Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters No longer with Wolfe Publishing

I've subscribed to Wolfe's publications for many years, and have collected almost all past issues of H/L and R. I have also been a follower of Ken Waters, but I have to acknowledge,that you, thhough your articles and books have taught me more in the past few years than any other single source. We've talked at several MT gunshows so will look forward to seeing you again, and following more of your writings. Enjoy the hunt!

Wow - what a shame. As said, Wolf's loss.

I will still subscribe (I'm out there into the future quite a bit anyway) but I would like to know were to find your articles - you are one of the big reasons that I subscribed to Rifle, Handloader and SH...

I worked for a company for a little over 4 years and doubled the dollar volume in my territory without cutting prices. The new regional manager and I were like oil and water. He fired me.

The went to work for a company in a different business in 1976 and in 1981 was Salesman of the Year out of a sales force of 65. By 1998 we'd been bought by an eastern firm. They fired all the sales people.

I got tired of giving my best for other people and became an independent broker.
Best decision of my life! Go freelance and live free! All the best.

I may work for a jerk, but I'm pretty sure he won't fire me.

Roger Beach

Jerk? You're a son of a Beach!





I'm really sorry you had to hear that for the millionth time, I just couldn't resist! .......................DJ

I have read every issue of Rifle and Handloader since they was first published. Not at the date of publishing but as I accumulated them over the years. There is a steady change since the days of Neal Knox. It was a lot more enthusiast friendly in the old days.
I always enjoy your articles where ever I find them. Kind of like a vintage Charley Waterman piece. It never gets dated or hackneyed.

drducati,

Thanks very much. That's one of the nicest compliments I've gotten. Charley was a friend of mine (we visited both in Florida and Montana, and fished together in Florida a little) and I learned a lot from him about writing, both the craft and the business.

Muledeer, Would you consider writing a book on leverguns that includes, well, everything, ballistics on the straight wall cases, breakdown diagrams for cleaning, stuff like that?

Reading some writers is like perusing entries in a journal. With a very few it is a trip into nostalgia and the past where one walks in mountains and smells the smoke of remembered camp fires. John is one of those few. I worried when he became editor but believe he now faces only opportunity. Sadly, Wolfe now has only reporters and no writers. Time for weeping.

John,

I just had to add that I have been reading your work since your 1981 article entitled THE 30-06 CASE STILL MAKES FINE WILDCAT MEDIUMS in the Ninth Edition of HANDLOADER'S DIGEST.

It infected me with the dreaded wildcat fever, which has been only recently treated by the building of a 6.5 X 270 on a LH Rem 700. I have a LH Chas. Daly that will be a medium in either a 35 Whelen or 9.3 X 62.

Looking forward to more of your work.

Roger Beach

Man, that was a long time ago. I supposedly sold that article to GUN DIGEST, but before it was printed John Amber retired and Ken Warner decided to put it in HD. That was the very first article I sold to those books.

Is the difference in the 6.5/.270 and the 6.5-06 the slightly longer neck?

Both the .35 Whelen and 9.3x62 are great rounds. But once you have them, you'll have to get a pair of rifles chambered for their short-action brothers, the .350 Remington Magnum and the 9.3 B-S!

I just got a copy of "The Best of John Jobson," a collection of articles he wrote for Sports Afield. It's a wonderful read by a gifted author. But back to the present. Mule Deer, you've been writing for well over 20 years now; have you considered putting together a book of your favorite articles? You are getting harder to collect now that you write for so many publications. I'm pretty sure a collection of your best would sell very well.

I second the motion on that idea! Consider one pre-sold...
Ingwe

I am way ahead of you, guys. I'm putting together three books. They won't exactly be collections of articles, because some have to be updated or otherwise rewritten a little, but they are in the works. The first will be a book on hunting rifles. The others are another book of hunting stories (like THE LIFE OF THE HUNT) and a book about handloading. Don't know which one will come after the hunting rifle book. But they are all in various stages. I am hoping/planning to get the rifle book out next year.

In fact two of my previous books were either entirely or mostly collections of previously published articles. THE LIFE OF THE HUNT had four original pieces, written just for the book, mixed with a bunch of previously published articles, but WESTERN SKIES (my bird-hunting book) was entirely made up of previously published material.

