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| Born | 27 January 1961 (age 63) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Robert Jennings Leatham (born January 27, 1961, in Mesa, Arizona) is a professional shooter who is a 24-time USPSA National champion and 7-time International Practical Shooting Confederation (IPSC) World Champion.
On Leatham's twelfth birthday, he received his first gun. His family surprised him with a new Smith & Wesson Model 34 revolver on one of their trips to shoot in the desert.
He continued desert shooting throughout his teenage years and became involved in other sports such as basketball. [1]
Leatham's first competition took place in the late 1970s at a night shoot at the Mesa Police Department range. He shot a Smith & Wesson Model 27 revolver with a 6-inch barrel loaded with 200-grain round-nose bullets that Leatham loaded himself, including a custom holster made by local leather worker, Jess Bird, who had built holsters for Leatham's father for years. Leatham finished third revolver behind Mike Henry and Charlie Mills and cites this competition for causing his addiction to competitive shooting.
He invented the Modern Isosceles shooting stance in the 1980s. [2] A few years later he began shooting the 9x25 dillon handgun round and brought that cartridge into the mainstream. [3]
Leatham first shot the Steel Challenge and The Bianchi Cup in 1982. [4] In 1985, he won the Triple Crown of practical pistol shooting: the IPSC US Nationals, the Bianchi Cup and the Steel Challenge. He is the only competitor to ever win all three matches in the same year. [1]
In 1989, he was offered a major contract with Springfield Armory, Inc. that enabled him to become a full-time, professional shooter. Since that time, Leatham has been practicing, competing, and conducting live-fire demonstrations for sponsors around the world. [5]
Leatham married fellow Team Springfield member Kippi Boykin, a three-time USPSA National Champion. They have one daughter together, Patience Leatham, and Leatham has 2 sons, Robert and Thomas, from a previous marriage.
A revolver is a repeating handgun with at least one barrel and a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers for firing. Because most revolver models hold up to six cartridges, before needing to be reloaded, revolvers are commonly called six shooters or sixguns. Due to their rotating cylinder mechanism, they may also be called wheel guns.
The Smith & Wesson Model 29 is a six-shot, double-action revolver chambered for the .44 Magnum cartridge and manufactured by the United States company Smith & Wesson.
The Smith & Wesson Model 500 is a five-shot, double/single action large-caliber revolver produced by Smith & Wesson, firing the .500 S&W Magnum cartridge.
The Smith & Wesson Model 19 is a revolver produced by Smith & Wesson that was introduced in 1957 on its K-frame. The Model 19 is chambered for .357 Magnum. The K-frame is somewhat smaller and lighter than the original N-frame .357, usually known as the Smith & Wesson Model 27. A stainless steel variant of the Model 19, the Smith & Wesson Model 66, was introduced in 1971.
The Smith & Wesson Model 10, previously known as the Smith & Wesson .38 Hand Ejector Model of 1899, the Smith & Wesson Military & Police or the Smith & Wesson Victory Model, is a K-frame revolver of worldwide popularity. In production since 1899, the Model 10 is a six-shot, .38 Special, double-action revolver with fixed sights. Over its long production run it has been available with barrel lengths of 2 in (51 mm), 3 in (76 mm), 4 in (100 mm), 5 in (130 mm), and 6 in (150 mm). Barrels of 2.5 inches (64 mm) are also known to have been made for special contracts. Some 6,000,000 of the type have been produced over the years, making it the most-produced handgun of the 20th century.
In American English, a pocket pistol is any small, pocket-sized semi-automatic pistol, and is suitable for concealed carry in a pocket or a similar small space.
The Smith & Wesson K-22 Target Masterpiece Revolver is a six-shot, double-action revolver with adjustable open sights, built on the medium-size "K" frame. When introduced, it was intended for bullseye target shooting competition of the type then most common on the United States, which is today called NRA Precision Pistol, specifically in the "smallbore" or "22" category. It is chambered for the .22 Long Rifle cartridge. It is one of three similar models that Smith & Wesson offered, the other two being intended for the "centerfire" category, the K-32 Target Masterpiece chambered for the .32 S&W Long cartridge and the K-38 Target Masterpiece chambered for the .38 Special cartridge. Most K-22 revolvers were fitted with a 6 in (150 mm) or 8+3⁄8 in (210 mm) barrel, but other lengths have been produced. First produced in 1947 and originally known as the K-22 Target Masterpiece, it was numbered the Model 17 in 1957 when all Smith & Wesson guns were given numerical model numbers. It is built on the same frame as the seminal Smith & Wesson Model 10 revolver.
