Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters How powerful are gun writers ?

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How much power do gun writers have ?

If they decided as a group to kill a product, could they ?

If they decided as a group to make a product successful, could they ?


Did Jack O'Conner make the 270 Winchester ?


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Less powerful today because media is so diffused, but when a prominent writer teams up with a receptive manufacturer, good things can happen. Boddington and Ruger; Clint Smith with Smith & Wesson, etc.

More powerful than a locomotive , faster than a speeding bullet , able to leap tall buildings........


Mike

Aaaah, those were the days!

YOU still can Dr Howell


Mike

i don't think "gun writers" have any power at all, and have only marginal influence. too many sources for info these days (on the web). it has been my experience that the guy selling guns at the counter, or close friends of the perspective buyer, does more to influence the sale than any writer.

I can only speak for myself.....I personally find writers interesting only in so far as they show where to find products.

I do not in the least believe a word that is written, as I know paper will take .....


Now...if one were to actually give an indepth account of a product...as in take it apart, work the living Christ out of it, and seriously use it for a protracted period of time......!


I will not hold my breath though.

A writer who writes only about products is a hack.

Good writers write about facts, techniques, and principles.

Readers who read only to glean information about products are asking (and promising) to be fooled.

You are welcome to your opinion Ken.....try to leave me with mine.

And I am not one to be fooled, neither by cheap trash products......nor by shiny new words.

Writers could do just what you say, no one. They can start doing it as soon as people stop clamoring for reviews ten minutes after a new product is announced. (Scan these forums. See how many "Who has used the new xxx yet?" threads.)

Instant gratification is the standard today. Detailed, protracted tests of things do not exactly conform to the "I want it yesterday" mentality. So unless you can suggest a way for us to start testing things a year before they're invented ...

I dont know about all the gunwriters but I think maybe Mule Deer has super powers. There seems to be a great vortex there in Montana sucking up all the 4x and 6x leupolds that come up for sale.

Rocky, I understand that most are writing to an audience....and an uneducated and ungrateful one at that.

As for myself.....I simply do not read the dribble that seems to be spewn forth by those who pander to the cretins that require vindication for their pet toys.

However, there is one fellow in Australia that occasionally writes historic articles about Mausers and Brnos...his name is Gary Prizbilla, and I do find his articles entertaining.

But on a whole I am generally less than impressed by what I have read.

When you say "How Powerful", how powerful in what arena? How powerful rests in the eyes of the reader. If you're talking about having manufacturers build new things based on a writer's words, that's one thing. If you're talking about making a difference in the minds of readers, about hunting techniques as an example, that's another thing.
In any event, one writer stands tall among all others in any arena, that would be John Barsness. From my point of view, John Barsness is THE best writer ever to have written about any subject within the shooting and hunting arena's.
His attitude is perfect. He is always available. He is transparent; no hidden agenda's. He is human, the best, one of the most adaptable writers I know about anyway.
He has no peers.

The .270 would have been great, even without jack O'Connor.

They're depending on others � usually whom they don't know � to do their critical thinking for them.

Kinda depends on how easily led the reader is.

I suspect you may be correct Ken......I will admit to being interested in articles about older firearms, in particular articles where-in the author strips and presents the firearm in its entirety.

Some years ago I read an article from an American gent about a lovely wee Mannlicher-Sch�nauer he was playing/having trouble with.....it was an interesting read.

However, nowadays I am mostly interested in finding out where gear can be sourced.

IMO...

There are some folks that are always going to get the newest thing� and to those folks a lot of gun writers have a lot of �power�� those folks are just looking for a reason to get the latest and greatest.

On the other side there are folks who never want to change anything� and they are just looking for any negative in a review. It proves they don�t have to try anything else�

If Writers had any real power over the rest of the market� then every new product would be flying off the shelf.

Most reviews are pretty good� because most products that come to the market are pretty good.

Folks like me take some time and make a decision to vote with our dollars.

Gun Writers as good as they are really just fire the opening shot�

You may be a market of one for that kind of article. I'd bet that 99.999% of the rest of those who still read want news of the latest, newest wondergizzie. So that's what editors buy.

A case in point: I was able to get one of Lipsey's special run Bisley .44 Specials this year. I did a lot of load workup using powders not often used in the .44 Special - to try to keep it from being just another gun review.

When I submitted the piece, the editor declined it because the gun is a 2010-only item and he is already working on his Jan/Feb 2011 edition. To get it into print, I'll have to re-write it as a reloading piece, with the gun as a mere sideline.

To the comment made above about our John Barseness, I heartily concur. JB is THE pre-eminent gun writer today. I say that not to butter him up, but merely to state a fact. Those of us who "talk" to him on this forum or who have been lucky enough to do so in person will brag about it for decades to come.

What about Ross Seyfried?? Talk about a giant among gun writers.