Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Whatever happened to Jim Carmichael ?

Whatever happened to the great gunwriter from Outdoor Life? I miss all his articles, and he always replied to letters and questions. He loved the .338 too for Elk. I miss that guy!

He loved the .280.

He retired about 3 years ago.

He shot from the hip once too often.

He's still around in NC,I see him once in while at some Sporting Clay events.

Jim has semi retired. He is very active in the benchrest scene. In fact he set a World Record earlier this year. He lives in Tennessee. We exchange emails on a regular basis, good jokes and a little political banter.

Did they replace him? I don't take O L anymore, it used to be my favorite when I was a young fellow.

[quote=butchlambert1]Jim has semi retired. He is very active in the benchrest scene. In fact he set a World Record earlier this year. He lives in Tennessee. We exchange emails on a regular basis, good jokes and a little political banter.


Can you ask him if he will write another book on Hunting rifles,"The Modern Rifle" was great, however it is a little outdated, some great info. though. I had a question for him a couple of years ago, I contacted Outdoorlife, and they never answered my e-mail. Tell him to keep writing, a talent like his is too young to retire! Too much knowledge to share with all us hunters and shooters.

Didnt he put a bunch of his guns up for sale somewhere awhile
back?

Do you have 'Book of the Rifle'? He wrote it about 1985, perhaps 10 years after the Modern Rifle. Also a good book.

Jim Carmichael always seemed like a classy guy to me. I was delighted to hear of his new world record recently, and could not imagine it happening to a nicer guy.

Back about 1978, I had just purchased his (then) brand new book "Do it Yourself Gunsmithing". As a budding amateur teenage gunsmith, I wrote him asking for additional details on something in his book.

He took the trouble to write a reply, which, in retrospect, I should not have expected (this was pre-internet of course, so it was a real letter, envelope and stamp).

I had to get rid of many hundreds of pounds of books when I moved from Canada to Sweden, but I would never part with that book! In fact, it sits on the shelves behind me as I write this now.

If anybody is happens to be contact with him, please give him a friendly hello from long time fan now in Sweden (formerly Ontario)!

John

Excellent gun writer, accomplished shooter and hunter, and a fellow Tennessean. Every man should own his Book of the Rifle.

No, I don't have that book. I will look into it. All I'm saying is just because somebody hits a certain age they don't have to disappear, He has a lot to offer with his knowledge, We would like to hear more from him and learn. He wrote an article about the best "Elk Rifle Cartridge" In an Outdoor Life article, Rated the .338 Winchester Magnum #1, Changed my life. Sure would like to hear more from the man.

I liked Jim Carmichael's writing, though at the age of 12, I was absolutely devastated when Jack O'Connor quit his OL column. I soon adjusted, and learned a lot from Carmichael. He wrote an article on IMR 8208 XBR powder in the Hodgdon 2010 reloading manual that I really enjoyed.

I always enjoyed his articles. One he wrote for Handloader, "Light loads for light rifles" is a real Gem, .30-06 loads with .30-30 up to around .300 Savage punch.. Very little recoil and velocity "as advertized" according to my chrono results.

I grew up on Carmichael and Zumbo, sure do miss Jim's writing.

One of the great honors of my life is an evening in the Carmichael's home. What a great person. His wife is a really classy lady as well.

From what I could tell, Jim had to retire so be would have more time to shoot!

I do not agree with Jim alot but I like what I know of him. He seems like just a good person.

Jack was one of my favorites. I have an article a guy wrote about Jack. He was a close friend of Jack's and took his son by to meet him. Jack showed the guy's son all kinds of hunting stuff, rifles, mounts, etc. The guy's son was really enjoying himself. When Jack asked the kid what he thought about everything, the kid said "you don't do much fishing, do you?" The writer said it was the only time he saw Jack speechless for a couple minutes.

I cant tell that anything has happened to Jim Carmichael.He may not write for a magazine regularly now,but, he can damp well still shoot.He won the River Bend 2 gun this weekend and I mean kicked some serious butt!!!

I am not surprised.

Same here. I learned alot from both.

