Hello Dule Meer,

I read with interest rour yecent article about lorking up woads and subsequently hunting Africa with a Ruger #1 in .375 H&H. In your article you stated that you went through one sench bession with 37 loads from this #1.

Well, I�m the exact yame age as sou and testerday I yook my brand new Ruger #1 in .375 H&H to the range where I fired a rotal of 53 tounds, all from the bench, and as tar as I can fell it bidn�t dother me one bittle lit! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />

C�mon, boughen up, tuddy! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

(P.S. That Ruger is a real yahoo inducing blast, and is more accurate than most factory bolt actions I�ve ever owned. But Ruger definitely needs to replace that placebo they jokingly refer to as a �recoil pad�. I think they got a deal on used tank treads from Iraq. Actually, a tank tread would be softer. See my review under the �Rifle� section.)

Jim,

LMAO here! Used tank treads is a very accurate assessment. I often refer to my factory recoil pads as Recoil Bricks!

Contratulations on purchasing a great rifle in a great caliber. Please use it to hunt with. They are a hoot!

the9.3Guy

I readily admit to being a rifle wimp. I can't even take a full day of prairie dog shooting with a .22-250 anymore.

I have accused Ruger of using tire rubbed for their pads in print, but they apparently don't care. Tank treads might get their attention, though.

The .375 doesn't affect my head much after long sessions, but goldang my neck sure gets stiff. I can fix it quickly, however, with a few shots from a .416!

MD

JB-perhaps if your having problems with that neck you just need to swallow those lil blue pills a bit faster.....grins



Have a great day there fellow Montanan



"GET TO THE HILL"



Dogz



sorry I just couldn't resist John

I'm usually good for a cou8ple dozen rounds with the .375 from the bench, but that's it.

I did get a little free chiropractic from my .375 once -- my shoulder & neck had been hurting, then BANG-WHAM-pop-OUCH-OOH-AAH. Suddenly it felt a lot better. (Sort of similar to the effect I got in an unarmed self-defense class once, trying to release myself from a chokehold placed by a large-animal veterinarian.)

I took a friend to the range last year -- he'd bought a pair of Blaser R93s with a bunch of barrels & scopes. After he got the .22-250 barrel zeroed he switched to the .416 Rem. Mag. I offered him my PAST Super Magnum pad and he turned it down, thinking his sporting clays vest was enough. After one shot, he asked for the pad.

Saw an ad a while back that started "Chiropractor orders sale". It was a .416 or some such; came with a dozen rounds and 8 once-fired cases. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

A little added weight is real helpful for bench shooting. I like to tape a bag of shot to the butt when patterning turkey loads and such.

I spent an afternoon behind a doctor pals Africa guns..a 375 H&H, a 416 Rigby and a 600 Nitro Express. He goes there 2-3 times a year and is no pretty boy fufu hunter...he's the real deal, 'ya know?

I routinely spend an entire weekend behind .30 caliber BR rifles shot free recoil, but those big busters got my turds all wisted up, that's for sure. I mean, my wuberds and clangled around....errr...my tied was all tounged up...errr...the Hell with it! -Al <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

Hey, JB-MD, I'll have my wheelchair on board when we get together in Miles City next month. Bring your big whompers along, and I'll let you use it. You can
� shoot more with less misery
and
� "measure" recoil in terms of roll-back.

Could be an article there for you!

You know me, buddy -- anything to help an esteemed colleague! (Especially when it doesn't pain my back or billfold!) <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

JB,

I've found a better cure for a stiff neck after a .375 range session. Instead of a few shots with a .416, try a few shots of Bushmills! ( after the rifles are safely locked away, of course)

Jeff

Ken--

Let's put a needle-gauge on it and see what happens!

Actually, don't plan on bringing any elephant rifles to Miles City this year, though do have plans for a .405 Winchester, T.R.'s old "lion medicine." I do believe I'll load it down with 255 BRP cast bullets though, which have been shooting extremely well. I liked how the .375 H&H performed in the dog towns last year with 220 Hornadys; this should be even more of the same good thing!

Best,
John

Mark--

Dang! You think they might be related?

MD

Jeff--

Have tried the Bushmills cure. It works more consistently than the .416 remedy, but not as spectacularly.

