Skeeter Skelton .357 Magnum

[Ole Joe Clark]

"The reference to the lower crimping groove means the bullet was seated very shallow in the case, right?"[/QUOTE]

I have some 358156 on the reloading table, not hollow point, and the upper edge of the lower crimping groove is about 5/16" from the base of the bullet with gas check. So they were not loaded very shallow.

One of my favorite cast bullets.

Have a blessed day,

Leon

 

[kraynky]

Yea, I remember the story. That name was scratched on a Colt SAA .

I'm about a third of the way through my first reading of "Good Friends Good Guns and Good Whiskey". I hope I run across that one in it. There's been a few good yarns involving Mexico already. I have no idea why it took me so long to discover this book (I'm 59). But I own it now. I've been a 357 and 44 special fan for a looong time tho.......

 

[BigMuddy]

I'm about a third of the way through my first reading of "Good Friends Good Guns and Good Whiskey". I hope I run across that one in it.......

You will.....pg. 300. Enjoy!

Dan

 

[Frank46]

STCM(SW), nailed it. Frank

 

[lawman445]

I still have that magazine and liked the project. How cool for you to own them now.

The other cool part is that the belt fit me...and don`t think I didn`t wear that rig around the house for a couple of days while I was basking in it`s awesomeness. I also managed to snag a couple back issues of the magazine off ebay which I needed because the set came with the original magazine cover and article pages torn out and pasted/taped to a big piece of wood paneling. Finding this set helped heal some of the pain I still felt from getting skunked on all my bids when they sold Elmer Keith`s guns a while back.

 

[ParadiseRoad]

...Skeeter with his Model 27 and a Colt...

 

[Homie]

I always think of Skeeter when I heft one of my 5 inch 27`s. I felt like I had really arrived when I finally got my first one when I was slowly starting to gather up some of the cool guns I`d read about as a kid and couldn`t afford.

Last April at the Tulsa show I managed to buy a brace of .357`s that the man himself had owned, customized, and written about...just a shame they were Rugers and not Colt or S&W! My buddy called me from the far end of the show when he found this set for sale and I almost hung up on him when he started describing a pair of Ruger Speed Sixes...then he finally got to the important part of the story with the Skeeter connection and then he had my attention. The set came with a belt and set of prototype open top cross draw holsters that John Bianchi put together for him and a hand written letter that explained why he chose the round butt fixed sight Rugers for this project and the custom work he did on them like fitting 4" Security Six barrels to them. To me the best part is the accompanying 1979 Shooting Times article that shows him wearing the rig.

Congratulations on owning a piece of Handgun history-very cool. Knowing the previous owner, I tried to talk him into letting me shoot at least one of them before taking them to Tulsa, to no avail. I'll wait and read your range report!

 

[ISCS Yoda]

Very cool thread and I love the articles. Basically, as I am a BIG .357 Magnum fan for field use, I just want to pop in here so I can always find this discussion in a personal "search" plus I do have questions. First, these items:

With proper bullets, I have put ducks, Canadian geese, cottontail rabbits, and bullfrogs on my table. I once ate a tough ol White Longhorn rooster who had the misfortune to be left at an abandoned farmhouse where I made a dry camp. My .357 took his head off.

I don't think anyone is allowed to shoot ducks and geese with a handgun any longer but that's doggone interesting!!!!

One eagle and perhaps a hundred chicken hawks have dropped to my magnum bullets.

This ain't allowed anymore, either, but it, too, is doggone interesting!!!!

 

[ISCS Yoda]

My one question:

If I read that first Skeeter Skelton article correctly, all of his handloads were with various cast bullets. He discussed leading and barrel cleaning. Query: don't modern, jacketed bullets solve that problem?

Thanks.

 

[Nightowl]

My one question:

If I read that first Skeeter Skelton article correctly, all of his handloads were with various cast bullets. He discussed leading and barrel cleaning. Query: don't modern, jacketed bullets solve that problem?

Thanks.

The last time I looked, cast bullets were less than half the price of jacketed bullets and a lot easier to buy. I almost never shoot jacketed bullets out of my .357s, .44s or .45s. If I need jacketed bullets, I usually just shoot factory ammo, which shows how little I shoot factory ammo.

 

[Sevens]

Well, "modern" jacketed bullets didn't exist in his heyday. If you are asking if today's available jacketed bullet selection means that you can do as well or nearly as well as Skeeter and Keith did with cast lead, I would say the answer is "MAYBE." Mostly because it's extremely difficult (nearly impossible) to make jacketed bullets yourself.

Cast lead is one of those things where doing it extremely well isn't easy, but if/when you do, the rewards are numerous.

The easiest big reward is the life of your barrel as lead is far more kind.

 

[Sevens]

After re-reading your question...

If it's just about barrel leading and nothing else, I would say yes, you are correct in that modern jacketed bullets eliminate the worry about leading for sure and mostly cleaning, at least in handguns.

 

[stu1ritter]

I'm really glad that Skeeter liked my favorite revolver also.

Stu

 

[Wyatt Burp]

I scooped up a 4" Model 24-3 after reading Skeeter's article about the new ones in this 1983 Shooting times I still have. The gun has been shot a lot and carried a little and still looks pretty new. but reading "Sixguns By Keith" a hundred times since I was a teenager really got me going on these guns.

 

[reach147]

Always a favorite

Always a favorite of mine, stumbled across this one I have about 30 years ago and have had it since

 

[Rock185]

Inspired by Skeeter Skelton's writing, I bought a new 5" 27-2 back in '77. By some miracle, I didn't trade it in on some latest/greatest shiny object along the way, and still have it

 

[S.B.]

