Well gents, I�m not a full time writer, nor is that something to which I aspire (resisting the urge to end a sentence with a preposition).
I grew up in Sacramento, California and I lived there my whole life save the last 3 years. At an early age, I took to guns like a Lab to water. My first was a very well worn (ok, it was pretty much worn out) Winchester 1890 in .22 Short. Armed with said rifle, I proceeded to turn it into a weapon of mass destruction for the local cotton tail population. Grandma would cook �em up for me and make rabbit and dumplins (oh yeah!!).
I got serious about my shooting at around age 15 and started shooting competitively. Actually, over the years I�ve shot all sorts of competition, but I seem to loose interest when I start winning the majority of local matches. I�ve shot: Smallbore rifle (Mossberg 144) Military rifle (Garand) Benchrest (Shilen DGA) Bullseye (S&W K-22, 1911) IPSC (M1911) Handgun Silhouette (Contender .30-30, .357 Bain & Davis) Basically, if it involves a gun, I�ve either done it, or I�m conspiring. My goal is to do it all.
As for big game, my grandfather was a bear hunter, which means, I was a bear hunter. I�ve done my fair share of hunting just about everything else, but of late, I�m more of a shotgunner and bird hunter.
At age 17 I joined the Army but my tenure was cut short when I tackled a car head on with my motorcycle, which has left me a bit disabled. After 2 years and 3 surgeries, I was up and walking again. After some personal study, I got my first gunsmithing job working on machine guns. (not much of an MG fan, but it paid the bills). At that job, I had access to literally tens of thousands of old Mauser�s and I ended up building custom sporters on the side (still have a great love for the military Mauser).
I then started studying to become a Paramedic, and I worked the meaner streets of Sacramento for 16 years. During that time, I taught PHTLS (Pre Hospital Trauma Life Support) and regular classes on terminal ballistics to ER doctors and surgeons at UC Davis Medical Center. (mostly to dispel the BS and rumors about gun shot wounds). My two 24 hour shifts a week also allowed me to work as a bodyguard to some of the famous people we love to lothe.
I started writing about 3 years ago and I�ve written for Handguns, American Handgunner, Primedia, Guns Magazine etc. I�ve felt a bit pigeon holed into writing only about handguns, so I�ve taken a break from that.
My first love is sporting arms of all kinds. Of late, I�m spending a lot of time with some of the finer guns from England and Europe, while attempting to build a double rifle on a Parker action.
Recently I�ve been given access to the first known cartridge gun which was made in 1813 and I�m doing research on the gun, cartridge and its inventor (I�ll bet SDH knows). Not sure where I�m going with it yet, but I may put something together for the Double Gun Journal or Shooting Sportsman�It�s a fascinating gun and story.
Writing is a hobby for me, as is my shooting sport. The real writers are the ones who do it for a living�I love their work and I�m glad they do it every day�Don�t know that I could.
Thanks to all the writers for hanging out at the campfire