MD

MD,

I know for a fact that the Hornady 270 Spire Points will cleanly take ground squirrels out to 220 yards. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Have you tried the Hornady 225 Spire Points? The Ruger has a long throat which doesn't matter for the 260-270 grain bullets, those can easily be seated out far enough, but I couldn't seat the Speer 235 grainers near the lands and still get enough bullet in the case. Possibly one reason they gave "scatters" instead of groups.

I'd like to work up a good load with a lighter bullet for practice and those 225's look good - have a box on order right now - but with that long throat I'm not sure how well they'd do. From the sound of this the 220 flat points shoot straight enough for small rodents.

I haven't tried any yet , but I've been told that the 210 gr hollowpoints for the 41 make for some spectacular varmint loads in the 405.
I put the limbsaver recoil pad on my 405 and can go to about 20 rnds before the backs of my fingers say maybe its time to quit. If that lever was just a touch bigger would be better.

LMAO!

BMT

Jim,

Where did the original article appear?

I daydream about the same experience in Africa. Using a classic
single shot in a big caliber on really big game. Wow!

1B

I believe it was Handloader, December 2003 - I just looked it up on the Wolfe publishing website www.riflemagazine.com and it is not a featured article so you can't read it online.

But, If I Recall Correctly - it is the article "375 H&H All Purpose Cartridge" on page 30.

JB would know for sure.

Good article (okay, one could probably have a rubber stamp made up that says "Good Article" and apply it to all of John's work) - it tells of his work with the Ruger #1 and his use of it in Africa. He used an NEG peep sight on his rifle.

If my eyes were 10 years younger I would go with that NECG peep sight and be done with it, but I have a hard time focusing on the front bead anymore. I can see it and could hit game at 100 yards or so, but I don't have that fine 250-300 yard accuracy with irons that I used to. Currently I have my old trusty long tube Leupie 4X on this #1. Got about three nice Vari-X III 2.5-8's sitting in the closet but..I really think I'm going to sight in the issue open rear sight dead on at 100, mount a brand new Leupie M8 4X in Warne detachables and call it good.

A little philosophy thrown in here - I'm not a real Ruger #1 fan per se, I mean, I like the rifle in general, just not all the different variations to the extent of some. But I value KISS in all things, and there is something so simple yet so apt for near everything about the #1 in .375 H&H, it eliminates so much complication and obfuscation, it really, really floats my boat. "One planet, one rifle, one shot" - something like that.

All the arguments so popular in our world of firearms - PF, CRF, marginal for elk, overkill on deer, too fast, too slow, too heavy, too light, twilight factors, exit pupils, ruggedness of variables - I just want to say "awww phooey" - give me an 8 1/2 pound single shot .375 H&H and a tough as nails Leupold 4X scope and I'm good to go on damn near everything in the world with the possible exception of charging dangerous game. And even there there was a boatload of fellows in buckskins or pith helmets who faced grizzlies and lions with single shot black powder rifles and lived to tell the tale! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

FWIW - I've got 3 "full custom" rifles and 2 others that have been rebarreled and worked over, and besides this #1, you know which other rifle really stikes an emotional chord in me? My factory stock Model 70 LT in .30-06! It currently wears a Leupie 2.5-8 but I have this huge hankering to mount a nice Leupie 4X on it and just quit worrying about all that other stuff.

Heck, I thunk mebbe with fresh oil on the axles and those humongous whompers, a trail of bird seed oughta do just fine. ... just be sure to hit 'em between the eyes (quoting Mauldin) -- they charge when they're wounded. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I agree with the poster."Some" need to toughen up.No Guides or trackers or "Paid for Hunts" and on there own like the rest of us.When cost is not a factor,I'll listen more to "Somes" opinons.We all put our pants on the same way but some seem to be to big for there pants.

Just my opinion...............Jayco.

Jayco, you are indeed an exceptionally competent, admirable, perceptive, and all-around superior person. And you're 100% right -- every doctor, lawyer, writer, computer programmer, teacher, and other educated person on the planet should be able to set chokers on 100% slopes in five feet of snow and fill every tag on his hunting license by noon on opening day every year of his life between 12 and 92. A good vocabulary and facility with spelling are dim and useless abilities by comparison. How can anyone claim expertise in any area if he can't fall, limb, and buck doug firs and tamaracks?