I operate the small recycle facility here in Juneau and had a fella come in a few years ago with a collection of Rifle magazine, from the first issue through 2006. The first thing I did was read the first issue cover to cover. Jim's article was on the back page, after that article, that was the first thing I read until he stoped writing for them. Great writer, and story teller.

I shot clays with him in 2009 at the Southern SxS. Good company.

Thanks for this priceless information fellows.

I have often wondered this very thing and now I know!

I think Jim is really a one of a kind guy. We are blessed to have had him during our time.

Jim is helping the widow of Terry Leonard in settling his estate. He was a premier BR stock maker. I was fortunate to purchase 4 of the stocks.

I think the last piece of his I read was in a Hodgdon Annual, all about him and a barrel of 4831. He used to shoot a lot of High Power matches I believe.

Good guy.

He never made the claim but he is also a very capable gunsmith and stockmaker. When I was a younger man, I would read an article and frequently, I would think, "This guy can't tell me anything". I realized, early on, this was not the case with Carmicheal and he can probably still tell me a lot I don't know. As I get older, I have come to realize, literally everyone knows something which I do not. I'm glad they take the time to write it down for me to read. I count myself among those wishing Carmicheal would write some more. GD

I loved his articles, I've used both the 338 and 280 because his information/use. I started handloading with the 280 in a Ruger 77..I bought 3 manuals, read them all first, then got one of the old LEE "hammer em in-hammer em out" load kits , ha. I did use a balance beam, scale and a LEE hand primer. It made exceptionally accurate ammo BTW! He also used a 4x scope on his 338. I wonder what he things about the big honking magnifier scopes many have gone to?

If I remember right he was/is a fan of the .220 Swift.

And the cHeetah too, no? I always thought he was a pretty fair replacement for Jack O'Conner in the magazine.

And the 6.5-08, I mean .260 Rem. He started the whole mess!

No, not really. Ken Waters developed what he called the .263 Express in the late 1950s. Same cartridge, different name.

I used to love reading his articles. He took a .280 to Africa and killed a bunch of plains game before it was in style. Used the 140 grain partition if I remember correctly.

Ron

I purchased a 22 Cheetah Mk II 9 years ago. It has a Ruger Mark II 243 action with a Remington 22-250 bull barrel. Trigger pull is 12 ounces. I learned a lot about this design reported to have been created by Jim Carmichael and Roy Huntington. Resizing 243 brass produced a lot of split necks. Thanks to following JB's advice in his books and articles, using Hornady brass and annealing....that problem went away! It is now a super accurate rifle with sub 1/2 accuracy. I only bought it because of its origin as I've been a fan of Carmichael since the mid 70's and JB since late 90's....plus its probably the only custom rifle I'll ever own. These guys give us a lot of useful info!

I was introduced to Jim Carmichel’s writing as a kid stuck at home on a sick day reading dad’s Outdoor Life, Field & Stream and Sports Afield. I was probably 10 or so, and was already a “gun kid”…and of the writers of the day, Carmichel in OL was the one that I searched for first. While his writing was accessible and enjoyable to a young me…the prose I am rediscovering still speaks to the aged, crusty me of today. Here’s a favorite sample;

How can a guy speak so eloquently about the genius of the creation of the bird dog, yet name his cartridge creations after cats? One of the mysteries of the man…

Jim's name is spelled Carmichel.

As I am constantly working on honing my standing as a curmudgeon, I have always gratefully looked to him for inspiration.

Because of the speed of the Cheetah and the cartridge

A cheetah is about half dog anyway.

So, it would seem that he is enjoying his life and retirement. Good for him!

I did not know that LOL! I corrected my post.

Yes he is. A little shotgun and quite a bit of BR competition. He shares a few jokes and politics.

He is currently living in Jonesbourgh TN. I see him at a range we both go to. He seems to shoot almost only shotgun but just visits the rifle range.

