Had never read Taffin much, but received his "Book of the .44" for my birthday. Quite a gem, especially the history of the firearms. The pictures are amazing. Think I'll read him some more!

Solid gentleman and knows sixguns like nobody else.

He’s a very good writer, truly has a passion for six guns and it comes through in his writing. In his younger years he shot huge amounts of big bore heavy six guns and literally rearranged the bones in his hands and wrists. These day’s modest loads are all he shoots.

I've enjoyed reading him for many years. I have several of his books. Great reading and super illustrations.

That book is a treasure. He's a nice guy, too.

No one nicer than John Tiffin

I have several of his books. Always nice to sit down with one. I always seem to glean a little something new each time.

John is indeed very knowledgeable about sixguns, so much other gun writers tend to admire his work.

And he usually is a very nice guy. The one time I saw him go off on somebody was at the SHOT Show over 20 years ago, at the press conference where Colt announced the "Colt Light Rifle," a more affordable version of Melvin Forbes' Ultra Light rifles.

The Colt guy had recently come from the home appliance business, and after his very brief (and boring) speech, John Taffin stood up and said something like this, as best I recall: "You don't even know what you're talking about. This rifle has the potential to be great, but not if you folks don't understand the hunting rifle industry!" And then walked out.

John, of course, turned out to be right--even when the subject wasn't revolvers....

Big fan here of Mr. Taffin.

Recently read the book of the 44..

It was very good. Great author.
I'm getting to an age where I understand anger directed at misinformation. So I'm sure his reaction to the Colt rep was spot on.

It seems that Mr. Taffin enjoys what he does, and it comes out in his writing. I've read his work for decades. He's one of the best.

It definitely was spot on, as I hinted in my post. Colt did such a bad job of promoting the CLR that sales went south after the first year or so, and Melvin Forbes had to buy his company back from Colt--which is why he had to rename it New Ultra Light Arms. (And of course Colt filed for bankruptcy in 2015.....)

I still use some of his "Taffin Tests" load data he developed years ago for some oddities like the 10mm Magnum, 9mm WinMag, 41 Avenger, and 401 Powermag.

Tony Rumore
Tromix

Taffin is an ace, as is Mule Deer. There are used car salesman in every business.

Thanks!

But as I noted earlier, some gun writers also highly respect the experience and information from other gun writers who have more experience in another specialty. As an example, my double-action stainless .44 Magnum revolver isn't one that would be considered by many, but John Taffin thoroughly tested one and found it to be both accurate and highly reliable. And John has far more time and opportunity to test revolvers than I do.

So I bought one, and the results have been exactly what John reported....

And I see he has more books for me to buy. That's a good thing.

I have been reading Taffin's articles since the 80's and have found him to be honest, humble and well written. I've used him as an example of what good writing is when critiquing poor writing in letters to the editor of several magazines.
Also a man of faith and family.
I've used his load data for years.

Go back and read his column prior to the current editorial change in
American Handgunner" . . . it has been some number of years.
A golden nugget every issue!!

Really like his writing. Love the subjects.


But heavens to Betsy.....if I ever have to read about how he had to work his way through college, while being married with kids, and having to sell some guns again....it will be too soon.

I have had the good fortune to have been a guest in John's home twice! I can't say enough good about the man!

He has truly been there and done that when it comes to handguns.

Care to disclose what .44 you got?

A stainless Taurus Model 44, 4" barrel.

Thanks, John.

John Barsness
John Taffin
Ross Seyfried
Finn Aagard

Baddest boys on the block.....

You are CORRECT, Sir!!!

I would go along with that 😊

Thanks, guys. Am honored to be included in that list.

Know all those writers, though John Taffin less than the others.

Spent considerable time talking with Ross after we met each other on a black bear hunt on Vancouver Island over 20 years ago. We were in the crowded Vancouver airport (which is not on the island) where the other writers also eventually showed up. The vast majority of the people in the airport at the time were Asians, who were not only a LOT shorter than Ross (and even me), but not blond.

So we recognized each other easily, and ended not just hunting together, but rooming together at Jim Shockey's hunting camp at the northern end of the island, which at the time consisted of several camping-size trailers. Jim's hunting lease on logging company land was so large that the people on the hunt left our rented vehicles four hours from the camp, where Jim and his guides picked us up. Ross killed a pretty big bear during the drive to the camp! We had a lot of interesting discussions, as at the time he was still working for Guns & Ammo....and becoming dissatisfied. Got to know him even better during other meetings at functions like the SHOT and SCI shows, and had many interesting phone conversations over the next several years.

