"It's also very good for mindgames near the end of a close match, I've snaked a couple wins by making people commit to a parry while I pull out the gun only to then holster and hit them with something else."
Yeah, that was one of my favourite things about cowboy in 0.3.0 - the mindgames of the feint, allowing you to teleport in and pommel if you were close enough and managed to trick your opponent into blocking.
As of 0.3.4, holstering now takes 4f longer, making this impossible and killing one of the cowboy's last real approach options.