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Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 693
Campfire Regular
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OP
Campfire Regular
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 693 |
Is he still with us? I knew he had not been writing and have not heard anything about him for some time...
Life's too short to smoke cheap cigars....
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Joined: May 2008
Posts: 16,540
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 16,540 |
Hopefully Dr. Howell will provide an update but as of April 2009 Mr. Waters was still alive.
I can find no obituary for the man.
Can you even imagine how many round that man loaded and fired in his long career?!?
The Chosin Few November to December 1950, Korea. I'm not one of the Chosin Few but no more remarkable group of Americans ever existed.
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Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 6,237
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Nov 2004
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Reports of his death are greatly exagerated.
Ignorance is not confined to uneducated people.
WHO IS JOHN GALT? LIBERTY!
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 29,348
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 29,348 |
Is he still with us? I knew he had not been writing and have not heard anything about him for some time... I haven't talked with Ken in a long time, but his 'phone number is still listed in the white pages for his home town in Connecticut. I'll be eighty in January 2011, and Ken is somewhat older than I am. His beloved Lois died several years ago. Sweet, lovable lady! Ken's probably a recluse nowadays. He never liked for his readers to "waste his time" on the telephone and seldom called his friends. He could be awfully crotchety, even with his friends.
"Good enough" isn't.
Always take your responsibilities seriously but never yourself.
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Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 21,810
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 21,810 |
Is he still with us? I knew he had not been writing and have not heard anything about him for some time... I haven't talked with Ken in a long time, but his 'phone number is still listed in the white pages for his home town in Connecticut. I'll be eighty in January 2011, and Ken is somewhat older than I am. His beloved Lois died several years ago. Sweet, lovable lady! Ken's probably a recluse nowadays. He never liked for his readers to "waste his time" on the telephone and seldom called his friends. He could be awfully crotchety, even with his friends. Ken: I always admired KW's writing and knowledge. I've wondered whether he was a full time experimenter and gun writer or did he have a day job also - few get rich as a full time gun writer.
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 29,348
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 29,348 |
� I always admired KW's writing and knowledge. I've wondered whether he was a full time experimenter and gun writer or did he have a day job also - few get rich as a full time gun writer. He's a former merchant seaman. When he wrote gun stuff, he was the city engineer (civil) for his home city in Connecticut � long since retired, of course. He's an ardent fan of steam power and has filled several albums with photographs of all the world's steam-powered ships. He has also written a historical novel, Sea Officer. He earned good (but not super-good) salaries on his official jobs but got pitifully little from his writing. Never ever rich or even close to it, of course.
"Good enough" isn't.
Always take your responsibilities seriously but never yourself.
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Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 60,052
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 60,052 |
"Pitifully little from his writing" would pretty much describe gun writing in general, with a few exceptions!
“Montana seems to me to be what a small boy would think Texas is like from hearing Texans.” John Steinbeck
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Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,780
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,780 |
He's an ardent fan of steam power and has filled several albums with photographs of all the world's steam-powered ships. Well there ya go!... Any fan of steam power (rather maritime or railroad) has to be a good guy in my book (!) even if "He could be awfully crotchety", as you said. I ALWAYS enjoyed his articles. His Pet Loads book is one I refer to frequently and, heck, I just enjoy reading it. Ken and/or JB, If you should happen to speak with or correspond with Ken, please give him our best. I think most of us at the Campfire really enjoyed his writing. Most sincerely, -Bob F.
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Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 14,459
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 14,459 |
They may have not made much $$$ but the the three Kens have given us, the shooting world, a "wealth" of shooting knowledge.
We could never pay them back or enough.
Ken Oehler Ken Waters Ken Howell
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Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 79,321
Campfire Oracle
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Campfire Oracle
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 79,321 |
Don't be a curmudgeon, Ken.
Check in and talk with us from time to time.
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Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 15,676
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 15,676 |
Ken's probably a recluse nowadays. He never liked for his readers to "waste his time" on the telephone and seldom called his friends. He could be awfully crotchety, even with his friends. Sounds like a kindred spirit. Gotta get a copy of Pet Loads.
Z
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 29,348
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 29,348 |
They may have not made much $$$ but the the three Kens have given us, the shooting world, a "wealth" of shooting knowledge.
