Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Bryce Towsley is one of the countrys best-known gun writer?

My friend Bryce won't tell you this � though he knows it � so I will �

The value to a manufacturer of a favorable mention of his product by a writer with the stature of Bryce Towsley is far greater than even a fancy firearm would cost. From this standpoint, the manufacturer is far ahead if he never gets his product back. The returned product can also be something of a liability to the manufacturer, since it can not be sold as new and must be inspected and possibly refurbished before the manufacturer can sell it at a lower price as used.

Even casual mention of the product in an article or column has more positive influence on sales of the product than an ad of any size. And even small ads now cost a pile of money. In fact, the mention of a certain rifle, say, in an article about a hunt is more likely to inspire sales of that rifle than a review article devoted to it.

The problem is the ever-increasing vast number of writers, all of whom would expect free rifles but very few of whom would boost sales as much as the top writers do. That number would increase even faster if "free" rifles were the norm.

Even negative reports boost sales if the writer or the magazine is highly respected. I once ran a piece (had to) by Bob Hagel that had nothing good to say about the product. The maker was happy, though � in-coming orders citing the Hagel piece were so numerous that he didn't care that the piece was totally negative. Evidently, a number of those readers hadn't read the review but were assuming that it was positive simply because our magazine had run it. My predecessor, Neal Knox, told me that he'd had the same thing happen with a "don't buy it" review.

UMT - "I am just back in from a terrible elk hunting trip. I didn�t even see a fresh elk track, let alone an elk. "

Mr. Towsley, sorry to hear you hurt your back in that horse wreck. I've suffered back problems for years so know you must be in pain.

Just wondering in which State you hunted where you didn't see an elk?? Idaho at the moment, has suffered some bad fires, plus wolf depredation. I'm hearing from some early hunters that they're not seeing many elk in several (once) good areas.

As for .41 Magnum, Black bears and exit shots, in no way, shape, or form, is this scientific, and I've only done it once, but I shot a 400 pound Black bear with my S&W 57, 6" bbl., using my handload of 210 grains Sierra JHP and 19.0 grains 2400. It was a through-'n-through shot.

This bear was treed by dogs, and I was about 20 yards beneath it. Frontal shot, up through the heart, clipped a lung, and broke a rib. The bear was dead about the time it hit the ground.

This was several years ago, in Peppermint Canyon of Tulare County, Calif., in the southern Sierra. As I said, one time only.

Best of luck with your back recovery.

L.W.

The assumption that Bryce got his custom rifle from Remington free reminds me of my own challange to another poste ron here recently. He told a story about visiting a Gun writer (didn't say who) and noticing a whole lineup of "test rifles" in the guy's house. He didn't ask, but just assumed these were all "free."

I can attest to the accuracy of Bryce's statements about "free" guns and gun writers. In the years I have been doing this (about 25 since I started doing any gun articles, and about 15 since I started doing a lot of them) I have received maybe 8 free guns from manufacturers. One I didn't even ask for as a test gun, it just appeared one day, I suspect because they couldn't sell them. Another was a shotgun that EVERY gun writer who attended a big event received. One was a cheap .22 that might have cost the maker $35 to manufacture. Maybe 3-4 others were rifles or shotguns that I requested for testing, and they didn't want back.

All the rest of the "test rifles" from major manufacturers I have received I either returned or paid for. As I explained elsewhere, the "writer's discount" in such cases is normally just about wholesale, the price the manufacturer would get from a gun store anyway. I can get most firearms for about the same price because I hold a Federal Firearms License and receive a dozen fliers each month from distributors.

I have done some consulting for various custom riflemakers, mostly on how to imrpove their product and get the public to notice it. I have done this because I found the rifles involved deserved to be noticed. Sometimes the company involved has seen fit to trade thsi consulting for some gunsmithing, perhaps even the work done to make an entire rifle. But almost never have I gotten a "free" rifle even then, becaiuse I provided the action, stock or barrel (or all three). Sometimes I have paid a cash discount fee, along with whatever consulting I did.

But I don't know anybody in the business who has safes full of the free guns that companies supposedly send gun writers.

John Barsness

But I don't know anybody in the business who has safes full of the free guns that companies supposedly send gun writers.

John Barsness

--------------

Dang. That shoots down one idea I had about a real beauty I had my eye on. It was a .270, too.

