Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Writers that influenced you the most.

I have some Whelen. He comes off as a major douche.

Jobson was a big fan of the 7X57, if I remember correctly. I am a huge Archibald Rutledge fan. I think he may be one of the most underrated of the writers. I've read most of his books and enjoyed every single one of them. I've even visited Hampton Plantation, his home in SC, just so I could get a feel for the things he wrote about. I would highly recommend anything he wrote as good reading.

I've enjoyed many, but would say that only two have influenced me. Barsness due to his expertise in handloading. I've learned more from him than any other person. And Boddington because of his insistence on using "enough gun" and his advocating the .30-06 (note my signature). Plus both are fine writers.

The writers who influenced me the most as I started out:

Bob Milek
Layne Simpson
Craig Boddington

The current writer who influences me now is John Barsness.

Elmer Keith

My favorite was Bob Milek, as he was influential getting me started hunting/shooting with T/C Contenders and XP-100's. Of course, my favorite rifle caliber has always been the .25-06.

I never met Bob, but met his son Bob Jr at SHOT one year. The reason Milek appealed to me was he was a hunter/shooter that was also a writer, not the other way around. His articles really got your attn. and made you feel like you were right there with him.

Most of today's "so-called" writers are nothing more than copywriters expanding on advertisements. One exception is Wayne Van Zwoll. Not only is Wayne very knowledgeable at writing books and articles, and a true expert in his field, he is a gentleman of the first order!

Finn Aagaard
Elmer Keith
Skeeter Skelton

Elmer Keith for the .44 Magnum and the .338 Mag. Skeeter Skelton for the .44 Special and Henry McKenna whiskey. Frances Sell, for the interesting common sense stories. And Ross Seyfreid and John B. for their varied interests and good writing.

Finn Aagard is the only writer I ever sought articles by.

Outside of a few common old school names and one or two from here on the Fire, doubt I could name any?

Influenced by, as in what I've built and what I shoot, probably JB. I doubt I've have built a 9.3x62 or a 26 Nosler, loaded Cutting Edge Raptors, etc. without his writings.

Enjoyed reading: JOC, Boddington and Chas Askins, but not enough to shoot a .270, just for their entertainment value and story telling. Elmer on pistols, not so much rifles.

And, not professional writers but Fire contributors, I'd go with the late BobinNH for his witty and informative style, JGRaider for his wonderful Safari report, gunner500 for his stories and awesome big ordinance. There are others here that I could list, just included a few that came to mind. I'll probably think of some I left out.

The Fire is a great place to swap lies and info...

Better than an article or a book; it's interactive, not static.

DF

Our very own MuleDeer- just enjoy the way he writes
Craig Boddington turned me on to 6.5 caliber a long time ago and the habit persists to this day.
CJ Box- love the Joe Pickett novels and I don't like fiction

Bob Hagel
Jim Carmichael
John Barsness

Even though I've killed more animals with a 270 than with everything else put together, O'Connor never has had much influence on me; I've always viewed him as too much of an elitist......maybe accurate, maybe not, just my impression.

I learned an awful lot about shooting & loading from Hagel, some additional stuff from Carmichael, who I think is a very intelligent guy, & a lot of newer stuff from John B., beginning when he was writing the back page article in Rifle.......I think it was called Rifles & Woodsmoke or something similar.

John has been the most technical of the 3, but has also had the benefit of more equipment for analysis & more information generally being available & easy to access, given his time period in history.......really don't recall reading anything from JB that I had a serious disagreement with.

Having him accessible here has just been a huge, huge gift to us all.........If he would just develop a little more of a sense of humor. (Though I've never met him, & I'm just joking.)

MM

Mathman, you nailed it...

DF

I wasn't going to tel this story, because I don't know if what was said was true. And I want to be positive on the campfire. The one time I was in Africa was in October in 1978.It was the last hunt of the season, and I was the last hunter. At that time there were five or six professional hunters staying at that lodge having a get together. They were from different outfitters. I remember a couple of things. I had just read, twice, a great book on dangerous animals in Africa and one on planning a safari/hunt. I was enthralled by this writer. When I mentioned his name there was very loud snickering. Upon inquiring, it was explained to me. This writer, while having his PH licenses, had been mainly a bartender, and only filled in when needed. I understand that one must work his way into any profession, but I was crushed. It's probably my fault for being young and innocent. But since then I just can't get into him, even though he has been very successful and did 'pump me up for Africa. Captdavid

You wouldn't have conviced Col. Charles Askins jr that PHC was a phony. Askins hunted with PHC and said he was the real deal. And Askins did a lot of safari's in his time.

Jack O'Connor
Gene Hill
Gordon MacQuarrie
Havilah Babcock
Jim Corbett
Keith McCafferty

Edgar Rice Bourroughs....after reading his Tarzan books when I was a youngster, I always wanted to go to Africa. Finally did...three times.
As far as firearms go, my Dad, tho he wasn`t a writer.

John Jobson
Rick Jamison
John Barsness

-Peter Hathaway Capstick
-Skeeter Skelton
-Finn Aagard
-Sam Fadala
-Mike Venturino
-John Barsness

As someone who skews maybe slightly younger than some on here I missed many of the printed editions of classic gunwriters. It would be highly useful for those of us who missed out to see those republished for e-readers.

For myself, I would have to say David Petzal was important. He disabused me of many years of bad habits and misconceived notions in a highly literate style with a great dry sense of humor along the way. His thoughts on barrel length (go short) and recoil (avoid as much as possible) have always proven true for me.

I also enjoy Craig Boddington, who as others have mentioned may have less to do with raw technical data and more to do with great story telling and a generally warm and conversational tone.

Finally, Steven Rinella's work has been highly influential as well. History, biology, conservation, great hunting stories, cooking tips...he does it all. He will probably be remembered as one of my generation's most eminent outdoor writers.



I agree. I have learned tons on my short time on here and gotten to know some great folks. Very thankful for the opportunity provided.