Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Did anyone know Warren H. Page?

This is a long shot, and really is only for my personal interest, but a while back I bought a very nicely engraved Franz Marktl Mauser rifle in .375 HH that was "attributed" to Warren H. Page. Sounds reasonable since there are 3 large gold letter initials on the triggerguard, "WHP". It has a very nice Kudu on the Floorplate, a male lion on the receiver and a lioness on the bridge. A nice but not spectacular fiddleback walnut stock in a semi-modern style (drat). Top quality all the way. Also has a Jager removable scope mount (first I've seen) with a Leupie 4x in it, plus the open sights.

Does anyone know if this was his rifle, or recall any pictures of him on African hunts? Suggestions for verification would be appreciated if they don't involve the occult. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

IIFID, Don't shoot the messenger! I'm holding in my hand the obituary that appeared in the March 1977 issue of Field & Stream for Warren Kempton Page...........sorry. RS

No big deal, thanks, I could have sworn his initials were WHP, but I'm terrible on names anyway. Must have been someone with the initials WHP who had some money somewhere. Oh, well....

I didn't know Page, but corresponded with him a few times, years ago. My questions were about the 7MM Super Mashburn, which was a favorite of his. BTW, a stylized, engraved "K," can look mighty like an "H," if one doesn't examine it closely.



That said, I looked back through my collection of "The Gun Digest" books -- I have all except the 1950 edition (That's what happens when you loan a book to a "friend.") -- and haven't found anything (YET) on that particular rifle. I did find, however, in the 1962 edition, an article by Page in which he writes extensively about a number of his African hunts, and heavy caliber rifles.



In that article, "Knock Down Nothing," by W. Page, he relates killing many Cape buffalo, with a "...souped up 375 Weatherby..." which I took to mean a .378 Weth. As many times as he was in Africa, if your rifle were one of his, I'd bet it was in Africa with him on a hunt... or two.



I'll keep looking and see if I can find something specific on that rifle.



Later. LW.

I appreciate the effort, but, in this case, the middle initial is clearly an "H".

Leanwolf--

I don't think Page meant the .378. He had a custom .375 Weatherby built on a Remington 721 action and it was by far his favorite for Africa, on many if not most safaris the only rifle he took. He souped it up with hot handloads, and shot all of the Big Five with it.

JB

Mule Deer, I believe you're right about Warren Page and the ".375 Weatherby." I went through several of his "The Gun Digest" articles, and he referred to it several times. Also, in the "Rifle" portion of the older T. G. D. editions, among the available Weatherby calibers the .375 Weatherby is listed next the .378 Weatherby.

Page mentioned also, that he had killed ten Cape buffalo, and six elephants while on quite a few safaris in Africa. Ahhh, the good old days.

According to some of the articles, he also used the 7MM Mashburn Magnum in Africa. He kinda liked that one, too.

Thanks for the info.

L.W.

Back in the late sixties and seventies, next to Jack O'Connor, I enjoyed reading Warren "Lefty" Page the most of the various outdoor writers, and there were many back then. He took the reader to interesting places and did not diminish the personal hardships that he encountered and mistakes that he committed. Basic facts and common sense and not a lot of BS. He may have been the best rifle shot of all of them and he won several National matches, yet he did not brag constantly about it. Unfortunately for us, he did not publish very much outside of his columns on Field and Stream. I have a paperback copy of his book "The Accurate Rifle" and have an article that he wrote for a hardcover book compilation of various notables of the time titled "Gun Talk". His article is titled "One Man's African Rifle".

In general, Warren Page really only focused on a couple of cartridges. I do not remember him getting into any cartridge feuds with other writers. He seemed to have found what he liked, stuck with it, and clearly explained to the reader why. He wrote more about the .240 PSP for varmints and deer, the 7mm Mashburn Magnum (his with a 4x Redfield Scope and preferably the 175 grain Nosler Partition, or the Bitterroot or the Remington PCL) for his world travels and most African antelope, and his customized Remington Model 721 with a Mesquite stock chambered for the .375 Weatherby (with a 2.5X and a 300 grain Hornady Solid at 2,775 fps) for the bigger and more dangerous stuff in Africa such as the buffalo]. By the way, Weatherby has resurrected the .375 Weatherby.