North American Arms is a United States company, headquartered in Provo, Utah, that manufactures pocket pistols and mini-revolvers, also called mouse guns. The company was originally named Rocky Mountain Arms when it was founded in 1972. In 1974 it was bought by new owners who renamed the company North American Manufacturing (NAM) and then North American Arms (NAA).
A snubnosed revolver is a small, medium, or large frame revolver with a short barrel, generally less than 3 inches in length. Smaller such revolvers are often made with "bobbed" or "shrouded" hammers and there are also "hammerless" models ; the point is to allow the gun to be drawn with little risk of it snagging on clothing. Since the external movement of the mechanism is minimal or nil, shrouded and hammerless models may be fired from within clothing. The design of these revolvers compromises range and accuracy at a distance in favor of maneuverability and ease of carry and concealment.
The United States Practical Shooting Association(USPSA) is the national governing body of practical shooting in the United States under the International Practical Shooting Confederation (IPSC). Its over 35,000 active members and over 500 affiliated clubs make USPSA the largest practical shooting organization in the United States and the second largest region within IPSC after the Russian Federation of Practical Shooting. USPSA publishes a monthly member magazine called Front Sight.
A handgun is a firearm designed to be usable with only one hand. It is distinguished from a long barreled gun which typically is intended to be held by both hands and braced against the shoulder. Handguns have shorter effective ranges compared to long guns, and are much harder to shoot accurately. While most early handguns are single-shot pistols, the two most common types of handguns used in modern times are revolvers and semi-automatic pistols.
The Smith & Wesson 645 and Smith & Wesson 745 are second-generation semi-automatic pistols which predate Smith & Wesson's 4500 series of handguns. The S&W 645/745 is chambered for the .45 ACP cartridge. The S&W 645 is constructed almost entirely from stainless steel and is thus extremely resistant to harsh weather conditions, whereas the S&W 745 has a stainless steel frame and a blued carbon steel slide. The S&W 645 was introduced in 1985 and discontinued in 1988. The S&W 745 was produced from 1986 to 1990, primarily as a single-action competition gun for IPSC shooting.
Smith & Wesson Model 460 is a large bore five-shot, single-action/double-action revolver by Smith & Wesson chambered for the .460 S&W Magnum cartridge. It was designed as a hunting and dangerous game defensive revolver for use in Africa and Alaska. The revolver is built on the company's largest and strongest frame, known as the X-Frame, and represents a joint effort among Smith & Wesson, Hornady, and Cor-Bon.
The Taurus Judge is a five-shot revolver designed and produced by Taurus International, chambered for .410 bore shot shells and the .45 Colt cartridge. Taurus promotes the Judge as a self-defense tool against carjacking and for home protection.
The Smith & Wesson Model 646 is a six-shot, double-action revolver chambered for the .40 S&W pistol cartridge, manufactured in 2000 and 2003 by the United States company Smith & Wesson.
The Smith & Wesson Model 52, sometimes referred to as the 38 Master, is a semi-automatic pistol developed by Smith & Wesson for Bullseye shooting. It was one of the first semiautomatic pistols chambered in .38 Special with flush-seated, full wadcutter bullets. The shape of the rimmed cartridge limited the magazine capacity to five rounds. A variant, known as the Model 952, in 9 mm Parabellum, is still produced in limited quantities by Smith & Wesson's Performance Center. The Model 52 was discontinued in 1993 when the machinery to manufacture the pistol broke down and it was deemed too costly to replace.
John August Taffin is an American author from Boise, Idaho who writes several columns for gun magazines including Guns, Gun Digest, Sixgunner, Shoot! and American Handgunner. A former math teacher from 1964 to 1995, Taffin is regarded as an authority on single-action revolvers, handloading, handgun hunting, big-bore revolvers, and metallic silhouette shooting. Taffin has authored five books and over 500 published articles. His monthly published gun columns include: Siluetas, Campfire Tales, The Sixgunner, and Taffin Tests.
Julie Goloski Golob is an American professional sport shooter with one gold (2017 Lady Classic and two silver medals, one bronze medal and seven Ladies Steel Challenge World Speed Shooting Championship gold medals. She also has 2 US IPSC Nationals Lady titles and 13 USPSA Handgun Nationals Lady titles, and is one of two seven Division USPSA National Champion in history.
The Smith & Wesson Governor is a snub-nosed single-action/double-action revolver built on the Z-frame and utilizes a K-frame grip with a lightweight scandium alloy or stainless steel frame.
The USPSA Handgun Championships are yearly championships held by the United States Practical Shooting Association (USPSA) run under USPSA-rules. Sometimes, all of the pistol nationals are held at the same time, other years, they have been broken up between different ranges. In order to attend one of the pistol nationals, a competitor usually has to win a "slot", usually by placing well enough at various regional and Area Championship matches held throughout the year.
