Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Bryce Towsley is one of the countrys best-known gun writer?

Perhaps not. But I will point out that I have not sent any personal insults your way. I have not said you need to be slapped, repeatedly or otherwise. I have not questioned your manners or used schoolyard taunts like �negative Nelly� in regards to you. Nor have I felt myself qualified to grade any aspect of your persona on an A,B,C scale. I asked you one satirical question and followed up with a civil explanation.

So perhaps it is not I that is �testy�.

SH
That's not fair. It was his brother DON that you don't like.

But didn't you like it when Don said "You might not even twitch."

t <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

The origin and heading of this thread remind me of so many of my former colleagues in several English departments � who couldn't independently evaluate writings or writers but had to rely on the consensus of others' evaluations.

Thanks Bricktop! I remember his writings in articles in Rifleman. But aren't they recent of a few years?

I think (not sure) the first I can remember is some FFG articles of a few years ago. I know he has a lot of recent articles, and good exposure for his writing and name in different publishing as of the last few years. I like his stuff, though he does a lot of things I'll probably never get around too. Usually seems to be informative, and like to get a perspective on different things, though not my favorite kind of hunting or shooting.

I read MD's post to mean he has been published for some number years. Maybe I better go back and read MD's post again.

Thanks again!

Oh Dan, I will not rise to the bait. You're not worth it. I suspect that you like to twist words around. Leave mine alone. No one needs your help to read them. Good night.

If that was aimed at me, I didn't need a consensus of the crew to form an opinion of the author who I cited, I was merely poling the crew to see what they thought about the allegation that BT is �one of the country�s best-known gun writers� (page 48 of the 09/08/06 edition of GUN LIST), since alone I am too small a sample with which to estimate the population as a whole. I also mused that I found it odd that as the Alpha gun writer in his geographic area, I was surprised that I�d never heard of him when I lived in the same general area and surely would have expected him to be �well known�, or at least �known�, at what was generally considered the Alpha gun shop in that geographic area after Bill DeVaux in Norwich, VT, passed away in the early 1990s.

Jeff

The reason the Rifleman pieces stand out is that it's really the only magazine to which I still subscribe. However, I went back and looked at some of my old F-F-Gs and there it is:

"Texas Style Coyote Calling"

By Bryce Towsley

November 1995, page 8.

I have other things, but they're in my attic.

I like Bruce and his writting enough. Flipped thru the gunsmithing book at Sportsman's Warehouse.

These days - I take it article by article. I don't look for a specific writer much. Then again if I consistantly see crap - I reserve the right to call it as I see it - XYZ is a crap writer. I don't care how much he has writen or who his friends are.

YMMV....

Neither the worth nor the skill of a writer usually has any connection to whether he's known or unknown to his neighbors, including the owners of local gun shops. Many writers understandably cultivate local anonymity, in the same way and for the same reasons that so many of my former Hollywood-star and rock-star neighbors crave the privacy and the near-anonymity of their homes in the Bitterroot Valley � they simply don't want their time wasted or themselves assailed in exactly the same ways that (a) are so unfortunately prevalent here and (b) smart-asses love to mouth-off and take swings at big sports stars. When they go to the store for groceries, for example, they want to get groceries � not confrontations either gooey or peppery.

Like the Hollywood and rock stars, writers depend on a wider community for their success and recognition.

More often than not, locals tend to disparage celebrities in their communities � whether they know 'em or not. Gossip is more intense in local communities, and malicious gossip has an especially appealing flavor for many locals, so local reports about a writer or a celebrity generally aren't worth much.

Bob Milek was well-liked in and around Thermopolis, Wyoming. Can't say the same for another prolific gun/outdoor writer based nearby. Then again the thread author seems to measure success with a different yardstick.

I promised myself I wouldn�t do this, but gee whiz guys, this is getting ridiculous.

Here are the facts, you decide.

The statement you are all so worked up about is a tag line the editor added to the column, not something I wrote. However, I was rather pleased by it and based on the numbers I think it�s accurate.

I am currently on the masthead of and published in most issues of The American Hunter, The American Rifleman, Shooting Illustrated, Petersen�s Hunting, Buckmasters and Gun List. I also publish regularly in several other magazines. I have written five books and have contributed to several more. I also do television for the American Rifleman. Over the years I have published something in most of the major magazines and a lot of minor ones. At the risk of bragging, I think I am reaching more readers each month than any other working gun or hunting writer.

I published my first article in 1981 and have been active ever since. I started working full time at this in 1993 and have done nothing else in those years. I am not rich, but I am not starving. I buy a few new guns every year, take some hunting trips I want to take and live in a nice house. My wife and I drive new 4X4 vehicles and I have a kid in college. I think that any gun writer who can honestly make those statements is doing OK. If he is freelance, as I am, then he is working his ass off. Frankly, I wouldn�t work this hard at anything else.

I usually publish 125 to 150 articles and columns per year and about 600 � 800 photos. Lately I do a book about every other year.

I write on rifles, handguns, muzzleloaders and shotguns. I also cover some competitive shooting (I compete at CAS and IPSC). I do two monthly columns on handloading, one on hobby gunsmithing, two on guns, one on muzzle loading and a bunch of features every year on those topics. I write a lot about hunting and have been lucky enough to travel the world shooting at stuff. (Although there are still a few places I want to see.) I also write some humor, adventure, a little fiction and political commentary. I used to write about bow hunting and fishing, but they have faded away in recent years.

