Which old time gun writer?

[protoolman]

So over the years I saw a reference to one of the old writers. Askins? Something about saying shooters who couldn't handle heavy recoil of one caliber or another, 44 mag? Were likely to wear pink panties. I'm sure I've hopelessly misquoted the line but i'd like to get it straight.

 

[41Dude]

I absolutely remember that. I do not remember the exact quote.

 

[Johnnu2]

I had an uncle who would talk like that.... He looked like John Wayne and was even a Lt.Cmdr. (in the RESERVES).... nobody liked him and his opinionated style of communications caused him a life time of strife. We think it was genetic and fortunately "missed a generation"

J.

 

[Bob Wright]

It was indeed Col. Askins, and the comment was to the effect, "... they must have lace on their drawers."

I think that article was either in a Gun Digest or American Rifleman.

Bob Wright

 

[arfmel]

"This Magnum is a man's gun. It ain't for boys. Word reaches me that some joes, probably with lace on their panties, are putting on gloves to shoot it."

https://singleactions.proboards.com/thread/6271
I believe he was referring to an article written by Jack O'Connor, who Askins detested.

 

[BULL'S-EYE]

Speaking as a repentant sinner...His book Unrepentant Sinner is required reading as far as I'm concerned.

 

[41Dude]

Different era. I think I can find the article from Bill Jordan. He said something about female LEO'S and the .357. He said they would be better served with a .22 mag revolver. I suppose because women are so dainty. He had never met my wife lol.

 

[gnappi]

Funny... today he'd be sued for hurting someone's feelings.

I was in a gun store and I overheard a snippet of conversation between a salesman and a lady customer... "I don't like drag races" and I said "How do they run in those high heels"

Everyone in earshot cracked up,

 

[Watertender]

Charles Askins and Bill Jordan were 2 genuine bad dudes. I have Unrepentant Sinner and it's a hell of a book. The quote about killing 27 men not counting Blacks, Indians and Mexicans was very telling of that time in history. I also remember reading about Askins killing a German that was taking a dump because the German would crap in full view of the American lines during WW2.

 

[Jeepnik]

Something to remember. Most folks of my dad's generation and many of mine started working doing physical things when they were young. They built a kind of strength that all the gym workouts will never build. And it's a type of strength that doesn't fade if one quits "working out".

So, likely the folks that were being spoke of never did physical work. They thought they were tough, but in reality they did not have near the strength that daily hard work builds. And as to wearing gloves to shoot, most folks have even softer hands today than when that comment was made.

Look at your own hands, are they scarred, beat up, and callused? For most of today's younger generation the answer is a hard no. In fact the medical profession gets concerned when they see hands like mine.

A while ago I got another new primary care doctor. During our initial meeting he, in a somewhat alarmed manner, ask what was wrong with my hands. I looked at them and said nothing was wrong. He pressed that they had a number of cuts and scrapes. So I told him I had been working on my Jeep. He still didn't get it. But, he's young and he's learning. He did however insist that I get a tetanus shot as mine had been probably more than a decade ago.

 

[Goldstar225]

This was attributed to a 1957 Gun Digest article by Askins:

"A Man's Sixgun, A Field Report on the Ruger and S&W 44 Magnum" by Col. Charles Askins. In it he wrote "This Magnum is a man's gun. It aint for boys. Word reaches me that some joe's, probably with lace on their panties, are putting gloves on to shoot it. I hear that after a few shots your hands feel like you have been swinging at some fast balls with a cracked bat. How soft can you get? I shot the big .44 all afternoon and found the recoil nothing more than stimulating."

 

[Jack Ryan]

Do you suppose he needed a "bedroom gun", and EDC, hiking gun and a bear gun or he just carried a gun fit for a grown man and did it all with that one gun?

 

[DBnoise]

I liked Bob Milek. Rick Jamison was about as technical in his analysis as could be. Don't know if he would be considered old time,

 

[sceva]

Not a bad writer but I never liked him as well as Keith and both paled in comparison to Skeeter Skelton.

I will say that after reading "Unrepentant Sinner" I think that Mr. Askins liked shooting people. Good thing he was in Law Enforcement.

 

[Johnnu2]

I think there is a psych diagnosis code for him/that..... (?)

J.

 

[Don Lovel]

My buddy Tiger's mom was Askin's sister. He inherited a few of Askin's guns from the estate.
His memories of the Colonel was a grumpy old Rosie O'Donnel who was no fun to go shooting with or have to listen to his BS.

 

[Xrayist]

If you do some looking, after Askins wrote the "lace panties" article, he did a 180 and said that the recoil was excessive. I think it had something to do with his dislike, to put it midly, for Elmer Keith and his promotion of the 44 Magnum.

 

[contender]

"I liked Bob Milek. Rick Jamison was about as technical in his analysis as could be. Don't know if he would be considered old time,"

Rick Jamison did quite a bit of excellent technical info on reloading. I always enjoyed his work as well.

Bob Milek,, well,, he trashed the .357 Maximum,, and it was part of the reason Bill Ruger stopped production. People paid attention to Bob,, and decided their Maxi was "bad" and complained. Bill wasn't one to put up with such stuff,,, so he just stopped production,, AND scrapped about 5000 Maxi's.
Never could forgive Bob for that.

