Charles "Skeeter" Skelton: died 17 Jan 89

In "Skeeter Skelton On Handguns" there's an article about work guns where he writes of a New Mexico merchant who carried a Colt Bisley .38-40 as his only armament. The only use he saw the guy put the gun to, he wrote, was when he opened bottles of Budweiser with the hammer spur. Well, when I picked up this Bisley some months back I had to try it and it works great. But I won't do it again. I don't want to chance breaking that 112 year old hammer spur.

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I literally grew up reading Skeeter. My Dad got most of the gun magazines that came out and I read all of them. Now that Dad is gone I have all of those magazines, and I still re-read them. I also have Good Friends, good Guns, and Good whiskey, Hoglegs, Hipshots and Jalapenos, I Remember Skeeter and the compilation of articles put out by Shooting Times in 1980. They are getting worn out from being constantly re-read.
Skeeter really got me interested in the .44 Special, and I have a few now because if that. Also the same thing for the M27, although I only have one (yet).:D


Just one point though, he died in 1988.


Jim
 
-rags- said:
TS, How did you come to befriend, and where did you have breakfast with the Famous gun writer?
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I met that famous gun writer at a function where he was the speaker, sponsored in Dallas by a man who ran a camera and gun store and was impressed with the writer. He spoke at the Fairmont Hotel and my then-wife and I talked with him for some time, and I assisted with taking photos. I wrote this up for, I think, both, "The Dallas Morning News" (where I once wrote a gun column for the Outdoors Editor) and for, "Gun Week", where I was a frequent contributor for several decades. I also gave a briefing to a TV reporter about this man and why he was worth a story, as the writer tried out a Mikkenger Arms .44 Magnum at the Elm Fork Winchester gun range. His host presented him with that gun, and it was an experience to see him shoot the .44 at 200 yards, although he was not young then. He was still a remarkable shot! (Mrs. Him was also present and seemed a very nice lady.)

I also knew him from NRA and SHOT show appearances, and the occasion where I saw him pour the whiskey into his cup of tea was at a Winchester press breakfast in San Antonio in 1979. I was sitting next to him, and he seemed to enjoy talking to me. He mentioned that he had acquired the idea of the Scotch in his tea from his white hunter in Africa.

He mentioned that he was coming down with a respiratory infection, and I suppose he may have thought that the whiskey would help. He later had to be hospitalized for that infection. I remember very clearly him telling me that it was heck to get old. True, but he led a heck of a life and remains a legend in his field.

There are only so many gun writers, and many of us have met at various press functions. I just happened to be talking with him that morning as we browsed the wonderful selection at the buffet and we wound up sitting together. I like tea, too, and probably recall the event partly because he drank that instead of coffee.
 
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I was also a big fan. I read his articles over and over again. I can even look to my right at the bookshelf. Immediately above SCSW's (all 3 editions) I can clearly see Skeeters books (on the top shelf!)

I'm cheap at heart. Not just a little, really cheap. Back in my poor days, It was a major expenditure to invest 35 cents on an ST. So I didn't throw them away. I even remember when we had "Used Book Stores". When my wife wasn't watching me closely, or went shopping, I'd go across the river to the big ones. I new the Saturday clerk. He'd just laugh when I'd come in and head down the stairs (Acres of Books.) I'm pretty certain they didn't pay much for the periodicals they had. Selling price was fairly high and the sign even said "1/2 listed retail." But when you came back upstairs with 10 or more the price dropped. If you could find 50, you got another big price break. Gun books were on a table of their own.

I came from a background of making lists. My dad did it all the time. Maybe we have a genetic link to bad memory, I don't know. But I had a list, as in written on paper not a computer thing. It was just every edition I had at home. Any ST that I didn't have, I simply bought. It was a winter project. You can't imagine the riches when it would snow too much to go to work, and I had "nothing" to do but find a couch and read 10 or 12 of Skeeters I'd never seen before.

We built a new home 2 years ago. Not a single old magazine was damaged in the production. Yes, we have a wire roll around rack, probably over 6' high, 5 shelves on each (and you can use both sides.) Full of old magazines. Every AR from the end of WWII to recent. Some prewars, too. And then Gawd knows how many ST, F&S, SA, you name it. Oh, I left off my FILs collection of Shooters Bibles, merged with mine (when he was alive I didn't know he had so many). But I've bought more since, too. Also to my right as I sit are the Stogers (forerunner) shooters bibles from the 1930s. Maybe the Librarian who started this thread will understand.

And no one has made mention of K22 and Skeeter. He wrote many times of his quest for an early postwar Masterpiece. That and surviving on the GI bill and ramadan noodles to finance his K22. That was back in the day when folks saved up (foreign concept) to buy what they wanted and needed. No credit cards back then, just cash on the barrelhead.
 
Skeeter is the reason I like handguns so much. (and my Dad)

There are gun writers that are basically copy cat researchers and then there are even fewer writers that live the life and can put it to paper in a believable and entertaining story.Skeeter was the later.

If I had ever rubbed elbows with him I would have got a photo of him with me one way or another.

RIP Skeeter,
 
Skeeter was one of my favorites. His writing combined vast experience with a great deal more technical expertise than he would admit to combined with a sense of humor and an ability to laugh at himself. I always recall his line from his story "The Mama Mia Caper"-"Mighty hunter in magazine articles; dripping dud in wet forest."
 
