The greats are Elmer Keith, Bill Jordan, Skeeter Skelton, and today John Taffin.  Has the era of great gunwriters past?  Most gunwriting is today is unoriginal, uninspired, and just plain uninteresting.  Taffin is the only exception.  There are no great stories, adventures, or real experience.  Just a rehash of ground already covered by the greats.  I saw the picture of one terribly overweight Mike "Duke" Venturino wearing a German Helmet and a Hawaian shirt clutching a Luger and an MP-40.  It was just embarrassing ,"Duke" (an appalling appropiation of an iconic American hero nickname) has made a fool of himself IMHO .  I much prefer the steely gaze of Billl Jordan in "No second Place Winner".  The above may explain why I've read "Singuns by Keith" about 10 times in 20 years.    

Most of today's writers are nothing more than ad men for their magazines some of them who will go unnamed have never experianced a bad product. Most of them could write for any publication and either from a lack of interest or lack of opportunity do not have the experience the old timers had.

JD Jones is  very knowledgeable he is really an expert in his field he spends most of his time running SSK. The retired Ed Matunas is another expert in ballistics and gun design he has served as an expert firearms witness in many court cases.

Magazines themselves have changed I quite adverstising and taking writers hunting for the Petersons Publications because of the impossible advertising requirments that go along with a story. It used to be just tell the truth!

Len

I have to agree with them being more of an ad man than someone writting from experience.  You comment brings to mind an article in American Hunter about 1985.  The reason it sticks to mind so well is the guide involved was a  friend. The hunt was in the Selway River drainage in Idaho, the season at that time opened earlier than it does now and bugling was the perferred hunting method.  Gus came into town at the end of the season and was telling of taking this writer hunting.  He shot a bull with a 7 MM Rem. Mag.   Once the animal was down, the writer told him to bring the horses as close a possible, to get his T/C black powder rifle from the scabbard and to bring his day pack.

Gus did, the guy changed into some camo clothing and posed for photos with the T/C rifle and the elk.  When the article came out a year or so later, it was "one of the largest bodied bull elk, my guide had ever seen" and it was killed with one shot from his trusty T/C rifle. The camo manufacturer was named, as were the boots worn,  just about everything with the exception of his underwear was named with address and/or telephone number.  Gus got a good tip. 

That article seemd to be the start of the ad man process in my mind.  It's gotten steadily worse.  That aside, we did pass over a few good ones no longer with us, Bob Hagel from Gibbonsville, Idaho was a soft spoken gentleman who knew his stuff.  Both hunting and reloading.  Elmer Keith mentioned him in his writtings. Bob was above all, honest and sincere. Another is John Wootters.  Haven't seen much from him in years so guessing he's retired. 

I look forward to John Taffin's articles.   

Gentlemen, I agree with all that you have said, but have to say that I still find some gun writers informative. Brian Pearce  and Ross Siefried  are two writers that I look forward to reading. There are others but I think these two stand out today.
John

[QUOTE=chg]   "Once the animal was down, the writer told him to bring the horses as close a possible, to get his T/C black powder rifle from the scabbard and to bring his day pack.

Gus did, the guy changed into some camo clothing and posed for photos with the T/C rifle and the elk.  When the article came out a year or so later, it was "one of the largest bodied bull elk, my guide had ever seen" and it was killed with one shot from his trusty T/C rifle. The camo manufacturer was named, as were the boots worn,  just about everything with the exception of his underwear was named with address and/or telephone number.  Gus got a good tip." 

This probably happens more than you realize as you need to get as much mileage as you can out of a hunt. Many years ago I wrote two articles for a hunting magazine based out of the state of Washington it was a good magazine but due to other reasons went out of business.

The owner publisher asked if he could send me one of his advertisers rifles and another advertisers custom loaded ammo he wanted me to use it in Africa and promote it in an article. I could not keep the bullets on a pie plate at 100 yards. Since I did not reload for that caliber I had no way of doing anything with it. He sent me other loads but they too were horrible. I never determined if it was the rifle, scope, or ammo. It did not make that trip with me but in the article was mentioned as the rifle used.

Len



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Johniv - Forgot them!  Good catch

I can't say this for a fact , but Brian Pearce seems like the real deal to me.

Southern Man

I agree with you about Brian Pierce....

James
Did you read Brian's story about working with the USFA in .44 mag ?
That will be a nice handgun if they build it the way he ask.
Southern Man
NO DAMN MAN KILLS ME AND LIVES
" General " Nathan Bedford Forrest   

Southernman, I get Handloader and Rifle mags and read everything Mr Pierce.
Agree with you about the 44. He`s a gun writer with Keith in his background.
James
PS Even though I live in NJ I was born in Virginia....

