Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Whatever happened to Warren Page?

Well, he's dead, yes I know that. But given the other interesting threads on alive gunwriters I'm curious about thoughts or experiences with him. The first book I ever bought with my own money was Jim Carmichel's The Modern Rifle and the 2nd was a paperback copy of Page's The accurate rifle.

He was an interesting guy and one of the few with both extensive hunting as well as technical knowledge. His writing, as I recall, was a bit dry but always interesting and he was guns editor for F&S for 24 years. Major influencer on the 7mm Rem Mag and passed at the early age of 67.

https://www.nytimes.com/1977/01/24/...editor-of-field-and-stream-magazine.html

Anyone have any experiences with him?

I met him when I was in my early 20’s at an NRA show. He was definitely the perfect example of an eastern school master/yankee. Not particularly outgoing but very knowledgeable. I was working in Joe Oakley’s booth and he came by to look at some English blanks. Monty Kennedy introduced us and that helped getting the conversation started.

I never knew him but I always liked his writing, he was very informative and easy to read. IMO every shooter interested in accuracy should have a copy of The Accurate Rifle.

drover

He was the only gunwriter who my Father thought much of because he was more technical than most and my Father was a detail oriented guy.

"The Accurate Rifle" was one of my earliest gun books as well. I found him very easy to read, both his magazine articles and his book. One small thing I remember from "The Accurate Rifle" was his opinion that cleaning primer pockets was a waste of time.

Mule Deer wrote an article about Warren Page a few years back. If I recall, he and AJ McClane had both applied for the fishing editor position, which went to McClane, so Page and Field & Stream went with plan B.

One Man’s Wilderness was his only book on hunting IIRC. He made the 7mm Mashburn a popular wildcat and tried to get Remington to adopt it. That effort failed when they went with the necked up 264 Win mag case. He hunted the world and shot all types of game, and was heavily into benchrest shooting.

I know I read somewhere long ago that he bet a fellow BR competitor that he could go an entire season without cleaning a single primer pocket, which he did and with zero impact on his shooting. Won the bet.

He's been dead for decades but I read much of what he wrote in the '60s when I began reading gun magazines. Very practical guy, not one for fads. "The Accurate Rifle" is certainly dated but still well worth reading. Page was easily among the top writers of his era. My favorites were Bob Hagel and Ken Waters; Page wasn't far behind.

The chapter in 'The Accurate Rifle' titled: 'Shooting Through The Swimming Pool' dealing with mirage is pure gold.

His sense of humor is evident in his fist sentence of the chapter on bedding: "As in life, in rifles most of the good things and many of the bad things happen in bed."

Required reading for hunters and shooters of all levels.

Good shootin' -Al

Well, you just killed his credibility with a good portion of the 'fire.

Well, he was a Harvard graduate and did teach school.

That wasn't such a small thing! I quit cleaning primer pockets after reading it, long ago, when I purchased The Accurate Rifle. (Also have a well-worn copy of One Man's Wilderness. Apparently Page was the only major gun writer of his era to hunt in Africa on his own, at least as far as somebody could then, not going with a major safari company--at least on some hunts.) I was also impressed by how he tested a lot of bullets in New Zealand during a major culling trip--which is one thing I have also tried to do, both in NZ and elsewhere.

You're making it worse!

I liked his two 6mm cases better than the two factory designs, the one on the .308 case and the one on the 7 x 57 case that he took to New Zealand.

Interesting thread. I purchased THE ACCURATE RIFLE book in a used book store some months ago and put it in the den book shelves with intent to read later.

Going to start reading it tonight.

Warren Page also developed the 240 Page Super Pooper by necking down the then new 308W case. He presented it to Winchester but they turned it down....and then released it as the 243 Winchester. -Al

Al, the neck-down of the .308 was the .240 Page Pooper. The .240 "Souper Pooper" was a neck-down and shoulder blow-out of the 7 x 57 case - named as such because he wanted something that would "poop" on the .25 Souper which was the .308 necked down to .25 which some argued was superior to his .240 Page Pooper on the .308 case.

Yup, I also have an old copy of the " The Accurate rifle"
Every page has been dog eared, much of it underlined and later highlighted. I have loaned it out quite alot.
I think Warren fit into the correct mold for a gunwriter of the day, probably very blunt, a little cranky and deaf.

He developed some interesting and durable chambering ideas , the Mashburn must of been a fierce thing to shoot with a 22" barrel
God rest his soul

Wasnt he a big 22 Hornet fanatic? Or am I thinking about another gun writer?