As part of his celebration of John Wayne's 100th birthday, the Sheriff had Legends in Leather build this "Hondo Rig," which duplicates the one worn by The Duke in so many of his films. The cartridge belt is soft chap leather that molds to the wearer's hips and has 30 cartridge loops. The holster is a variation of the old Mexican loop design.

"John Wayne--American" reads the coin that was commissioned by the United States Congress to honor this American legend. And that about says it all, too. For many years John Wayne provided us with superb entertainment. He was more Marine than most Marines, though he never served in the military. And he was the cowboy that most real cowboys looked up to, though he was born in Iowa and never worked on a ranch. In addition, a lot of us lawmen referred to John Wayne movies as "training films."

Most shooting sportsmen know that John Wayne was part of our fraternity, too. The Duke had a very nice gun collection and enjoyed hunting whenever he could get the time off from movie work. Roy Weatherby was one of Wayne's close friends, and Wayne did quite a bit of hunting with the several Weatherby rifles that he owned. Guns were so important to John Wayne that he seldom used the movie rental guns that were provided on location, preferring instead to bring along his own special gun case containing his signature sixguns and carbines.

In my view, one thing that added a good deal of realism to John Wayne westerns was the way he relied on a rifle when it looked like a fight was coming. Early in his career, Wayne was cast as the Ringo Kid in the classic western Stagecoach, and the Winchester carbine was the Kid's firearm of choice. Later, as John Wayne began to have more control over his films, he nearly always carried a Winchester Model 92 Trapper's Model with his signature big-ring lever. Less knowledgeable western actors might try to make us believe that they could fan their sixgun from the hip and knock a man off of a horse at 100 yards. Yeah, sure. But the Duke knew enough about the actual fighting men of the Old West and the value they placed on a good repeating rifle. Besides, when he got that look in his eye and snaked that carbine out of his saddle scabbard, you knew it was going to be another rough day for the bad guys.

I can remember when John Wayne came to San Antonio to film The Alamo. Now, as you might expect, the vast majority of Texans were mighty pleased with the way Wayne told that particular story. But I've found that fighting men all over the world appreciated the way that Duke captured the combat mind-set in that picture. In private, Wayne said on several occasions that he hoped people would realize freedom and liberty were worth fighting for.

In the early 1970s, I was working as a police officer in North Texas. A local fellow, Homer Koontz, had just completed construction on the Omega rifle factory and was going to throw a big party to celebrate the opening. The opening, held at a fancy cutting-horse arena, would be highlighted by the presentation of guns Nos. 1, 2, and 3 to John Wayne, John Connally, and Herb Klein (a big-game hunter and Weatherby Trophy recipient). To top that all off, several other men and I were tapped to work security for the event. It was exceptionally tough duty because we'd been asked to just wear our jeans, mingle with the crowd, have a good time, and eat lots of barbecue. Hey, you do what you gotta do.

That evening, before the festivities, several of us happened to be gathered in the bar when we were joined by John Wayne. Since I was going to have to tag along after Duke for the evening, I figured I'd better introduce myself.