We could never pay them back or enough.
Ken Oehler Ken Waters Ken Howell I'm flattered to be included with either of those two � doubly flattered (and then some) to be included with both of 'em.
"Good enough" isn't.
Always take your responsibilities seriously but never yourself.
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Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 347
Campfire Member
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Campfire Member
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 347 |
vires,fortitudo,vigilantia
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 29,348
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 29,348 |
� If you should happen to speak with or correspond with Ken, please give him our best. I think most of us at the Campfire really enjoyed his writing. Both speaking and hearing are awfully hard for me. The long-distance 'phone service here is worse than poor anyway. Ken doesn't want me to give anybody either his address or his 'phone number. He doesn't have a computer, either. So let's do this � Mail him a letter (Ken Waters � c/o Ken Howell � Box 28 � Quemado, NM 87829), marked "Please forward," and I'll forward it to Ken. He'll be glad to hear from you and may answer.
"Good enough" isn't.
Always take your responsibilities seriously but never yourself.
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Joined: May 2003
Posts: 1,371
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 1,371 |
I hope Ken is working on the next two books for his Sea Officer trilogy. The first one is good. Ken Waters was in the Army�s mine planter service and was in the Merchant Marine. I wish Ken had written about his experiences with the mine planters as their equipment was primitive. The mine planters had some distinctive uniforms though. The work could be dangerous. Ken�s first magazine article is supposed to have been published in 1936, I have never run across it. The first of his writing, which really interested me was in the 1958 Gun Digest when he suggested the cartridge which eventually became the 7-30 Waters. I think it�s a good idea to write him, he entertained me for most of my life.
Slim
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 29,348
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 29,348 |
Re the 7-30 Waters �
At an NRA convention in Seattle, Dick Pelton (the CEO of USRAC at the time) asked me whether I'd designed any rimmed cartridges that'd be suitable for the Big Bore 94.
I hadn't � then.
So I urged him to take a long, hard look at Ken's excellent and proven wildcat 7mm-.30-30.
Dick was smart enough to run with that notion.
He got Federal (IIRC) to agree to make the ammo, and the result is ammo history.
Too bad that an excellent lever-gun cartridge isn't selling as well as it should be.
"Good enough" isn't.
Always take your responsibilities seriously but never yourself.
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Joined: May 2003
Posts: 1,371
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 1,371 |
Several Gunwriters have been ahead of their time but Ken seems to have been at the leading edge of many ideas. Ken stumped for more power in the lever-action rifles with several wildcats. Ken has a knack for reviving a good idea, the .35 Maine Guide typifies this thinking. Through my childhood Ken was stumping for the �Super .32� for handguns or his 6.5mm wildcat (263 Express) for bolt guns. Ken just seemed to be there first with a wide range of ideas. When I began to understand about cartridges, bullets and reloading, my father would sit with me on the floor with part of his cartridge collection spread out in front of us and a copy of Shooting Times or the Gun Digest open to an article. I held the cartridge in my hand while we discussed Ken�s latest Pet Loads article or his review of new cartridges. The Early Shooting Times was a good magazine with Waters, Nonte, Ackerman and Burnside on the staff.
The 7-30 has found a home in West Texas, there are quite a few rifles and handguns in use. The 7-30 seems to be just right for our light frame deer, hogs and called varmints.
Slim
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Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 1,248
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 1,248 |
Well ... perhaps it'd please him to know the 263Express (6.5/08Imp) achieved some popularity in South Australia for a form of ring shooting. May have also been commercially produced by Riverbrand or Super for said competition.
I've certainly enjoyed his writings, its rare to find as thorough a cartridge review as what Ken Waters presented. Cheers... Con
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Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 223
Campfire Member
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Campfire Member
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 223 |
We exchanged letters 10 years or so ago when I was building my 416 Express. He offered advice and reloading info not in the "Pet Loads" book. He was a pleasure - and a wealth of information - to speak too.
Take a kid hunting!!! Old member name - Reloader - joined 2001
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Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 17,770
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 17,770 |
I wrote to Ken in the late '70's when he would respond to interesting inquiries, I still have the letters that he sent me. Ken included them in his last book, something that made it extra special for me.
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