Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters FINN AAGAARD & LES BOWMAN on the 7mm Rem Mag

That was great & classic writing of real, honest substance, and written from the perspective of much experience with the cartridge in question: Testimony that was earned the hard way, and not on some sponsored, overnight wunder-hunt; the type of which I really don't have the stomache to read much of any more.

It wasn't some "rifle and cartridge of the month club" marketing effort, and no appalling, incomprehensible, atrocious "take-it-huntin'-and sight-it-in-on-the-critter-yer-huntin'" bull$hit, either.

With a few notable contemporary exceptions, I miss the older writers like Bowman and Aagaard a great deal.............

AD

I hope they were not part of the marketing decision to publish the early data at velocities equalivent of a 7 STW.

no and they go over how that happened i believe in the article

That's because Finn had a whole lot more common sense than most loonies.....

Dave

You've got that right.

Finn is the guy that said he couldn't honestly tell any difference in killing power between a 30-06 and a 375.

Kinda like that Scandanavian moose study showed...

Hit 'em right - they die, hit 'em wrong...trouble

Simple.

Norwegians can always be counted on for good sense.

"As a matter of fact I do not believe he ever did own or even hunt with a 7mm Remington Magnum. He did like the .280 Remington, partly because he'd used a 7x64 extensively in Africa, and the .280 and 7x64 are quite similar rounds. He was also quite fond of the .30-06." MD

Finn shot his 7x64 out, and had it rebarrelled to .280. and loved it.
As for the two CD set "On Africa", I listened to it on my trip west, and will listen again. I wish I could have sat across the table from the man.

"Even today, as it always has been and ever will be, it is not the rifle or its cartridge that matters so much, but rather the skill and knowledge of the rifleman-hunter who is using it."
--Finn Aagaard, "Aagards Africa - A Hunter Remembers"

Not sure it can be said better than that!

Amen.

Really enjoyed both of their writings.

M70M,

Can you please tell us more about this and how to contact her?

$bob$

Folks,

A little googling found this...

http://fieldandstream.blogs.com/gunnut/2006/05/the_real_deal_p.html

Reading the blogs below I found where Berit Aagaard wrote about her book and the CD's and her contact information is included.

The blog entry is dated Jan 8, 2008.

$bob$

Allen: Goes without saying. Some of todays writers are very good; but some of the guys that get published today just have not done very much hunting or shooting at all. One guy I read recently extolled the virtues of the 270 WSM over the 270 Winchester(as if he knew) and later said his experience with the 270 win amounted to carrying it one time on a deer hunt, on which he shot nothing.......

Neither Bowman nor Aaggard would even have mention such a thing. You could take what these guys wrote to the bank.....there is so much pure applesauce published today it's funny sometimes.

Hi. I will send PM to you as I am not comfortable listing her email address without her permission. Thanks...Bill.

I gotta agree with BobNH on this, most gun/hunting writing today is by guys whose real bush experience is minimal and their "hunting" is done in fenced enclosures assisted by "guides". Even the few that have hunted BC, for example, have been led to their "trophies" by guides told by radio from the outfitter's spotter plane where the Elk, Sheep or whatever is, I have SEEN this a number of times.

So, when some gunwriter starts telling me what poor choices my cartridge-bullet combos are in the land where I have over 50 years of total bush experience or how many animals, ie, a "truckload" he has killed on his "safaris", I just laugh. Milek used that term all the time, yet, it took this "expert"several shots to drop a Moose near Atlin, BC, on an industry-sponsored "hunt"....what a pathetic joke, IMHO.

I will still read "Rifle" and "Handloader", but, they are not what they once were and my interest is fading fast. ANYONE can whack a few hundred African antelope, etc., etc. in a fenced enclosure,some of these wizards need to try backpack hunting alone in BC, AK, the NWT or Yukon and THEN tell we mere mortals, aka "churners" according to that pompous blowhard, Scovill, ALL about "hunting".....bet a few here agree.

So now we learn that if you can't throw a backpack on your back and hunt alone in the Canadian wilderness that you are a pompous blowhard?

Knuckle dragging, hairy chest thumpers unite!!! There is hope after all!!!

$bob$

LD,

Seems one has to back pack hunt to be the final authority on just about anything? Use the ignore button.

No, that was not my point, I was referring to an editorial by Scovill in which HE called those of us who discuss gun-hunting related issues on this MB, ...churners... Maybe you find that an acceptable comment from a guy who DOES hunt with guides and seems to NEVER hunt alone in Alaska, say, where he COULD, if he so wished, but, I don't.

I also did not say that YOU should not read the mags./writers that Bob and I seem to find rather questionable in many respects, simply that I am pretty bored by contemporary gunwriting and gave examples of why.

I realize that wilderness hunting is not for everyone, it is the writing/posting of opinions on it by those who do not and never have DONE it, that I find foolish. Seems to me, that if someone wants to make a statement on something, they should base that statement on personal experiences, whether dealing with an AK/BC Grizzly or a Florida Diamondback and that is my point. Capiche?

S99, PLEASE DO ignore me, your drivel is typical of your level of experience/knowledge and I would PREFER that you did not respond to my posts.

I gotta agree with BobNH on this, internet posting today is by guys whose real bush experience is minimal and their "hunting" is done with a keyboard with nothing more than a fe kb of text to prove or explain it...

Yup, it really shows when some talk about rifles they have never owned and places they have never been or ever will get to; these kinds of guys often live in suburban areas they call "wilderness" and frequently call themselves, "mountainmen".

Fortunately, with a few exceptions, the guys here actually do what they talk about and the internet self-styled "experts"so typical of some forums are few, but, there is some spill-over.

Too bad, that more younguns do not have the opportunities that I and my contemporaries did as hunting is dying here in BC with only half the resident licences sold now as was the case when I started. But, WTF, times change and there is still lots left for those of us who go out as my buddy and I did last Sept., in the Chilcotin for a week under a tarp, in the snow....NO sheep seen, tho', wilderness hunting ain't like flatland ranches with tame "game".

So far, I have two guys coming to BC this summer at my invitation to go into wilderness areas with me for a week each. Trips like this go for big bux when guides I know take people in, but, these are 'net friends whom I will enjoy sharing BC wilderness with and showing some wildlife to.

There is another poster here from the US who is working on going sheep hunting with me next year in northern BC; this will save him a BUNDLE of $$$$ and he will be a good companion, hopefully his professional schedule will allow this to happen as I can provide a much more pleasant trip than his last Canadian sheep hunt.

One of the great things about the 'net, is that you can meet people here whom you would otherwise never get to know and make new friends of guys with similar interests and whose knowledge complements your own. This is why I enjoy this so much, even with the odd character who tries to build his own "rep"by denigrating others.

I would guess that MOST here agree with this and that may be why I get a dozen friendly PMs every week plus phone calls from the US, it's nice to be able to help people who are worthwhile, as most here are.