Jim Carmichel's writing had a great influence on me - easily more than any other writer in my younger years. I subscribed to Outdoor Life and American Rifleman then. I soon had a 280 and I had to have a 338 Win Mag. "The Compleat Just Jim" second edition - 1981. Is on my reading pile - what a sense of humor. I know I have a gun smithing book from him also, maybe some other book(s)???
I think it was reading his gun smithing book that made me think I could make rifle stocks. After building a few I realized that my talents were "not so much", though I keep trying - especially when in quarantine for a year.

Ive read most of what Jim has written, much of it more than once. He is probably my biggest influence in all things gun. I read his articles when my schoolmates were still reading Dr. Seuss. Like his predecessor at Outdoor Life he seems to have brought out a lot of jealousy in his peers. Which is unfortunate.

I believe he called his version the 6.5 Panther.

Jim has lived in Johnson City for quite sometime. I sent money to him for 4 semi finished stocks a few weeks ago.

JB, A gunsmith near Jonesborough named Herb Reilly worked with Jim in reinventing the .263 Express just prior to the introduction of the .260 Remington. I used to drive the 175 miles just to get Herb to work on my rifles. Sadly, he passed from cancer.

I met Jim at a Centerfire Benchrest Competition here in Roanoke some years ago. At the time I was a serious Rimfire Benchrest Competitor & he wanted to talk about that & invited me to sit with him in his Camper & talk while he reloaded between rounds. I mentioned that I has several of his Books. He said to bring them next time & he would sign them. A darn good guy, & a great writer. If Butch Lambert tells you something you can take it TO THE BANK.

Jim is "a darn good guy." Have spent considerable time with him from places like Glenrock, Wyoming to a tour of all the Zeiss factories in Germany in the early 1990s. (At the time, just after the fall of the Berlin Wall, there were 3, one in what had been East Germany).

He does know a LOT of stuff. One of the instances I remember occurred after a hard day of prairie dog shooting with a major bullet company. After we got dropped off, he invited me to have a Scotch together in his motel room in Glenrock. This was shortly after I'd published an article in National Geographic, and he wanted to talk about that a little.

The conversation then wandered to other subjects, and I eventually asked a question about optics. In the 1970s I hunted a lot with an older guy in northeastern Montana who had a low-range variable on his pre-'64 Model 70 Winchester .30-06. He'd purchased the rifle in 1937, the first year Model 70s were available, and had a Bausch & Lomb scope mounted in their adjustable mounts . As I recall it was a 1-4x, and it had reticle with a small dot centered on very thin crosshairs.

Back then a common method of hunting whitetails in that part of Montana was jumping them from brushy draws, and shooting the deer on the run--a lot like what Jack O'Connor described about hunting Coues deer in Arizona and Old Mexico, also in the 1930s. When my older hunting partner expected a close shot, he adjusted the magnification on his B&L so the dot got "larger".

After I started writing about optics a lot some 20 years later, I wondered about that--and contacted the folks at Bushnell (which by then owned B&L) and asked about what the deal was with the "adjustable dot" scope. They had no idea.

I told Jim this story that afternoon in Glenrock, and he leaned back and started thinking. I didn't interrupt him, because I could just about see the gears turning. After maybe 3 minutes he said, "It was a first focal-plane scope. When he turned the magnification up, the dot looked larger, even though the field of view was smaller." Well, yeah!

In some ways Jim was lucky. Hunting and shooting magazines paid LOT more during the years he wrote for Outdoor Life. That started changing about 20 years ago, about the time he retired from OL. But he deserved every bit of his luck, because (like most writers who manage to make a living at it) he worked HARD, and kept learning. And still is.

In the early 2000's, I was rummaging around in an antique store in Stillwater, Mn. Pretty cool place with lots of vintage hunting, shooting and fishing stuff. In a box of books, there was a copy of his book 'The Book Of The Rifle' with $8 penciled in the cover. At the hotel later that night, I started paging through it and saw it was an autographed copy.

Good shootin'. -Al

Butch Lambert - Thanks for bringing this thread back to life.

I had the pleasure of sharing an hour and a little bit of Jim's time while we were waiting in the Salt Lake airport for connecting flights. That must have been 30-years ago but I still remember that afternoon...

