American Gun: A History of the U.S. In Ten Firearms

Dedication

This book is dedicated to Chris’s family and friends, from all walks of life and throughout the world . . .

And to you, Chris. I am proud of you. I love you.

—Taya

Contents

Dedication

Foreword by Taya Kyle

Introduction

Publisher’s Note

  1  The American Long Rifle

  2  The Spencer Repeater

  3  The Colt Single-Action Army Revolver

  4  The Winchester 1873 Rifle

  5  The M1903 Springfield

  6  The M1911 Pistol

  7  The Thompson Submachine Gun

  8  The M1 Garand

  9  The .38 Special Police Revolver

10  The M16 Rifle

Epilogue

Afterword by Taya Kyle

Acknowledgments

Appendix: The Ten Guns, by the Numbers

Source Notes

Index

About the Author

Also by Chris Kyle

Credits

Copyright

About the Publisher

Foreword

by Taya Kyle

“I would love for people to be able to think of me as a guy who stood up for what he believed in and helped make a difference for veterans. You know, somebody who cared so much about them that he wanted them taken care of.”

—Chris Kyle, January 28, 2013

Like many young boys, Chris first developed his sense of justice playing in the outdoors. He and his brother, Jeff, would take sticks and pretend they were guns, fighting imaginary bad guys in the creek bed behind their house. They loved to copy the heroes they saw in the old Western shows and John Wayne movies. Those early battles nurtured a strong desire to protect others from evil and to fight for what was right.

As he got older, Chris’s parents taught him about gun safety and the proper use of real guns. He learned to respect firearms as tools that could bring as much harm as good. When he learned to shoot and hunt, he was taught only to kill what he needed for food. He developed an appreciation for the gun as a means of providing for the family while exploring the peaceful essence of nature.

Chris grew up to be a fine cowboy (and a good-looking one at that, if you don’t mind me saying). He won championship buckles in rodeos and worked for several years on ranches. His guns were tools to protect himself and the animals in his care against predators ranging from rattlesnakes to coyotes.

Chris and Taya in Arizona, November 2011.

The Kyle family

After joining the military and becoming a U.S. Navy SEAL, Chris trained as a sniper. He saved countless lives and helped alter the course of history for good. Most of all, he protected other patriotic young men who’d selflessly signed up to serve their country. As Chris often said, “Members of the military voluntarily sign a blank check to the United States of America for a price up to and including their life.” His goal was to make the price as low as possible.

While Chris was a warrior, that wasn’t all he was. He was a young man full of life and laughter with an easy confident spirit. He was incredibly intelligent. Most of all, he wasn’t naive; he knew there might come a time when he couldn’t do what was asked of him on the battlefield. To do his job, Chris knew he had to let go of his innocence. It was a hefty price, but one Chris would willingly pay time and time again.

When faced with a decision to fire or let an American die, Chris dug deep. He found courage. He was able to use his weapon to save the lives of those he was sent to protect. Many people have told me heart-wrenching stories about how they would not be alive today if it weren’t for Chris. He felt a sense of purpose and fulfillment protecting the people around him. He appreciated the guns that helped him do that.

I have been blessed to hear from a U.S. Marine who knew with all certainty that he, and consequently his young daughter, would not be alive today were it not for Chris’s service. I have witnessed parents addressing Chris with tears in their eyes, thanking him for saving the life of their child.

Chris knew the stories of countless people who returned home thanks to his skills. He also knew the pain of loss caused by guns and anguished over those he couldn’t save every day of his life. He had to fight to come back from the dark, heavy weight of loss he felt when his friends died on the battlefield. But Chris was strong enough to face the bad head-on; to push through and live with the memories of all the experiences he was given. Somewhere in there, he found a balance.

Life after the military took on a different meaning. Chris and I moved our family to Texas. Chris felt all of us have a duty to serve those who serve us. This meant he began dedicating his time to training interested members of military and law enforcement communities. By sharing the skill set he developed on the battlefield, he was able to continue serving. He encouraged others to share their knowledge as well. Chris’s humble nature was present in training. He referred to it as providing “additional tools in an operator’s tool belt.”

Chris and I were fortunate enough to have the support of many wounded veterans. Chris loved hearing their stories and joking with them the same way he would have had they not been wounded.

They loved it. It was a sign of respect. Chris did
not
view them as wounded. He saw them as we all should: As patriotic, skilled, and above all, men of honor. Many of them thought that the healing they received in the hospital, though important, was exponentially slower than the healing they experienced when they got into the great outdoors. Many service members were outdoorsmen before they served in the military and felt great peace hunting or shooting targets. Chris found a new use for the gun: healing.

