Shottist

No, that's not a mis-spelling, that's a word.  Shottist.  I was scrolling through Cooper's Commentaries this morning and stumbled across the word.

I have had the opportunity now for a couple of years to evaluate the Glock pistol with sufficient care to give me justification in an opinion. I have not used one much myself, but just enough to know that it is not for me. However, I have some good friends in law enforcement who have pretty much set matters straight. My conclusion is that the Glock pistol is a very good choice for hired hands, but not for serious pistoleros. Its proper place lies in the public sector, and the dedicated shottist is rarely found therein. (Note: That is shottist rather than shootist. Look it up.)

So, I clicked over to the Oxford Dictionary to look up the word.  Sure enough.

shottist: noun - South African: A person who is skilled in shooting and takes part in shooting competitions.

So, it's in the Oxford Dictionary of the English language, and has a South African origin.

Of course, we all remember the John Wayne movie, The Shootist, where he played an aging gunfighter battling a fatal cancer.

And, in CFDA, we have a Shootist category, where the participants use revolvers with long barrels:

The Shootist category is for competitors that use Slim Jim Holsters and revolvers with a minimum barrel length of 7-1/2”.

 Interesting the way the language changes over time, and the regional variations.  I'm not suggesting that we change the category, nor the various club names, but I found it interesting that Cooper used the term Shottist, which is decidedly archaic, over the more familiar shootist.

I also note with some interest that Cooper disdained the Glock for a dedicated pistolero, saying that it was more suited to hired hands.  If Cooper was nothing else, he was educated in firearms, and he was opinionated.