How does the poem 'Desiderata' go...'For always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.'

So most folks of my generation will have better stories about these famous gun writers than myself ... but these are mine:

I grew up reading Outdoor Life and was thrilled every time Jack O'Connor wrote a story of sheep hunting or of hunting in Africa. I still can picture the 35 cents in big bold letters on the front cover.

I think that I was about 22 when my wife told me that she had phoned Jack O'Connor and that we were invited to go down to Lewiston, Idaho to meet the man. A fabulous birthday gift to an hombre such as myself. It was in August in the early 70's when we drove down from Alberta to Lewiston. We booked into a motel and then stopped at the local gunshop. I love gunshops. The chap behind the counter told us that O'Connor was in Africa.

Aaargh! I drove over to his big white colonial house over looking (I think?) the Snake River.

A young guy was mowing the lawn and we told him our sad story. He went and contacted O'Connor's ex secretary (by then he had retired from Outdoor Life) and this lovely lady came over and gave us a tour of his house and attached converted garage/game room.

What a wonderful treat from a nice lady. I remember a little bronze of a bighorn in the living room. She said that it cost $750 when O'Connor asked about it. He declined to buy it so the chap gave it to him.

That was about it in the living room. Going upstairs to his office was a tiger rug if I remember correctly and a bunch of heads from his hunt with Herb Klein and Elgin Gates in Sudan in the 1950's.

We then went out to his 'garage' that had the fabulous sheep and I was astonished to see a head mount of a lion.

For guns, only a couple of plain rifles including a Ruger #1. The lady explained his high end stuff was somewhere safe.

Incredibly interesting game room and was worth the long drive, of course.

#2 ... years later I read Elmer Keith's book, 'Hell, I Was There!' I loved it and near the end he gave advice that if you appreciate someone let them know. Don't wait until it is too late.

Damn good advice. I got hold of some American operator and got his phone number in Salmon, Idaho and made my call to tell him how I loved his book and reading of his many adventures and assorted gun tales over the years.

I got his house keeper on the phone. Mr. Keith was in some assisted living home having been crippled up badly from a stroke if I remember correctly and Mrs. Keith had gone to visit him.

I was too late.

#3 ... I always enjoyed reading Col. Charles Askins magazine articles over the years. African tales from all three of these chaps were my favourites.

Some years after he passed on, I read that his guns were up for sale.

I shoot left handed and would have loved one of his rifles. I made a plan to buy a plain one with the reversed left handed bolt. Back then a Remington 700 up here in Canada was about $800 Canadian and with my school teacher salary I thought that I could maybe swing $1,800 U.S. with the lad being Col. Charles Askins.

I got hold of the list of guns for sale. The plain Jane one was the cheapest. $18,000 U.S.

I had badly miscalculated. Ha! Ha!

Anyways, Amigos. I did try.

Happy Trails.

I grew up reading Gene Hill, and Capstick. I know Capstick is, ahem, controversial...but dang, I loved those books.

and he lit the fire that sent me to RSA in '02, to Zim in '19, and scheduled for RSA in '24, Zim in '25 and Zambia in '26 - so he's done something right.

Ruark and Capstick lit the fire under many of us. God bless the memory of both.

I spoke to Jack O'Connor on the phone back in the 70's.

G. Sitton

I knew all three of those boys..Guided Jack on our ranch when he was a professor at SuL Ross in Alpine,Tx.and I was 12 as I recall, knew Charlie when he was in the Border Patrol and I was a deputy for El Paso county, in ElPaso tx he knew my grandfather well.Met Elmer when I went to the nursing home with a friend of mine..One thing they seemed to have in common is they were just folks. Jack O was the only one I knew well and my mentor of sorts, and the best off hand shot with a rifle Ive ever known..

Write the book Ray!

quote:

Originally posted by KevinNY:
Write the book Ray!

No kidding!

I’ve come close to famous people in many ways of life, but I prefer to nod and keep on. That understanding between us is acknowledged by a reciprocal nod.

Great memories, scruffy.

I have a new gun writer story, from this month's American Rifleman, which is the 100th anniversary edition of that fine publication.

Walter Howe, one of the past editors of the magazine, was quoted in reference to the great Maj. Gen. Julian S. Hatcher, who joined the AR staff as Technical Editor after he retired from the military following WWII.