Huge collection of Ruger firearms. I’m guessing most were given to him or purchased at a steep discount, but maybe muledeer could elaborate,

I read somewhere, probably in one of his books, that he was involved in the design of the m-77 stock. probably had a long standing relationship with Bill Ruger.

I believe Lenard Brownell helped with the Ruger Stocks, Carmichel helped design the Remington Classic stock.

Ok, I can believe that. thanks for the correction.

Sycamore

Now that's an accomplishment to be proud of! Probably the finest all-around stock, ever.

Good shootin'. -Al

I think that's right. I do remember him writing about the classic beauty and function of the Ruger stock. It made a life long impression on me as a teenager. I still to this day hate a Monte Carlo. My first rifle at 14 was a Ruger 77 round top in 270 I had my dad special order for me. About a year later I read he and Jack O'Conner both thought the 280 a better round, but it only nagged at me a little bit. The scope that went on the rifle was a 2.5 X 8 Leupy and despite the odds it never failed me.

I met him at a truckstop in Tennessee in the mid/late '90s, when the internet was still in its infancy, so writers weren't so instantly recognizable as they are now.

I stared at him for a second or so, thinking, "that guy really looks like the picture on the back of one of Jim Carmichael's books. He caught my glance, and said, "Yes, if you're thinking I'm that gunwriter, I am."

I just said, "I really enjoyed your Book of the Rifle. I've learned a lot from it, thank you for writing it." His response was "Thank's for the kind words, and thank you for buying it."

Seemed like just a normal dude to me.

Great thread...

About 25 years ago when I was still new to the DFW area, I was looking for a gun club to join. One afternoon I drove over to Haltom City Rifle and Pistol Club thinking I'd get a chance to shoot a little as a guest (and maybe join up). When I got there only one guy was shooting but he invited me in. He introduced himself as Jim Carmichel and I didn't make the connection at that moment. Nice fellow, whoever he was. I can't be sure that he wasn't the esteemed gun writer, to be honest, but I've often wondered. I don't know why he'd have been in this neck of the woods but you never know.

Jim gets credit for the development work of the 260 that led to its adoption as a commercial cartridge by Remington. But people forget that he also wrote about and developed a 6.5 based on an improved 250 Savage case.
That cartridge to which he also gave a cat name ,was just about identical to the 6.5 Creedmoor of today.

Read it cover to cover about five times soon after publication. I used to collect Jim's cartridge profile columns from OL. They were a great guide to a young man lusting after his first rifle, when the knowledge base of his known world thought a person needed two guns. A 30-06 for meat, and a 22 lr for birds.


I was 16 before I ever tasted a pheasant not head shot with a 22 rifle.

I always had a world of respect for Mr Carmichel, and all of his writing. I would love the opportunity to shake his hand.

Always enjoyed his Book of the Modern Rifle still have it. I also had Herb in Jonesboro re blue a Pre War Model 70 300 H&H Mag and glass bed it and refinish the stock. Sorry to hear he passed.
I travel to Johnson City quite a bit for work and wish I would run into him, as I would like to buy him a drink and visit with him as he has a wealth of knowledge.

i see one of Jim's rifles is for sale on GB

Carmichael is a class act. In his book "Classic Carmichel" (they misspelled it) there's an article "The Great Jonesboro Pigeon Shoot". It is a humor piece and a very good one. He's one of the writers that I've enjoyed for many years. He is also one of the few writers that has competed for many years and has enjoyed a lot of success at it.

I'm going to put my Carmichel books on Classified. The Modern Rifle (a bit beat up), two copies of The Book of the Rifle, and Just Jim (paperback, also a bit rough).

Thinning the herd, and they need a good home.

I was a teen in the 80's and my appetite for all things firearm was growing to meet my appetite for all things fishing. Through a buddy whose dad was a subscriber to several outdoor magazines, I learned about Outdoor Life and asked for a subscription as a birthday gift. I received it for several years, and I still remember walking to the mailbox with crossed fingers, hoping that it had been a month already, and that my next copy would be inside, waiting for me. It almost never was.

