Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Major Charles Askins?

I've read this same exact scenario before,except the star was Col. Rex Applegate. Must have been a popular walk way....

Thank YOU!

Read the parts about Rex Applegate in the SGW link. The Askins and Rex weren’t necessarily friends. Reportedly Rex bought the Col’s match pistol, had the Col’s name and championship title engraved on it.

Col Askins thought that was presumptuous, not his style. I’m not sure what Rex was trying to accomplish.

DF

Elmer said he bought the Ithaca 10 from the Major when he became too old to handle it; however, the Col. wrote, "His wife finally sold the gun to Elmer Keith." There was also a discrepancy between Elmer saying a 30-'06 case blew up the Major's .276 Dubiel and the Col. stating it was a .275 H&H case.

Major Askins was the father of most of our mod-
ern magnum shotgun loads. He was directly re-
sponsible for the big magnum 10 gauge. Ithaca
made the first magnum 10 for Major Askins. and
Western loaded the ammunition. His test and his
write-ups of it are still an epic in shotgun devel-
opment. When he became too old to handle the
big magnum ten bore, I bought it from him. I've
shot that big gun now for over 25 years, and it
is still my favorite duck and goose gun.

As far as my Old Man was concerned with magnum guns, though, it was Lou Smith at Ithaca who took the blue ribbon. He got up a 3 1/2-inch 10-gauge for his good friend Major Askins. The Western Cartridge Co., under the watchful eye of John Olin, came up with the 3 1/2-inch 10-gauge cases. The Old Man loaded them and when the big Magnum 10 was finally pronounced ready, it digested the big shells which were filled with 1 1/2 ounces of No. 2 shot; later, he favored 3s. The Old Man shot geese with it along the Cimarron River in Oklahoma for years. His wife finally sold the gun to Elmer Keith.

The Major and Bill Weaver were both in El Paso, were good friends. My SGW link has a good bit of stuff on Bill Weaver and his ultimate demise.

DF

Here's the Applegate engraved Askins pistol.

DF

Agreed, but a lot of times the line is clear. The deeds he describes in "Unrepentant Sinner" neatly meet the definition of a serial killer.


Okie John

I never read the book, so that's hard for me to reconcile that image with the one of the man whose Gun Articles I read, as a young man. Now, I'm not saying the accounts you speak of didn't happen, only that I am ignorant of them. If "the line" is ever crossed, well, that's a non-negotiable, for me. However, I have questions; were these killings ever reported? Why weren't charges brought? I need more information is all.

Man! I tried to find a copy to read....$145 for a Paperback! I wasn't able to download in the couple PDF free websites for some reason. I don't want to read about him that bad, lol!

Other than Germans and VC he killed Mexicans on the border and Africans in Africa. That's why it was allowed. Now he could've been arrested in Mexico because he'd follow the Mexicans into Mexico and ambush them at their campsites. But he never was

Thanks for posting that article DF. Great to read that this morning.

The book shouldn’t be a problem to find through your local library, whether they have a copy or are able to find one through inter-library loan.

You forget where I live PG...Salt lake Valley...not as "Conservative" as you would think. Some books I read from the Library back in '90 have been purged. I will make a stab at it, see what's out there, you guys have me curious now! Thanks for the Tip!

I find that interesting as well as Rex going to the trouble of acquiring and engraving Charley's famous Camp Perry pistol.

What was Charley to Rex. Anyone know?

Kinda makes one wonder who actually was the "star" as you noted, or maybe a wanna be? I don't know, but it is a tad curious.

And, yeah that was a rather dark and scary late night walk, at least in my mind. But I wasn't Charley and I wasn't packing. Even if I was packing, think I'd have stayed at the Hilton, at least till morning. That walk, first thing in the morning, is a piece of cake. The perps aren't up yet. The Goblins come out at night.

The more I've thought about it, Charley wasn't naïve, I think he knew what he was doing. His history of not only not avoiding a fight, but maybe even looking for one. Seems that was his nature and I don't think he was ever in a fight that he wasn't more than prepared for. So, guess we'll never know, can only speculate.

DF

Oh yeah! Have a hold on it in the "Interlibrary" somewhere in the dark web...must be as it is not in the State of Utah "at all". lol

I think you will find the shootings mentioned in his book were not a problem in his time. Maybe some but times as they say were different. Shooting a fleeing felon was ok, running was a sign of guilt. I think it should be reversed, but it was changed during the 1960s and the black riots. Until then felons could be shot when running away.

If you have trouble with Charlie look into the 30s. Dellinger was shot in the back with out any warning. Frank Hamer's shooting of Bonnie and Clyde was a classic I think a thousand rounds were drill thorugh that vehicle. Look at it in the old photos. Now, wow.. "You can't serve papers on a rat, Baby sister. You got to kill 'em or leave him be."
The only problem with that is the crooked lawyers can make money on a dead crook.

I grew up around of bunch of hard men in SE Texas. They were oilfield workers mostly, and over half of them veterans of WW2, a few from Korea but lots of Nam vets. Come to think of it, almost everybody worked in some kind of oil industry related back then. I heard my dad talking with some men at the beer joints as a kid, as you can imagine I heard of all kinds of killings, etc. Was around all kinds of killers (many Cons) when I later worked in the oilfields. In fact, at times, I had to be prepared to be a killer! ha It was just a common fact back then (mid 60's to mid 80's) Its got to be bad before I call a man a killer in a derogative way, it quite possibly was justified but you rarely get all the facts. Just saying.

Double Gun Journal article by Walt Snyder on the Major and his Ithaca #4 that Walt was able to obtain from Bill Askins. I covered Walt's credential in an earlier post, but most probably know who he is.