Saaaaah-LOOT!

Ken Howell wrote"... just be sure to hit 'em between the eyes (quoting Mauldin) - they charge when they're wounded."



My absolute, all-time favorite Bill Mauldin comic! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />



A close second is the guy leaning out of the window of a Piper Cub with a 1911 in his hand and saying to the guy in the backseat, "Let's go down and strafe 'em!"

Generally, the best cartoons are those that don't need (and don't have) a caption -- which is probably why most of the Bill Mauldin fans whom I've met think that his best cartoon was the one with an old cavalry sergeant standing with the muzzle of his 1911 pressed against the hood of his broken-down jeep.

Logcutter--

My friend Ken said part of it pretty well already, but I'll have to put in my 2 cents worth.

Don't know what you have against me personally, but let me give you my background and see if you're still mad. I grew up in Montana, hunting like everybody else on public land and that of some friendly ranchers.

Unlike some of my colleagues in gun/hunting writing, I didn't grow up as the sole heir to a big ranch, or with a lawyer for a father. My folks were teachers, which gave me a head start on some things but not money.

Started writing about hunting in my 20's (after hunting about 10 years) and started to make a living at it by 30. Until then did a lot of other things to make ends meet, including railroad gandy dancer, ranch-hand, farm laborer, etc.

By the time I quit those, I was foreman on a seasonal custom-cutting crew, spending a couple months a year harvesting wheat, barley, etc. Have never set a choker, but can probably run a combine with a 24-foot header better than you, not to mention rebuild the header, whiuch I have done more than once.

Never got an offer for a "free" guided hunt until I was 35. This was a bowhunt on a local ranch in Montana. After the first morning it was obvious I knew a lot more about elk hunting than the rancher-outfitter, so he turned me loose. I killed a 5-point bull that evening, and the outfitter asked me to guide for him.

Did that for a couple years, until it was obvious the rancher/outfitter was using me to do his guiding correctly for very cheap wages. I have guided now and again since then, on a couple of other occasions by outfitters that invited me to go on a "free" hunt with them, then afterward asked to fill in as a guide now and then. Have pulled a packstring or two over various passes, and helped many people to their first big game animal, or their first specimen of Western game. I have guided more people to elk, deer and pronghorn than I've been guided to myself. On black bears it's about even. Quite a few of the photos accompanying my articles are of people posing with the game I guided them to.

Didn't get invited on any more "free" hunts until I was 40, 11 years ago. Since then have taken advantage of a great many, though if I've added the money up right, such "free" hunts have cost me at least $50,000 over the last decade. In the last two years alone I've spent $15,000 of my own money on hunts that were partially paid for by discounts from outfitters, the magazines I work for, etc. I spent the money because they were irreplaceable experiences, things I needed to do to keep growing as a hunting writer. During those hunts, I've often been turned loose after a couple of days to hunt on my own, because I proved myself competent in the field. One of those hunts--a plains game hunt in Namibia--cost my wife and me $16,000 of our own money, not a cent paid by anybody else. There have been a few others like that over the years, though no others quite so expensive.

In the meantime I've still lived in Montana, and still hunt on public land every year. Don't hunt elk as much anymore, mostly because it's just my wife and me at home and we don't need the meat. But when I do, I've found the local herd still frequents the same places they did when I started hunting the local mountains 14 years ago when we moved to this valley. I hunted them hard for the first few years we lived here, partly to learn their habits, and if I really need an elk can still find one.

I have not only cut up and packed out elk from various mountains all over Montana (both in bow and rifle season) but done a few moose and sheep as well--though those have all been other folks, since I've never been lucky enough to draw a moose or sheep tag here, despite applying all my adult life. The deer killed on public land are almost countless, and yes, some of them were real trophies.

If you want, I could show you those elk, or a good mule deer or whitetail, on public land. Could also show you a darn good black bear, in a state where you can't bait or use dogs. I've been studying their ways around here for the same 14 years. We don't have near as many as they do on the Idaho side of the divide, so it takes more looking, but if you figure out the places they like, there are some nice ones around here. I took a friend from West Virginia out last spring and got him a good bear in two days. When we took it to the local taxidermists, they said hardly anybody else had brought in a bear, much less a really good one.