 

[gunzo]

There once was a gun writer that kind of came clean, or had a strong opinion of past gun writers. Said of one, he could shoot better stone cold drunk than most, & simply couldn't lay the bottle down. Another, the more he drank the better his stories got. And there was one, that he said was simply a psychopathic killer.
Hard to guess or judge on these things, but knew the first one, suspected the second, & the last was Askins no doubt, in his opinion. Not hard to agree.

 

[Don Lovel]

"I liked Bob Milek. Rick Jamison was about as technical in his analysis as could be. Don't know if he would be considered old time,"

Rick Jamison did quite a bit of excellent technical info on reloading. I always enjoyed his work as well.

Bob Milek,, well,, he trashed the .357 Maximum,, and it was part of the reason Bill Ruger stopped production. People paid attention to Bob,, and decided their Maxi was "bad" and complained. Bill wasn't one to put up with such stuff,,, so he just stopped production,, AND scrapped about 5000 Maxi's.
Never could forgive Bob for that.

357 Max chambering in a levergun never happened and it is a shame.

 

[JackBull]

Col Jeff Cooper

 

[Johnnu2]

I read somewhere (and have not been able to verify it) that Jeff Cooper accidentally/fatally shot his (on duty ?) partner many years ago.
Despite many tries, I can't dig up anything on that incident, and can't remember where I read it. Anybody else ever hear anything like this or am I way off base....??

J.

 

[sceva]

I read somewhere (and have not been able to verify it) that Jeff Cooper accidentally/fatally shot his (on duty ?) partner many years ago.
Despite many tries, I can't dig up anything on that incident, and can't remember where I read it. Anybody else ever hear anything like this or am I way off base....??

J.

That may be Bill Jordan you are thinking of.

 

[wproct]

I'm almost 80 years old and I spend a lot of time reminiscing about the past and all of the gun magazines that I used to buy with articles written by all of the above mentioned. It was an expensive habit but I enjoyed it very much. Of course now I get this fix online with all of my gun forums such as this one. Occasionally I will pick up and look at a gun magazine in a store, if you can even find one, and it's not the same, I don't even buy them.

 

[chui]

I remember Elmer Keith using the (pink pantyed tyro that can't stand some recoil) term when discussing his heavy 45-70 loads in light rifles.

 

[JB in SC]

I'm almost 80 years old and I spend a lot of time reminiscing about the past and all of the gun magazines that I used to buy with articles written by all of the above mentioned. It was an expensive habit but I enjoyed it very much. Of course now I get this fix online with all of my gun forums such as this one. Occasionally I will pick up and look at a gun magazine in a store, if you can even find one, and it's not the same, I don't even buy them.

The guys were good writers back in the 50’s and 60’s when Outdoor Life and Sports Afield were something I looked forward to every month. Warren Page, Jack O’Conner, John Jobson, Frances Sell, Pete Brown, and many others along the way. Those guys lived the life, were true outdoorsmen, they had wide ranging experience that 98% of writers of today could never match. Most of them did not get along with each other. Some truly hated each other (Keith / O’Connor).

 

[Watertender]

The guys were good writers back in the 50's and 60's when Outdoor Life and Sports Afield were something I looked forward to every month. Warren Page, Jack O'Conner, John Jobson, Frances Sell, Pete Brown, and many others along the way. Those guys lived the life, were true outdoorsmen, they had wide ranging experience that 98% of writers of today could never match. Most of them did not get along with each other. Some truly hated each other (Keith / O'Connor).

I remember reading articles from Phil Sharpe and Russell Annabel. They wrote some interesting stuff.

 

[JB in SC]

I remember reading articles from Phil Sharpe and Russell Annabel. They wrote some interesting stuff.

Annabel was a prolific outdoor adventure writer. One of my favorites was H.G. “Tap” Tapply. His son wrote a wonderful book about his life. Never missed Tap’s Tips in Field and Stream back in the day. They are dated for today’s outdoorsman, but were pretty nifty to a 12 year old kid.

 

[Watertender]

Annabel was a prolific outdoor adventure writer. One of my favorites was H.G. "Tap" Tapply. His son wrote a wonderful book about his life. Never missed Tap's Tips in Field and Stream back in the day. They are dated for today's outdoorsman, but were pretty nifty to a 12 year old kid.

One of my favorite Annabel articles was in a magazine about .22's. It was called "Pack a .22" and was about hunters and trappers in Alaska. He said that he killed 2 or 3 wolves with one magazine from a Colt Woodsman and told of another trapper who killed a bear with a Smith and Wesson .22 revolver. It was an entertaining piece of literature that may have been true or maybe the truth was stretched a wee bit. In any case I enjoyed it greatly and still have that magazine in my collection.

For a point of reference at the time this particular magazine was printed, the price of a Ruger T512 bull barrel .22 pistol was $118. I was making $3.75 an hour as a relief Engineer and also working in a family owned sawmill and driving truck as well. Man that's a LONG time ago!!

 

[Jeepnik]

Somewhere I have a book with the Annabel story about the wolves. As I recall the trapper was in the water holding his catch with one hand while fending off the wolves with his .22 in the other. So well written you could feel the cold.