I have always preferred blued steel and walnut to synthetics and stainless. I tried for years to ignore the coming wave of the black gun fascination. I've come to the conclusion it's a part of where we are going as a shooting and hunting fraternity. It will do no good for us to ignore those shooters or alienate them. I try to always strike up a conversation with guys at the range whenever I have to share a range. I go mid week and often no one or only one or two on any given range but I still try to talk to the guys who are there. Taking an interest in what they're shooting, even if it's not our cup of tea, opens up a dialogue and sometimes sparks an interest for them in different firearms venues and sometimes sparks a new interest in us.

I have lots of blued steel and walnut guns. I have a few synthetic stocked guns, I have a Glock now. And not too far down the road, at 60 years old, I expect I'll have my first AR. As we plan our move from Alaska to Idaho, an AR in 6x223 or 25 Sharps makes a whole lot of sense to me as a coyote calling rifle.

I'm not likely to pick up a black gun magazine at the newsstand but I'll do my best not to be source of division between us old, sticks in the mud and the next generation of shooters and hunters.

Chronographs, bore scopes and pattern boards have broke a lot of hearts.