I'll take two of each when you're done That's great news, the handloading book in particular is a greatly needed addition to the hunting library.

Mule Deer, I'd loved to see a book from you on general gunsmith/stock topics. That article you did a few years back in Rifle on stock bedding was fantastic.

While we're comparing you to writers, I've always thought of you as the Gierach of the Gun: A great story line, a lot of info and tons of heart.

OK, amend my earlier post. Consider three pre-sold!

Keep up the quality- as Im sure you will- like LIFE OF THE HUNT,which if you remember, even my sister, the ex-PETA-file thought should be required reading for hunters and non-hunters alike!!! THATS quite a compliment!
Ingwe

Hey, thanks for the comparison! I have met Gierach a couple of times, and he even said he liked my own trout-fishing book. I really like his stuff, of course. One of my favorites is an observation he made years ago, before he started making decent money. One of his acquaintances asked how he could afford such fine bamboo fly rods when he drove an old beat-up Toyota pickup. John said: "Isn't it obvious?"

I am kind of the same way. I don't drive a beat-up old Toyota pickup, but both our pickups (a Ford and Toyota) are 9 years old, though in very fine shape. And I have been asked how I could go hunting in places like Africa and buy custom rifles by guys who buy a new $40,000 pickup both for them and their wife every other year.

There will be gunsmithing stuff in the rifle book, on the things most of us can do like stock bedding and scope mounting.

Looking forward to the books!

Yeah, my truck's nine going on ten. I've got a bit of nice bamboo and a lot of nice guns hanging around the house.

Re: Handloader's Digest 9th, et al

Well John, it was a long time ago and I am getting a little long in the tooth. At least those I have left. I must have read that article 20 times. Can't tell you why it is so enjoyable, but I think it is a classic. Maybe I just like the nostalgia of when we both had less "distinguishing grey" in our hair. You have more than I do. Hair, not grey.

My 6.5 X 270 is a product of Charles A. Benke and his article in HL 176 on the 6.5 X 64 Brenneke which is identical to the 6.5 X 270. He mentioned Ray Montgomery (Ray's Gunshop in Grand Junction, CO) who has used this wildcat for 20 years, and that Ray chambers his 6.5/06's with the longer neck (+.046) because the 270W and 280 Remington are 2.540 oal vs the 2.494 oal of the rest of the '06 family. That way you can use any of the family and not worry about high pressures at bullet release. On a antelope hunt in the Dakotas everyone in the party had on '06, 270 or 280. I casually mentioned reloading for the 6.5 and ended up with the whole parties empties at the end of the hunt. Now I can't find my neck turner.

I acquired a Rem 700 LH and bought a Douglas Premium 10" twist from a guy I met at a gun store. I never planned to shoot anything heavier than a Hornady 129 anyway. Benke says he was able to stabilize 160's and I (I could not bring myself to buy a 270W. Needed something different to do the same job. You know the disease.) When I called Ray for an estimate to rebarrel, bead blast, and blue, he said his was 14" twist and he was having a tough time getting enough velocity to stabilize a 140 gr for a caribou hunt in Canada. I sent him the barrel and barreled action.

I am leaning toward the 9.3 X 62. I have a 358W in BLR. The 250 Speer at 2350 is awesome on whitetails. Haven't seen an elk with it in hand. Practicality may get the upper hand, as I won't have to stock another bullet caliber and get to fooling around with various weight and end up with another dozen half boxes of bullets I probably won't shoot. I can get Hawk and Swift 275-280 grain bullets in 35 if I feed the need to take on a Musk Ox and need the SD for penetration. Another mental battle.

The only magnum I own is a Smith 27 5" circa 1975. And my scopes run to 2.5X, 4X, 1-4X, and 1.5-5X. The man on the trigger is the magnum. If I can't see well enough and can't get closer there is always another day. I started hunting big game 48 years ago. I have lost one animal. Bad hit. I found it a day later and was sick for a week. Never again.

John, I agree with some of the others. I just read Finn's FINN AAGAARD SELECTED WORKS. It is a treasure. You need to do a similar volume. It's already written and would provide some fast cash. I'll send you a PM about a solution.

Roger Beach