Gun writers of old

[jlevach]

of all the writers of old who were your favorites who covered handgun hunting like it should be covered and wrote about our chosen gun the contender the best. who do you remember most fondly? and who was the bigest windbag?
Jim L

[Old Judge Creek]

Since I appear to be the oldest (at least admitting to being the oldest) guy on the board, I'll withhold comment here until others have said their piece.

[Coyote]

Old Judge Creek - I am not much younger than you but am glad to have an elder here on PerfectUnion - makes me feel better - knowing I have an elder to watch over me. ;)

Writer - through Outdoor life - would have to say Jack O'Conner. There were more but he just stands out to me - Jack O'Connor was the preeminent North American big-game hunter and gun writer of the twentieth century. Was there a little hot air - probably - but he brought hunting through words and photograph right into my home when I was growing up.

[gossman]

Elmer Keith!!!!!!! :lol:

[surbat6]

Skeeter Skelton
Bill Jordan
Elmer Keith
George Nonte

[redhawk44]

Lucian Cary, or was it Gary.

Harvey Donaldson

Jim carmichael--he may be still writing.

Charles Askins--the junior

Townsen Whelen

Julian S Hatcher

Jeff Cooper, but of course, he is still around.

H D Rowe

These are some of the ones that I remember from the 40's and 50's.

[jeclif]

Patrick Mcnamous :D never knew what he was going to come up with next

[Citizen]

What about Bob Milek? Not only did he write about using the Contender he did a lot of Wildcatting.

[popgun]

Redhawk 44, I'm glad you mentioned Col. Townsend Whalen and Gen. Julian Hatcher, two of my favorites. They may not have been as colorful as some, but they spoke with authority. The title of one of Whalen's articles, "Only Accurate Rifles are Interesting" pretty much sums it up.

[Citizen]

I thought the post was pertaining to handgun writers?

[stevinator]

Bob Mileck had real good informative handgun hunting articles. He also didn't tell you how great he was and how much he used expensive custom guns like Ross Seyfried.

[SD Handgunner]

My vote would go to Bob Milek. Bob was a true gentleman and each and every time I spoke with him on the phone he always seemed eager to help out someone new to the sport he loved so much.

Bob was one of the ones I remember being so vocal about using todays Single Shot Handguns, and in fact together with Steve Herrett had a hand in developing some of the cartridges we still enjoy today. First and foremost Bob was a hunter, and an experimenter secondly.

I could go on and on, but you get the idea.

SD Handgunner

[Jim Jordan]

Bob was one of the ones I remember being so vocal about using todays Single Shot Handguns, and in fact together with Steve Herrett had a hand in developing some of the cartridges we still enjoy today. First and foremost Bob was a hunter, and an experimenter secondly.

Exactly correct SD Handgunner. Bob and Steve developed the .30 and .357 Herrett cartridges that we use today. Elmer Keith wrote several articles about the Contender but he more or less considered it a specialized gun that had limited application.

Milek wrote more articles about the Contender than all the other writers combined. He was the real deal and a modest man who knew a lot more than most people gave him credit for knowing.

Jack O'Connor was a drunk and a blowhard. He killed a lot more game with his Remington typewritter than he did with anything else. He was banned from the Winchester writers seminars for being unsafe and poining a loaded shotgun at Elmer Keith. Keith told him that if he ever did it again, drunk or no, that he would kill him. Keith went to the head of Winchester and got O'Connor banned from all future Winchester events. O'Connor hated Keith until his death. Charlie Askins also told O'Connor that he would kill him if he ever got the chance and if anybody would have done it, it would have been Askins (the younger.)

O'Connor was not liked or respected by his peers and indeed, most not only disliked the pompas twerp, they hated him. O'Connor shot himself through the foot with his own rifle once. He was really a good gun handler and a professional gun writer. And the cow jumped over the moon.

[gossman]

Did I mention Elmer Keith as my favorite? :D Oh, and the biggest blowhard IMHO would also fall to my favorite writer of old, Elmer Keith :o