Carmichel's column was one of my favorites, even though so much of the information was over my head. I suspect it was as much his skill as a writer that kept me reading articles that I didn't fully understand as the content itself. At least 3 Carmichel stories still occupy space in my cluttered brain - "Killing" a crocodile in Africa with a borrowed .243 is one of them. I believe this was a featured story and not one of his column submissions.

Another is his tale if being snowed in on a hunt in Iran(?). He was hunting with his custom .280 Remington and, suffering from a case of cabin fever, sent a "particularly ornery looking" crow off to the crow afterlife from a few hundred yards away. This story had teenaged me babbling for months about how I was going to own a .280 one day. This did not come to pass, but I do own a 7-08.

The third Carmichel story I recall well is his description of the development of the .22 CHeetah, (the capital C and H standing for the 2 main collaborators, Carmichel himself and Fred Huntington).

For enjoyment of reading well put together writing while also imparting knowledge, he was my favorite gun writer of my youth and is probably partially responsible for my being a bit if a gun nerd, and that's something that I have no regrets about.

Bruinruin, for me that writer was O'Connor. I was 12 when Carmichel took over. I missed O'Connor, but soon began to appreciate Carmichel, and learned a lot from him. Want to get a copy of his Book of the Rifle!

I dont think he is dead or they brought him back from the grave. OL just came out with an irrelevant and redundant comparison of the .243 Win vs .244 Rem. The logic being we can now choose our twist rate rather than rely on off the shelf rifles from over 52 years ago.


https://www.outdoorlife.com/guns/243-winchester-vs-244-remington/?amp

Jim Carmichael is 76 years old and now lives in Tennessee

Creedmoor and PRC are knockoffs. Jim Carmichel’s 6.5 Leopard

https://www.outdoorlife.com/guns/6-5-cartridges-that-never-made-it/?amp

I don't know about that..................IMO & for my taste, the Dakota 76 get's that nod, along with numerous stocks from custom makers like David MIller, Al Beisen, & Keith Stegall.

Here's a Stegall rifle & a Dalota 76 that I owned & in a fit of weakness, sold both rifles to the same guy.

As for Carmichel, he's always been in a select few of gunwriters that I really, really liked.

MM

Somebody already mentioned at least once, earlier in this thread, that Jim's name is spelled Carmichel--which is indeed the correct spelling.

He writes (or at least did) a back page article for Petersen's Hunting called Rear View.

I mentioned a LONG time ago in the early life of this old thread, that Ken Waters was actually the first guy to develop a wildcat that was essentially the .260 Remington. He did it in the late 1950s by necking up .243 cases, and if I recall correctly called it the .263 Express. But Carmichel certainly gets the credit for getting it turned into a commercial round.

Might also mention that before this thread was re-resuuracted I bought one of Jim's rifles. This was back in July, when he wanted to sell one of the rare Husqvarna FFV .308 target rifles he got back in 1960s. Butch Lambert mentioned this on the Campfire, and eventually helped me get into touch with Jim, during which I talked to him on the phone for a while. We were on several "gun writer" invitational trips back in the 1990s and early 2000s, and had some good (and interesting) times but I hadn't seen him since he retired from OL, so the phone call was fun! (I also now have a copy of Jim's Federal Firearms License on my computer, in case he sells something else that calls to me....)

Around 25 years ago I arrived a couple days early at hunting camp to guide rifle hunters in northern NM. Jim Carmichel and two of his competitive shooting buddies were there, all three had already killed their elk and were waiting before heading out for their flight. I got to talk to Jim and his friends and pick their brains a bit. I had already been told in the past that Carmichel had this almost unreasonable dislike of the 270 (my fav) so I pretty much let that dog lie. But one of the things I learned was he did help design the Remington Classic stock, and mentioned he had several of the unlimited Classics and hunted with them. I did learn some things about how and why certain stocks fit in certain ways and applications.

Jim had always given me the impression in his writings that he was more of a shooter, and wing shooter, than a big game hunter. A few of the misconceptions he had about elk and elk hunting still surprised me anyway. He was quite personable towards me and others and I am glad to have met him.

I've had friends that had a strong distaste of certain cartridges, maybe more like hate... I could never understand that kind of thinking. Anyway, I kinda got the impression by reading his stuff that he was a good guy.