IIRC, Skeeter grips were of Mesquite wood? I inquire to Bear Hug about a pair of these but, alas, they no longer use Mesquite for any grips.
Steve

 

[John F.]

Like many here, I grew up reading Skeeter's writings, and he was by far my favorite author at the time. His lifelong experience in the field with handguns and rifles would be pretty hard to duplicate, today, and he provided a lot of great advice. I also loved his stories such as "Me and Joe...", etc., and have many of his articles saved in a file folder.

Skeeter wrote often about older guns, such as his beloved 7.5" .32-20 SAA (s?), a shooting exhibition put on for him as a kid by a respected older shooter with a .32-20 M&P that sparked his interest in the cartridge, a 6" "Varmint" Luger in 9mm that he put together for jackrabbits, etc.

There was no ulterior motive to writing about guns long out of production -- he just wrote from his love of quality, older guns and his adventures afield, which was very infectious. I can't abide most of the gun-writers of today, whose articles I call "catalog-regurgitation" pieces. They don't seem to have the real-world experience of the old-timers like Keith and Skelton, so they "test" firearms to have something to write about.

It's a shame that younger shooters growing up today don't have exposure to the quality older generation of writers, who had a lot of information to share. My love of quality, older firearms today is directly attributable to Skeeter's influence!

John

 

[Geronimo Jim]

IIRC, Skeeter grips were of Mesquite wood? I inquire to Bear Hug about a pair of these but, alas, they no longer use Mesquite for any grips.
Steve

The first gen Colt SAA in 38 WCF that I mentioned above has
Mesquite grips.

There is a photo of this gun in an article that he wrote on 38 WCF. I
cannot find my copy of that magazine. If anyone has that magazine I would love to know what issue. Very long shot I know.

 

[LaVistaBill]

Skeeter Skelton

If I remember correctly he was just 61 when he passed . He lived his last years I believe outside of Deming NM . His wife , had a crafts store / sewing , knitting or the likes in town . I too have shot a buzillion of his fav load , the lyman 358156 in a 38spl case charged with 13.5 grs of 2400 . All I had at the time was a model 19 , 4" barrel . Still wanting that 5" model 27 .

I'm glad I struck a "good nerve" with my posting, lots of interesting and positive comments. If anyone would like to read about the day I spent a few hours with Skeeter, check out this link. The Day I Met Skeeter

 

[LaVistaBill]

Skeeter 357

I'm still trying to figure out how I did that.

Did anyone else notice the original picture was in reverse? Try and read the barrel markings, and they are on the "wrong" side??

 

[LaVistaBill]

Here's the Skeeter books and magazines all fans need to read/have.

According to a recent thread in the lounge, I wasn't surprised to find that I am on the younger side in age on this particular forum (I'm 45) but must say that I can't imagine a ton of folks younger than me that have read, enjoyed and simply loved the writing of Skeeter as much as I have.

If I recall correctly, he passed away not long at all after I discovered his fantastic work. I began reading his articles in the summer of 1988.

Every gunwriter had his own style and there were plenty of gunwriters to like... but when you read Skeeter, it felt like you had a buddy talking to you.

 

[Green Frog]

I've recounted my "Day I met Skeeter" story several times, but will put it in again here since we're at the bar having one in "ole Skeet's" me memory.

I was at one of the NRA Annual Meetings, Orlando, IIRC(?) Skeeter was at his spot to meet and greet at the Shooting Times booth and I got there pretty early so only waited in line a relatively short time to get my chance to meet him and ask a question. I had gotten interested in shooting IHMSA style events and was considering putting together an outfit based on a TC Contender chambered in 32-20, knowing I could do wonderful things with it. I outlined my plan to Skeeter, knowing his history with the 32-20 but was surprised when he said, no... I should instead use the then-new 32 H&R with its straight case. The cases would be stronger and being straight would be much easier to load without worrying about those delicate necks on the 32-20. Of course he had gotten hold of some of the first components and loaded (and subsequently published) some rounds that worked great in his strong sample guns, but which made the corporate lawyers at the magazine have coronaries!

As luck would have it when I went back that afternoon to further discuss things with him, I was told Skeeter was not feeling well and had had to leave early. AFAIK, that was his last major public appearance, and he did indeed pass away not long after. It was my great honor and pleasure to get some of the last great advice he uttered.

I never got around to building that TC outfit, but I did explore the 32 H&R (which I still won't call "Magnum" because of its constraints in many factory arms meant for it.) However, I did build a Winchester low wall in the caliber as well as buying the Ruger Blackhawk 32 Combo and the S&W Model 16-4 to shoot it. As with so many things, I moved on and away from these guns and let them get away, but when the 327 Fed Mag was released, it was, from the factory, the cartridge Skeeter envisioned. I was inspired to build a custom S&W in this new caliber and with a lot of encouragement from this forum I commissioned Project 616, a custom 4" stainless K-frame in 327 Fed Mag. Somehow, I'm pretty certain Skeeter would approve, and I think of him often when I shoot it.

Froggie

PS Maybe one of these days I'll tell about meeting Bill Jordan at the New Orleans NRA Meeting... we talked about the best restaurants in "his" town.

 

[Wyatt Burp]

The first gen Colt SAA in 38 WCF that I mentioned above has
Mesquite grips.

There is a photo of this gun in an article that he wrote on 38 WCF. I
cannot find my copy of that magazine. If anyone has that magazine I would love to know what issue. Very long shot I know.

By any chance is this the previously Skeeter gun you now own? You have to show us that gun in color!

upload an image

 

[Geronimo Jim]

Skeeter's 38 WCF First Gen