Risky high flyers providing proof by showing off pistol (4,6)

'risky high flyers' is the definition.
'test pilots' can be an answer for 'flyers' (test pilot is a kind of flyer). I'm not sure about the 'risky high' bit.

'proof by showing off pistol' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'proof' could be 'test' (I've seen this in another clue) and 'test' is located in the answer.
an anagram of 'pistol' is 'pilots' which is present in the answer.
No letters remain.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

'providing' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?