How many of you have ever seen this?

L

Lavan

New member
One way to WIN! :)

askins1.jpg


And.... the rest of the story.

http://www.bullseyepistol.com/askins.htm

I wonder where that pistol is today. :confused:
 
I've read the story but it's the first time I've sen the gun. Thanks!

I read the story in Askin's auto-biography "The Unrepentant Sinner".

tipoc
 
Well here's the story from Askin's autobiography.

One year (I'm too lazy to look up the year) while at the Camp Perry matches and heading up the Border Patrol Team, Askins had a misfire while shooting the 38 caliber revolver stage. He had been shooting poorly in that stage. The mis-fire gave him the opportunity to shoot again. He did that had and won the stage and match. Lee Echols of the U.S. Customs Team accused Askin's of deliberately causing a mis-fire so that he could shoot again. This became a scandal. Askin's boss in the Border Patrol Willard Kelly banned Askin's from shooting in the match competitions again as a member of the Border Patrol Team the next year.

The next year Askin's came into the competitions with his modified Colt and the new 22 round. He shot as an individual as he was banned by his boss from shooting as a member of the Border Patrol team. The round was within the rules but folks frowned on it. Especially as Askins won match after match with the new gun and round.

"Kelly got word of the new centerfire pistol from one of his stool pigeons in El Paso. He sent word down through the District Director that I was not to shoot the pistol in any match competitions.

"I journeyed off to the National Matches entirely on my own. Fired the matches as an individual and because I knew I was sure to be fired for direct disobedience of an order I resigned from the Border Patrol while I was still at Camp Perry. Somewhat obstinate by nature I was just be dammed if I was going to let some petty bureaucrat dictate to me.

"I had, when I turned in my suit, won 534 medals and 117 trophies in state and national competitions"

Askin's does not say how he did at Camp Perry that year with the new pistol and round. I'm thinking that different versions of that part of it float around. Askin's may have told different variations of it himself.

But in his bio he clearly says that he shot there that year.

tipoc
 
This version is likely closer to the truth. "The Legend of Charley Askins" It was written by Skeeter Skelton. I'll take it as true.

Word got out about Charley’s scandalous little gun, and he was again under as cloud. Old friends came to advise him that it would be “unethical” to shoot the imaginative .22 against shooters who had only .32 and .38 wheelguns.

The Border Patrol brass got wind of the affair and Charley remembers a letter from them forbidding him to shoot the pistol in the National Matches. Knowing Askins, I would estimate that his neck bowed larger by several sizes.

Range officials examined the offending Woodsman minutely and could find no regulation it abused, until one book man, sharper than the rest, found that the front and rear sights were a hair too far apart to meet maximum sight radius requirements. Askins hastily remedied this by knocking off the Buchanan sight and rather crudely reinstalling it farther forward with solder.

The day came, and Charley obstinately marched to the firing line at Camp Perry. Behind him, “The Border Patrol brass all gathered to bear witness that I had shot the gun against orders,” he smilingly recalls.

The gun shot well and Charley shot well, although not good enough to win the match. At the end of the day he sat down and wrote a letter of resignation to the District Director in El Paso.

“I resigned from the Border Patrol from a feeling that they were going try to dictate how I was to shoot, and I wasn’t going to stand still for it. They had a point and I felt I had a point, too.”

So ended nine years and nine months of service.
Click to expand...

http://www.darkcanyon.net/The_Legend_Of_Charley_Askins.htm
 
I recall reading about this cartridge in the AR of the day. Seems like there was an ad for individuals making the conversion. Those AR's would be a great source of information on these guns and cartridge. That conversion gave you a real advantage in centerfire matches.
 
Askins

The whole episode sounds like Askins to a "T".

Is Askins "biography" titled "Unrepentant Sinner"? I've read same, but the .221 Askins episode has slipped my mind if that is where it is recounted. If there is another Askins biography, how is it titled?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top