Paul Farquhar
Legend
Yeah. It was a long time ago, and I was deliberately trying to use memory rather than the internet.(BTW, you meant 1979's Villains and Vigilantes, right? Mutants and Masterminds was in the 2000s.)
I have a vague recollection that in Boot Hill you could choose to specialise in Rifle, Pistols or Dynamite. It definitely didn't have skills, and I don't think it had levels. I only read the rules once forty years ago though. The rulebook was short.