[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgPxwQ3JIjc&t=43s&ab_channel=LTArms[/ame]
A quick retrospective on Skeeter Skelton
- Thread starter bigmtnman
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I miss reading Skeeters writing. I liked Elmer (Keith), thought Askins was too full of himself, Jordan (Bill) was ok but Skeeter was a great story teller, knew his stuff and you felt like he was an old friend even if you had never met him.
I loved reading his stories in various magazines when I was a kid. Bill Jordan too. I got to shake Jordan's hand at an NRA convention just a year or two before he passed.
As a kid I would look forward to each new issue of Shooting Times arriving at the newsstand. Skeeter was by far my favorite writer. John Wooters, George Nonte, Jon Sundra, all good writers, but Skeeter was to me the best.
OP
I bet that that was the largest hand you ever shook ! He had enormous hands.
Those were some golden years when writers like Skeeter were actively penning articles.
SmithSwede
Member
He was a very gifted writer. I always enjoyed his stuff, and have all the books referenced in that video.
One thing I’ve always wondered. He died young, at 60. Anyone know the circumstances of his passing?
One thing I’ve always wondered. He died young, at 60. Anyone know the circumstances of his passing?
Thank you for posting. I still go back and reread a lot of his articles and stories, and I'm sure many here do the same. I miss his writing, and others, back when periodicals were more than just advertisements.
Patrick L
Member
I'm not arguing with anyone here about how great Skeeter was, because he truly was. But I think we all tend to view the gunwriters that we read in our formative years as the best ever.
Yes, he did.
I also got to shake Buford Pusser's hand when I was about 12-13 years old. His hand just enveloped mine.
I've also shaken the hands of Roy Jinks, Robert K. Brown, G. Gordon Liddy, Jim Scouten, R. Lee Ermey, Massad Ayoob & Les Baer. Throw in Patrick Simmons of Doobie Bros fame too.
Funny how I've managed to meet all those guys.
DR505
US Veteran
Skeeter's son, Bart, passed recently down near Demming, New Mexico. He was young too, 62.
Bart Skelton Obituary | Apr 25, 2023 | Deming, NM
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halfmoonclip
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That was, truly, another time. Hard copy was the only way we received information, and it wasn't a two way conversation.
I suppose things are better now, with the ability to gab online about our interests.
Yes, Skelton was knowledgeable, and entertaining to read. His son, Bart, died young as well, so there may have been a congenital problem.
Moon
I suppose things are better now, with the ability to gab online about our interests.
Yes, Skelton was knowledgeable, and entertaining to read. His son, Bart, died young as well, so there may have been a congenital problem.
Moon
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Skeeter was my favorite gun writer. I must have read this magazine a thousand times 35-40 years ago. I can't find it. I think I loaned it to someone and they never gave it back :-(
Skeeter was 60, and Bart Skelton was 62 when he passed.
Skeeter Skelton
Just a moment...
Skeeter was 60, and Bart Skelton was 62 when he passed.
Skeeter Skelton
Just a moment...
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Skeeter Skelton possessed a rare blend as a writer in that he was both technically well informed and a good storyteller.
Not a lot of people know that he was a Master classified competitive Bullseye shooter back before they softened the rules with scopes and other optics.
His handloading recommendations were always very good; he didn’t hotrod his loads into the danger zone or make up baloney about his results.
His monthly “Handguns” column in “Shooting Times” was fantastic!
Yet, he could spin great tales, like Dobe Grant.
Many of his articles are timeless classics.
And, we can thank him for being the prime mover in getting Smith & Wesson to re-introduce the 44 Special, beginning with the 24-3 limited run of 7500 guns!
In some ways, looking back, a couple other guys that were close to his style were Bob Milek (Guns & Ammo) and Dean Grennell (Gun World). (Dean was one of the funniest, too!).
Elmer Keith, as good as he was, sometimes was a little too full of himself and repetitively self derivative.
And, then quite a few others were just a bunch of blow-hards, providing little more than unintentional humor. I won’t mention names.
All in all, at their best, when the gun mags were burning up the presses they were great reading.
PS: Skeeter wrote a few good books, too. All are out of print and now quite expensive.
I hope one day they get re-printed!
PS: I’ve added a few excerpts from a couple of his most memorable articles, those being from April 1967 and March 1983, covering the snubby Combat Magnum and re-introduced model 24 respectively.
Maybe they’ll inspire some of our younger members, and, bring back some good memories for the older guys.
Not a lot of people know that he was a Master classified competitive Bullseye shooter back before they softened the rules with scopes and other optics.
His handloading recommendations were always very good; he didn’t hotrod his loads into the danger zone or make up baloney about his results.
His monthly “Handguns” column in “Shooting Times” was fantastic!
Yet, he could spin great tales, like Dobe Grant.
Many of his articles are timeless classics.
