I could list -many- that I have really, really enjoyed and I could list a handful that I truly did NOT enjoy over many years of reading gun mags. I'll spare the audience all of that conjecture. However, I'll focus on one gun writer and try to sum up what has occurred to me for quite some time.
Background: I was maybe 13 or 14 when I fist bought an issue of Guns & Ammo and I was instantly hooked on gun magazines. From there, I spent far too much money (for someone of my age & income) on gun rags and I enjoyed every minute of them. Occasionally in one of these then-current magazines, some writer would wax nostalgic on a gun writer of a day gone by or a writer that influenced their reading or their development as a gun writer. Sometimes, they would simply talk about other folks in their industry.
It was a repeating theme every time and the name "Skeeter Skelton" would come up. Now Skeeter had passed away perhaps just before I started buying gun magazines and Guns & Ammo was my periodical of choice and he wasn't on their staff. So here was a guy I kept hearing about but never had read. At that age, I didn't know or care about who *any* of the writers were, really, I was entranced by the pictures and technical data (that I knew precious little about anyway!
) but the byline didn't occur to me a whole lot. Honestly, I was a skeptical kid that so many constantly poured praise over Skeeter Skelton and I couldn't see how the "writing" of one "old guy" was going to pique my interest half as much (at all?!) as would fancy, glossy photography and current articles and tests of new-to-market handguns. And really, would I even care about some old gunwriter who I almost certainly knew would just talk about revolvers all the while complaining about anything new to the scene? (so I thought?)
Fast forward a few years and as a young adult, I was still very much addicted to reading gun magazines... and when at a popular outdoor summer gunshow/swap meet, I came across a guy selling a ridiculous load of old gun magazines. I haggled with him for a good while and had to borrow a red wagon to pull away this huge pot of gold that I probably spent about forty bucks on. I didn't even know what all I had in there, but I knew that the bulk of it was decent, known gun magazines... it wasn't old issues of Field & Stream or other "outdoorsy" stuff, it was Shooting Times, Guns & Ammo, etc.
Ended up being a few issues from the very early 70s and just about everything that was published & popular in the 1980s. And so it was that Skeeter Skelton had already passed away when I truly started reading him.
I don't suppose it was more than 3 or 4 Skeeter articles when a light came on in my head. It was a small epiphany -- I had to sit there at the end of a fantastic article and say, "Wow. I have been wrong before, but I was absolutely wrong this time. This guy is amazing with the written word."
He was everything I had ever heard about him -- but more. And he wasn't just one kind of writer, either. He could write stories that were like watching a movie in your head, he could do a product review, and he had an amazing flair for simply pulling out a much-loved gun of his and telling you how he felt about it and why. Every single article I ever recall reading seemed -FAR- too short by the time I got to the end of it. I don't ever recall reading something that he wrote and thinking it wasn't time well spent. And I couldn't get three sentences or a paragraph in to something of his and already know what it was going to accomplish -- each one was thoroughly enjoyable.
Through other large bulk purchases of old gun magazines, I believe I've probably read a good 90% of what Skeeter had ever had published in magazines. So I haven't based my opinion of him on a handful of articles. I've read the lion's share of his work.
In my opinion, Skeeter Skelton is at the top of any compiled list of gun writers. I can't come up with anything about the man I could rationally complain about, even a little bit, other than the fact that he left this world far too early. And I still get a smile when I see any conversation in print or on a gun forum where folks talk about gun writers -- often in the negative, because Skeeter continues to pile up (MUCH DESERVED) accolades and you never hear a peep of negativity with regards to the man and his work.
I don't care if you are 9 years old or 90. If you think you might enjoy some gun writing and you don't know the work of Skeeter Skelton, you don't know gun writing. And if you don't treat yourself to some Skeeter Skelton gun writing... you never truly will know gun writing.
We spend a lot of time sharing opinions in these forums, but I don't think I'm going too far out on a limb if THAT comes across to anyone as more fact than opinion.
Background: I was maybe 13 or 14 when I fist bought an issue of Guns & Ammo and I was instantly hooked on gun magazines. From there, I spent far too much money (for someone of my age & income) on gun rags and I enjoyed every minute of them. Occasionally in one of these then-current magazines, some writer would wax nostalgic on a gun writer of a day gone by or a writer that influenced their reading or their development as a gun writer. Sometimes, they would simply talk about other folks in their industry.
It was a repeating theme every time and the name "Skeeter Skelton" would come up. Now Skeeter had passed away perhaps just before I started buying gun magazines and Guns & Ammo was my periodical of choice and he wasn't on their staff. So here was a guy I kept hearing about but never had read. At that age, I didn't know or care about who *any* of the writers were, really, I was entranced by the pictures and technical data (that I knew precious little about anyway!
) but the byline didn't occur to me a whole lot. Honestly, I was a skeptical kid that so many constantly poured praise over Skeeter Skelton and I couldn't see how the "writing" of one "old guy" was going to pique my interest half as much (at all?!) as would fancy, glossy photography and current articles and tests of new-to-market handguns. And really, would I even care about some old gunwriter who I almost certainly knew would just talk about revolvers all the while complaining about anything new to the scene? (so I thought?)Fast forward a few years and as a young adult, I was still very much addicted to reading gun magazines... and when at a popular outdoor summer gunshow/swap meet, I came across a guy selling a ridiculous load of old gun magazines. I haggled with him for a good while and had to borrow a red wagon to pull away this huge pot of gold that I probably spent about forty bucks on. I didn't even know what all I had in there, but I knew that the bulk of it was decent, known gun magazines... it wasn't old issues of Field & Stream or other "outdoorsy" stuff, it was Shooting Times, Guns & Ammo, etc.
Ended up being a few issues from the very early 70s and just about everything that was published & popular in the 1980s. And so it was that Skeeter Skelton had already passed away when I truly started reading him.
I don't suppose it was more than 3 or 4 Skeeter articles when a light came on in my head. It was a small epiphany -- I had to sit there at the end of a fantastic article and say, "Wow. I have been wrong before, but I was absolutely wrong this time. This guy is amazing with the written word."
He was everything I had ever heard about him -- but more. And he wasn't just one kind of writer, either. He could write stories that were like watching a movie in your head, he could do a product review, and he had an amazing flair for simply pulling out a much-loved gun of his and telling you how he felt about it and why. Every single article I ever recall reading seemed -FAR- too short by the time I got to the end of it. I don't ever recall reading something that he wrote and thinking it wasn't time well spent. And I couldn't get three sentences or a paragraph in to something of his and already know what it was going to accomplish -- each one was thoroughly enjoyable.
Through other large bulk purchases of old gun magazines, I believe I've probably read a good 90% of what Skeeter had ever had published in magazines. So I haven't based my opinion of him on a handful of articles. I've read the lion's share of his work.
In my opinion, Skeeter Skelton is at the top of any compiled list of gun writers. I can't come up with anything about the man I could rationally complain about, even a little bit, other than the fact that he left this world far too early. And I still get a smile when I see any conversation in print or on a gun forum where folks talk about gun writers -- often in the negative, because Skeeter continues to pile up (MUCH DESERVED) accolades and you never hear a peep of negativity with regards to the man and his work.
I don't care if you are 9 years old or 90. If you think you might enjoy some gun writing and you don't know the work of Skeeter Skelton, you don't know gun writing. And if you don't treat yourself to some Skeeter Skelton gun writing... you never truly will know gun writing.
We spend a lot of time sharing opinions in these forums, but I don't think I'm going too far out on a limb if THAT comes across to anyone as more fact than opinion.