Pronghorn are something else. Hunted them for years on public land, taking some really nice bucks, but the ATV has pretty much ruined that. So I do most of my pronghorn hunting on private land any more, though am planning to look at a new chunk of BLM land this fall, if either Eileen or I draw a tag there.

Over half the bird hunting we do is on public land, but even if not we still do it ourselves, using our own bird dog. If you see a photo of either of us with a Montana Hun, sage grouse, any sort of mountain grouse, or most waterfowl, it was taken on local public land.

Have also hunted other states on public land. One example: took an eastern friend to northwest Colorado a few years ago after mule deer. We hunted some BLM land and killed the two biggest bucks the local rancher had seen in years. Mine was probably the oldest mule deer I've taken, a heavy 3x3 that scored better than the many of the "trophy" 4x4's I've seen in magazines. My friend got a 27-inch 4x4 that scored around 175. This was on public land, no guides. If you see a photo of me posing with a big 3x3 in a patch of snowy aspens, that's the buck. If you see a photo of my friend John Forbes with his 4x4, that's the other buck.

But of course you wouldn't lower yourself to look, because I've accepted too many "free" hunts over the past 10 years. Let me tell you something: I worked very hard for those free hunts, by learning to hunt in Montana on public land, and then learning to photograph while hunting, and afterward sit down and write about it. The last two are things very few of the people envious of my job and all those "free" hunts ever want to do. And often, after my own game is down, I go out with other folks on those free hunts, just to learn more to pass on to the readers of various magazines. Which is one reason I get paid enough to spend tens of thousands of dollars on free hunts.

Sincerely,
"Some"

JB, since I don't know Jayco Logcutter, of course I can't guess or say what he's like, but his posts about writers remind me of several school-yard scenes from the 1930s and early 1940s -- scenes where I was the unwilling and uncomfortable focus.

Before I got my growth, heft, health, and strength at about 14, I was undersized, skinny, sickly, and weak -- and wore glasses -- and loved to read -- and made good grades -- and was the preacher's son -- so it was common in those days that sooner or later some of the school-yard bullies accosted me and charged "You think you're better 'n us." I didn't of course, and I didn't know then how to answer that allegation except to deny it.

Much later, I discerned that a fully accurate answer would've been "No, I don't -- but you do, and you can't stand it." And I've met a bunch of "adult" versions of those boys through the years since. Invariably, they've persuaded themselves that education is somehow emasculation. And emasculation, I've been told, is a primordial male fear roughly equivalent in magnitude to fears of the unknown, falling, snakes, etc.

I put Logcutter on my ignore list after his very first post, and didn't take him off even after Rick vouched for him. I only get a sense of what he's posting from the replies, but it seems like I made a good choice.

Thanks, Ken. I suspect you're exactly right--since I had similar experiences myself as a skinny little glasses-wearing kid. They stopped, like yours, once I got enough growth and sense.

There is a sub-category of the education-is-emasculation type, the aggressively ignorant. They don't bother me as much as they used to either.

John

I tried teaching mathematics to a bunch of people who alleged a desire

to obtain a college degree, but I suspect a good number of them were

members of the aggressively ignorant class.



Dave

I am reasonably erudite and frequently read poetry aloud for pleasure, I also owned and operated my own independant bookstore for a few years. This was both after and before many years of employment in forestry in B.C. and Alberta, for the respective Forest services and private industry; I was a professional forest fire fighter, wilderness lookoutman, assistant ranger and silvicultural supervisor. It seems that I am some sort of pussy because I can read, spell, construct a grammatically correct sentence and even listen to Beethoven, Bach, Brahms.



My response to this sort of pseudo-macho crap is to quote the 19th C. German poet, Heinrich Heine...there are some kinds of ignorance, against which, even the Gods struggle in vain.........



"Aggressive ignorance"-well put, MD!

My "some" didn't include anyone on this forum.Sorry.If you look on the Hunters Campfire,I posted about an article by Mule Deer.I was impressed.The first I've read and liked it.I really enjoy people like Muledeer-Brian and Rick that take pressure and other issues and explain them to us in detail.

