Jack Weaver Remembered - by Bob Boyd

 

     The shooting community lost another major contributor when former Los Angles County Deputy Sheriff Jack Weaver, of Weaver Stance fame, died on Apr. 7 in Carson City, NV. John “Jack” Harold Weaver was born on Nov. 1, 1928, in South Gate, CA. His lifelong love affair with firearms began at early age and, although it encompassed a variety makes and models, Weaver quickly developed a fondness for the revolver due to the intricacies of its mechanism. His earliest memories of shooting involved shooting a relative’s .22 single-shot rifle. A faulty extractor added to the memory; Weaver recalled having to use a nail with its head cut off and dropping it down the barrel after each shot.

     Weaver attended Glendale Community College, but his studies were cut short in 1950 when he was drafted into the U.S. Army, but not before a chance encounter with an airline administration major named Joy Moniot during a rare California snow storm. The pair married on Aug. 30, 1952, in Glendale, CA.

     Throughout his military career Weaver was stationed at Ft. Carson, CO, where he served in the 4th Field Artillery Battalion PK. The “PK” designation stood for “pack” or pack mule, as it was responsible for the maintaining and training more than 400 mules used to transport the unit’s 75 mm howitzers over rough terrain.   

     Following his military service, Weaver and his family returned to California where he worked construction for a short time before settling into his law enforcement career. A self-described “desert rat,” Weaver spent his downtime bonding with his sons, which often involved cruising in his Model A Ford, camping, (Death and  Panament Valleys were two favorite locations) and exploring the dusty western ghost towns scattered throughout the desert—a pastime which eventually led his hobby of collecting antique bottles.    

     Weaver began shooting competition in the mid 1950s in Big Bear (CA). An up-and-coming gun writer by the name of Jeff Cooper (one of the few Leatherslap contestants to use the 1911) organized annual Leatherslap quick-draw matches as a means of promoting the region’s Old Miner’s Day Festival. Ironically, the informal event would evolve into practical shooting as we know it today. The competition had very little in the way of guidelines. Pistols had to be a minimum of .38-caliber, and there was no restriction regarding hardware or holsters. As a result, the vast majority of participants took the term “quick draw” to heart and sought inspiration from TV shows of the era, like “Gunsmoke” and “Have Gun, Will Travel” and competed with single-action revolvers using traditional one-handed shooting stances, such as hip and point shooting. Having learned of the event through a flier on the police station bulletin board, Weaver decided to compete.

     However, unlike most others, he opted to use a different type of pistol, showing up with a Smith & Wesson K-38 revolver which he shot two-handed, strictly double action (a choice that would become the source of ridicule from other competitors for years to come). Surrounded on both sides by single-action, Colt .45-wielding competitors—such as Thell Reed—Weaver persevered with his .38, miraculously managing to point-shoot his way to second place.

     Determined to take first place next time, Weaver spent a year refining his technique, focusing on his drawstroke—initiating his two-hand hold after bringing the pistol up to waist-height, centered to the body—a modification of the Sykes and Fairbairn “half-hip” and “three-quarter hip” point-shooting techniques. Unfortunately, Weaver’s efforts didn’t bring victory. He was eliminated in his first match.

     Undeterred, Weaver went back to the drawing board and spent the following year engaged in a mixture of experimentation and self-analysis in an effort to determine how to improve his technique. What he came up with— now known as the Weaver Stance—incorporated the pistol approximately a foot higher instead of waist level to allow him to see the pistol’s sights and apply isometric tension to dampen recoil.

     Weaver’s effort paid off in 1959 when he took home the Leatherslap trophy and grand prize (Copper arranged for the winner to receive a sack full of 250 silver dollars—a fitting award keeping with the western theme of the Old Miner’s Day Festival). He went on to achieve consecutive victories in the years that followed, prompting Cooper to declare the Weaver Stance as “decisively superior” to any other shooting method. Further credence came in 1982 when Weaver received a letter from the assistant director of the FBI informing him the Bureau had accepted the Weaver Stance as its official shooting style.

     Weaver is survived by his spouse of 56 years, Joy, sons, Alan, Mark and Gary, five grandchildren and his Siberian Husky, Misha.