One of the popular misconceptions about the old-time gunfighters is that they traveled around the country somehow surviving on their skills with a handgun. Many of the old-timers served as lawmen while others invested in various business interests to help pay the bills and buy groceries. Wyatt Earp, in addition to his law-enforcement jobs, also owned real estate, mining claims, gambling concessions, and saloons. Bat Masterson was another shootist who actually spent the majority of his life as a professional gambler, a prizefight promoter, and a sports writer for newspapers. Cut from the same cloth was a fellow named John Barclay Armstrong.

Armstrong was born in McMinnville, Tennessee, in January 1850. As a young man he left home and wandered throughout the South, before winding up in Austin, Texas, in 1871. In 1875 he enlisted in the Texas Rangers and joined the company commanded by famed Capt. Leander McNelly. Armstrong followed Capt. McNelly into several hot border fights that resulted in at least two shootouts in Mexico.

In those early days of the Texas Rangers a man was required to furnish his own rifle, handgun, and saddle horse. Like most of the other Rangers, Armstrong apparently acquired a Winchester Model 1873 carbine in .44-40 and a 7 1/2-inch Colt Peacemaker in .45 Colt. In terms of popularity, the 7 1/2-inch .45 Colt was the equivalent of today's Model 1911 .45 ACP. It was the gun that most fighting men carried. The long barrel allowed the cartridge's blackpowder to fully ignite and would drive a 255-grain lead bullet at some 950 fps. Like many of the early Rangers, Armstrong's Colt was to see lots of use.

In October 1876, Armstrong, by then a sergeant, was detailed to the vicinity of Carrizo Springs, Texas, to round up King Fisher's gang of outlaws. Armstrong and his band of Rangers jumped the gang at Espinoza Lake, where the outlaws had made camp for the night. Armstrong spread his men out in a skirmish line and strolled into the camp with their Winchesters ready. In the hot fight that followed, the Rangers killed three outlaws and wounded a fourth. Although King Fisher got away, his power as a bandit chieftain was broken.

In December 1876, Armstrong and Ranger Leroy Deggs went to Wilson County, Texas, to arrest John Mayfield on murder charges. They found Mayfield working around the pens on his ranch and called on him to surrender. Mayfield must have been feeling especially lucky because he chose to reach for his gun. He fell in a blaze of bullets from the Rangers' guns.