Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters John Wooters- any fans?

Back a number of year ago when the NRA had a traveling show John was one of the guest speakers. At break time I was sitting alone at a table and John came over and sat with me. Nicest guy you'd ever meet.

Read a few of his Articles, but never meet the man .

I really enjoyed reading John Wooters articles.

He wrote some really cool stuff, like the development of the "Wootter's Tooter," which was the .222 Remington case necked up to .25 caliber. Sort of a rimless .25-20.
I really appreciated his great book, "Hunting Throphy Deer." The guy really knows something about hunting mature bucks. E

I always liked his articles in the gun rags and have his HUNTING TROPHY DEER and COMPLETE HANDBOOK OF PRACTICAL HANDLOADING. Both great reads. I always was a fan of Mannlicher stocked rifles but was never able to find one of those SAKOs. I did have a couple of 6.5x54 Mannlicher-Schoenaurs but sadly they were stolen. Finally just bought a Ruger M77 RSI in .308 and I like that one. I'm another one that misses his writings. I've got stacks of those old gun rags so maybe it's time I went through then and read those articles once more.
Paul B.

John was a great writer.I really enjoyed his stuff.

He was a great writer and I miss his articles. I still read his articles in old mags I have saved.

Yeah, the Wootters article was in Petersen's and Aagaard wrote it up in the American Hunter. I've still got them somewhere. I'm working off memory but I know Farren, being a blackpowder nut, used a .54 cal smokepole and they determined it was not enough! I think John used a .375, Aagaard used a .338 and then switched to his .458 and I think Boddington used a .338. Don't know why I remember these things...

I like the cattle hunt article but the one story that had me rolling on the floor was were he and his uncle(?) arrived at camp. The uncle carried some stuff into the shack and John heard a tremendous racket and horrible noises from inside. As he was reaching for a rifle and ammo, the end of the shack literally came tumbling down and a big old boar hog ran away. Seems the uncle found the boar sleeping inside with his butt to the door so the uncle hauled off and gave a big kick. The boar came to his feet and took off in the direction he was facing, right towards the rear wall.

Still grin every time something makes me think of it.

Dale

Hi E,

In Europe too John Wootters was known by rifles loonies, i appreciate his writing and he gave me some wildcatting ideas. He wrote good piece about the 25-20 in lever gun for short range varminting, but it's 25-222 Copperhead was closer to 250 Savage with 75 and 87grs bullet than the old 25-20. And very well balanced small round indeed.

Dom

I think of him every time I pick up his book that is about 3 or 4 inches thick.
PET LOADS
It has given me a lot to think about when it comes to performance of some rifle calibers that are seldom seen these days.

Over the last few years, I have had the opportunity to visit with Mr. Wootters in his home a couple of times.
You will not ever meet a finer, and more knowledgeable, gentleman than he.
He has a link to the thread now.
I was reading his articles a long time before Hunting Trophy Deer was published. That is still my favorite Whitetail book. I have probably owned 30 copies; I give one to all the new young deer hunters I meet.
BTW, Pet Loads was Ken Waters! Many years ago, Mr Wootters gave me Mr Waters address; after about 10 years, I was able to buy his Ruger No.1 in .280; the one he wrote up in Rifle magazine several years ago.

Good afternoon Numero 1,

I'm sure Mr Wootters is a gentleman. I know about Pet Loads i have it with last add and it's in good place on my bookselves. Mr Waters is a man i would have liked to meet and talk with.

Dom

Back when Mr. Wootters was writing for the major publications he was my favorite. He still is one of the all time greats. I still remember him walking the isles in Houston at one the hunting shows or could of been at the rodeo with that hat he camoed with differant colored markers.
I like his early stories when he hunted around Columbus Texas.

I really enjoy reading and re-reading John's articles. I really enjoyed an article he wrote entitled "Cartridges to Start With and Stay With"

Hunting Trophy Deer by John Wooters is a classic book that belongs in the library of every serious deer hunter. Great read!

John was/is one of my favorite writers as well! I do hope that he is still alive and well. Many years back I worked with his brother, Denny. Both those guys were class acts! I wish them well.

Always impressed with his common sense and his savvy on hunting deer in the brush.

Always enjoyed Wooters, recall his love for mannlicher stocks, something I like as well. I think he had a custom 88 full length maybe by Rogue River Rifleworks, unless that was someone else.

Seem to recall a few works, one I believe was in Guns magazine around '77-79 IIRC, write up on the Interarms Mark X Mannlicher I believe, it was in 7x57, butterknife handle, I passed on the sporter version a few years later, for $200, regret that...

Another about sporterizing a Mil-Surp Swede Mauser in a Shooting Times article or other mag, really got my thinking cap on re: the 6.5x55 so I p/u 3 and had 2 sporterized.

Lastly, I seem to recall he could 'Get R Done' w/3 rounds. 308, 338 WM, and the 223 as I remember.

He seemed to tell it how it was, and true to his experience.

Just received an email from Mr. Wootters. He has not been well, but is getting better! He had read all these comments and said he felt overwhelmed- and inspired to write again! He did say that he still owned that Sako so many of you commented about.