Bill Jordan and Skeeter Skelton

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Confederate

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One of the funniest things I ever read about Bill Jordan was by Skeeter Skelton in his monthly question and answer column. Some reader had written in referencing Jordan and Skeeter replied, as far as I can remember, to the reader: It seems like you have been taken in like all the others. "Bill Jordan," he explained, was the pen name of a wizened little old lady in Shreveport. That tall, homely looking guy you see, he added, is just some yahoo she hired from a carnival to represent her at gun shows.

It was even funnier because he didn't tell the poor reader he was kidding. But they were always giving each other "the business."

Anyone else remember that?

I have Skelton's two books somewhere packed in a box. Now they're collector's items and going for as much as $120 per book. Lots of great stories, including his Jug Johnson sagas. Young readers are sure missing out on some of those. To me Skeeter was a shooter's Mark Twain and a late living legend. I'd like to see his works republished. He was too great a story teller to go down to obscurity.

"No automatic cartridge is as powerful as the .357 Magnum....
Years ago I stated that if I could have only one gun, it would
be a Model 27 S&W."

Skeeter Skelton on Handguns, page 16


31VMGJM5MSL._AA192_.jpg
 
Those guys were great. Those were the days, no question. And there's nobody stepping up to take their place.
 
Skeeter Skelton was beyond a doubt my favorite "gun writer" although I suspect he could have written about almost anything and been just as entertaining. He was a natural storyteller, who just happened to tell stories about guns.

RIP Skeeter. We miss you.
 
Confederate

Two of my most prized literary posessions are my first copy of Shooting Times I bought when I was a kid (March 1974 edition), and the Skeeter Skelton tribute put out by Shooting Times in June 1988. The first one had a full length article entitled: "Work guns I remember well". After reading that, I was hooked. I immediately subscribed to the magazine, and renewed it every year until his passing. The tribute edition is great, filled with some of his best stories, and rememberences written by his friends and other notable writers. I would love to find a copy of his book, "Good Friends...Good Guns...Good Whiskey" that was put together by PJS Publications in 1988. Skeeter Skelton was a great writer and story teller, the likes of which we will never see again.
 
Those were the days, no question. And there's nobody stepping up to take their place.
Click to expand...

+1

Cooper's already left us, and John Taffin is no spring chicken. The huge gap Jordan and Skeeter left has IMHO yet to be filled.
 
I used to subscribe to Shooting Times; I think I got on shortly after Skeeter went to the Big Gun Range in the Sky. Didn't they get Bart to write for a little while - I'm thinking before Sherriff Jim Wilson came on board (who, I think, does a commendable job with his writing, but lacks the conversational tone Skeeter had).

What's Bart doing these days? I thought I read somewhere he was following his father's footsteps in the Border Patrol.

Q
 
Anyone else remember that?
Click to expand...

I had just gotten into reading the guns mags when I read that and was confused for quite awhile.

It was even more confusing when I read other articles and magazines where Bill Jordan was mentioned or shown.

I really enjoyed reading their columns, and have some older magazines I got from a gun show that I occassionaly go back and read
 
Bill Jordan's books can be had from the Border Patrol Museum Gift Shop. As for Skeeter's, I found mine using AbeBooks or you can try eBay. I prefer AbeBooks as their prices are more reasonable and you get a better description of what you're buying.
 
I have all the books by Jordan, Skeeter and Keith that I can get my hands on. John Taffin is a heckuva writer and a vertible walking encycopedia of sixgun knowledge... he is remarkable!

But you're right... something is missing in the current day and age. While I have no complaints about Jim Wilson any worse than the rest (he has after all never tested a mediocre gun), frankly he bores me to death!

I know men that are friends of his and they assure me that he is an astute story teller and very entertaining. That sure doesn't come across in his magazine articles.
 
Skelton and Jordan were the two most entertaining gunwriters I have ever read. Taffin is the best going today in my opinion. Most writers today are dry and frankly kind of boring. Seems like they all just give you the facts according to them and let it go at that. Makes me think of the old Jack Webb TV show, "Just the facts, M'am."
 
