SKEETER SKELTON OWNED 1974 Colt Python – Bart Skelton Carried – Fred Sadowski Custom Tuned — E60803

• Uniformed patrolman with the Amarillo, Texas, Police Department.
• U.S. Border Patrol agent (including service on the agency’s last horse-mounted patrol in Arizona).
• Deputy sheriff and later Sheriff of Deaf Smith County, Texas.
• Narcotics investigator with the U.S. Customs Service.
• Special Agent in Charge with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), from which he retired in 1974

He also was a prolific writer, Skelton’s first nationally published article appeared in 1959.  He began writing for Shooting Times in 1966 and became the magazine’s Handgun Editor in 1967, a position he held until his death—roughly 21 years.  He produced more than 400 articles, mostly focused on handguns (especially revolvers).  His style mixed practical advice drawn from law-enforcement experience with storytelling and humor.  Including “Me and Joe” reminiscences of his Depression-era youth.  Occasional fiction featuring characters such as ’Dobe Grant and Jug Johnson.  He is perhaps best known for his advocacy for practical loads and guns, most famously the .44 Special.  He is widely credited with helping revive interest in the cartridge; his articles on converting .357 Magnum revolvers to .44 Special influenced gunsmiths and manufacturers, contributing to the return of numerous .44 Special handguns, both custom made and from major MFG like S&W.

• New Mexico State Police, with assignments in Carrizozo and Silver City.
• In 1989 he joined the U.S. Customs Service in Deming (following in his father’s footsteps). He later served in Del Rio, Alpine, and El Paso, Texas, before returning to Deming as Agent in Charge.
• He continued with the Department of Homeland Security / Homeland Security Investigations and retired in 2014 as Assistant Special Agent in Charge for New Mexico.