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Askins the Younger had knowledge and experience, but a glance at his work reveals that his writing was lazy to the point of being sloppy. He had also pissed off a lot of people by gaming the rules to win a national pistol title at Camp Perry (back when sportsmanship mattered), and he had earned a reputation for dozens of unjustified killings during his Border Patrol years.


Okie John

I thought he shortened the Velodogs and turned them rimless too. Am I mis-remembering?

I wonder how many Millennials are following this thread. I daresay when we grey-headed fellas are gone there won't be much said about JOC, EK, Askins, et al.

"Years ago," said Chin. "My buddy Lao Tse died. A few of us over at the monastery decided to go over and pay our respects. So I get to the funeral home and there are all these monks, disciples of Lao Tse, acting like a bunch of women. They're crying, they're wailing, they're pulling their clothes, they're falling on the floor and rolling around, and the noise? It sounded like they were slaughtering sheep!

"So I went in and I let out three big wails, and then I turned to my buddies and told them 'Let's blow this place. I know a bar around the corner that has cheap buckets of Miller until Five.' One of the monks gets off the floor and runs over to us.

"'Where are you going?' asked this monk. 'Is that all you can summon for your friend? Three lousy little wails?'

"That's when I got steamed. I went around the parlor, kicking butt. I knocked those monks upside the head with my staff. I kicked their sorry backsides. I put a hurt on them like they had never seen. 'I'll give you something to wail about!' I said.

"'But Master!, said the monks. 'This was your best friend.'

"'No!' I said. 'I can see Lao Tse was a fool. And you are all fools too. I had believed him to be the man of all men, but now I know that he was not. When I went in to mourn, I found old persons weeping as if for their children, young ones wailing as if for their mothers. And for him to have gained the attachment of those people in this way, he too must have uttered words which should not have been spoken, and dropped tears which should not have been shed, thus violating eternal principles, increasing the sum of human emotion, and forgetting the source from which his own life was received. The ancients called such emotions the trammels of mortality. The Master came, because it was his time to be born; he went, because it was his time to die. For those who accept the phenomenon of birth and death in this sense, lamentation and sorrow have no place.'

"I kicked all their sorry butts, and as I left, I told them this: ' There was a fire. It burned brightly once, and now it is gone. It may burn elsewhere in this world, I know not where, but these sticks have burned out and grown cold. '"

With this, the Chinaman got up from the mound of dirt and walked over to the little campfire that someone had left. With his boot, he kicked the embers. A few were still hot, and once they hit the snow, they sizzled and went out.

"Just like this." said Chin. "And then I walked out of there and got drunk with my friends."

I daresay John Barsness has done a pretty fair job of keeping literacy in the genre of gun writing- much in the spirit of JOC in my opinion. Perhaps that is why I enjoy reading his stuff...

Imagine those two standing side by side smiling.

I offended wondered about Keith/O'Conners feud. It seems that once in a while they might have shared a hunt together. I started to read all the gun writers back in the late fifty's early sixties and found O'Conner wordy. I liked Keith because he wrote of his experiences along with his opinions which I mostly agreed with. Especially heavy for caliber bullets at more modest velocity. Other writers I liked that you don't heat about anymore that I liked is John Jobson, Pete Brown (both Sports Afield), Townsend Whelen and Bert Poposki.
Imagine those two standing side by side smiling.

It appears this group of gun writers are holding Winchester model 50's likely attending a marketing trip for gunwriters hosted by Winchester a Nilo Farms.

I have a few pounds of vintage H-4831; it came in paper bags back in the '60's.

When the paper bags started breaking down, I transfered the powder to empty powder containers, appropriately labeled with a Magic Marker.

It smells good, no brown dust, shoots great. I think it may be a tad slower than current H-4831.

DF

D F

I have 'almost' 10 lbs of Surplus 4831. It came in a Military Powder Can --IN paper & plastic bag. I'm using it in my 284 Win with great results

According to Hell, I Was There (and you weren't ) the back row is Bill Edwards, John Amber, Pete Kuhloff, Warren Page, Jack O'Connor, and Elmer Keith. The front row is Ray Ovington, Larry Kohler, Tom Siatos, Pete Brown, and Jack Seville. I am not familiar with all of them, and would appreciate if someone could provide their backgrounds.

Very Interesting ! I have the book but don't remember that. Several of those I am not familiar with either.
Thanks for posting that.

Jerry