Met Finn at my first SHOT Show in the mid-1990s, and immediately told him I was a fan. He said the same thing to me, and we made tentative plans to hunt together. Unfortunately, he passed away before that could happen--but I did get to know Berit pretty well afterward. Met her on a hunt in South Texas hosted by Charlie Sisk, which also included Eileen. Berit had read Eileen's articles on both game cooking and hunting, and liked them--but didn't know we were married until we all ended up at the same table during lunch the first day of the hunt!

Seyfried actually has a treatise in one of my loading manuals. It's one I purchased when I first started hand loading. His advice was very valuable, and I still adhere to it today. I've not read his books.

I always read JB's articles in Handloader. I'm not much into rifles most of the time but enjoy the articles. I particularly like the shotgun pieces. I'm not much of a shotgunner either but I like reading about the old doubles, and learning about the ammunition.

I'd throw Gary Sitton and John Wooters in that group. Lane Simpson as well.

Knew both Gary and John pretty well too. In fact, during my very first conversation with John Wootters at the SHOT Show many years ago, he brought up his opinion (which I've mentioned before) that "gun writing" is entertainment, rather than "real journalism." John spent a number of years as a writer for the Houston Chronicle newspaper, which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of a major hurricane--and he among that team of writers.

John was also fond of long phone conversations, where we batted a lot of stuff back and forth, including cartridges and bullets for Cape buffalo. He did considerable "field research" with both the then-new Swift A-Frame and Trophy Bonded Bear Claw in Botswana back in the day. By a not totally unusual gun-writer coincidence, I just received a number of the recovered bullets from those experiments last week. Probably half were fired by John, but a few were fired by Bob "Pete" Petersen, the founder of Guns & Ammo and Petersen's Hunting, among other magazines. I was also lucky enough to become friends with Pete during his last few years--partly due a shared addiction to pronghorn hunting. A very nice guy.

You have lived a very interesting life, Mr. Barsness. We are fortunate to have you here. Thank you.

No argument from me.

Mule Deer's posts often read like a mini article....and that's not a bad thing at all. Miss your articles in Handloader and Rifle, though I still enjoy the magazines. I now have a subscription to Sports Afield though.

I have a copy of Wootters' "The Complete Book of Practical Handloading," that I got for Christmas as a teenager. Well written and very helpful when I was just learning, and I still refer to it now and then. I don't know as I've ever seen another copy.

300 savage,

I have a copy of The Complete Book of Practical Handloading somewhere in my so-called office, which has so many books it's sometimes difficult to locate one in particular! (Have it pretty well organized, but sometimes when I'm writing an article, I forget to put books back where they should be....)

Also have a copy of John's Hunting Trophy Deer, which I reread a few weeks ago. Mostly its about whitetails, because they're far more widespread than any other North American deer, but he also did quite a bit of mule deer hunting. One of the interesting things I noticed this time is when the book first appeared in 1977, apparently American deer hunters hadn't "discovered" the trophy potential of Sonora mule deer. This may be partly because Jack O'Connor hunted that part of Mexico long ago, but apparently was more fascinated with Coues whitetails, and usually too average mule deer bucks--perhaps partly because he didn't have much money then, and had a growing family.

I do try to provide a somewhat more detailed answer to many questions, partly because subjects can be more complex than the typical Internet "info-bite" answer can handle.

Now I have a new book to search for! And indeed, I appreciate it when you contribute your experience to the questions we come up with on the forums. It helps with my withdrawals from what Handloader once was, as does my SA subscription. With the loss of you, Scovill, and RH VanDenburg, the magazine has list a bit, though it's still good.. I will get used to the new writers.

I had a John Taffin book one time, but being a young man with a young family, I had to sell it.

I tend to tell the stories from my youth that made large impressions a little too often as well. Think it's a hazard of getting old. But since I'm not an author there's no written evidence...

I like the writing of all mentioned above though JB is my fav. I enjoyed Gary Sitton’s work very much.

Expat

Nobody has the depth in rifle, handgun, and shotgun that Ross Seyfried has.

Saw John at the range this morning, he comes out on Mondays or Tuesdays to do his handgun testing, and I told him about this thread. He appreciated the sentiments.

Thanks Jim, for passing this on. I just found a copy of his Big Bore Handguns book, and though I don't own a. 45, plan on getting his Book of the .45 caliber.