Don't really know what to say, but we lost a mountain of a man this morning.

http://doublegunshop.com/forum...er=357993#Post357993

John

Indeed we did.

RIP Michael, RIP.

Very sad news; truly a gentleman.

Prayers to the family.

RIP Michael, RIP...

Terrible news.
I had no idea he was in poor health. Michael was patient and generous he passed along huge amounts of information to all of us and will be greatly missed on this forum and anywhere he was a presence.
I wish his family the best in these hard times.

Good grief. Always enjoyed his posts and his knowledge.

BEst to his family

We are greatly diminished this day.

I have often said that knowledge not shared is knowledge lost...

Michael put in a great amount of time researching, to preserve and share knowledge of the great gun builders of the 20th Century.

I was honored to speak with him several times, and to own both of his books.


just sad to hear,

Rich

My condolences to his family and I wish them peace. Michael was a treasure trove of information on custom guns and Mausers, he will be sorely missed.

We lost one of the kings of classic bolt guns.

Was so looking forward to his second book.

His contribution to Fred's book on Wildcats certainly put the final nail in the 400 Whelen naysayers.

God be with you Mike.

Yes, this is very bad news for classic rifle lovers. I got an email from him just the other day, did not know he was ill.

That's too bad! I just exchanged emails with him a couple weeks ago regarding identification of a Mauser I was trying to ID...

Had no idea he was sick.

Sad.

I knew him well and spoke to him often. We crossed paths at dozens of gun shows over the years. He was a unique source of information and a lover of custom Pre-war bolt action rifles. And, he was very generous in sharing information.

He came down with bladder cancer several months ago and endured surgery, chemo and radiation treatments. Lost a lot of weight. Tragic.

Michael was generous with his time and information. I have a picture in his vault of me holding one of his many fine rifles. We spent a few very enjoyable afternoons discussing everything Whelen and he inspired me to follow through with building my own 400 Whelen. I'll not ever handle that rifle without thinking fondly of him. The shooting world lost a true gentleman.

Mart

quote:

Originally posted by mart:
Michael was generous with his time and information. I have a picture in his vault of me holding one of his many fine rifles. We spent a few very enjoyable afternoons discussing everything Whelen and he inspired me to follow through with building my own 400 Whelen. I'll not ever handle that rifle without thinking fondly of him. The shooting world lost a true gentleman.

Mart

Well said Mart
He was instrumental in my 400 Whelen project as well even went so far as to loan me his reamer.
Very generous man.

I am just so sad. He did respond and helped me. I missed him when we were in Anchorage. Thought we would touch base next time. I do have everything that he wrote.

Sad shock. I am glad we have this forum to get to know such good people even if for a while.

Michael was a great scholar of early to mid 20th century custom gunmakers in the US, and a true gentleman, as well.

Luckily, Michael shared his knowledge - he published much of his work. And we who love such things are richer for it.

My deepest sympathy and condolences to family and friends.

this sure makes my day black. michael was always a super help.

Michael was a virtual warehouse of knowledge on early American gunmakers. His two books barely touched all that he knew and when I visited him a month ago he was trying to write down rid-bits on each of his rifles.

He will be sorely missed

A loss for us all. He advised me on a project and I never found the foundation gun for it.

I read this mixed emotions.
1- I wish it weren't true. I always enjoyed his posts at doublegunshop. When I asked a question I promptly got a thorough reply. Awful news. I didn't realize he was sick.

2- I am thankful I didn't find this out 6 months from now.

I wish I had had a chance to meet him.
Lou M

I knew Michael since we were both long time writers for Precision Shooting magazine. The last time we talked we were both worried about what happens when we were gone... Who do you pass your information and knowledge and accumulated data on to?

Mike probably had more information on the mid-century American gunmakers than anyone.I hope that he eventually found someone who would continue his work.

I really enjoyed reading his many articles. This is a major loss to us all.

Dick,

Writing skills can be taught, a thirst for knowledge cannot.

Hopefully some new 'gun nuts' with a thirst for knowledge will soon arise from the morass so he, she, or they can be appropriately tutored to carry on with the knowledge that otherwise will be lost to future generations.

Many thanks to you, Michael, and to others whose quest for knowledge has produced so much historical information for use by my generation.

Dick, You probably know that Rich Kayser is on this forum. We tangle from time to time. Anybody that likes Jags are missing some thing. I do love Porsches though.

Hello Dick,

good to see you here.

Yes, Jaguar convertible, 120-inch 130 Horsepower HD, I have been lucky enough to hunt Africa a couple times.

Rich

Rich,

Good to know that you are still in the sport and that the Idaho authorities have not yet caught up to you. (Grin)

I won't forget how we met at Kelbley's range years ago. I really enjoyed your articles in Precision Shooting.

I bought a XK 140 FHC when I got out of college. I loved that car but it spent half it's time in the shop which I could not afford... Goodbye Jag.

I have owned an old Porsche coupe for over ten years. I drive it a lot in good weather and I can afford to keep it on the road... No Lucas electrics.

So good to hear from you again.

Dick

there's a stature of limitations on everything...

This Jag is a 2000 XK-8 convertible. Built after Ford bought them and instituted a new, to the Brits anyway, thing called quality control. LOL.

Good to hear from you again, it has been awhile.

Is there any news on possible new ownership of PS?

Rich

Rich,

Any re-startup of PS is extremely doubtful. A lot of important stuff was pitched. I had a chance to buy the remaining stock of PS Reloading Manuals and didn't... Wish I would have.

I've been doing a little work for Targetshooter Magazine, an online publication published in England. It's free online and the people are much easier to get along with.

Best,

so was the one about Duane. Apparently you were the only one who did not see the humor...

Take it off-line, please, gentlemen.

Michael's writing was infused with so much warmth, and such an appreciation for human skill, talent and frailty, that his in memoriam on this forum can tolerate some of this, but not too much, okay?

Michael could perfectly evoke a bygone era, and we can only appreciate that era, and its mysteries, these days, thanks to him.

Requiescat in pace.

Having corresponded over a period of several years about custom rifles with Mr Petrov, and provided him with pictures of my Niedner Borchardt and a Sedgeley action, I considered him a friend.

We were both employed, along with Dick Wright by Precision Shooting Magazine.

He was gracious enough to provide me with copies of his books for review.

Obviously, there was never any disrespect meant to him.

Rich

I hope that this website has enough band width to handle Wright and Kayser. Maybe Brennen will show up as well.