The shooting community lost one of its titans last night at about 6:30 Mountain Time when Kent Lomont died at the age of 66. Kent was in a facility in Missoula, Montana where he died of bone cancer, which had been diagnosed about 6 months ago.

Kent, originally from Fort Wayne, Indiana, moved to Salmon, Idaho in the 1990s to be where he and his father had spent summer vacations and visited with Elmer Keith starting in 1960.

In recent years, Kent was recognized as this country's most knowledgeable hands-on authority on machine guns and cannons, with more experience at rebuilding and making functional every type of full auto weapon ever made than any other living person. At machine gun shoots such as Knob Creek, Kentucky, it was a common sight to see Kent behind a Browning .30 or .50 cal., a Belgian MAG-58, or an FN Type D BAR, the barrel glowing cherry red as the gun poured round after round downrange without a stoppage.

Prior to his involvement with full auto arms, Kent was instrumental in providing development work for the late Harry Sanford, inventor of the original Auto Mag handgun, and Kent won the Townsend Whelen award for writing by the Gun Digest for an article he penned for that publication, describing his efforts in this area.

Before that, Kent held the distinction of sending more guns back to the Smith & Wesson factory for rebuild than any other customer in the company's history, and was the Indiana distributor for Lakeville Arms (Jim Harvey) products at the age of twelve while he was in the eighth grade.

Kent is survived by his sister Cindy, his four children, Lane, Jill, Chris, and Molly, stepdaughters Candy and Sherry, and ex-wives Kathy, Shirley, and Mary Lou.

We are diminished.

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JR, the 500 Specialist

Rest in peace, you've earned your place in history....

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Even older, even crankier....

I bought some magazines from him once.
We talked for quite a while during the deal.
It was an interesting conversation.
RIP.

Thoughts and prayers to his family and friends for peace in his passing, knowing he is made whole and well in the presence of the Lord. May they celebrate his life and his many achievements. Amen.

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Isaiah 55:8-9
Phil. 4:13

Now there's a guy we cannot ever replace! Who he was and what he takes with him will be sorely missed.

Us prepping dynamite




With his dad Allen and Elmer Keith



With me in 1976

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JR, the 500 Specialist

Great Pictures! Thank you for sharing them with us.
Condolences on the loss of your friend. The gun world will miss him.

John, thanks for the pics and the post. Dad would've loved 'em. And of course, we all do, too.

Keep your powder dry, Dad.

Yes, we are.

I'm sorry for the loss you both feel.
John, thanks for the notification and for sharing the pics.

Was Kent a member here?

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Regards,
Lee Jarrett

No, Kent wasn't a member of any internet forums. He almost never used the internet and his site was maintained by others. Up until the last few months, he was out camping and shooting a good 150 to 200 days a year.

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JR, the 500 Specialist

Sorry for your loss. Sounds like an interesting individual.

Kent Lomont was absolutely one of the Greatest "GUN" men that ever lived and I consider it a GREAT privilege to have known him and spent time with him.

Besides all that he had a terrific sense of humor and was story-teller without equal. His knowledge, his courage, his gift of gab and his sense of humor are gone from us and we are all the poorer for it.

Prayers and thougths go out to his family and children. He so loved life and firearms...

All The Best,
Frank W. James