In the last year of his short life, Chris was able to reflect on the varied experiences he had with guns and the way he had used them through every stage of his journey. He also loved history. Chris and I loved visiting historical sites, and he would spend hours delving into many different aspects of America’s past. His face would light up with reverence and appreciation as he shared stories about the Rough Riders and the Texas Rangers lawmen. That passion was one reason he was inspired to write
American Gun.
Chris was so excited to share stories in his new book about individuals whose sacrifices and strength changed history.

He often surprised people with his knowledge. He was incredibly intelligent, but liked to keep that fact close to the vest. I have a smile on my face as I tell you that my husband loved to play down how extraordinary he was. He was humble and embraced his country roots. I cannot tell you how many times he was at a book signing where people would line up for hours to meet him. When they would finally arrive at the table to shake his hand, they would express their nervousness, anticipation, and honor in meeting him. Chris would lean in and say, “I am so sorry. Here you waited all this time and got to the front only to find another dumb redneck standing here.” Everyone would laugh and Chris would have put them at ease, as he often did.

As you read
American Gun,
I hope you feel the presence of Chris with you. As you take a walk back in time with him, I hope you feel the excitement he had as you explore the remarkable role these guns had in shaping our great nation. Perhaps you will join me in the memory I have of my handsome husband, a smile as big as the state of Texas, wearing his T-shirt and jeans, twirling his replica pistols in the Old West style as he reflects on his childhood, his love of the Old West, and the country he loved and devoted much of his life to. These are the stories that make up
American Gun.

God Bless,

Taya

Introduction

More than any other nation in history, the United States has been shaped by the gun. Colonists used firearms to secure their land, then turned them on the King and his men to win their independence. Cowboys and plain folk used revolvers and rifles to survive in the West, putting food on the table, fighting off Indians, and occasionally settling squabbles. After America came of age as a world power, we used guns to beat Hitler and subdue terrorists across the world.

Of course, there is another part to the story—firearms have also torn us apart, literally and figuratively. The Civil War, bank robberies, assassination attempts—the gun has been a tool for bad as well as good.

I first learned how to handle guns from my dad, who started teaching my brother, Jeff, and myself how to hunt and shoot before we could even ride bikes. He taught us to respect weapons as important tools, and part of that respect was knowing just a little bit about the history of the gun. I can’t swear that knowing Johann Nicolaus von Dreyse invented the first bolt-action rifle made me a better shot with one, but I do know that the tidbits of information I picked up along the way fired (if you’ll excuse the pun) a powerful fascination with our nation’s history. One of my proudest possessions is a replica Peacemaker—the famous Colt revolver that defined the Wild West. Take that bad boy in your hand and you’re transported back a hundred and fifty years.

There’s a saying that to really know someone you have to walk a mile in their shoes. I’d add that to really know our ancestors, we have to put on more than their shoes, which were generally poor-fitting and leaky. Hitch a plow to an ox and work a field for a few hours, and you come away with a whole new appreciation for what your great-great-grandpa did come spring on the Ohio frontier. Pick up a Kentucky long rifle and aim it at fleeing whitetail, and you’ll learn real quick about how important it is to use every bit of an animal you harvest; you may not have another one down for quite a while.

When I decided to do this book, I didn’t want to write a stodgy textbook, or sound like the teachers who used to put me to sleep in the back of the classroom. I aimed to talk history with the bullets flying: the critical single rifle shot of the Revolutionary War; the climaxes of the Battle of the Alamo and Custer’s Last Stand; Abraham Lincoln’s personal shooting range on the White House grounds. I wanted to explore some of the greatest U.S. military battles of the twentieth century; the St. Valentine’s Day massacre; and the North Hollywood bank robbery and shootout in 1997, which caused American police forces around the country to radically rethink their approach to firearms self-defense, and to gear up for combat.

To write this book, I traveled deep into American history. A team of friends and I read thousands of pages of historical documents, books, journals, military reports, and long-forgotten letters. I talked to firearms historians and reenactors, and I poked around museums and archives on the history of guns in America. I also had the thrill of personally handling and shooting many of these weapons.

I reached back into my own past, recalling gun stories we SEALs traded around a campfire in the middle of the combat zone in Iraq, and the tales my dad told me about our Texas ancestors and the guns they relied on. In the process I’ve learned to better appreciate the courage of the men and women who made America.

As I got further into this project, it became increasingly clear to me that guns have always been present at the leading edge of American history—often crucially. And along the way, certain revolutionary firearms seemed to shape the story of America more than all others.

I’ve picked ten guns to serve as the flagship weapons for our tour of America’s past. Now, I have to say, it’s my personal list. If you’re a gun-history buff, you’ll agree with some of my choices and disagree with others. I’m sure you’ll be scratching your head wondering why in the hell I didn’t talk about this Remington or that Smith & Wesson. I understand completely. A top-ten list is tough to settle on, and you may come up with a list of your own you like much better.