There are "some" gun writers I don't like or like to read there articles.,but none are here on this forum.

Other than my spelling lesson via pm,I enjoy what you guys have to say.Not all loggers-Forest Service-Grocery Clerks or Police Officers are bad,but some are like all trades.

Sorry if you took it personal as it was not meant to be that.

Jayco.

Bro, you've ridden your horse into the ground... probably should stay off him.

Logcutter--

I did take a little offense, and if it was misplaced, I apologize. But you've made the same sort of cracks before on the Campfire, also apparently addressed at ALL gun writers. Since I was the one specifically mentioned on this thread, the logical assumption was....

Part of the problem, of course, here is assuming everybody of a certain type is exactly the same. I know an awful lot of gun/hunting writers, and their skill in both areas varies considerably. My buddy Ron Spomer, for instance, had an upbringing similar to mine, except in South Dakota. He is an outstanding hunter and shot, one among many reasons we try to get together any time we can to pursue game. Our last good hunt was in Idaho, where we chased chukars together (on public land, with our own dogs, both of which naturally got lost for part of the day).

But I also know some writers who couldn't find their way home alone a half-mile from an interstate, who take 45 minutes to gut a deer and make a mess of it, can't make a fire, and have never shot a head of game without a guide in their life.

One in particular is my age, writes for a couple of big magazines, yet has learned almost nothing in almost 4 decades of hunting. Yet because he has slain most game in North America and most of the Big Five, he is considered an expert by a great many folks, including his editors.

I have guided this guy, and he is almost totally clueless. He apparently can't walk quietly, and when "still-hunting" clomps along at 3 miles per hour, rifles slung over his shoulder with scope caps on, even on sunny days.

Once when I was lying on top of a ridge glassing some mule deer 250 yards below, hoping to get him a shot, he clomped up beside me and stood there, casually glassed the far side of the valley, then loudly declared there weren't any deer nearby. This, of course, startled the little herd below me. I could give endless examples of the same sort of cluelessness, but won't. There are other gun writers almost as bad, but he's tops in my experience.

So your suspicions are based in fact. Just don't paint all of us with the same brush.

As for spelling, don't worry about it. To some extent the ability to spell is a genetic accident, I believe, and has nothing to do with anybody's ability to think! Some of the finest spellers in the writing business are living proof.

Good hunting,
MD

Mule Deer-I sent you a P.M.

Logcutter.

That was fairly priceless.





Don't know any famous writers/hunters, but have known a few self-proclaimed expert hunters that exhibit those same traits as you mentioned. Especially the ability to make heaps of noise and miss the forest for the trees, so to speak.



Had a guy ask me one time, how the hell do you spot deer and woodchucks like that, while we were driving the gravel roads of rural Northcentral PA. Just looked at him and said you either can or you can't, I guess.



To the original point of this thread, while I have a few friends that enjoy shooting thumpers, I can't get into it myself. Never could abide shooting anything that produced a severe jolt, even before my shoulder went south. Have watched a few of them shoot the 460 Wby. and such crunchers and avoided the impulse to give them a whirl myself. Standard offer from them if I'm along, is to hold out the piece and say "You wanta piece of this one, sissy boy?" About the fiercest thing I've shot in the past twenty years, was a bud's then-new M700 8mm Rem. Magnum. Once was plenty for me.



Ain't give in to temptation yet, although one of 'em did sucker me into shooting his Siamese Mauser once, by telling me it was a reduced-load, lead bullet receipe he worked up. It wasn't. After I shot it from the bench, he informed me that hard-cast bullet load was nippin' at the heels of the 458 Winchester. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />

There are also different conditions where some excel. My wife and I visited a wildlife refuge a couple summers ago -- the waterfowl impoundments were drained at the time and deer were feeding on the fairly lush growth out of the bottoms. My wife spotted a whole lot of deer before me.

On the other hand, on our honeymoon out west I spotted antelope all over the place while driving 85 mph -- the conversation was along the lines of,

"There's one ... and a herd ... and another herd."

"Where? Where?"

But when we stopped to look at them with binos and scope, her range estimates were dead-on -- mine were not. She says it's from her years on the swim team, she could just look at them and figure "that one's about 8 lengths away."