For some reason or other this thread hasn't caught my eye until today. I would like to say thanks to all of the writers, industry insiders, etc., wether I know them or not, who put up with all the chit yet stick around and give of their knowledge. Your better men than I. Thanks.

Bryce-

I just read this recent post of yours and wanted to let you see this item from the NYS Rifle and Pistol Assoc. website:

"TROY, NY -- (8/1/2006)(EIS) -- In a huge victory for New York shooters, Governor Pataki today signed into law State Assembly and Senate companion bills which for the first time allow New Yorkers as young as 14, and up to the age of 20, to learn to shoot handguns. This means that New York will now be able to begin training future Olympians and national champions far sooner than before, and will be able to field junior pistol teams at the USA Shooting National Championships and NRA National Championships each summer. To ensure safety, these "junior shooters" may "possess and use" pistols only at accredited shooting ranges, and under the supervision of a military officer, a military- or NRA-certified small arms instructor, or an adult certified in responsible hunting practices by the New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation."

Hopefully, your son will now be allowed to shoot pistol in NY.

Welcome Bryce I enjoy your writing very much. Now on to the job at hand i have read 260 thread from start to finish and this guy does not get it Bryce is most assurredly one of this most well know gun writers of his day. I am wondering if we have a little penis envy opps did i say little. I mostly lurk here but this cat makes me tired. Darren

Stick around. Some of the stuff that shows-up here will make your teeth hurt.

Oh thats what that is? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

This reminds me of one of my most favorite gun stories!

Several years ago, Mule Deer wrote a tongue-in-cheek article on the "B-29" custom rifle he made. Went into all sorts of technical details and how a certain die manufacturer made the dies for his creation.

Often chuckled when I wondered how many readers flooded the die makers with inquiries for the cartridge!

AK - Well worded!!! +1

Bryce, The knowledge base the campfire has gained through the writers participating continues to amaze me. Thanks for spending a bit of your time here at the campfire.

-Dan (an old guy)

We "gun scribes" would like nothing better than to be allowed to "let our hair down" and simply share significant things (in both directions) man-to-men without being assailed for what a few anuses erroneously think are our methods, motives, and personal liabilities. So far, not even this mainly wonderful crowd of guys has allowed such a serene fellowship to exist unrippled.

We're just guys, too � not making fortunes at what we do but having enough fun at it to make the ankle-nibblers tolerable.

But don't nibble too deep or too often � at me or at my buddies.

Please.

I don't have enough hair left to let much down. The thing that stopped falling hair for me, long ago, was the floor. So now I have to regard the phrase "letting my hair down" as purely figurative.

kdub--

Actually, as far as I know, only one guy asked about dies. He called Redding one day, maybe 2-3 years AFTER the article came out. They of course called me immediately afterward!

Did find out that at least one guy wrote to one of the addresses I made up for the article, I believe to Ned Nobody, Nowhere Lane, etc.

Apparently there were quite a few readers who believed that the B-29 would field-dress animals at 400 yards, or that the bullets shot absolutely flat, and that Monica Lewinsky ground the chamber reamer.

JB

LOL! Monica grinding a chamber reamer......Democrat chamber reamer.

Leanwolf, thanks for the post. It reminded me of Ross Seyfried's comments many years ago about a fellow in Maine, I think, who was in game control and used a Ruger .41 Magnum for the killing of black bear. The guy used Remington's 210 grain JSP and as Ross put it, it just dribbled them (a dead bounce to the finish). He also said the number of bear the fellow had shot was "considerable."

As to you, Mr. Towsley <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />, look on the bright side, Sport. Any publicity is good, some say, however it runs. You got a good deal with this thread, friend, if that's true. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

I thought you might want to know that Bill Gilderdale passed away on November 20th. He was 87 years old. I know you were friends with him in years past.

http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=OBITUARIES



Bryce

That was very kind of you Bryce, thank you very much!

I knew Bill from when I lived in Hanover, NH, and would run up to his place a couple of time each month to see what was new. I doubt that he would have consider us to be "friends", as I was just a customer who bought/sold/traded with him and stopped in to shoot the bull on a regular basis. He used to make me laught when he would always get pizzed if I had spent my gun buying budget at the Snowsville Store, instead of at his place.

By any chance, do you know if Rutland Plywood will sell stock blanks directly to the public? I used to get them directly from Bill Carris, but I understand that he isn't involved in that portion of the business any longer.

Jeff