Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Is there any chance of getting Ross back?

I always enjoyed his writing, and learned from it too. I don't enjoy Handloader or Rifle magazines nearly as much now. If someone could convince him to write a book about hunting rifles and handguns, I'd buy it in a heartbeat.

JIM!!! That was funnier than you realized! I agree completely that Ross would be a great addition to the Campfire, but holy sh**. Not only would he need his own room, or whatever the general subject thing is that we click on such as "Big Game" because the constant traffic would clog up an existing area. But he would cause a giant cyclone of turmoil with the members. It would look worse that the political battles that go on in the General area. Ross isn't afraid to tell it like it is. He's also not one to give up and leave like Bodington did after he was badgered. Ross would have running penbattles with every opinionated member here, and not be afraid to tell us all that we were dead wrong. It would truely be a hoot! John, Phil and others are very intelligent and TACTFULL gurus here at the CF. Ross has a few more rough edges. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> I agree though, it would be awesome to have him here if he'd accept.

222

Touche' - excellent point and the same reason the 416 Rem will never equal the Rigby in Africa. A high pressure wonder compared to a moderately loaded proven success.

It has also been noted that the ONLY reason the 458 didn't fizzle out in the pan was due to Winchester loading copper coated steel jacket bullets... Had the 458 the same gilded jacket bullets of the 375, it may never have had a foot hold as a DG cartridge.

TM

While reading this topic I began wondering whether Ross was operating Elk Song Ranch, near Le Grande, Oregon. He used to advertise regularly when he was writing for Rifle magazine. After he left the advertising disappeared. (Probably not surprising.)
I did a search using the various search engines on the internet but was unable to find any mention of this elk hunting operation. Does anyone know whether he is still operating these elk hunts?

It's pretty much normal to exchange advertising for writing.

I beleive I read somewhere that Ross doesn't "do" the internet thing for whatever reason so it's not surprising that they don't have a web site.

Yes Ross is still guiding hunters on Elk Song Ranch. He is simply booked and does not need to advertise at this time as he presently has a waiting list.

You are spot on about the 416 Remington I read in one of the African hunting magazines the the 416 Rem had a problem of braking extrators apperantly because of its pressure according to the article

i thought his articles on the old rifles were fantastic. one of his last articles, maybe his last was about the finding of warehoused rifles from india.

he typically picked apart the rifles and explained to the reader each piece. their condition, what specific models to look for, what the prices were etc. by the time you finished reading the article you could smell the cosmoline that was used to protect those rifles.

he even gave a reloading lesson. i always liked the way he looked out for the regular guy, ie: poor folks like me that can't afford $5000 rifles and $2000 scopes. he and finn aagaard were my favorites.

both were opinionated but they were never condescending to the readers. other than mr. barsness there isn't much to read in handloader and rifle anymore.

there isn't one of johnny b's articles i don't learn something new from. they are always informative and up to date. thanks john.

back to ross, i miss him also, but like one of the earlier posters said, "there ain't a dang thing us folks can do about it".

thats my rant for the week.

Sometime back, this was covered pretty deeply by the gun writers on the board. Seems Mr. Seifried was insulting, insubordinate and just generally a pain in the butt in the office or at any social function. Muledeer and several others went to great lengths to point out the reasons why it was necessary to fire him; made sense to me.

That said, my Wolfe subscriptions are now just winding down. As an earlier poster stated, I'm tired of Cowboys In Africa. I've been tired of Claire Reese since the 70's and any one who honestly thinks Mike (AKA Duke.. deliver me) Ventorino is a suitable substitute for a gun writer is either dreaming or trying to keep payroll down.

I think you put these matters very well, Alonzo_Tubbs. As much as I have enjoyed Ross' work over many years, I think it's maybe up to him to find a mainstream published outlet, if that's what he wants to do. As indicated elsewhere, whatever he writes will likely get published, as it is now...

I'm simply sorry the split happened. It seemed a natural match, but....

In my experience, some of best, brightest, most trustworthy, and most productive people I've ever worked with have been "insubordinate pains in the butt" at times. But even so, at the end of the day or at the end of a project, I was almost always happy that I was working with them, simple because......... results matter, and they could deliver the goods, plus their ethics were almost uniformly superb.

The folks that can't get along with this type are usually hyper-sensitive, ego-driven individuals who are burden by various insecurities, who don't truly recognize and who don't properly value real talent. Pride is allowed to get in the way of finding workable solutions to problems both great and small.

In my opinion, trading -- in effect -- a Seyfried for a Venturino, while retaining a Rees is just-plain stupid.

That's the best they can do? Come on!

AD

THANK YOU Allen, you nailed my thoughts perfectly on the subject .

Sorry Stinger, you'll have to settle for Threadkiller 3! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Castandblast is #1
I'm #2

Maybe we could start a "club of shame"? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

222
(Threadkiller2)

222rem

sorry, didn't mean to enter your territory. i can live with #3.

"most of life is just showing up". <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

You're more than welcome in club----------it's really more of a curse! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> Maybe with enough TK members we could get our own subject area where we could bring up topics and get no response! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

TK2

allen
Must agree with the idea of putting up with truly gifted pains-in-the asses when production counts and just getting over it. Your assessments speak to deep understanding of the human animal and its motivation.

The only question I have, is where does Ross fit that bill? His writing is plodding and contorted and he writes so much about the guns I have about as little interest in as is possible (levers).

Was disturbed to read his sorry excuse for writing in Gray's a while back... At least that is my opinion...
art

It was a sad day when Ross left Wolfe, for whatever reason. And speaking of reasons, there just doesn't seem to be much of one any more to buy any of the Wolfe publications, with the possible exception of Phil Shoemaker.

"Insubordinate pain in the ass" - yup, that's how many strong minded people who refuse to be "Yes men" get described.

On another note, it's good to hear that Ross is writing in Double Gun Journal - I guess I'll have to send my money their way.

jc

On previous threads I have vented on the utter uselessness of Mike Venturino and his ilk at Wolfe.

Anymore, the only reason I pick up one of their mags is Phil Shoemaker.

I hope that Ross is compiling some of his hunting adventures into a book. I know I would buy a copy. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Doesn't anyone have anything positive to say about Clair Rees?

He isn't my brother-in-law.