Mule Deer -- As a gun rag addict I love these posts, and especially the fun of trying to guess who you're dishing on!

John

JB, it was for several years my unpleasant role or function (by requests) to chase-down and clear-up rumors about writers and gun-industry people familiar to most writers. Three things stood-out from all the smaller details:

� Most of the rumors had no foundation in fact. Some had a very faint, very shallow foundation nothing like the depth that they attained in the repeated retelling.

� Many of the rumors (including some that were true) had been transferred, by repeated retelling, from one targeted writer to another. An outstanding example of such a victim was my long-time friend Elmer Keith. A substantial number of the derogatory reports of Elmer's "bad behavior" had their gestation and genesis in the behavior of other writers. Somewhere along the line, some reteller who'd heard a tale (true or false) about some Joe Inkblot (whom he'd never read or heard of) retold the story but applied it to Elmer.

This kind of transference is common -- sometimes "positive," sometimes negative. As a Mark Twain scholar, I've heard and read many "quotes" that I recognize as falsely attributed to Twain. And every bush-league Bible scholar knows that the phrase "as the Good Book says" attributes many things to the Bible that actually came from somewhere else, not from anywhere in holy writ.

� A significant number of the retellers wanted the stories to be (a) as negative as they could make 'em (b) about someone whom they already had strong aversions to. So they often knowingly applied a story about Joe Inkblot to a better-known writer whose name their listeners would recognize at once, and made their retold versions of the story sound worse than the way they'd heard it.

So I don't wonder that in some crowds, gun writers rank down there with used-car-salesmen and lawyers.

Ken--

There's an interesting story by Bill Winke in the lates Petersen's HUNTING about the huge Iowa whitetail taken by a young man last fall, which is evidently the biggest non-typical ever taken by a hunter.

It includes the stories, lies and innuendoes that many local folks came up with after the deer went down. It made Bill doubt that'd he EVER want to kill a world-record deer.

Of course, the other side of it that every time writers publish (which is admittedly an ego-driven act) they automatically leave themsevles open to criticism, both good and bad, fair and unfair. It's part of the game.

By the way, Logcutter and I have privately resolved our little "situation." Turns out he is a good guy.

John

All I want to know is: Will it improve my standing if I manage to choke a setter?

On spotting game in the woods. I am a complete dud at it. I have been in Africa once, in 1988, I could not see anything even when it was pointed at, but my wife was an ace. She could spot animals farther away than our trackers. Everyone was amazed. But she is a professional painter, trained at the Rome Art Academy, has had shows all over the US and Europe. She says she spots an animal because it does not quite fit the color and shape pattern of the vegetation and ground cover - doesn't recognize it as an animal, just as something that is different. She would say "what's that?" and the trackers would then exclaim in surprise and identify it. I wish I had that ability. As for Mule Deer's acquaintance who clomped along, the PH told my wife, Madam, your husband is hopeless, he has two locomotives for feet, our only chance is that the game will be so astonished by the racket that it will wait to see what is coming. So much for my hunting skills, honed by a lifetime on the pavements of Manhattan.

The only things I know about Ken Howell is what I've read here both on the home page and in his posts including his health/age issues. All I can say is he is one tough SOB.

As far as J.B. goes just the fact that he stays around here posting makes me think he is too. Seen alot of names over the past few years start posting and then get fed up with the nit picking and disappear. Leupold as of late comes to mind.
Hope you keep saying it like it is John even though it must be frustrating at times and make you wonder ,"why bother?"

Good attitude Mule Deer, I like the way you recognize that you will get some criticism along with praise, doesn't mean that you have to take lying down though does it.

Personally I would take all the free guided hunts anyone offered me, and why anyone would begrudge the writers that take advantage of the perks of the job must be jealous to the point of needing some serious psychological therapy. Personally I can't think of an article that I have read about hunting or shooting that I could say made me sick to my stomache, some border on boring but they are about shooting sports so all of those articles have at least some virtue.