I think tonight I will have a little snort of Henry Mckenna in rememberence of Skeeter. I too much enjoyed his writing and miss the many stories and even the fictional charactors.
 
Skeeter was one of the reasons I purchased the magazine. I always enjoyed his articles.
 
I have a 5 inch model 27-2, a model 28-2 converted to 44 special and a Ruger Flat Top in 44 special. I have a hundred or so old copies of Shooting Times magazine and every special edition about or by Skeeter that I could find. To say this writer/cowboy/lawman influenced me would be an understatement. I know all his favorite loads and own most, if not all of the bullet molds he used. The day he passed all handgunners were diminished. Rest in Peace old partner.
 
Skeeter certainly had a way of keeping your attention. It is very sad that he has left us. I can only imagine what jug and Dobe would be doing now. But i think Skeeter was just getting warmed up good when he had to take the long trail.

I miss him very much.
 
Skeeter Skelton.....

I could write all night on how Skeeter influenced my life. I have owned .32-20s, .44 Specials, New Service Colts, converted Blackhawks, and.....my mule, all because of him.

tennexplorer and I used to haunt the magazine racks around the campus at Auburn University, waiting for the new Shooting Times to hit the shelves. I bought a M27 just to convert it to .44 Special. It is now the revolver I have owned the longest (1976). Other .44 Specials followed, as finances allowed, including a 7 1/2" Colt New Frontier.

When S&W brought back the M24-3, I bought the first one to arrive in Birmingham, Alabama, a 4". I came real close to calling Skeeter and thanking him, but never worked up the courage, figuring he had better things to do with his time than talk to a young cop. I wish now I hadda picked up that phone.

I owned a .38-40 New Service, with a 7 1/2" barrel, because of one of his articles. I have posted many times on the .32-20 cartridge and the guns chambered for it. Yep, all because of Skeeter.

My first handgun, a Ruger Old Model Blackhawk .45, came about because of Elmer Keith, but the next .45 Colt, a M25-5, was Skeeter's fault.

I couldn't afford a 5" M27, but I did buy several M28s 'cause old Skeeter liked N frame .357s. My police academy gun was a 4" M19. Guess what; Skeeter, through his writings, said it was OK.

Skeeter liked the .32-20. I bought several and I like it too. Numerous revolvers and rifles in that caliber have graced my safe because the sage of Deming, New Mexico gave his approval.

Even long after his passing, Skeeter still affects my gun buying. I had another S&W, this one a M28, converted to .44 Special. Two converted Rugers are now in safe, in the better Skelton .44 Special caliber. I bought a NIB 8 3/8" M27 and then found a 5" barrel that got swapped out.

I believe it was the afore mentioned Mama Mia article that spoke of Skeeter lusting after a white riding mule. Yup, now I wanted a white mule. Never bought a white one, but I have purchased several of the long eared equines and now have my Internet name because of a certain former Border Patrolman and sheriff of Deaf Smith County.

I've rambled long enough on a subject dear to me. Several posters here have mentioned that they felt like they lost a friend when Skeeter died. I too felt the same loss. Not only was he a fine writer, he was a man with uncommon common sense that could touch his readers like we were all sharing the same campfire.

Skeeter may be gone, but he will not be forgotten.
 
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I would have had a higher GPA at college if it weren't for him, but not as good a time. Probably one of two main reasons I got so deep into revolvers and S&W's especially. The other being MuleyGil. Was in Deming, NM in 1979. Missed him by 10 minutes at MMC. They gave me a description of his truck and where they thought he had gone. I wandered all over town looking for him - never found him.
 
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"I would have had a higher GPA at college if it weren't for him, but not as good a time. Probably one of two main reasons I got so deep into revolvers and S&W's especially. The other being Muley Gil."

ME!!!! You're blaming me! YOU were the supposedly older, wiser junior when I was but a lowly freshman.

The next thing you know, you'll be blaming me for your .44 Speciall addiction! Oh, that's right; you did that here on the Forum in an earlier post. :D

BTW, I corrected your spelling of my user name. :)
 
Back when, in the late 60's early 70's when people who were serious about handguns and hunting with them were as hard to find as an honest politician, Shooting Times and Skeeter's articles were like a lamp in a dark room. Bought a lot of the same guns you guys did, and loaded up Skeeter's favorite loads, they have always done the job!
 
It'[s been pointed out to me that Skelton in fact died on 17 Jan _1988_. Drat! How time flies.
 
My B-Day is January 17 and I am sad to hear that it was Skeeter's last day. I had forgotten the date.

Because of Skeeter I am a handgunner and because of Skeeter I quit reading Shooting Times. When he left I did to as a reader.

When Mike Venturino appeared at ST I began to read the magazine from time to time but never re-subscribed. When he left I left it for good.

I have often thought I "needed" a Ruger Flat-Top in .357 and .44 Magnum because of Skeeter. I have most all of the other handguns he used or wrote about.

I have copy of the magazine the XFuzz displays and his first book "Good Friends, Good Guns, and Good Whiskey". The stories still draw the same interest for me that they did back in the 1970s and 1980s. A great time machine.
 
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