Henry Christman 1970's BR Competitor

vtmarmot

vtmarmot

P Magoon, Livin' Free NH
Back around 1981 Nosler ran an ad showing .222 mag shooter Henry Christman of Pearland, Texas, with some match-winning targets. He's an intriguing figure in his cowboy hat with cartridge bases studding the hat band, his fancy shooting coat and handlebar mustache. A friend of mine has a rifle in .222 mag that he bought from Henry at about that time, plus a copy of the ad. I could find almost nothing about Henry on the web, except his death notice from 2003 and a mention of him in the article "Secrets of the Houston Warehouse". I would like to hear from anyone who knew him or has any stories or anecdotes that would prove interesting. My friend says he was a quiet and modest man but that picture in the ad shouts that there was a lot more to it.
 
vtmarmot said:
Back around 1981 Nosler ran an ad showing .222 mag shooter Henry Christman of Pearland, Texas, with some match-winning targets. He's an intriguing figure in his cowboy hat with cartridge bases studding the hat band, his fancy shooting coat and handlebar mustache. A friend of mine has a rifle in .222 mag that he bought from Henry at about that time, plus a copy of the ad. I could find almost nothing about Henry on the web, except his death notice from 2003 and a mention of him in the article "Secrets of the Houston Warehouse". I would like to hear from anyone who knew him or has any stories or anecdotes that would prove interesting. My friend says he was a quiet and modest man but that picture in the ad shouts that there was a lot more to it.
Click to expand...



Don't give up hope just yet. I spoke to one senior citizen that remembers Mr Christman. Unfortunately he doesn't know much about his persona. I'm wating on a response from a close friend of Mr Christman. I'll be delighted to post what I find out. This is interesting stuff to me.


Glenn
 
Don't look like you are going to get much response to your questions. I will try and remember as much as I can about Henry. I used to belong to the Pearland sportsman club back in the late 60s and early 70s. We shot together there in the old tri-annual match, that was not really benchrest as we think of it today. We shot 4 matches, one was offhand, one prone, benchrest, and prone with the old 30 carbine. Henry, best I remember was kind of an experimenter, he was usually trying something different. He seemed to usually shoot mid pack with our group ( some real good shooters in it.) He came one match after shooting some true benchrest and had done quite well. I remember the group asking him how he had improve so much, and His reply was, he had gotten in with the Shilen group and manage to get a premium barrel. Made it sound like you had to get on the inside of the group to get that quality. I left that area in the early 70s and did not shoot competition for about 30 years. So lost track of most of all the old guys there. It has been a long time so don't remember too many thing to share with you. I do know that when I read the story or the Houston Warehouse, Henry was the only name I recognized form that. I also remember that when he began to shoot becnchrest he went by the handle of Chris Cross.

Sam Duke
 
Specifications of the rifle Chrisman used to shoot the "Nosler" groups

. You need to talk to John Jones of Houston, Tx or Ralph Counsel, they both shot with Henry for years. I bought the rifle that the "Nosler" groups were shot with. The guns was a Hart 1-A actioned 222 Rem. Mag, Hart barrel with Cherry wood stock, built by Clyde Hart. That gun was probably the original "Hummer"
 
Thanks for that info. I got in touch with John Jones who told me some about my friends rifle also.
 
Thanks for the info, Sam. Butch Lambert and Glenn Chism put me onto some other contacts too. I expect after I've called everyone I will have quite a bit of info. I'm getting more every day.
 
Henry was quite a fellow, he'd talk to you as long as you'ld like and help all he could. We were talking about him and others at Tom Ball just today. I remember at the 1981 crawfish he shot on the last bench and a squirel jumped up on his bench ! he shot way out of his group and threwed a fit. I laffed so hard I cried. even funnier was the LOOK on Jack Yates face sitting next to him !!! I have a photo of them at their benches just before it happened.
 
vtmarmot said:
Back around 1981 Nosler ran an ad showing .222 mag shooter Henry Christman of Pearland, Texas, with some match-winning targets. He's an intriguing figure in his cowboy hat with cartridge bases studding the hat band, his fancy shooting coat and handlebar mustache. A friend of mine has a rifle in .222 mag that he bought from Henry at about that time, plus a copy of the ad. I could find almost nothing about Henry on the web, except his death notice from 2003 and a mention of him in the article "Secrets of the Houston Warehouse". I would like to hear from anyone who knew him or has any stories or anecdotes that would prove interesting. My friend says he was a quiet and modest man but that picture in the ad shouts that there was a lot more to it.
Click to expand...
This is my uncle Jack as we knew him at family gathering's. He was great. And alway willing to help. He and my brother went to camp perry once that i remember, Wish i would have taken advantage of his knowledge when i was younger.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top