Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Rifle logs...

Yes. I have a log book for each rifle where I also save targets used for load development, 4 targets on notebook size paper. Every shot, except those fired on game, or 300 yard targets, is on those targets. Notes on the 300 yard targets included. Very helpful for reference for load development or changing loads for whatever reason. Also helps when a gun loses it's "zero". At one time I owned 37 guns. No way to remember everything about every one.

I take a small notebook to the range, or if I'm hunting I always know how many rounds are fired. All the range info gets transferred to the 3 ring binder at home with a page(s) for each gun showing the date and how many rounds. Paper targets get photographed and put into a file here on the computer. All pertinent info like date, what load #, range, temp, wind, whatever. Nice to be able to compare targets between different loads. 20 something years ago I was keeping all those paper targets in 3 ring binders but that got unwieldy real quick. When I went to computer I even took pictures of a lot of those old paper targets and put 'em in the target file here.

I keep notes and records on everything. Being able to review the consequences of my bad ideas has kept me from repeating them, which has saved a LOT of money over the years.


Okie John

i have many small pocket books for all cartridges i have loaded for 40 some years so i know what powder and bullet shot well out of each rifle and cartridge i have used over many years including some friends and family also ,some books are double and tripled up too. i have loaded for 80+ maybe more different rifles and cartridges i have over 60 maybe more ? diferent size cartridge dies.i even load 22 mag. cartridges.i have got to much stuff to play with it appears , so be at the garage sale when i die.

I have a question. This forum began when there were several gun writers who regularly posted, but eventually they dwindled away, for whatever reason. As that happened it was agreed any member could post their opinion, even if not a professional or even part-time "gun writer," partly because the Internet has made it possible for anybody to "publish" something about guns.

What I'm wondering is whether the few folks who've responded no to this question would also not keep any sort of "rifle log" if they were professional gun writers. I know quite a few pros, and can't remember one who didn't keep extensive notes (a "log') on every one of his rifles. One I distinctly remember was the late Finn Aaagaard, who kept several loose-leaf volumes of notes not just on his rifles but hunting, starting when he was very young in Africa--long before such stuff could be compressed into a computer.

I know this partly due to reading some of his notes, when his widow Berit brought them to a shooting event hosted by gunsmith Charlie Sisk some years ago in Texas. But also know Jim Carmichel, and know that he kept not just logs but EVERY target he fired. Thought maybe he quit doing that when he retired a few years ago, but am in the process of buying one of Jim's target rifles, and he's going to include a bunch of handloading notes and targets.

maybe the gun writers got beat up on this forum to much ? some gun writers might not know what you " John " do know as much as they think either ,not many have your talent John or ability too put it on paper for us blue collar workers as well as you do. there might even be a few on here that could be writers but because they had a family and needed to keep their job that paid good enough for their life style ,the old saying baby needs a new pair of shoes and milk ,so they just kept their job and worked. when i was single and went to college the professor of a class i was in, said i should try to spend more time writing short stories but working full time , girl friend , cold beer for the weekend , hunting and fishing ,just didn`t have time then for writing much.

It should be obvious that the answer is yes. How else would the books be written?

If I were a professional gun writer I would keep notes on every rifle/handgun/shotgun I used, also keep caliber logs for every caliber I reloaded, probably some other stuff as well. As it is, I reload/shoot/hunt for fun and don't want to get too involved with it.

Thanks for the reply. That's pretty much what I assumed--but it makes Finn Aagaard's note-keeping interesting, because he didn't start "gun writing" until his late 40s, after leaving Kenya in 1977 when they banned big game hunting. While he probably took more notes after starting to publish his articles, he apparently really liked making his notes, because he started doing so even before he became a full-time professional hunter in Africa. There were apparently part of his "fun," but of course wouldn't be for all hunters and shooters.

I always felt that note and target keeping were the signs of serious gun guys, as that's what impressed me in my younger days. Those old guys with all the guns who knew all about them and even loaded their own ammunition. They had binders full of targets and all kinds of knowledge and experience put down on paper. That was sort of an inspiration to a teenager with limited exposure to guns. Nowadays with computers it's easier to amass a vast amount of that information without all the paperwork and required storage space.

Yes. Professionals. Always. Keep. Notes.

Captain's log: Stardate 2506.1 Starfleet's insistence that I keep logs because I command a starship is silly. That's what we have computers for. And log cabins to store those logs in. At least, that's what I think they're for. The log cabins, I mean. Not the logs.

Kirk out.

Didn't those notes enhance the value of the rifle for you?

