I owe Ed Shilen a lot. If he didn't hire me my life sure would have turned out differently. I wrote a letter to Ed around the time I graduated from gunsmithing school in mid 1972. He told me to come down to Texas to have an interview and I did so. His wife Emily came and picked me up at the Greyhound station. On the day of the interview he asked me if I could start work that afternoon and asked me to stay at his home until I found an apartment and a car. I was really surprised. I was a total stranger, and a foreigner too. I saw then that he was not an ordinary person. He took me to a car dealer and helped me find a car and helped me financially also.
I worked under Allan Hall back then, he was in charge of all custom work. Ed said to me “you need a bench rest rifle, here is action S#016, a barrel blank, and a stock (laminated wood), you build it yourself. If you have any questions ask me, Allan or Doug.” I chose .222 ½ as my caliber. Also a .22 Sherman bullet die set was at the shop so I started to learn how to make bullets. I learned that what I learned in school and what custom rifle manufacturers were doing was very different. I ended up learning everything over from the basics.
My first benchrest match was the first Super Shoot at Tulsa in 1973. I met Warren Page and got an autograph on his latest BR book. At the first Super Shoot I was very lucky I didn’t shoot outside the target. Many shot outside the target, and of course they were disqualified back then. Ed asked me “are you afraid of flying?” “No.” “I mean a very small airplane,” so I said “I was a paratrooper, so...” “Good, you fly with me then.” Ed used to own a Cessna 195 and later switched to a Skymaster (dual prop, push and pull). Ed, Doug (Ed's son) and I went to an Arizona shoot with the Cessna 195 one time. We stopped in El Paso when nature called. It was very exciting because it was a windy day, small airplanes and wind are an exciting combination. It's nice to go to a shooting match with a private airplane. We flew to San Angelo and other Tulsa matches also.
This all happened a long time ago but then again I feel like it just happened yesterday. I saw Ed a few months ago and we talked awhile. I learned a lot from Shilen Rifle. Thanks to Ed and all.
I worked at Shilen from 1972 to 1980.
Turk Takano