Sometimes we must write what the editors want, not necessarily what we would like to write. Things have changed in the time since O�Connor and Keith were doing this. While I would prefer to write a lot of the same kind of things they wrote about, this is a business and I need to pay the bills. So, I write mostly what the editors think will sell the magazines and keep the advertisers happy. I have always believed that my first obligation is to the readers. Markets come and go, but credibility is a one time deal and I have tried to stay true to the principle. Everybody makes mistakes now and then, and as we grow and learn our opinions change, but I don�t think I have ever intentionally lied in print. Trust me when I say, sticking to that principle has caused me some serious problems over the years.

I am most proud of some of my adventure big game writing, mood pieces and the humor articles, and I would ask that you take a look at a few of those before you judge me too harshly on my writing ability. Much of the technical gun writing is limited by the low word counts required today and with so much information to convey it�s hard to give much more than �just the facts.�

I recognize that I have some critics who will never like anything I do and that some of them are regulars here at the campfire. If you are in the public arena people are going to take shots at you and if you are going to survive you need to be able to take a punch. But, I wish that the criticism would be fair and that they would be a lot more accurate about what I do and why they don�t like me.

As John will tell you, this is a tough business and to maintain a decent income level a freelancer has to hustle. As a result I don�t have a lot of time to post on forums like this. So, I guess I�ll just have to take the punches that will be coming after I post this without responding. Besides, I am getting ready for an elk hunt in a few days and simply don�t have the time.

FYI, the last time I posted I was heading out for Dall sheep in the Yukon and I am happy to report that I took a nice ram. My aging, abused and overweight body survived the stresses of a backpacking hunt in some of the toughest terrain in North America. It�s just part of the job.

Guys, we gunwriters are not the enemy and we are not bad people. In fact, most of us are pretty good fellas. Lighten up, we just like to hunt and shoot just like you do and are lucky enough, or driven enough, to have found a way to make a living at it.

Bryce

Good to hear from you, my friend!

All the best to you 'n' yourn, now 'n' ever!

So, uh, you're just going to leave us hanging with no pictures?

I would be happy to post a photo or two, if somebody would tell me how.

Bryce

Your pictures first need to be hosted in some sort of online album, then you copy the url for each individual photo and bracket it in board code and post. (Click on the "Image" link under the "Instant UBB Code" heading on the page you see when you post messages; it explains it better.)

You also have the option of uploading photos via the attachment button when you're posting messages.

Bryce, one of the popular photo-hosting sites that Bricktop referred-to is Photobucket.com (click here).

I guess I am a bit of a computer illiterate. I don�t post much on forums and have little working knowledge of how they operate. I have digital photos in jpeg format, but I need step by step instructions on how to get them on here. For example, I have no idea how to put them in an online album or add them as an attachment. But, with step by step instructions I�ll figure it out.
Sorry, I�ll talk guns or hunting with any of you and hold my own, but when it comes to this stuff it�s like my man Clint said, �A man�s got to know his limitations.�
That said, it will probably be tomorrow. I have been at this since eight this morning, which is coming up on a 16 hour day. I am going to back up, grab a shot of Woodford Reserve and a good book and turn off this dominatrix machine. I have done enough of her bidding for one day.

Bryce

UMT
Well and clearly written. I didn't have to look up any big words.
t <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Had that possibility sorted out early on, figured someone would've stumbled onto it eventually, but I was wrong. Did generate a fair amount of discourse though, didn't it?

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

Liked your recent piece on the origins of the 30-06 in American Rifleman. Ain't much new to say about it, already knew most of the lore, but it's like reading back over some old personal hunting journals and smiling at the good parts. Gotta be careful about mentioning that cartridge around here though, often brings out the worst in some people.

The mention of the K4 Weaver brought a smile. Many years ago I received an older custom built on a US Rem '03 action and figured it needed to have the minty, steel K4 sitting on it that I'd had idling in a cupboard for some time.

Something about a "Springfield" action in '06 and that old Weaver K4 that looks just about right. Don't hunt with it much now, but still like to get it out and look it over. Kinda partial to hunting with another former military rifle in 8x57, of late.

Only thing I might could hold again ya, is that warm'n fuzzy piece in the August 2004 American Rifleman, on the Ruger 204.

Sometime during that summer, I had stopped at the gunshop near my hunting camp, for the customary drool session around the racks of firearms out on the floor. One of the clerks called me over to the counter, said he wanted to show me something.

He had a 204 round between his fingers, asked if I'd seen one yet. Told him so far I had only read about 'em, so he handed me the cartridge. We looked at it for a few minutes, he asked me what I thought. Asked him what he thought it might do to a woodchuck, that we both hadn't already been doing to them for the past 45 years with Hornets, Swifts, 222s, 223s and 22-250s.

He said "You ain't gonna want one, are you?"

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />

Bryce, you lasted much longer than I thought you would before taking the bait!
On the picture posting deal, if you use a photo-host site, read the fine print. There are several of these sites, and some may have liberties with the rights after you use their services. That was a nice ram.
Back to the original post--I wasn't going to post either, but since Bryce bit, I'll go ahead and convey a personal Bryce story.
He and I were hunitng deer at the Nail Ranch years ago. I think it was a handgun hunt with the then-new .480 Ruger. There was one writer there who is a heck of a nice fella who everyone here would say is one of the best-known writers around (No, it wasn't MD). He had been writing for years. I remember reading his articles when I was a kid and he was celebrating that he had just published his 500th article.
That evening in the bunk house Bryce and I were recapping the events of the day and the 500 article subject came up. Bryce mentioned (in a very humble way, I want to add) that he could appreciate that 500 article benchmark. He had published about 300 so far that year, and the year wasn't over.