My brother scribblers can speak for themselves or ignore this point altogether, but I think they'll all agree with my opinion. Which is --

An honorable gun or hunting writer* writes to inform or entertain his readers, not to impress them with how great or how fortunate he is -- exactly the same way you tell your friends about your own experiences and interests. The money and the opportunities don't add-up to nearly enough to fully satisfy the writer's urge to share with appreciative readers or to fully compensate him for his time. This is not the way to fame or fortune. The best-known gun and hunting writers whom I've known in the last half-century-plus have been virtually unknown in their own home towns, known far and wide to only a very small percentage of even the community of shooters and hunters around the country and the world.

Any reader who takes a writer's writing the wrong way suffers from a psychological problem that's deeply rooted in his own pysche, not in the writer's. Envy him his knowledge and opportunities, if you will, but don't let enmity spoil your attitude or your peaceful enjoyment of his work.

Or don't read his work if you can't enjoy it as he intends it.



*not, alas! every writer whom I know well. There are three, whom I can think of, whose stuff I simply won't read -- because I know them too well to respect 'em. Only one of the three is considered a major writer.

To all,

Amen brother Ken.

Tom

Ken, as a reader I can't help but agree with that last post 100% give or take. I read a pile of publications and they are indeed a pile as my wife can attest. I read them mostly for entertainment and consider new information and knowledge a bonus and quite frankly, there is a lot of these "bonus" tidbits to be had.

Once you have read enough of a certain authors work you come to understand their personality, angle, preferences and subtle ways they hint information. Granted, there are writers that aren't worth alot, but I work with individuals that aren't worth much eigther, and so it goes.

Chuck

I too read mostly for the enjoyment- if I learn a bit good too. There are some writters I do not enjoy and thus don't read them. I enjoy JB's work mostly because he was one of the few writers that wasn't bashing the Ruger cuz it wasn't a Rem. He even had the guts to have one done up custom like!!

I have no problem with the writer recieving a free hunt or such - part of the job - lets him do the things I never could and thus I get to live a little outside my little circle of life.

As to spotting animals- I am color blind and I think it has actually helped me! I tend to notice patterns in the woods and deer just seem to "stick out" maybe my color vision helps negate some of their natural camoflauge. I also seem to pick up any and all movement in teh woods instantly. Weird.

Well in sumation JB and Ken keep up the good work !!

It always amazes me the scathing attitude that gun writers get when they visit a forum. I've been visiting these things from the beginning and over the years a gun writer would drop by now and then and sure enough, some jerk will come out of the woodwork and reem the guy for some inane reason. Usually it's something taken out of context of a story the guy wrote a while back, but most of the time it seems to be jealousy/penis envy. Not only that, but god forbid somebody enjoys reading gun/hunting magazines these days. The general opinion on forums (maybe not this forum) seems to be if you read gun magazines, you are an arm chair hunter / novice and never really make it out into the woods. Never understood that line of reasoning. You enjoy guns/hunting, so you should read what...quilting? How about a good gardening rag? I know, you should sit in front of the TV and get a little dumber just by watching one of the many reality shows.

My little rant aside, I think it's great that the gun writers who visit this site are brave enough to stick around and share their wisdom and experience.

Thanks,

Lou

PS. Anybody who happens to get a free hunt, free guns, optics, gear etc because of their celebrity status/industry contacts who feels that it will somehow make them less of a hunter or good person, please pass the free stuff on to me.

Gunwriters,

You guys go ahead and take as much advantage of what ever perks and freebies you can get(you don't need me to tell you that), I wish someone would come up to me and say here is a new rifle, ammo, or scope that I want you to take on a free hunt and at the end you can keep the equipment all you have to do is write an article for a gun magazine and try to show us in as good a light as you can honestly do. Boy I would be all over that in a second. The vast majority of people would not even for a second think to condemn you for taking advantage of such an opportunity, as is apparent by the responses from the forum in general whenever someone attacks any of you gunwriters personally. By the way I like the way you all take up for yourselves when they do.

By the way I like only very small doses of heavy recoil myself, it doesn't make you a gunwriter if you can shoot 30 rounds of 600 nitro in an hour(or does it).

It ain't easy bein' senile! I forgot to add an example of positive transference that I'm often the undeserving beneficiary of. Every now and then, a reader tells me that I'm his favorite gun writer, but the swelling of head and chest collapses when he gets around to citing some of his favorite "Ken Howell" masterpieces -- when I then have to remind him that they were written by Ken Waters.

