Elmer Keith et al

I met Elmer in 1969 at his home in Salmon ID. He was firearms instructor for the Erv Malnarich Guide School up in Hamilton, MT. We shot together many times after that and he taught me long range pistol shooting. Shot the 600 yard target time after time with .44 Mags. I had met Bill Jordan a few years earlier when I was working in Louisiana and it was no surprise that he and Elmer were friends. I've had a couple of their books signed to me but only have one left. Also have a number of personal letters from each of them.
Some other personal friends included Jeff Cooper, Chuck Taylor, Jim Lenardson and a host of others. Had the privilege of shooting with and against the best in the world. It is a pleasure to be back on the forum after several years absence.
Rocky  USMC 1953-63

another scam post?

ssauer2004 wrote:another scam post?

Hell no. Was just talking shooting and people I know. Fun memories. Maybe one of the guys will reply but a lot of them are dead now. Did you see anything that was for sale, or anything being asked for? Why call it into question? Why not ask me a personal question or offer something new? I've been doing a lot of travel in and out of country and lost track of many shooting pals. Just getting reacquainted. One of the Mods looked and found an old registry for me and I'd bet it goes back into the 80's?
Semper Fi 

80’s? 

Dual density floppy drives and GWBasic programming!

RockyDX wrote:

ssauer2004 wrote:another scam post?

Hell no. Was just talking shooting and people I know. Fun memories. Maybe one of the guys will reply but a lot of them are dead now. Did you see anything that was for sale, or anything being asked for? Why call it into question? Why not ask me a personal question or offer something new? I've been doing a lot of travel in and out of country and lost track of many shooting pals. Just getting reacquainted. One of the Mods looked and found an old registry for me and I'd bet it goes back into the 80's?
Semper Fi 

Why call into question? You posted in the Classified Section and do not have anything for sale.  Your one post count doesn't help matters considering there have been many suspect posts and scams of late.

My pistol DX badge is #586, and my former wifes is International DX #317. At one time we thought about going for the 1st husband/wife national champs but life got in the way. She did become U.S. International Ladies Champ though in addition to many other state championships and international shoots.

As I said earlier, I've been gone and still fumbling around in the forum trying to find my way. I guess I understand ssauer wondering if a scam since it was in the commercial row area. My apologies.

Moved to general

I'm enjoying reading his book "Hell I was there right now." It must have been awesome to meet him in person, the first four chapters paint him to me as someone who is rugged and truly larger than life with an awesome memory! I can't believe some of his life experiences living in the rugged country of Montana and Idaho. I got to book off of ebay for a mere $85.00 and it's a signed copy to boot! Truly a treasure to read and I plan on letting other friends read and enjoy it. Some of the experiences he documents about meeting old buffalo hunters and old frontier cowboys is just amazing!  I'm sure I haven't even got to the good parts yet about his six gun experimenting years etc.!

Elmer was bigger than life and he sure liked to talk!! He did what he claimed and I met enough people who had known him for many years who backed it up. When he was writing "Hell I Was There" i gave him quite a few photos from back in the Selway Bitterroot Wilderness, and in the old Idaho Primitive Area. He wrote me back later when I was working in Afrika and said the publishers didn't use any of my photos for some reason. He taught me long range pistol shooting and showed me how to raise the front sight and still keep it on target. He had gold wire on his front sights to use for elevation and not obscure the target. In example, I shoot my match 1911 with my 50 yd loads and hold the top of the rear sight at the base of the front sight for shot out past 100 yds. I can do the same at 300 yards but have to hold the rear sight about half way down the slide! Makes alignment a challenge  . Using Elmers methods, I managed to hit an old car gas tank on a sand bank that was measured at 900 yards. Shooting sitting holding with both hands, a Ruger Super Blackhawk 7" bbl. Several hits proved it wasn't a fluke. The 2nd floor of his home was filled with firearms in stand up racks and the pistols were stacked on wood dowels in the barrels. His office in back was filled with trophies and I've got pics of us there and in the front yard. Great memories....

Did you know any of the Army shooter's and/or gunsmith's from Fort Benning in the 1956-60 time frame?

I didn't have much contact with the Army guys being USMC on the west coast. Names didn't mean much to me then but later on I realized I had shot against some of the best like BenneWas shooting with the 3rd MAW team out of El Toro, and the MCRD SDiego team when I was a D.I. I know I upset some Army shooters at Phoenix when I shot either a state or regional (can't recall but it was 1958). I shot as an independent and the UMSC MTU guys were there. It surprised hell out of both the USMC and Army (me too) when I won a few stages in rapid fire.

RockyDX wrote:My pistol DX badge is #586, and my former wifes is International DX #317. At one time we thought about going for the 1st husband/wife national champs but life got in the way. She did become U.S. International Ladies Champ though in addition to many other state championships and international shoots.

Rocky,

I got my last points @ Perry in '81. I never figured out my number but thought it to be in the high 500's. How did you determine yours? Was it in the same time frame as mine?

Ron Habegger

Greetings Ron,

I earned my Badge in 1988, #780.

Did find your name on the database; sadly, no badge number.

Contact the ODCMP and they may be able to reveal your number.

Cheers,

Dave

Colt711 wrote:

RockyDX wrote:My pistol DX badge is #586, and my former wifes is International DX #317. At one time we thought about going for the 1st husband/wife national champs but life got in the way. She did become U.S. International Ladies Champ though in addition to many other state championships and international shoots.

Rocky,

I got my last points @ Perry in '81. I never figured out my number but thought it to be in the high 500's. How did you determine yours? Was it in the same time frame as mine?

Ron Habegger

Isn't it engraved on the back of your badge?

Edit: I can answer my own question. My dad's just has his name and the year (1975). No number. I doubt I have his DCM letter.

My number is engraved on the back of my badge. So they started doing that sometime between 1975 and 1993

If the military issued the badge it may not have a number associated with it.  The DCM/CMP did keep track of the numbers for civilians, the services may have or may not have??

My US Army Dist Pistol Badge has my rank and name on it. No numbers. 1991 era.
Jon

John,
I was at Adams Cons. Club when your dad broke 2600 the 1st time. He & Cwcil were shooting next to each other and it was one of them. Pretty sure it was your dad. A few yrs have passed!
It was in April of whatever yr. In those days Adams squadded by class. I was a SS or Ex and was w/ the Masters as the result of a mixup.
Ron Habegger

Colt711 wrote:John,
I was at Adams Cons. Club when your dad broke 2600 the 1st time. He & Cwcil were shooting next to each other and it was one of them. Pretty sure it was your dad. A few yrs have passed!
It was in April of whatever yr. In those days Adams squadded by class. I was a SS or Ex and was w/ the Masters as the result of a mixup.
Ron Habegger

1976 according to the NRA.