Bart Skelton is writing the monthly "Down on the Border" column for Guns & Ammo, and has been for years.

He may be Skeeters son, but he ain't no Skeeter, that's for sure!

IMO: The best today are Jim Wilson, at Shooting Times, although he doesn't get nearly as much air time as he used to when they let him do the old-time history stuff.

And Brian Pearce, with Handloader and also Rifle magazine.
He comes closer to a gun-writer who knows what he is talking about then any of the current crop today.

rcmodel
 
Yarns! You mean they weren't true?????

Dang, I thought they were! They were so convincingly told.

I'll see if I can't find the publisher of those books and see if we can't twist their arms a bit. Shoot, I'd love to even see it in an e-book. Better than nothing!
 
Update.

The more I started thinking of it, the more I decided to see if perhaps SHOOTING TIMES might be interested in republishing some of Skeeter's old stories and articles...perhaps even republishing his books.

I wrote Joel Hutchcroft, editor of SHOOTING TIMES and almost immediately I received his kind reply.

Saying he would take the matter under advisement, he added: "It is hard to believe that this year marks the 20th anniversary of Skeeter’s death, and when you consider that he wrote for ST for 22 years prior to that, his influence on shooters goes back a very long time. It says a lot that people such as yourself still remember his writings. He definitely was a rare breed!"

Those wishing to add their requests can go to the Shooting Times website and click "Letters to the Editor." I'm sure Mr. Hutchcroft would be happy to hear from you.

.
 
W.E.G.

Thanks for the links, they brought back some fine memories. I especially enjoyed the Mama Mia Mishap; it's been a long time since I read that one. I remember a couple of other really humorous stories that he wrote, very similar in style to that one. Great stuff from a very talented writer, and he is still greatly missed.
 
Skelton and Jordan and Keith are still the best, in my opinion. They covered a lot of aspects of shooting very well. Taffin is my favorite living writer, but I would like to see more from him on self defense and related topics.
 
I have recently re-read some of the older articles, enjoying some of the rivalries. I came away saying to myself that "people just do not talk like that anymore". They were real word smiths, were humble but trustworthy because they had all been there done that. I think that is what is missing in todays writing. A LEO such as they were would not stay out of prison very long getting in the gun fights that they did. Nothing beats real experience, it came across.
 
Thanks, W.E.G. Just happened to find that story I referenced above in that classic Skeeter link. Here is the Q&A in its entirety, June 1979:

Who's Who in Gun Land?

Q: I ordered a copy of No Second Place Winner from Bill Jordan and asked if he had recovered from Jug Johnson's visit.

On the frontispiece of the book he wrote, "I am sure you are aware that both Jug Johnson and Skeeter Skelton are fictitious characters. Dobe Grant writes all of those Stories".

Well?

A: Well, it looks like you've been taken in, like so many others.

"Bill Jordan" is the pen name of Belle Jordan, a wizened little old lady in Shreveport, La. That long, tall, homely yahoo you see around the gun conventions is a guy she hired away from a carnival sideshow to make personal appearances for her.

Seems my memory was purty good after all. Thanks for posting. I still get a laugh over that one!

.
 
He may be Skeeters son, but he ain't no Skeeter, that's for sure!


No, but he has the same talent his father had for mixing guns, people, and history in his columns his father had. I think he does a pretty good job.
 
Skelton and Jordan and Keith are still the best, in my opinion.

Don't forget Harvey Donaldson who wrote a letter to Neil Knox in every early issue of the Rifle magazine.
 
While Skelton was surely my favorite ever, keep an eye on John Connor of American Handgunner. He's not the same as Skelton and Jordan, but he has his own voice and some interesting stories to tell. Plus, he has that grasp of the fundamentals of the hobby and the business like the old greats.
His body of work is still small and who knows where it might lead, but he's got that something special, and an excellent sense of humor.
Of course, it'd be tough to top Skelton's description of Jordan's then-new moustache as "Spanish moss".
Bill
 
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