Hey guys,

I've just been reading up on him and boy 'o' boy he didn't f--k around!
He would certainly be up the top of most people's
'people I should not piss off'
list.

He done many trips to Africa and elsewhere and from what I can gather he was a very good hunter and shot.

Probably not someone I'd go drinking with, but man, someone you'd want by your side if the shite hit the fan!

Russ.

I guided him for grizzly in 1977 and you should have heard his stories from his border patrol days!!

When I lived in El Paso, Texas several years ago, the Border Patrol shooting range was about a mile from my house, and I watched him shoot many times. Anyone who has watched him shoot will tell you he hit what he shot at with a handgun. I never witnessed him with a rifle but I'd bet he was even better with a rifle!

...................................................................

In my short, innocent, and inexperienced life, I've found that stories told by an individual to puff up himself are many times just that--stories.

Did I read Elmer shooting a flying hawk with a handgun? Of hitting a barn door with a .45 SAA at 700 yards? Of John Taylor shooting a few buffalo with one shot? Capstick?

As a kid in the early '60s my father would meet up with his Marine corps buddies from his Iwo Jima days. Most were quiet and did not call attention to themselves. A few would rant about the glory
battle, the details of the number they killed and how they did it. When stories are told to magnify the teller, I tend to pay less attention.

That said, Askins and others of his era did live lives that can't be repeated today. I tossed Askins' book but kept Elmer's book. I guess I like Elmer's style of writing a bit better.
Cal

I think old Col Askins loved to rile people up, and didn't give a shit whether they liked it or him!
That said, he had his highest praise for his friend George Parker as the best shot with a rifle he knew, and his father Maj Askins the best with a shotgun.

quote:

Originally posted by cal pappas:
In my short, innocent, and inexperienced life, I've found that stories told by an individual to puff up himself are many times just that--stories.

Did I read Elmer shooting a flying hawk with a handgun? Of hitting a barn door with a .45 SAA at 700 yards? Of John Taylor shooting a few buffalo with one shot? Capstick?

As a kid in the early '60s my father would meet up with his Marine corps buddies from his Iwo Jima days. Most were quiet and did not call attention to themselves. A few would rant about the glory
battle, the details of the number they killed and how they did it. When stories are told to magnify the teller, I tend to pay less attention.

That said, Askins and others of his era did live lives that can't be repeated today. I tossed Askins' book but kept Elmer's book. I guess I like Elmer's style of writing a bit better.
Cal

Agreed . I have a relative who was a SEAL. He never discuses it.

I believe I have most books by Keith, Askins, JOC, skeeter, Jordan and so many others.´I see them in that historical context they lived in. Different times and different lives. I like them all for what they were. Maybe if I met them in real life I would have thrown away their books I can´t say.

I had the pleasure of being trained by the Col. and Jelly Bryce, as a young man, and can tell you, it would not had paid to be on the wrong end of the handgun or rifle from either one of them,both where a couple of the last dangerous men of that time.

I seem to recall that Askins bragged about shooting a german soldier while the german was taking a shit..??

No further comment..

Never had the privilege of meeting the man, but I have a feeling we would have been friends. Some folks may not like that attitude; and if you don't so be it.

To those who believe no one else can be half as capable as they are, Brian Pearce killed two Cape Buffalo with one shot from his 1895 Marlin 45-70 several years ago.

I had the privilege of seeing Elmer Keith shoot several times during the late seventies. No one who ever spent time around him would have bet against him in a shooting contest.

Askins, according to Bill Jordan, whom I met at Keith's home a few times and at a couple rifle shoots was better than advertised.
If you are a student of history, look up Askins HS peashooter centerfire 22. He had a friend at Remington, who, during a visit by Askins to the factory, showed him a huge quantity of 22 Velo Dog ammunition. Askins had a High Standard pistol converted to fire the round, shortened to 22lr length. He had the NRA about apoplectic over the prospect of seeing Askins compete with it at the Nationals. The rules said, 22 caliber, but did not require it to be rimfire.

Bill Jordan told me a very funny story about he and Elmer attending the NRA Convention in the early fifties. They went for a cigar and a walk after the banquet. Downtown DC. Keith spoke highly of the friendliness of the racially mixed community. Jordan tells me, sitting on the porch a while later enjoying a good cigar, that it might have been the inch or so of the butt end of a triplelock S&W bulging out of Keith's right jacket pocket. Personality. That or the Cowboy Hat.

Not everybody needs eight or ten shots to kill a Cape Buffalo like some people here...

Rich

PS: Bill Jordan gave me a personal half hour fast draw lesson up at a Prairie Dog Shoot in Zortman, Montana. I had been down to the casino at the hotel we were staying in, and hit a run on a slot machine that took silver dollars. Like $40. IN a slot machine that actually took silver dollars. That's how old this story is. Anyway, I am coming out of my room, and Bill has the room across from us. We talk, and I asked him to show me his draw, in slow motion, and then at full speed. He agrees, and asks me for one of the silver dollars he had seen me win. He rests his hand, the man was 6'6" and had huge hands; on the butt of his revolver, and places the silver dollar on the back of his hand. Without appearing to move his hand, he draws, the silver dollar drops into his holster, and he dry fires the revolver. Wow! I ask him to show me again. He says "got another dollar?". I hand him another one, and he repeats the draw. I am still missing how this is happening. Seven or eight repeats, and he has all the silver dollars my wife left me. He looks at me about half sideways, smiles, and asks if I have any more questions. Being young and foolish, I ask him if I can have my silver dollars back. Then he grins a big old Louisiana grin, and says, "most people would pay a hundred dollars or more for private lessons from Bill Jordan...".

It is often a cliche, but THEY WERE GIANTS IN THOSE DAYS!!