Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters The March 2018 Rifle magazine

seems a little skinny at 58 pages.

Sad.

Just stopped in at the office in Prescott on Friday to meet some of the new crew and picked up a copy. It does seem slim, but advertisers look at subscription numbers. Enthusiasm doesn't figure in their numbers.
But you still get to start with an editorial by Dave Scovill and end with one by Terry Wieland.

Pretty much the only one worth reading, except Handloader, which I have a slight preference for. I went for the e-sub last year.

I keep falling for the $8 offers from the other rags, but think I've finally learned my lesson.

Shooting magazines are usually thinner in the "off-season" (the peak of which is probably March), and thicker in summer and fall, when shooters typically buy more stuff and advertising increases.

I like Terry Wieland's writing; Scovill's can seem a little ... repetitive.

The worst Wolfe Publications writing, IMHO, suffers from Lee J. Hoots Syndrome. ("An oppressively large number of sentences in which the person who performed the activity is never mentioned were written.")

Not a Hooter fan myself.

Barsness would be a good replacement!

Scovill is absolutely one of my favorite authors. Yeah, sometimes his sentences get a little convoluted, but I like to go back and re-read if I have to. He is a good teaching writer. His book on Colt's Single Action Army: Loading and Shooting the Peacemaker, is top notch. Yeah, I had to re-read a few sections and he was hard to follow sometimes, but I used that book like a study guide to reload for the .45 colt. Good info on cast bullets and neck tension too. His editorial is always my first stop, no matter what topic is.

I used to subscribe to Rifle and Handloader both back in the day before the magazines got so thin and on the pricey side. I go to the bookstore to check them out nowadays and if there is an article that I'm interested in I will purchase a copy. Over the years I have enjoyed many of the writers who are no sadly gone, Ken Waters was a favorite. I have in my files several letters that Ken answered back when he would send letters to readers sharing his knowledge and experience with a topic they were interested in.

"Lee J Hoots Syndrome" Had to laugh at that though I never noticed it til it was pointed out.

I have noticed, though, certain editorial/style quirks in Wolfe publications. The use of the word "frangible" to describe manufactured objects is something I don't remember seeing anywhere else. Checking with a dictionary, though, indicated it might not be incorrect, entirely.

Both Rifle and Handloader both have a lot more pictures and a lot les teaxt than they did when I first encountered them almost 40 years ago

As much as I love reading anything written by Barsness and Shoemaker I dislike anything written by Hoots. Or Clair Rees. Nothing personal.

I vote that Phil and John go visit Journal of Western Hunting. Those boys in Oregon are on to something. The way that they format things and put down lots of material makes it one that I probably will subscribe to.

Yeah, I got mine today and was really disappointed with the skimpiness. I can remember when they were over 100 pages, but lately they've been around 70. Fifty-eight just seems ridiculous.

I've said this before, but sometimes Dave Scoville's writing style makes me yell, sometimes even out loud. However, several years ago I came to peace with his column because the man is unquestionably a loony like the rest of us.

That title goes to MV for his 8,000th article on either BPCR (incl lead casting) or WW2 firearms.

Roger that.
Bob

I subscribed to ALL of the Wolfe Publications magazines from Number One.

Then, they started dicking with my buddy and roomy Johnny Buffalo. At that time, I canceled any and all of their stuff.

Hell, I wasn't learning anything anyway. It was kind of the same stuff over and over. And I was kinda sad about that. It isn't that I grew so smart, but "they" didn't grow beyond that point ... if that makes any sense.

And, yeah, I wrote for Wolfe Publications for many, many years. Ken Howell was very much a man, as he often reminded me, "educated beyond his own intelligence."

Al Miller was THE BEST EDITOR EVER (most experience and knew the most).

His predecessor, Tom Gresham, the son of the FINE man, Grits Gresham, was the perhaps the worst editor I have ever known, so I quit Wolfe at that time and told that ass**** to dickhimself. Hey, maybe you get the idea

Clair Rees? Holy Crap. I still remember his many Styrofoam "heads" and toupees to fit each in his motel room on a hunt out of Reno. And I remember the DDDD brassiere that he proudly showed Chub and me ....the bra of his strip-club lover (He was married a the time and that pissed us off). WTF goes on with that????

Also, on the same hunt Clair pushed a loaded rifle out of the window of a Suburban; fell on the ground, fired, and flattened a tire. Maybe not a great, nor experienced, "hunter." Truly, Clair Rees is a flake ... YMMV. But if you figger differently you might possibly be wrong

Lee J. Hoots? A waste of good ink, air and time. I have no words!

Terry Weiland? Absolutely, a fine and exceptionally gifted writer who truly knows stuff! We can ALL learn from him.

Phil Shoemaker? I absolutely LOVE his writing and it is totally based on experience in the field. THE BEST!

Dave Scovill? Hey, Dave is a good guy and if he calls you on the 'phone, you better be braced for two-hours Dave knows sh1t, but his learning maybe stopped when guns progressed beyond cylinders and levers. Still, he's a wonderful man, truly a good man, and a fine friend and he kills critters.

Dave's wife, Ruby Montgomery? Oh Crap, she is a wonderful person and the proofreader at Wolfe. Love her totally. Haven't hugged her for many years, but the her warmth lingers on and on. What a fine person!!!

And Johnny Barsness? Need you ask???? Johnny is a friend, a fantastic rifleman who kills stuff most sincerely dead ... but who, at the same time, treasures the animal's very soul ... if that makes any sense.

Johnny is quite possibly the finest hunting writer of our time.

God Bless All and out of here now,

Steve

I wish I would have gotten a life subscription back when they came out. Money was tight then!! I was working for about a $1 per hour trying to make it through college.

I miss some of the writers too. Al Miller comes to mind. Layne Simpson rarely has an article anymore - sad. There’s other very good writers that have passed, to many to mention.

Baseless is one of the better writers.

I respect Scovill a lot. I like what he writes about. I suspect that in his position there’s not a lot of proof reading of his article, but that’s ok. He is an expert in his field! I’m a fan of the straight wall cases, iron sights etc. For me though, they are more “fun” than serious hunting cartridges. But I’ll probably be carrying a 32 WCF this fall for a doe. I hunt for meat now, rarely worry about antlers. I would love to hunt with 458 on Kodak island and I’d love to hunt with any number of the authors who wrote about Africa. Next year if I’m healthy enough — Cape buffalo, but that too may be a pipe dream.

My hunting trips are far too short and far too few, besides getting long in the tooth has it’s drawbacks. Hiking/packing up and down Mountains is more romantic than practical anymore. But I still do it, just not with the physical agility as before.

Hahahaha. Steve, tell us how you really feel! Nice write up brother. I appreciate your honesty!

Rooms,

Thanks very much for the vote of confidence!

Dave Scovill does like to talk on the phone. In fact when he was editor, more than one of the staff writers tried to call him around 4:30 in the afternoon, so Roberta could drag him away from the phone to go home at 5:00, though it often ended up being a little later. This occasionally clogged up the phone lines at Wolfe late in the day.

Roberta retired herself a year or so ago. They're having to break in a new copy editor, and it hasn't been easy. Copy editors are a dime a dozen in the magazine business, but really GOOD copy editors are pretty rare.

As usual, Stevie the dogzapper tells it like it is. And I have to agree with his assessments.

Nice to see him poking around here.........