See more photos: Click here to see a gallery of photographer Dave Lauridsen's images from the End of Trail gathering.

Wild Bill Hickok's last gunfight took place in Abilene on an October evening in 1871. When a shot rang out in the streets, Hickok rose from his seat in the Alamo saloon. He had taken the job of marshal after the last one, refusing to carry a gun, had been shot dead. Hickok had told the 50 or so rowdy cowboys celebrating the end of a cattle drive that no guns were allowed in town. Obviously, somebody hadn't heard. Or didn't care. The marshal also knew, as did everybody else in town, that Texas gambler Phil Coe had vowed to kill him "before the first frost." This was on his mind as he moved toward the door.

One hundred thirty-six years later, Spur Roberts stands under the blazing New Mexico sun at the firing line, readying himself to shoot a stage in the Single Action Shooting Society's World Championship at a ranch outside Albuquerque. The 12 stages that will be shot over the course of the four-day End of Trail event are modeled on historical confrontations involving the likes of Hickok, Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, and the Wild Bunch.

Roberts is armed with historically accurate reproduction firearms: two single-action revolvers, a rifle, and a double-barreled shotgun. And Spur (Jason Dominy in real life, an electrician from Watauga, Texas; all competitors are required to select cowboy aliases) is not just wearing cowboy "style" clothes. He's accurate to the stitch. From the black town hat (a cross between a derby and a cowboy hat that was popular with working men in the 1870s) to the leather chinks (shorter than chaps and therefore cooler on long rides) to the knee-high boots, everything is right, down to his handlebar mustache.

But it's doubtful that any cowpuncher of the day ever looked this spiffy, his outfit sparkling with a constellation of nickel-plated "dots" on his chinks, gun belt, and shotshell belt. There are 875 dots in all, he says. "Embellishment is the key to my stuff. My theory is that even if you shoot bad, you oughta look good." The gun belt also carries a pouch of rosin (to keep his hands sticky during competition) and a sheath for a handmade knife with an elk-antler handle. Like everybody else shooting, he also sports futuristic-looking Oakley shades and bright yellow earplugs. Authenticity does have its limits, after all. Besides, you think the cowboys wouldn't have worn such protection had it been available? Damn straight they would.

If he's accurate with clothes, Spur, like all these guys, is obsessed with authentic guns. Single Action Shooting Society (SASS) rules stipulate single-action revolvers typical of the Old West, revolver-caliber lever-action rifles, and 19th century¿¿¿style shotguns. He is packing two Taylor's .38 special Smoke Wagon revolvers, which are modeled after Samuel Colt's second-generation Model 73. His .38-caliber repro 1866 lever-action Winchester "Yellowboy" rifle, also by Taylor's, has the details right, too, from the shiny brass receiver to the short, 20-inch octagonal barrel. And the stubby, double-barreled Ithaca SKB 12-gauge, which is no longer made, projects a certain brute utility typical of the "stagecoach guns" of the day (whence the term riding shotgun comes). These guns may look like the old ones, down to the uneven streaks of color in their case-hardened frames, but peek under the hood and you'll find the best of 21st-century technology. The revolvers, for instance, come from the factory highly slicked up: custom tuned, with low-profile hammers, wider sights for quicker target acquisition, triggers set at precisely 3 pounds, and slightly slimmed-down handles for better control, with all metal-to-metal parts polished to a mirror finish. Some of the tolerances are measured in fractions of a thousandth of an inch. When Spur breaks open one of his pistols to load, the cylinder ticks with the precision of a Rolex. Eat your heart out, Wyatt Earp.