And, we can thank him for being the prime mover in getting Smith & Wesson to re-introduce the 44 Special, beginning with the 24-3 limited run of 7500 guns!
In some ways, looking back, a couple other guys that were close to his style were Bob Milek (Guns & Ammo) and Dean Grennell (Gun World). (Dean was one of the funniest, too!).
Elmer Keith, as good as he was, sometimes was a little too full of himself and repetitively self derivative.
And, then quite a few others were just a bunch of blow-hards, providing little more than unintentional humor. I won’t mention names.
All in all, at their best, when the gun mags were burning up the presses they were great reading.
PS: Skeeter wrote a few good books, too. All are out of print and now quite expensive.
I hope one day they get re-printed!
PS: I’ve added a few excerpts from a couple of his most memorable articles, those being from April 1967 and March 1983, covering the snubby Combat Magnum and re-introduced model 24 respectively.
Maybe they’ll inspire some of our younger members, and, bring back some good memories for the older guys.
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THE PILGRIM
Member
Repeat- met the retired editor of the Deming, NM Newspaper.
His building was across the alley from MMC Gunsights.
Skeeter would park his pickup in the alley and go into the MMC back door.
The Newspaper Editor would go to coffee, lunch, etc with the MMC guy and that’s how he met Skeeter.
He was surprised that there was someone in Deming who had written magazine articles and books.
His building was across the alley from MMC Gunsights.
Skeeter would park his pickup in the alley and go into the MMC back door.
The Newspaper Editor would go to coffee, lunch, etc with the MMC guy and that’s how he met Skeeter.
He was surprised that there was someone in Deming who had written magazine articles and books.
I saw that video yesterday. I have often described Skeeter as "my friend I never met." He and Bill Jordan influenced my ideas on handguns to this day.
Skeeter Skelton possessed a rare blend as a writer in that he was both technically well informed and a good storyteller.
He is the one that got me into .44 Spl and had me convert a M28 into a .45 colt that I still have.
Great story teller for sure.
He is the one that got me into .44 Spl and had me convert a M28 into a .45 colt that I still have.
Great story teller for sure.
rednichols
Member
I knew Skeeter when I was Bianchi's chief of design and made him a few holsters over the years for the company. Such as a pair of crossdraws that were all-new, just for him and not ever produced by Bianchi otherwise. And a pair of the then-new X-2000 shoulder holsters for his 1911s.
Didn't know much about him then but as a nice old chap who visited us in Temecula to make his living as a gun writer; publicity don't you know. But since then, while researching for the book Holstory, one thing led to another and revealed that he was born 1928 in Texas as Charles, his nickname was from having skinny legs like a mosquito (skeeter), USMC during WW2, a deputy then Sheriff there, had a son Matt who died within a year of his birth in '58, and was first published in '59 with Shooting Times being founded in '60. He retired from the DEA in 1974 and only made it '88. All this sounds long ago to the youngies reading here but not to me at 75 now.
Deming NM was the home of the Threepersons, Tom and Lorene, with Lorene writing for the city's newspaper; mostly about her life with Tom after he stopped appearing in newspapers by WW2 when his 'captive' writer Eugene Cunningham rejoined the war effort in San Francisco; Naval Intelligence like Ian Fleming on the Brits side.
Didn't know much about him then but as a nice old chap who visited us in Temecula to make his living as a gun writer; publicity don't you know. But since then, while researching for the book Holstory, one thing led to another and revealed that he was born 1928 in Texas as Charles, his nickname was from having skinny legs like a mosquito (skeeter), USMC during WW2, a deputy then Sheriff there, had a son Matt who died within a year of his birth in '58, and was first published in '59 with Shooting Times being founded in '60. He retired from the DEA in 1974 and only made it '88. All this sounds long ago to the youngies reading here but not to me at 75 now.
Deming NM was the home of the Threepersons, Tom and Lorene, with Lorene writing for the city's newspaper; mostly about her life with Tom after he stopped appearing in newspapers by WW2 when his 'captive' writer Eugene Cunningham rejoined the war effort in San Francisco; Naval Intelligence like Ian Fleming on the Brits side.
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I had a copy of "On Handguns" back in the day, and another called "Handgun Tales" if I remember correctly.. My then 9-10 year old son read them over and over and over, until they literally fell apart. I was mildy annoyed, even then they couldn't be replaced, but happy that he got so much enjoyment out of them.
I did find a copy of "On Handguns" some years ago on E-bay. It was not cheap but I only had to pay for it once.
I've got a copy of "No Second Place Winner" here, and I have Bill Jordan's autograph and a message he wrote to someone who must have asked him to autograph a copy of Elmer Keiths "Hell I was There" that I bought off E-bay. The E-bay add just said "Someone he hunted and camped with wrote in it." I had no idea it would be Jordan. I actually thought it was refering to someone the previous owner of the book knew.
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