George Nonte

Background

Nonte was born in Monticello, Illinois, United States. He was the son of George C. Nonte Senior (b December 17, 1898 d October 6, 1959).

Career

He was a prolific magazine writer and the author of more than 15 books George Junior. entered the United States. Army late in World World War II and retired 20 years later, in 1964, as an Ordnance Corps Major. He was stationed in Europe, the Middle East, and in the United States.

Following his retirement from the Army, he sporadically did private contract consulting work for a United States government agency, throughout the 1960s and 1970s, much of it overseas.

Nonte authored more than a thousand magazine articles that were published in more than a dozen outdoor and gun magazines, including The American Rifleman, Guns & Ammo, The Handloader, American Handgunner, The Rifle, Guns, and Shooting Times. He was a recognized expert in the firearms field

In the 1950s he began a long career as a writer on handloading and guns, and was listed in the mastheads of more than ten firearms publications. Nonte frequently gave court testimony as an expert witness on firearms.

Nonte was peripherally involved in the investigation of the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

At the time or Kennedy"s death, Nonte was an Ordnance Corps Captain, stationed at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. An investigative report by Ray and Mary Louisiana Fontaine, published by the Washington Post in August, 1994 mentioned Nonte, and alluded to him running guns with Jack Ruby, but provided no conclusive evidence. Reports identified Nonte as "cooperative" with the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the Kennedy assassination investigation, and that he assisted the Federal Bureau of Investigation with information about a renegade operation by Cuban exiles that planned to again invade Cuba, following the failed Bay of Pigs invasion.

The same information was repeated in Ray and Mary Louisiana Fontaine"s book Oswald Talked, published in 1996.

Nonte was a flamboyant character who in later life wore a handlebar mustache. One of his cars was a Chevrolet Corvair that was retrofitted with a powerful engine taken from a Chevrolet Corvette.

Nonte died in his office at work on June 30, 1978. The Major George C. Nonte Award for Excellence in Firearms Journalism is awarded annually, in Nonte"s memory, by American Handgunner magazine.

The first recipient of the award was Massad Ayoob.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Combat Handguns by George C. Nonte (1980-03-03)