Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Jack O’Connor

I used my wife's M70 Featherweight .270 to kill several blacktail deer, 2 caribou and two wolves.
I didn't have any urges for men afterwords...😁

I liked both O'Conner and Keith. Jack was "kinda snobby, but entertaining and very knowledgeable. I liked Keith's " we gotta have the meat" and experimenting with different rounds to get it, ha. Keith was a tough old bird, but, unfortunately, not as educated as Jack. He got to me when he said the 30-06 is pee poor elk medecine (while using 150gr fmj, but it was the Depression!), but a 44 magnum at 600yds on Mule Deer is "just right", ha. Also, when you "need that meat" and shot through the rump shell will definitely stop it for a follow up. This was the Era when one guy would shoot as many elk in a herd as he could and everyone in camp got meat. I have followed both men in the last 55 yrs or so, small & fast to big and slow bullets, both men's worldview had merits. IMHO

Jack was the reason I wanted to be a "gun writer". I read his prose in the 50s and idolized his skills both with a rifle and a pen. Long after he was gone, I eventually managed to have almost a hundred articles published, but none that I can remember were about hunting per se. I specialized in reloading lore - and never did a piece on the .270.

If you criticize his gear choices today you have lost perspective. Jack also used bias-ply tires and rotary phones, you know. Because that's all there were.

79S: That picture was taken two years before I was born.
I got to meet Jack O'Connor at the Portland, Oregon N.R.A. Convention many years ago.
He was a tall and polite gentleman.
I have always been an avid reader and admirer of his articles and books.
I have a pretty complete collection of his Hunting/shooting books and his novels.
Including an original (1939) mint condition, Derrydale, limited edition "Game In The Desert" (#238 of 950!) and it is signed by the author and the illustrator.
I even enjoyed his novels and their values have skyrocketed since I collected them years ago.
In my opinion he IS simply the best of the outdoor Hunting/shooting writers!
May he rest in peace.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

I’ve read very little JOC I should check out some of his writing. I read a lot of Elmer Keith as a kid because my buddies dad let me borrow Sixguns and Hell I was there. I liked Keith’s writing a lot but it was his protege Ross Seyfried that really got me into reading about guns. Seyfried was my favorite writer that Guns and Ammo had back in the the 1980’s when they were loaded with good authors before turning into canned article debates “pistol Vs revolver, which is right for you?” Or “9x19mm Vs .45acp.”

As far as JOC and Keith it seems current trends with modern bullets, optics and range finders are splitting the difference with Keith’s very heavy for caliber bullets being the trend for non mono bullets but chambered in smaller bore lighter recoiling chamberings similar to what JOC preferred.

The 270. win is awesome ! Smart man

Yeah , The man was a legend and a bunch of jerks just have to post garbage .......

Stephen Hunter has a great book called Pale Horse Coming. It's set in late 40s Mississippi. I won't give the plot away but it includes all the old gun writers with semi disguised names. There's O'Connor, Keith, Askins and a few others. It's a good read.

9X35 Bausch & Lomb Zephyrs, probably retailed for $175 in those days .....

His favorite was the 30-06.

270, 130 core-lokt, and a cheap Simmons scope, like flipping a light switch.

I don't believe that old goat ever posed for a picture or smiled ! ! !

30Gibbs: I bought my first pair of American made Bausch & Lomb 9x35 Zephyrs in 1,970 from a retailer for $186.00 - back in 1,945 I would assume they would be more in the just under $100.00 range?
I have more than a dozen pair of Bausch & Lomb Zephyrs today, of various powers, and that indeed does look like the original carrying case for the Zephyr line.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Have they really changed that much? Looks a lot like the terrain where I took my Dall ram. Though the stock on my rifle was synthetic, the bullet was a Hornady 129 grain SPIL.

The more things change the more they stay the same. Especially when they work!

Exactly. O'Conner would have beena Youtuber today.

Yup, the good old days. Living close to Lewiston now, and really enjoyed the JOC museum. Last week drove by the house he lived in, took a few pics.
Nice place.

Never heard of the guy.

Use what works for you.

I liked the letters he and Keith wrote back and forth to each other! Elmer would get just rattled and Jack would come back with dry humor, hilarious! It was Jack's writings on the 7x57 that really had me interested in the round, though I have yet to have found an accurate one ( just one out of four, so far) and I like how he was honest enough to say he favored (in a round about way) the '06 for elk and grizzly, .375 for Browns. But I have also had a love affair with the .338s because of Keith!

I read somewhere that Jack had very poor teeth and was self conscious of his smile.
The one pic I saw with him smiling was obviously a spontaneous shot by whomever he was with, and it didn’t show much.

He posed for most of his pictures for sure. That’s the business he was in and a huge part of any story he might be telling. His cameraman was quite often some guide or wrangler that happened to be with him and the equipment obviously wasn’t digital!

I’ve read everything Jack wrote, that I could get my hands on and own several of his books. His articles on equipment may be a bit dated now, but his hunting stories are just as colorful and entertaining as ever.

I started my hunting career with a .270 because of his writings. I try to photograph my hunts also, because I so enjoyed seeing success first hand. I miss the old guy and his writings - there are so few that could hold his hat....