Annie Oakley did NOT use bird shot. She used .22 shorts, but not shot cartridges unless she was using a shotgun. This is quite well documented -- the confusion arose because some of the other "sharpshooters" of the day DID use shot cartridges. Annie also never exposed her legs during the show, wearing leggings at all times. She was of Quaker background, by the way.

21 feet...when I did the shooting for my KY CCW permit I had to shoot at 21 feet and hit the man-sized siluohette target 11 times out of 20 shots. I was using a Ruger Mark II .22 pistol, and placed all 20 rounds in the lower right quadrant of the "head", creating a hole about 2 inches across. That's simply target shooting, though -- not at all like true combat shooting, when your "fight or flight" has kicked in and you're facing possible death.

For my money, Fairbairn and Sykes, along with Rex Applegate, are still the top of the heap. If you don't know them, be glad.