I'm in the process of selling all my guns and I know those few I've sold had increased value to some of the buyers because of the targets and data on those rifles. It would for me if I were buying a rifle. Not a writer but you just can't keep track of things if you own more than one or two rifles and I think it makes them more "saleable".

Yep, the notes added to the value for me. Have also added some stuff to a few of my rifle sales, which sometimes helps, including a letter about how I acquired the rifle and how it got used--and often a copy of a magazine with a story about it.

Haven't gotten the Carmichel rifle yet, in fact it hasn't been shipped, though Jim is getting the stuff together. We're also going to have a phone conversation about some other details.

It was a bit of joshing man. Not even serious chain-yanking. Lighten up.

Or if you prefer - I put my foot in it. Again!

I can see how such detail would be extremely useful for folks who do a lot of shooting, have 105 rifles!!!, or like MD- make a living at it. Mandatory, in fact.

I don't get as detailed, but I've a few inches of targets, with minimal notes, from the mere 6 rifles I own. They serve my purpose, which is obviously far less than many others', but as noted by someone, one can't carry all that stuff - even minimalist that I am, around in the head, year after year.

If nothing else, it saves a lot of time and ammo, not having to backtrack on stuff already done.

Apologies for any offense taken. It certainly wasn't meant.

John, Jim Carmichel was my favorite and probably influenced me on why I fell in love with the Model 70 at a young age in my hunting career. He still living? What age is he now if living?

Yes, Jim is still around, and is in his mid-80s. In an earlier post on this thread I mentioned that I'm buying a rifle from him, a .308 Winchester target rifle made by Husqvarna. We've been e-mailing back and forth, and he's going to ship it today, along with his notes and targets. We're also going to talk on the phone soon, because he has some other stuff he wants to tell me about the rifle.

First met Jim on a factory tour Zeiss threw in 1993. They flew several gun writers (and bird-watching writers) to Germany, where we boarded a chartered bus and spent most of a week touring the different Zeiss factories. Jim and I had some very interesting discussions, including some with the Zeiss folks--partly because the tour was also partly designed to urge American gun writers to persuade their readers that Zeiss riflescopes were the best in the world, so American hunters would buy a lot more.

Jim and I both pointed out ways that Zeiss scopes differed from "American" scopes, some of which did not fit well with North American hunting--including the fact that back then Zeiss (like most European scope manufacturers) did not seal their scopes against moisture, assuming the turret caps kept it out. This resulted in Zeiss scopes fogging more than occasionally, often in places like coastal Alaska. Zeiss scopes were also a lot heavier than many American hunters preferred back then, and of course more expensive.

It turned out their assumption about the turret caps was partly cultural: Hunting is very expensive in Germany, and consequently hunters tend to be wealthy. (If I recall correctly, just about all had incomes in the top 1% for the country.) It's normal for them to have gunsmiths not only mount scopes--often on the rifles the gunsmiths made for them--and then sight them in for the hunter, usually on an indoor range. We visited more than one such range during our tour, including one in the heart of a big city. (Not so oddly, a few years later introduced their first Conquest line for the American market, which were sealed against moisture, and considerably lighter and less expensive.)

Anyway, Jim and I got along well, and after that ran into each other pretty regularly, either at the SHOT Show or on the prairie dog shoots many manufacturers throw for gun writers. But he retired from his OUTDOOR LIFE job in 2008, and we haven't seen each other since. It will be fun to catch up!

Kirk
I like your method of record keeping! It looks a lot like my back patio.

People would pull it out of the air. Or someplace else. I suspect plenty of that goes on with some writers.


Okie John

I’ve made a living writing for a couple of decades, but I always wrote before that. I think the urge is, “I just did something important. If I forget about it, then I'll lose it forever so I’ll write it down.”

Writing also lets me relive an experience so I can understand it more clearly. It's a way to question my thinking, test it, and refine it. I may not be able to hunt or shoot every day, but writing lets me think about it every day. Then I can share it with others if I want.

Back in the 90s, I wrote Finn a letter asking him several questions about the Scout rifle. I knew that he and Jeff Cooper knew and respected each other and that they had different opinions on the Scout. I never imagined that he’d write back. I just wanted to clarify my thoughts on the Scout by writing them down and thinking about them.

But his letter laid out those differences and passed them on to me, so they’re not forgotten.


Okie John

I keep a pocket notebook in my range box to record data from range sessions, also have targets made up with lines for rifle, range, date and complete load info. When I return from the range the targets are 3 hole punched and placed in caliber specific ring binders. That way I have records of loads tried along with a visual record of how well each load shot.