Charles Allan "Skeeter" Skelton (born May 1, 1928 in

Hereford, Texas Hereford ( ) is a city in and county seat of Deaf Smith County, Texas, United States. It is 48 miles southwest of Amarillo. Its population was 15,370 at the 2010 census. It is the only incorporated locality named "Hereford" in the country. Here ...

– died January 17, 1988 in

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the county seat, seat of El Paso County, Texas, El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau w ...

) was an American lawman and firearms writer. After serving in the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

from 1945-46 he began a law enforcement career which included service with the

United States Border Patrol The United States Border Patrol (USBP) is a Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement agency under the United States' U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Customs and Border Protection and is responsible for securing ...

, a term as Sheriff of

Deaf Smith County, Texas Deaf Smith County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, the population was 18,583. The county seat is Hereford, which is known as the "Beef Capital of the World". The county was created in 1876 and later organ ...

, and investigator with both the

US Customs Service The United States Customs Service was the very first federal law enforcement agency of the U.S. federal government. Established on July 31, 1789, it collected import tariffs, performed other selected border security duties, as well as conducted ...

and Special Agent in Charge with

Drug Enforcement Administration The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA; ) is a Federal law enforcement in the United States, United States federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Justice tasked with combating drug trafficking and distribution within th ...

. After his first nationally published article hit newsstands in September 1959, Skelton began writing part-time for firearms periodicals. In 1974 he retired from the DEA and concentrated full-time on his writing.

Writing

Skelton wrote his first article for ''Shooting Times'' in 1966, in 1967 he became the handgun editor for the magazine until his death in 1988. His periodical articles were collected in ''Good Friends, Good Guns, Good Whiskey: Selected Works of Skeeter Skelton'' and ''Hoglegs, Hipshots and Jalapeños : Selected Works of Skeeter Skelton''. He was a contemporary of Bill Jordan,

Charles Askins Charles Askins, Jr. (October 28, 1907 – March 2, 1999), also known as Col. Charles "Boots" Askins, was an American lawman, US Army officer, and writer. He served in law enforcement (US Forest Service and Border Patrol) in the American Southwest ...

and

Elmer Keith Elmer Merrifield Keith (March 8, 1899 – February 12, 1984) was an American rancher, firearms enthusiast, and author. Keith was instrumental in the development of the first magnum revolver cartridge, the .357 Magnum, as well as the later .44 M ...

. Skelton's work frequently poked fun at himself. His "Me and Joe" stories of his Depression-era youth, while including references to period firearms, were character-oriented rather than technical pieces. His 'Dobe Grant' and 'Jug Johnson' short stories were perhaps the only fiction routinely published by a popular shooting magazine. His son Bart Skelton is a gun writer. ''Shooting Times'' magazine is currently reprinting past "Hip Shots" articles by Skelton.

Legacy

Skelton is credited by firearms writer

John Taffin John August Taffin (born May 2, 1939) is an American author from Boise, Idaho who writes several columns for gun magazines including ''Guns'', ''Gun Digest'', ''Sixgunner'', ''Shoot!'' and ''American Handgunner''. A former math teacher from 1964-1 ...

with the revival of the

.44 Special The .44 Smith & Wesson Special, also commonly known as .44 S&W Special, .44 Special, .44 Spl, .44 Spc, (pronounced "forty-four special"), or 10.9x29mmR is a smokeless powder center fire metallic revolver cartridge developed by Smith & Wesson in 1 ...

round.

References

External links

Collected writings at Dark Canyon
1928 births 1988 deaths Drug Enforcement Administration agents People from Hereford, Texas Writers from Texas Gun writers United States Border Patrol agents {{Texas-bio-stub