[Berkley]

Originally Posted by Pukka Bundook

I remember the auther telling the reader to practice such things as the "Road-agents spin" with the pistol empty,...or over a bed!

Yes, Mr. Hardin was certainly a quick man with his guns. I have seen him unload his guns, put them in his pocket, walk across the room and then suddenly spring to one side facing around and quick as a flash he would have a gun in each hand clicking so fast that the clicks sounded like a rattle machine. He would place his guns inside his breeches in front with the muzzles out. Then he would jerk them out by the muzzle and with a toss as quick as lightning grasp them by the handle and have them clicking in unison. He showed me how he once killed two men in that way."

Hardin's landlady, Mrs Willams of the Herndon House, and

Wild Bill came in and said we were making too much noise and told me to pull off my pistols until I got ready to go out of town. I told him I was ready to go now, but did not propose to put up my pistols, go or no go. He went out and I followed him....
Wild Bill whirled around and met me. He said, "...what are you doing with those pistols on?"
I said, "I am just taking in the town."
He pulled his pistol and said "Take those pistols off. I arrest you."
I said all right and pulled them out of the scabbard, but while he was reaching for them, I reversed them and whirled them over on him with the muzzles in his face, springing back at the same time.I told him to put his pistols up, which he did. I cursed him for a long-haired scoundrel that would shoot a boy with his back to him (as I had been told he intended to do me). He said, "Little Arkansaw, you have been wrongly informed."
I shouted, "This is my fight, and I'll kill the first man that fires a gun."
Bill said, "You are the gamest and quickest boy I ever saw. Let us compromise this matter and I will be your friend. Let us go in here and take a drink, as I want to talk to you and give you some advice."
At first I thought he might be trying to get the drop on me, but he finally convinced me of his good intentions, and we went in and took a drink. We went into a private room and I had a long talk with him and we came out friends.

The Life of John Wesley Hardin As Written by Himself, University of Oklahoma Press (1961), both quoted in The Last Gunfighter: John Wesley Hardin, Richard C. Marohn, Creative Publishing Company, 1995.
Dr Marohn had the definitive private collection of Hardin firearms and memorabilia, shown in great detail in The Estate of Richard C. Marohn, M.D., Butterfield & Butterfield 1996. His biography of Hardin contains a whole chapter on "Guns of a Gunfighter". There is no mention of notches, nor a notch to be seen on any of Hardin's guns.
Jim, while in El Paso you might want to visit the site of Hardin's death at the Acme Saloon, corner of San Antonio and Mesa or law office at 200 1/2 El Paso Street; his grave is in Concordia Cemetery.