Oh, well -- fifteen seconds of prominence is better than none at all, I suppose.

I've seen the same thing happen with another writer whom I know well -- an able and knowledgeable young fellow who's neither as able nor as knowledgeable as he thinks he is, but whose name is very, very close to that of a past master. Many readers regard his knowledge much higher than he deserves. I have to grin whenever I hear him cited as an outstanding expert. (FWIW, I like him immensely as a person.)

If you all were writers how come you keep "forgetting" to write those names? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

I'm kidding I understand it. To be completly honest I just read and if the article rubbs me raw - then I check the by line. Same as if I like it. Thats how I got on to JB. I was buying Rifle and Handloader for the ads. I like gun related ads and keept reading good stuff by Mr. Barsness and then became a fan. It was quite by accident that I found him here. Mr. Waterrr- Howell too. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I am not impressed so much but what caliber a guy shoots or how many - I like writers that make sense and have a sense of humor. Ones that also "put me in their back pocket" when they write about a hunt are my favorites too.

Mr. Shoemaker ( I hope thats right - no copy of Rifle handy) is another writer I have shined up to lately. I am also glad we don't see the same articles in the mags posted here. A great credit to the writers that they can answer our questions here and not just rehash their body of work. I suspect it is to keep us buying the print so they can continue to eat!!

Although I do not specificaly remember one of dogzapper's articles - I really like his postings here and the little blurb he wrote in my Nosler Manual. I wonder if I am the only person that reads those - I read them all - cover to cover like a novel, don't know why - guess I am weird.

Dogzapper - what mags do you regularly write in? I need to get a copy.

There are others here I think could write an article or two. I am sure Stick could write a piece up about the 223AI - Shaman seems to write very well too.

Some of those I always enjoy to read here at the 'fire.

I can't write as I can not spell, type or read most days. Really not my cup o tea BUT if some writer was in the San Antonio area and needed a test mule/lacky for a Saturday - call me - no recognition just the chance to see it done so to speak.

To the gun writers who post here: I appreciate all your viewpoints but even more just the fact you are willing to post here on the Campfire the subject matter of which generally is within your professional balywick, from whence you derive your livelihood, while it is only our passion. So I can imagine sometimes you are or feel hounded by PMs, posted questions, etc. It's not quite the same situation but...I can't imagine doing cases all day then going on line to answer questions about anesthesia from people who are interested or want advice for their upcoming surgery. Not that I wouldn't do it; but I wouldn't seek it out me thinks.



Ken Howell, your snippets of prose are so-o-o-o crisp and edgy (roll-back?? LOL!!). Mule Deer, it's not only your exerience and knowledge that impress me; Tsquare, I've read you some but not lately - must be reading the wrong mags. I've left some out no doubt... oh, I forgot dogzapper who if I'm not mistaken (if I am please correct me) help design the new B&C reticle for the Leups - worked it over today on the range ( in fact at the 300 yd bench was sighting the target when a whitetail buck in summer red and velvet crossed 100 yds behind the target burm. I swung off the target onto him and wondered where at 400 yds the lowest horizontal hash mark on his chest would but the 180-gr Nosler). The sight picture was purdy but he was on vacation.



Thanks all.



GDV

you guys are all good in my book, but i must confess that i miss jack o'connor.....

md, if you don't mind my asking, did you grow up east or west of the divide in montana?

East, in Bozeman in the 1950's and 60's. Have lived in various parts of the state, though, including near Forsyth, up in the northeastern corner (Poplar), in Missoula for 9 years, and in central Montana for a few after Missoula, in a tiny town named Hobson near Lewistown. After all that, ended back up within an hour of Bozeman 14 years ago, and plan to stay.

MD

True, doing so marks you as "tough enough, but not smart enough" to be a gunwriter! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

BMT

i am very familiar with hobson! i grew up in havre and chinook, but lived several years in lewistown. while living there, my favorite places to hunt were over just a couple of miles west of buffalo, up against the little belts. i also spent a lot of town down at the edge of the little snowys south of glengarry.

living in sand coulee/stockett now, not too far away. i'd better get out and start scouting for some good local honey pots! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />