Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters What would you write about ...

Another big problem is the cookie-cutter template for article length. For decades, I've been asked "How long should an article be?" My answer has always been that an article is just like a man's legs in one respect � that a man's legs should be just long enough to reach the ground. Herve Villechaiz (on "Love Boat") got about quite well on legs a lot shorter than mine. An article should be just long enough to cover everything, clearly, that needs to be covered.

So write the piece � include all that's needful, none that isn't. If it's short, it may not be an article (an item in a column, or a filler, maybe). If it's long, it may be a series � look for natural places where it's appropriate to separate Part I from the rest, etc. If it's very long, you're probably better-off thinking of it as a book.

Re Editors in general, I love the remark by (IIRC) Gene Fowler:
"An Editor should have a pimp for a brother, so he'd have somebody to look up to."

.

Mr.Lee of Lee Valley tools published a wood working magazine Wood Cuts for a while.My favourite article in it was a series on rebuilding a Unisaw.I have never seen anything like it before or since.So a project rifle within cost constraints would be interesting.

Our paper does a car section once a week,in it someone does a small article on one of their cars,such as my first car "a A-40 Austin for $35" or "the trip to Mexico in a '52 Chev " It's hugely popular. So the stories around some rifles would be interesting.

Mr. Howell,

You are sure getting a good mix here. I hope you are up to something that will come of all of this.

I specifically did not mention what I would "like" to write. It is too agonizing. Editors have a way to remove the "heart and soul" from things, and to me it is like seeing a child go wrong.

Another thing, there are far better talent than I'll ever be if they get a chance, some of them I'm sure here on this forum.

Names, what they did, and how they did it may fade, but who can ever forget the essense of "The Road to Tinkhamton"! (If I spelled it right, why I need an editor)

Best of luck with whatever "the plan" is!

I think there is a problem with access to hunting and the cost when it is available. I believe this is costing us hunters.

As a remedy, I would spend more time writing on "local" hunting, including small, upland and big game. How about an article on just woods loafing.

I would also write about how you could obtain an english or european SxS for a reasonable price by importing a gun. It isn't the hassle many would have you believe. I would also write about how guns from the past could be imitated (certainly not copied) for a reasonable cost. As an example, how to make a H&R Handi into a stalking rifle (or a rook rifle).

My sense is that some (more?) people are ready to look for nostalgia and reasonable cost instead of high tech and high $.

I'd do something like the "$40.00 a day" show on food TV, except I'd write about desirable hunts you can take on a weeks vacation, including traveling time for a specific total cost, something like "$2000.00 a week", or even $1500.00 a week", including cheap transportation. Then I'd expand on the idea, and toss in an occasional low-budget African plains safari, investigating some of the ads you see in the hunting magazines. Meet with people who actually took these safaris, and get their stories. People love to read about real people, and often think that gunwriters get special perks on these trips, so do it undercover, so to speak, so you don't have outfitters blowing smoke up your err.... jumpers.

OK so I am not a gun writer and I really don't pretend to play one on the Internet. But if I had the time for the research (and I don't) I would love to write something along the lines of "Ackleyizing: How Much Improvement".

Since the .280 AI seems to be the most popular of these wildcats, take a stock .280 (Sucks 700, Ruger 77 MKII, whatever). Shoot the the thing with factory loads. Work up representative handloads showing the progression of load development. See what you can accomplish with a stock rifle before tweaking.

Fix the trigger. See what that accomplishes with it's favorite loads. Bed it. See what that does. Float the barrel. See what that does. Get that non Ackley rifle as good as it is gonna get.

Then when you have it as good as it is gonna get you are at the point we are all waiting for: Ream it to an AI, work up loads for it. See what it does (including differences in powder/bullet preferences from the new casing and even documenting the effectiveness of factory .280 loads while fireforming).

Ultimately we would be left with lessons in progression of a stock rifle, great loading data for a couple of rifle loony cartridges, and serious "apples to apples" mythbuster data that will enable the individual rifle owner to decide whether the AI is for them.

Hey, I'd read it.

Thanks for all your comments, guys � even those that haven't addressed my questions. Everything that you've said here reinforces my position re what an outdoor or gun magazine ought to be.

As soon as I can tell you all the details � which aren't mine to reveal � I'll let you know what's in the works. I hope that you like what we have in mind and what we will present. For now, all that I can tell you is that I'm consulting (again!) with a friend, whose name you'd recognize immediately, making plans for a new magazine. I've agreed to be the Editor, and I've been suggesting � nay, requiring � several drastic differences from the ways that current magazines operate.

I'll need your support but won't ask for it � I'll do my darnedest to earn it.

I have enough material on hand and on tap that I don't expect to be asking for more for months � maybe for as long as a year.

The first and most basic thing about this new magazine is that I'll be slanting it unmistakably toward the reader, not the advertiser. Where readers congregate repeatedly, advertisers will come (not vice versa). This means no fluff, no hype, no pimping, no froth.

So the emphasis will be on good reading, not so much on the latest products. I plan, for example, to reach back in time and publish good outdoor reading from the rich past � old articles and stories, excerpts or chapters from classic books. "Reviews" of new books won't be like high-school book reports or publishers' hype sheets � instead, I'll publish long excerpts (even entire chapters) from these new books, along with dope on where you can get a copy, and let you decide whether you want to read more of it.

