Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Gary Sitton's picks

I started subscribing to magazines too late to read very many of G. Sitton's articles, but I always enjoyed the few I did. I recall he considered the 6mm Remington to be the best of the .243 choices. What other cartridges did he favor?

I know for a fact he loved the ol' '06, his go-to rifle for a few years was a Win. M70 Supergrade in 300 Win. mag.....

I remember reading an article in the handloading column of Peterson's Hunting where he really indicated his dislike of the 6mms for big game hunting. He did not see them as offering enough bullet weight and sectional density. However, he did the article on which bullets one could use if they needed to use a 6mm.

I sure did like his writing when he was still around.

Gary often quoted a SD requirement of .240. Anthing that fit with this was ok with him. He commonly used custom rigs in .338/06 IMP and 35 Whelan IMP and in his later articles favored a Winchester Custom Shop .375 as his pride and joy.

AGW

What I remember was his fondness for relatively heavy bullets in whatever he was shooting. As mentioned, he used the.300Win. Mag. often and usually with a 200gr. spitzer (often a Hawk bullet). He also used the Improved cartridges such as the .35Whelan AI, .338-06AI, and .30-30AI.
RS

He had a Dakota Model 10 in .25-06 which I recall rweading about in several articles.

+1 on the dakota model 10 in 25-06. gary was an alltime favorite of mine.

I remember the 300Win. Mdl. 70, had David Miller scope mounts.
Just last night I looked through the only edition of "The Custom Rifle Gazette" volume 1 issue 1 July 1995. Page 57 is the start of an article by Gary Sitton titled David Miller's Rifles.

I really liked his work done under the name Sam Cole (least I think I have that correct) he could take you along.

Many Thanks

HBH

I'd buy a hardcover copy of the collected works of G. Sitton in a heartbeat. The man was a poet...

One of the last columns I read by him, he had a 250 Savage Ackley improved made up, and called it a "walking around rifle". I think that might have been right before he moved back to Texas, not sure on that.

Sycamore

+1

Regards, Matt.

I recall one article in particular that mentioned the .270 WCF very favorably, but it never seemed to me that he was ever anything but open to what he hadn't yet experienced, so I expect he had many cartridges in the "favorable column."

He wrote from his heart and mind, blending everything so easily, it seems, that it appeared as simple, poured fluid.

[quote="
He wrote from his heart and mind, blending everything so easily, it seems, that it appeared as simple, poured fluid. [/quote]

Well... look here..... we have another poet right amoung us Nice phrase sir.

I used to love reading Sitton's work in Petersen's Hunting, especially when they would put out one of their special additions on big game cartridges/rifles. I think Sitton's favorites was the .280 Remington, at least for deer sized game. He also seemed to like the .308 Win a bit better than the others. Sitton seemed to use the .270 a decent amount and had several custom guns in the caliber, but I don't think it was a favorite. He liked the .300 Win with heavier bullets as others have mentioned and the .338 Win Mag as well. It seemed for a while he was alternating between a .338-06 improved and a .35 Whelen improved as his favorite for heavier game.

-Lou

Call it fifteen years ago at a Las Vegas show I passed on a Sukalle barreled 7x57 double heat treated Springfield 1903 sporter, very well shaped plain stock, Lyman 48 rear sight. Took the vendor's name, thought about it all the next week, called him, he had sold it. Much later it developed in miscellanous correspondence with Gary, whom I had met at a bird shoot, that he had ended up with it and that apparently Sukalle, known primarily for metalwork, had done the stock too. We were kind of in agreement that I would buy it from Gary but never finalized a deal. Have no idea what happened to the rifle but it was a very nice one.

I was just checking a Rifle Hunting Annual (#3 from Fall 1999). The last page is a G. Sitton article "Too Many Guns", relating a talk he had with John Wooters after his move to Texas. He felt he had strayed from the days when all his worldly goods were an easy fit in a Ford pickup truck.

He wrote about the 10 guns that he felt were necessary for happiness as a North American hunter.

jim
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Rifles
.22LR Win M52 or Marlin M39A
Mark Bansner custom on a short Rem M700 in .223 Rem
Savage M99 in .250-3000
pre '64 M70 .30-'06
pre '64 M70 .338 Win Mag
pre '64 M94 Win

Shotguns
20 ga double 28" barrels chocked IC & M, maybe a Fox Sterlingworth
Belgian Browning A-5 12 ga 3" chambers

Pistols
Colt woodsman
S&W M629 .44 Mag 6" or 6.5" barrel

Gary had told me that he felt the place deer rifles start was 25 caliber and a bullet of not less than 117 grains. I had shot with Gary several times at the old Tucson Rod and Gun Club. In fact, he chronoed my 35-284 for me. He was doing some testing of his 35 Whelen Imp. at the time. I sure miss the chance to chat with Gary, maybe in another life we can talk some more about guns