Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Dave Petzal

I appreciate your opinion, mine just happen's to be 180 in the other direction

Because of one line written at a time when it wasn't as out of whack as maybe today? I'll venture that wisdom would dictate a thorough review of your opinion making methods.

Thanks for the responses. I like Petzal and appreciate his wry wit. I disagree with him occasionally, but it's usually not substantive and it's probably that he's right. The guy has shot a lot of guns for a lot of years and you can't take that away from him; throw in a fairly literate capacity and acerbic wit and you have an entertaining writer that is worth reading.

One of my favorite quotes from Petzal involved his comparison of the .300 mags to the .338 Winmag..

I don't have the book right here at hand, so this is probably not an exact quote, but it went something like this..

" I know that a rifle that shoots a 250 grain bullet at 2600 is going to kick more than one that shoots a 200 grain bullet at 2800, but not THAT much more... It's kind of like getting worked over by a good heavy weight, and then getting worked over by a good light heavy. They both hit REALLY hard, and if I am going to get kicked that hard I want a heavy bullet.

The effect of a heavy medium caliber bullet on game has to be seen to be appreciated. "

How to win friends and influence people...

He's got an article in the current "Garden and Gun" magazine. It's about an eccentric dog named "Julip" in the column titled "Good Dog."

I don't think he's always been East Coast, as his early experiences were in Tennessee, according to the article. Although he did live in NY, both in the city and upstate.

It was a good article.

I thought he wrote one of the most commonsense versions of a "Top 12 Rifle Cartridges" list I've ever read. He doesn't suffer from Magnumitis, but does not disdain them in any way. He seems to enjoy easy-shootin' cartridges like I do, and his writing is infused with a great sense of humour.

It�s a shame Bro. Petzal could not visit this thread in person to summarily deal with it. I think he would, with irreverence (my opinion) or irascibility (others� opinion), dismiss the naysayers with with a flick of his wit, as from today�s Q & A in his blog:


Q: Are you really a grouch, or do you have to act like one when you become a gun writer?
A: I really am one, and no, it�s not required. A number of my colleagues are extremely nice guys and as cheerful as you could want. The hell with them.

I enjoy Petzal the most when he's being a thorough curmudgeon. Wish he had more space when on a roll.

It seems to me most of the best ones have either started out as curmudgeons and stayed there or worked to achieved that status. I think it's from answering thousands upon thousands of dumb questions.

It is yet to be seen if JB winds up there, but he's showing promising signs and I can only hope for the best.

readers' questions
We got lots of 'em at Handloader and Rifle � but so few good enough to publish that I had to write a peck of 'em for every issue.

curmudgeons
Dealing with lots of people, especially at a distance, makes it ever easier to develop into a curmudgeon, ever harder to be a gentleman.

I respond to a passel of posts but delete many, many of those responses without posting 'em. Don't hanker to scorch any computers!

I think you agree with but I can't tell for sure.

Just nod your head in whichever direction seems appropriate.

Read high and low. You will not find a gun writer who brings more discipline, clarity and effect to his craft than Dave Petzal. There are many who write about guns and hunting. There are few gun writers. I don't know a better one than Petzal, and have sought. He's the only person besides JB who can by weight of name inspire me to lay coin on a magazine.

For some reason a piece he wrote in praise of using horses for hunting comes to mind. It may have been in that "10 Best" F and S issue. Come to think of it, JB was there also.

And his term as Editor of F and S produced some very fine work. Plus, he shoots lefty, a sure sign of annointing ... may he write much more.

As an aside-- love that magazine!
And I appreciate Dave Petzal's writing too.

Correction: it's not in "Good Dog," it's in "The Gun Shop" and it's about Griffin & Howe in Connecticut. Nor is he from TN, so far as I know. I had the wrong article in mind, should have checked.

He has an entertaining style, I guess.

I think some of the lists he comes up with are a joke though. Especially 50 Greatest Guns of All Time and the like.

Technically speaking, I don't feel he portrays that much of an understanding of the workings of some firearms he speaks of. Which seems to be a very common thing these days amongst gun writers.......

Here's a fine example of his writing and wit:

http://www.fieldandstream.com/blogs/gun-nuts/2011/03/difficult-questions-part-deux?cmpid=enews033011

Forgive me for being a bit of a hard...s here but I seem to remember a younger Dave Petzal who thought some resrictions on handguns and black rifles were not a bad thing as long as the politicians left our hunting rifle alone, am I wrong or did Dave have a rebirth? If I'm wrong I apologize in advance but some clarity is in order. Chris

Even our founding Fathers went back and forth on various important issues...especially over the course of their lifetimes.

Every free thinking American has that right- even Petzal.

I think you can safely say that he no longer believes that- if he ever did. He said in a recent blog that if EVERY gun law on the books were abolished tomorrow, nothing in society would really change in terms of crime etc.

And yet whenever a member of the Hunters Campfire Forum offers a dissenting opinion, they get blasted!