lake, California
• won over 3,500 fast draw trophies
• custom gunsmith
• exhibition shooting:
  – “Super Humans” on the History Channel
  – American Shooter
  – Shooting USA’s Impossible Shots
  – Ripley’s Believe it or Not

About Bob Munden

Robert William “Bob” Munden Jr. was an exhibition shooter and fast-draw showman whose fast single-action revolver work made him one of the most recognizable trick shooters in America. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, on February 8, 1942, he began shooting at age 11 in Southern California and, as a teenager in the 1950s, competed in Jeff Cooper’s Big Bear “Leatherslap” live-ammunition matches at Big Bear Lake, California, contests that later evolved into the Southwest Combat Pistol League. At 16 he placed second in the 1958 Leatherslap using a Colt Single Action borrowed from Cooper.

Munden was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the “Fastest Man with a Gun Who Ever Lived” in the 1980 edition and earlier, though later editions dropped the listing, and he claimed 18 fast-draw world records and more than 3,500 trophies; critics note those claims are not documented by official fast-draw bodies. He reached a wide audience through television, including History Channel’s Stan Lee’s Superhumans, where at age 68 he hit two balloons six feet apart in under a tenth of a second, as well as American Shooter, Shooting USA’s Impossible Shots and Ripley’s Believe It or Not. He also worked as a custom gunsmith. Munden and his family moved to Montana in 1978, and from 1968 he performed trick-shot shows with his wife that emphasized gun safety. He died in Butte, Montana, in December 2012 at age 70.

Key Facts

• February 8, 1942: Born in Kansas City, Missouri.
• 1950s: Competes in Jeff Cooper’s Big Bear Leatherslap matches in California.
• 1958: Places second in the Leatherslap at age 16.
• 1980: Listed by Guinness as the “Fastest Man with a Gun Who Ever Lived.”
• About 2010: Demonstrates his speed on History Channel’s Stan Lee’s Superhumans at age 68.
• December 2012: Dies at age 70 in Butte, Montana.

Sources

• Bob Munden (Wikipedia)
• Fast-Draw Entertainer Bob Munden Dies in Montana (Associated Press via Boston.com)

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