Jeff Cooper fans will remember California officer and competition shooter Elden Carl who was declared by Cooper to be one of the “five masters” of pistol shooting. Elden and Thell Reed are the only two left, Cooper, Jack Weaver and Ray Chapman having passed a way over the last few years.

As a police officer in El Cajon, CA, Elden is famous for carrying a 6 ½ S&W model 29 .44 Magnum revolver. While carrying that .44, and also 4 inch .357 model 19’s, Elden used a forward rake variation of the border patrol holster made by Don Hume in his early days in La Mesa, California – before the move to Oklahoma.

I’ve been helping with a project in which another contributor thought he had a vague memory of Elden being pictured in a Don Hume holster catalog. Of course, Bill Jordan was a major presence in Hume catalogs. I think it’s a fair bet that that’s who the other guy remembers – but it could be.

Does anybody here have an early 60’s Hume catalog with a picture of Elden?

In the 1970’s, Triple K produced Elden Carl model police holsters for revolvers and autos, but that’s another story.

There is a web site for Eldon. wwweldoncarl.com

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In Omnia Paratus

My Hume catalogs are 1970’s editions but I found this article tucked in one of them. Dated 1961 with lots about Bill Jordan and no mention of Eldon Carl.
Regards,
turnerriver

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turnerriver

Is Elden Carl still living? I live in this area, so find this interesting. I have a few Don Hume products and still use them.

Yes, Elden is still living and still riding motorcycles.

Both the 'Elden the Shooter' and the 'Elden the Mototaur' sites are very good.

There's an overlap on the shooting side with Elden included in some of the San Diego County Sheriff information on the excellent Bill McMillan site run by McMillan's son.