Product reviews will be secondary to good reading. A seller who wants to have his product reviewed (a) won't have to be an advertiser and (b) won't contact his favorite writer to arrange for a review. For a review in our new magazine, the seller will have to contact me (just as for an ad, he'll contact the ad manager). I'll decide (a) whether the product is likely enough to interest our readers to justify reviewing it and (b) who will examine it � maybe one person (who may be a known writer and may not), maybe several persons (probably local "ordinary" shooters, hunters, and outdoorsmen). Reviews must be credible, practical, and realistic. Products that turn-out to be too sorry to consider worth buying will be ignored, not worth page space in our magazine.

Rates for writers will be tops. But according to the value of each piece of writing, not on name, reputation, ego, etc. A good piece from a one-time writer may be worth as much as (or even more than) a piece from a pro with a widely recognizable name.

I'll let you know more as soon as I can. Now, I have to get back to work getting the first issue ready. (Good stuff! I'm having a ball with it and can hardly wait for you to see it.)

.

i would like to see a monthly column written by a youngster. maybe the first deer or deer hunt. whatever they choose.

have an online essay blank for them to fill out or snail mail works. i would love to read in detail how they "see" this sport/tradition they are entering.

woofer

Ken, best of luck to you on your venture. The type of publication you are describing is greatly needed. For me, Varmint Hunter comes as close as anything I've found. More that's simply useful, fun reading would be most welcome.

Dr. Ken,

Put me down as your first subscriber. You just described why I don't to some of the major publications. They are paid infomercials. If an advertiser wants my business he can seek me out. I am not going to pay him to come to me.

A magazine as you described would be a great avenue for discovering new talent.

This e-mail from a Campfire regular is good enough to share with the rest of you. So, I hope, is my reply:

"The new magazine you described seems exciting. ... Would you consider bringing Ross Seyfried on board? He is a writer who is well thought of and I think he could be an asset. But I do not know if he would clash with what you have in mind."

Thanks for writing!

If Ross Seyfried wants to write for us, his material will be welcome � if it fits, and if he's happy with our conditions and rates. I won't have much patience with prima donna attitudes and egos and no use at all for froth, fluff, or hype. As far as I'm concerned right now, there are very few writers whose work I expect (with abundant good reason) to be unworthy of our consideration.

I don't know whether we'll have a regular staff of writers. Several, I'm sure, will have their work in our magazine again and again. They'll be regulars � but staff? maybe, maybe not. I hope that any writer will consider it an honor and achievement to have his material accepted for our new magazine and will submit suggestions, queries, and material voluntarily. So far, I'm not in a position where I have to ask any specific writer to send me material, although I've been scouting among my old friends to let them know what we're planning and to alert them to the significant differences between our new magazine and the old ones that they're used-to.

.

Correction;

I have asked a fellow whom I met years ago to detail for us something that he told me about � years ago � how hunting and shooting reformed him from a life of crime (years ago) into a responsible citizen and concerned, conservative community activist. He called my suggestion "scary," so I promised to protect his identity with a byline like "name withheld by request" or a pen name. Or I might publish some of his statements as quotations under my own byline.

He said that he'd consider it. I think that such a piece from a convicted but reformed felon would be not only interesting reading but also a significant contribution to gun literature. So I hope, of course, that he'll send me some details.

.

That would be outstanding.

Ken -best wishes to you and I hope that the project goes well.

For things I would love to write here is a couple

*gun store etiquette (spl?)--I've worked behind the counters and would love to share some thoughts ( kind of a do's and don't and how to be realistic..)

*I just turned 47 and it would be very nice to write about how the hunt changed for me over the years. I would also take time to try to help people to start thinking about enjoying their hunt more. (you know leave the tape mea home kind of stuff)

*ego's--I would love to write an article encouraging people to try like heck to sit back and enjoy this. To leave the ego's for their glory days of football or whatever. I would heavily encourage people to listen more, spout off less. And to not be so darn promotin of their ideas. Case in point our hero's that love this or that round and love to grandstand about them. They will make a round go this or that speed no matter what. Then sit back and claim that it is ok and all should be able to get there as well. I learned long ago that I can make a round go whatever I want the questions is should I?

*I'd write about the idea of a couple of good rifles that would cover things for them. And how to get intimate with them. I am always amazed at how some people think. In the last year I spoke to one fella who claimed to not have the $ to hunt elk. And yet this chap also told me he has something like 13 elk rifles..

*lastl I've done some guiding and would like to write a bit about how to enjoy the hunt mo. And I would also like to highlite a couple of hunts that have been special to me. Like one fella that hunted with me in Sonora for borrego. He had ccancer and knew it was his last hunt and it was a true privaledge to share it with him!

Enough from me, good luck Ken

Mark D

Post deleted by Ken Howell

Post deleted by Ken Howell

Post deleted by Ken Howell

Post deleted by Ken Howell

hey Ken
I would write about what to do when your eyes change and you cant shoot with iron sights. and proper winter wear and the latest and greatest in foot wear. keeping in shape for the big hunt in your life. what to carry on your hunt in differant locations in north america. Casting bullits and equipment needed to start. Proper stock fit for accurate/comfortable shooting. Off hand shooting, how to build a set of shooting sticks and how to use them. I can go on ........................
Also getting back to basics after getting bad habbits.
Bearbeater

i'd write, for a time, of using one weapon to hunt everything from doves, quail, and pheasant to deer, bear, and elk....

then i'd write of time spent in the wilderness living the lifestyle of the woodsman.... perhaps traveling by canoe, or with a pack mule, or car camping across the high desert... fishing, hunting, and gathering sustenance.....

that is, i would if i were a workmanlike writer...

i would not feel compelled to write about every cartridge and every rifle.... every shotgun and every gauge..... every specie and every locale