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....