James
I think if the USFA .44 mag. comes out like Brian wants,it will be the factory single action .44 mag ,Keith would have been happiest with . 
I know he liked the three screw Rugers ,but I think he would have liked the Freedom Arms 83 more.
Even though it's a bigger gun than you need in .44 mag.
I think the cylinders are a bit short on the Freedom Arms 97 for Keith to have liked it more than the Ruger.
If this USFA comes out to Brian's specs ,it'll be like Goldie Locks.
Just right
Southern Man
NO DAMN MAN KILLS ME AND LIVES
" General" Nathan Bedford  Forrest

Here's a link to the new USFAs:

http://www.usfirearms.com/cat/shooting-master-magnum.asp

The frame sizes are kind of confusing and it's hard to see what the rear sight looks like. Brian Pearce writes about the guns I like the most but if he claims he shot another critter while he's in midair I'm going to stop reading him.

We have one of the best, perhaps the best handgun writer still with us John Taffin. He is an extremely talented writer and his writings are backed by a lot of field work. I think the biggest difference between Taffin and Keith is the era in which they were born Taffin being a bit younger.

Len

Targetshootr
Thanks for the USFA link.I looked at their site the other night and did'nt see this.
I left the Pearce article at work , but I thought he was asking for pretty close to a SAA frame with the main differences being in the cylinder,base pin lock,and old style S&W micro rear sight.
I don't know about all this #2 & 3 frame ,cross lock ,and chrome lined bore.
They do not even mention the cylinder size.
I do feel like Pearce will report the facts on what they come out with.
John Taffin has done a bunch of great work over the years.
I have all his books and use them for reference regularly.
Southern Man

John Taffin....you can read in Mr Taffin`s articles the influence that Elmer Keith had on him. One of the best big bore handgun writers....

"BIG BORE" I never thought Taffin was a bore

I want to add that Bob Milek was great writer that had a ton of first hand experience after spending years as a Wyoming hunting guide.  As a teen in the 80's this was the the guy I always looked forward to reading in the new issues.  After Milek's untimely death in 93 I think that I preferred Seyfried the most.  If you will remember he did some great work with big bore revolvers in the 80's in Africa and really promoted the sport.  I loved that he was more of a traditional guy going at it with open sights and raw power!  I agree with the rest that Taffin, Seyfried and Pierce are leading the pack and I think that VanZwoll and Barsness are writing good rifle and hunting related articles.  I liked VanZwoll's recent article in G&A as he profiled custom rifle makers that actually use their precious works of art in the field, and I happen to be close friends with one of the makers, Gary Goudy, and I have a few of his rifles and I'm not afraid to use them.  I can tell you from knowing Goudy that there was no B.S. reporting from VanZwoll.

On another rant I can't stand that Boddington guy, let's see his title has changed so many times I can't keep up, it was Colonel, then General, I would not be surprised to see King ahead of his name some day as that's what I think his ego would like.  He has always been shady and it has been so obvious over the years that he was a whore to whoever was paying his way that i'm sure he would preach about a Jennings 22 as a great elephant killer if they paid his way!!.

For anyone out there that wants some good reading a MUST is Alaskan Yukon Trophies Won and Lost by George Young.  This is about a trip to the Yukon in 1919 and the hardships endured on such a trip into virtually virgin territory.  The book can be hard to find, but is worth it.  

Bob was a good guy he hunted in Africa with me in the early 80's

Len

    I hate to break up the Taffin lovefest here, but I think most folks like him simply because he's one of the only guys that ever writes about single actions, besides that other fat guy.

    I'd love to see another writer come along with similar interests, but who actually goes outdoors every day. I read these magazines to dream about the adventures I can't have right now, due to economic or geographical conditions.
    Every time I read an article of Taffin's where he actually went outdoors, the hunting part generally mentions "resting my gun on the hood of the truck", or "after seeing the animal fall, I turned around and got back in the truck".... Just because you're not on an actual road, doesn't mean you're not a road hunter. I realise that, as you get older, or your body wears out, you're not gonna hike as far, but come ON! I just had my spine fused almost a year ago, but if I can't do it right, I wait until I feel better, and do it then.

Who's the other fat one?

Venturino. He looks like he takes "all you can eat" as a personal challenge.

Yeah if I owned a restaurant and had a buffet and he walked in I would not be happy. I thought you were referencing another handgun writer who has gotten very heavy in recent years.

I am first and foremast an avid fair chase hunter. I know nothing about Taffin's hunting but find him very knowledgeable on revolvers another passion of mine.

Len

    Yeah, he definitely knows his stuff, I just hate reading those kinda articles. I've been known to take a shot if I needed meat when I was out feeding cows, but I sure as hell don't brag about it.

    Who was the other fat one you were thinking of?

JD he has really let himself go hes a great guy I hate to see him put his health at risk

Everyone has different ethics there is shooting and there is hunting. I have done both. I love shooting prairie dogs  I also stand hunt down south this is not hunting but shooting. The most rewarding thing is taking an animal by stalking and getting in close especially on dangerous game you feel you have beaten them on their own turf although in truth the animal more often than not just made a mistake.