The guns of Charles Askins Jr.

[SaxonPig]

Askins bragged of the incidents I cite. I am merely stating what I believe to be obvious fact based on his descriptions of hunting, enforcing the law and fighting wars. The man often killed people and animals when it wasn't necessary to do so. Then he bragged about these exploits in print.

I take that to mean he enjoyed killing. No "character assassination" intended. Simply stating fact.

He really belonged in the 19th century.

He was a true patriot who defended his country. He was a law officer during dangerous times in dangerous places. He was a national champion pistol shooter. He had many good attributes. But Mas was right when he described Askins as a stone cold killer. He was.

 

[Well-Armed Lamb]

Another recommendation for UNREPENTANT SINNER. Definitely a book to read. Askins pulled absolutely no punches about himself, perhaps because he wasn't ashamed of anything he'd ever thought or done. That honesty makes the book strangely refreshing, but -- given the nature of some of the things Askins casually cops to -- rather difficult to read in spots, as well. One does make allowances for his time, but there are a couple of racial comments in the book that I found frankly shocking, and his attitudes towards women seem not much better: he mentions getting married, but then lets several chapters pass before deigning to mention his wife's name.

In an odd way, Askins's autobiography actually gives me some hope. If there's anybody who could have gone insanely, irretrievably bad, it was him: he was angry, highly aggressive, very competitive, and prone to violence (by his account, when he was an adolescent he shot at a friend during an argument; the friend was wounded in the leg, and they made up afterwards), but he managed to channel his darkest instincts into a productive way and became a successful lawman, soldier, hunter, and writer. That Askins could succeed in life gives me hope for a lot of the angry young men out there, the kind of men we're often inclined to write off as irredeemable.

(On a societal level, I think Askins shows the importance of a father figure to boys: one thing that becomes clear as you read Askins's autobiography is that he loved and worshipped his father, with a depth of feeling that he doesn't express with regard to any other human being. He wanted to please and impress the old man, and I think that was a powerful motivating factor for him. By contrast, Askins frankly *hated* his mother, and resented having to share his father with her.)

 

[Moonclip]

I've heard the racist thing too which leaves an ugly taste in my mouth and I've always found the .44mag incident interesting. Wasn't he hunting tigers?

I feel any judgement he needs I don't need to do, I didn't know him. I feel in my beliefs there is a final judgment that he and all of us will have to deal with.

 

[Joe the Redneck]

I read those stories as a kid. Him, Cooper, Keith, I'm never really sure how many of those stories I actually believed. That was very much the style of the day. Women are baby-making machines. Anyone who wasn't white was worthless. Ruff, tumble, hard drinking, two fisted manly men.

Meh

I suppose only God knows.

JTR

 

[Leadbutt]

I trained under the Col. for several months and kept a running letter exchange going for a few years ,,two of his favorites I remember where the "Fitz" Colt New Service in 38-40 and a Remington Model -11 12 ga..

ONe thing about the ole man if he said he was going to shot ya,,make sure your will was in good stead.

 

[bannockburn]

Since the original point of this thread was about the guns of Charlie Askins, I'm not sure that some of these posts about his gunfight mentality or his occasional disregard for due process in some of his armed encounters, are all that relevent to the OP's query. So could we maybe get back to the question at hand, and talk about his guns, and not his gunfighting psyche.
I did find out that while he was in the Border Patrol, his favorite revolver was a Colt New Service in .44-40. He ackowledged that it was strictly non-issue, and that he had also "whittled" out the front of the trigger guard, perhaps emulating the modifications of the original Fitz-Gerald revolvers. Sometime later, he had another Colt New Service, this one in .45LC, which featured a 2" barrel and a cut-away trigger guard as well. His Remington Model 11 shotgun had the barrel cut down to 22", and he had Frank Pachmayr build an extended magazine for it, so that it could hold 9 rounds of 00 Buck.

 

[Old Fuff]

His favorite during his later days in the Border Patrol was a .38 Special, 4 inch barreled Colt new Service with a King Gunsight Co. rib that included an adjustable rear sight. As noted the trigger guard was cut off at the front (a modification he did to most of his handguns) and it had carved ivory stocks with a scrimshawed CA inside a shield on the off side. I believe Pachmayr worked over the action. He was instrumental in getting the Border Patrol to adopt the Colt New Service /.38 Special as a duty sidearm.

When World War Two started he carried it through the North African Campaign and in Italy, but then switched to a .45 pistol during his service in Europe.

 

[tipoc]

Any of Askin's books that you can get ahold of are worth reading. As folks have mentioned his was a champion pistol shot. His works "The Pistols Shooters Book" and "The Art Of Handgun Shooting" are both good reads and useful today. As are his article, etc. They are useful for his advice to shooters of any generation.

He favored Colt revolvers, though he thought well of S&Ws. He came, awhile after the war to favor pistols. He writings are laced with his stories.

On the matter of him being a killer and a racist. Both are true. Not all men who kill are killers fortunately. If Askins made himself useful to anyone it was in spite of this. Killers are not to be trusted in battle.

On the racism, it's useful to keep in mind that back in the day many "two fisted men" stood up to racism in a variety of ways including gun in hand. Many died defending their rights and the rights of others. Ol' M.L. King and the many who proceeded him slept soundly at night because of the foot soldiers who placed their lives and all they had on the line defending him.

tipoc

 

[Moonclip]

I think his shotgun had a white rag tied to the front of it as a sort of index/night sight.

 

[BigG]

I would much rather deal with men of Askins' caliber including his limitations than ones who talk bravely and then cower or lose composure during the moments that count or do not do what they have promised. There are more by far of the latter and I cherish the late Colonel and his writings.

 

[tipoc]

Two of Askin's books in that pile.



tipoc

 

[The_Shootist]

The Art of Handgun Shooting...

....is available in paperback for about $ 20 from Aamazon, so I just put in an order.

Be kinda intreresting to read the thoughts & tips from a guy whose actually "seen the elephant" vs some of our ...ahem...modern gunrag writers.