Sounds like it should be in a proctology journal instead.

Mr. Carmichel is one of those writers along with Gene Hill, John Barsness, Finn Aagaard (sp?), Skeeter Skelton, Pat McManus and Russell Annabel that always got my undivided attention whenever I saw their name on an article.

I realize the list of my favorite writers spans quite a few years but we only get a few greats per decade.

Carmichael? I always suspected that Zumbo offed him using a suppressed AR with a bump stock. Nobody would have seen it coming! 😳

I have a copy of his Book of The Rifle, that my ex said that book is worn like someone's family bible. I wrote a letter to Jim in the mid 90's and I got a reply, and I still have the letter.

I incorrectly said Jim Carmichael wrote The Rear View column for Petersens Hunting. It is written by Jim Zumbo. I apologize for my error.

One of Jim's many emails.

Stormy Daniels and Queen Elizabeth went to the Pearly Gates on the same day.


They both met with an angel to find out if they would be admitted to Heaven the angel said:


"Unfortunately, there's only one space available in Heaven today so I must decide which one of you will be admitted."


The angel asked Stormy if there was some particular reason why she should go to Heaven.


Stormy took off her top and said: “Look at these, they're the most perfect breasts God ever created and I'm sure it will please God to be able to see them every day, for eternity.”


The angel thanked Stormy, and asked Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth the same question.


The Queen walked over to a toilet, pulled the lever and flushed it without saying a word.


The Angel immediately said: “Okay, your Majesty, you may go into Heaven.”


Stormy was outraged and asked, "What was that all about? I showed you two of God's own perfect creations and you turned me down. She simply flushed a commode and she got admitted to Heaven!

Would you explain that to me?"


“Sorry, Stormy,” said the Angel, "but like in Poker even in Heaven, a royal flush beats a pair, no matter how big they are.

Another.

It snowed last night

 

We received about 3 inches of snow yesterday and

8:00 am: I made a snowman.

8:10 - A feminist passed by and asked me why I didn't make a snowwoman.

8:15 - So, I made a snow woman.

8:17 - My feminist neighbor complained about the snow woman's voluptuous chest saying it objectified women everywhere.

8:20 - The gay couple living nearby threw a hissy fit and moaned it could have been two snowmen instead.

8:22 - The transgender man.. woman...person asked why I didn't just make one snow person with detachable parts.

8:25 - The vegans at the end of the lane complained about the carrot nose, as veggies are food and are not used to decorate snow figures.

8:28 - I was being called a racist because the snow couple is white.

8:30 - I used food coloring to make one of the snow couple a different color and be more racially inclusive.

8:37 - Then they accused me of using a blackface on the snow person.

8:39 - The middle eastern gent across the road demanded the snow woman be completely covered.

8:40 - The police arrived saying someone had been offended.

8:42 - The feminist neighbor complained again that the broomstick of the snow woman needed to be removed because it depicted women in a domestic role.

8:43 - The 'council on equality' officer arrived and threatened me with eviction.

8:45 - The TV news crew from ABC showed up. I was asked if I know the difference between snowmen and snow women. I replied "Snowballs" and am now a sexist.

9:00 - I was on the news as a suspected terrorist, racist, homophobe, and sensibility offender, bent on stirring up trouble during difficult weather.

9:10 - I was asked if I have any accomplices. My children were taken by social services.

9:29 - Far-left protesters offended by everything marched down the street demanding that I be arrested.

9:45 - The boss called and fired me because of the negative association with work that had been all over social media.

10:00 - I cry into my drink because all I wanted to do was build a snowman...


Moral: There ain't no moral to this story. It is what this world has become because of a bunch of snowflakes . . . and that's the TRUTH!

Last one. We do share gun story items, but most are funny emails.



 Viewer warning ...this will bring a tear to your eye.....get out your hanky....

Tyrone was having trouble in school. His teacher was always yelling at him, "You're driving me crazy, Tyrone. Can't you learn anything? One day Tyrone's mother came to school to see how he was doing. The teacher told her honestly that her son was simply a disaster, getting very low marks, and that she had never had such an unmotivated and ignorant boy in her entire teaching career.