I remember reading about Warren Page's African Bongo hunt, his Marco Polo sheep hunt and his glacier blue bear hunt, all of which he shot with his favorite, the 7 mm Mashburn. He was a unique character.

JamesG.

In skillful writing, Warren Page was right there with Ruark and O'Connor at the head of the class. I drank everything he wrote as if I'd die of thirst otherwise.



Came closest to meeting him about fifty years ago when I pulled into Charlie O'Neil's place after Page had left. Charlie was still fuming -- Page had offered to make Charlie and OKH rifles "rich and famous" if Charlie'd make him an OKH rifle and send him on an African safari with it. Charlie ran him off so fast his shoes smoked. Not long thereafter and for the rest of his life, Page spoke highly of his Mashburn rifle. Did Page take a more reasonable approach with Art Mashburn, or did Mashburn go for the same deal that Charlie rejected? Your conclusion is as good as mine -- I don't know -- or care much.



Whatever he may have been like as a person, he was without any doubt one of the greatest of American outdoor writers in a day when we had a bunch of that breed. That's the way to remember him now. One day, he made Charlie O'Neil mad enough to chew pig iron and spit nails, but over an impressive number of years, he gave an awful number of the rest of us many thousands of hours of enjoyable and edifying reading. I don't know of any instance when he falsified something for the sake of a good story -- a sin that other excellent prose stylists of his time and since were (and are) repeatedly guilty of.

Ken,
I am curious...

Through the years and all of the enjoyable writing that we are lucky enough to have, what do you consider the "golden age" of outdoor writing?

I grew up reading O'Connor and Keith and still have a soft spot for them. I love anything Ruark wrote. But I don't have near the coverage you do. Would love to hear an opinion.

Sure as you're born, I'll unintentionally omit some who richly deserve listing (and intentionally omit others -- well known -- whom I know to richly deserve omission), but here are some who leap to mind -- in no special order:

Jack O'Connor
Warren Page
Robert Ruark
Corey Ford
Elmer Keith
Lucian Cary
Townsend Whelen
Charles Askins (the father)
E C Crossman
Julian S Hatcher
John Taylor
Theodore Roosevelt
Archibald Rutledge
C S Landis
John Hunter
Jim Corbett
A C Gould
Earl Naramore
Alexander Lake
... Burrard (first name escapes me)
... Greener (ditto)
Fred Ness
Al Barr
W H B Smith

It is my great and wonderful fortune that with the acquistion of Homer Powley's library, added to what I already had and what I've added lately, all but a very few of these greats' works are on my shelves -- available to all visitors, especially after we get the Powley Center built and open. By then, still more of these Golden Age books will be on these shelves. Ohh, (as Jackie Gleason used to say) how sweet it is! Great reading, both for pleasure and for learning about guns, shooting, hunting, etc.

Thank you Ken.

You just gave me a great list of reading to search out.

Much appreciated!

Warren Page wrote another book about hunting and conservation. It was called "One Man's Wilderness"

It was a good read

Ken, Nice list! Definatly some close to forgotton names in there. Off to Amazon.com!!

Pat

A better site -- especially for used and out-of-print books -- might be http://www.abebooks.com/

A lot of people spoke of their close connection to Warren Page (can you top this).
No answer to the mans question; What was his middle name?
tAKE cARE!

Yes, it was already mentioned,but it is also mentioned in both books-'Kempton'

Ken Howell,



Just curious, was Russell Annabel intentionally or unintentionally omitted from your list? If intentional, why? Supposedly Hemingway said he was the best outdoor writer he had read. I really enjoy his writing - great stuff. Sits on the shelf right next to my John B. books, and not because they're in alphabetical order :-)



Aldeer

Ted Trueblood?

This might take the record for resuscitating an old thread.