Pistol Dueling was Once an Olympic Event 110 Years Ago

Apparently, if we were watching the Olympics 110 years ago, we might be watching the gold medal pistol dueling event. That’s right, pistol dueling – like how cowboys used to settle their differences in the wild west – used to be an Olympic event.

The shooters used wax bullets and no gun powder. Instead, the primer was all they needed to propel the wax bullet. Like fencing, the athletes wore a mask, and a hand-guard was fitted to the gun to protect the shooter’s hand. Looking at the photos in this TFB article, the two competitors seem to be a decent distance apart from one another, but this sort of event would still have me on the edge of my seat.

I don’t know about anyone else, but this might be my favorite event to watch if it were to become a thing again. Like watching a natural disaster, car chase, or your buddy going up to talk to that girl at a bar, you can’t seem to take your eyes off it. I can’t decide if this is really a good idea or not, but it had to have been removed for some reason.

OutdoorHub Editor: Keenan Crow

Keenan Crow is an outdoor writer who graduated from Central Michigan University with a degree in journalism and creative writing. He has been writing for OutdoorHub for nearly five years, but anybody he is close with will tell you he has been telling hunting stories for far longer. He uses his experiences outdoors to write about things he loves - bow hunting, fishing, upland hunting, shed hunting, turkey hunting, waterfowl hunting, dog training, shotguns, ATVs and the outdoor lifestyle he lives in his home state of Michigan. Outside of hunting/fishing, he also loves to cook - especially with wild game - play golf and go on hikes with his yellow lab, Stella.