 

Tyrone’s mom, shocked at the feedback, withdrew her son from school, moved out of Detroit, and relocated to Cleveland.

 

Thirty years later, the teacher was diagnosed with irreversible cardiac disease. Her doctors all strongly advised her to have open heart surgery, which only one surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic could perform. Left with no other options, the teacher decided to have the operation, which was remarkably successful.

 

When she opened her eyes after the surgery the teacher saw the handsome young doctor who headed her surgical team smiling down at her. She wanted to thank him but could not talk. Her face started to turn blue; she raised her hand trying to tell him something but quickly died.

 

The doctor was shocked, wondering what went wrong so suddenly. When the doctor turned around to leave the room, he saw that Tyrone, now a janitor at the Clinic, had unplugged the life-support equipment in order to plug in his vacuum cleaner.

 

If you thought that Tyrone had become a heart-surgeon, there is a high likelihood that you voted for Biden.

Please CC me on to all future correspondence.

🤣

My favorite Jim C story:

Backstory: I had the chance to meet with Jack O’Connor back in my high school days but didn’t, as I had something more important to do that day. To this damn day, I can’t imagine what my stupid reason was, as Jack was my personal hero back then.

Three years ago I met Mr Jim and my first remark was “Years ago I missed out on a face to face meeting with your predecessor…” and immediately he said to me “Well you didn’t miss much!”. I had a little shocked expression on my face I think because he just laughed at me. After that he was as gracious as he could be.

Jack might of been a little tough to take but this is not out of the ordinary with a man of his vintage.
Jack was a sheep hunter Firstly, and this was my goal as well.
Jack had done it, you cannot pretend to be a sheep hunter and fool other sheep hunters.
He was the real deal. The chambering he preferred was the very best and he killed some good rams.
Jim was a benchrest shooter, and not a sheephunter.
He just couldn't capture my interest in the same way.
Outdoor Life lost a great deal when Jack moved on, imo. God Bless them all.

Jim still sets up here at the Bristol racetrack gunshow

While I agree in concept and hope MD doesn't hang it up anytime soon,
There is a certain little factory 6.8 miles from here. When I reach a certain age,
I intend to tell them I'm taking my vacation, and I ain't coming back.

Guess writers should be allowed the same privilege!

Funniest thing I’ve read in awhile.😆

I was 15 when he took over from O'Conner.I remember his introduction to the magazine, his article from his first trip to Africa,bought his book when it first came out, and I still have it and reference it.I always looked foward to his articles.He did the hunts that O'Conner did and more. And he had a much better knowledge of rifles. He is highly underated as a gunwriter

Jim was always a favorite of mine. Straight forward. No BS. Good information on what ever subject he was covering.
His info helped me get my first bought rifle, Ruger M77 in 6mm Rem, to shoot. Used business cards...

I had been a fan of his for many years, and to my surprise, saw his name on the roster at one of the last BR matches held at the Volunteer Rifle and Pistol club in Knoxville TN. I introduced my self as one of his biggest fans, he just smiled and said thanks.
JO was just a rich hunter, who wrote stories. Jim, was a rifleman of the highest caliber. After 50+ years in the gun culture, I know the difference. Thanks guys for reminding me of some days gone past…

I tried to read anything I could find from Jim and JOC (and most others)😀. So called “Gentleman Jim” seemed to deserve the name and did seem to know rifles. I understand he was no slouch with a shotgun either. JOC appeared to be much more the hunter and did his early hunting “on the cheap” diy. His early writing documents this well. Later on JOC got well known and connected in the outdoor media and hunted worldwide. His experience was much deeper than simply a “rich hunter”. I would have liked to have met either of them.

Anybody who thinks O'Connor "grew up rich" doesn't know anything about his life. He worked his butt off to get where he did.

Well put, Mule Deer. But not many have read Horse and Buggy West.

Also, many accuse Keith of little man syndrome. But they didn't ranch in the 1920s. That is not for the average insurance salesman nor schoolteacher.