Howe is reported to have said, "I was on a first name basis with the man."

"He called me Walter, and I called him General."

Never met any of them but they all wrote good stuff. I really liked Askins' "Unrepentant Sinner". Had an autographed copy until I loaned it to someone who didn't return it.

All great info.

Scruffy how are YOU doing with your own conflicts?

George

More contemporary is Boddington. I was honored to shoot a sporting clay event in Nashville this past winter in which he participated. Having just finished my elephant hunt, I marched up to him and told him how much I enjoyed his "Elephant" book and that I found it spot on for my experience. He was very gracious and excited for me, asking several questions. We were both on short tethers, so we exchanged pleasantries and started to move along. This is when the researcher in him came out and he stopped me with the question, "What rifle did you Use?" I answered 416 Rigby and he smiled at me big time. What an experience.

Imagine Elmer and Jack arguing as they did then in todays Internet!

Yo, George,

Thanks for asking. I sent you an e mail. I am back to being bright eyed and bushy tailed after a rather grim winter/spring.

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
Imagine Elmer and Jack arguing as they did then in todays Internet!

Mark sullivan will not have lasted ....

quote:

Originally posted by medved:

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
Imagine Elmer and Jack arguing as they did then in todays Internet!

Mark sullivan will not have lasted ....

There is no comparison.

Elmer and Jack were proper hunters.

They spoke their minds.

Mark Sullivan is the exact opposite.

A deranged, selfish, self glorifying idiot!

He did post ONCE on AR, and you are right, he cannot handle reality.

He lived in his own little world.

Where he was the greatest professional hunter that had ever lived.

And he said so himself!

THAT really takes the cake.

I know, Mohamed Ali said he was the greatest.

But in his case he was.

quote:

I know, Mohamed Ali said he was the greatest.

Some things were just obvious

Came across this first edition recently.

Bell, Sutherland, Selous, and Corbett are my favorites

Andrew, that's a real find. Congrats.

I found a used paperback version of "Unrepentant Sinner" on Amazon for a ridiculous price. I hope the comments written in the margins by former owners don't give me issues. Askins was an interesting individual. I agree with a lot of his positions but some of his comments are not exactly politically correct today. He was born in 1907, so that's a bit of an excuse.

O'connor understood rifles and internal and external ballistics better than his contemporaries. He was also an excellent wordsmith and passably good hunter.

Keith was profoundly uniformed and prejudiced regarding the finer points of firearms. He was also prone to "embellish" in his writings, and always seemed to use bravado to compensate for his small physical stature.

Askins, hmmm . . . well, he was left-handed. But he probably spent more time hunting than either of the others and championed an excellent but largely forgotten cartridge, the 8mm Remington Magnum; a cartridge which spawned a number of successful descendants but was never itself popular for some reason.

For me it was the writing of Jack O'Connor, Jim Carmichael and third is a tossup between John Hunter and Robert Ruark.

Was fortunate enough to talk to Jack O'Connor and Jim Carmichael a few times.

quote:

Originally posted by Atkinson:
I knew all three of those boys..Guided Jack on our ranch when he was a professor at SuL Ross in Alpine,Tx.and I was 12 as I recall, knew Charlie when he was in the Border Patrol and I was a deputy for El Paso county, in ElPaso tx he knew my grandfather well.Met Elmer when I went to the nursing home with a friend of mine..One thing they seemed to have in common is they were just folks. Jack O was the only one I knew well and my mentor of sorts, and the best off hand shot with a rifle Ive ever known..

Thanks Mr. Ray Atkinson for your comments about gun writers. I always enjoy and learn from your posts.
I wish I could have talked to Jack O'Connor, Charles Askins, and a host of other writers from the past, that spurred imagination and passion for hunting and firearms.

Don't forget Jim Carmicheal... i was lucky to buy about 40 of Elmer Keith's "Keith Letters" at a garage sale in east Texas several years back for $5... the seller had no clue what they were... all were typewritten on NRA stationery and signed in pencil.. "keith"... also read most of Robert Ruark's works...

If you like Jack O'Connor, you should visit the Jack O'Connor Heritage Center in Lewiston, ID. It is located in the State park across the Snake River from town. Many of his trophies, books and guns are displayed there.
They have a fundraiser each year in May or June that is always fun, both son Bradford, and daughter Carolyn attend and they host a great current writers forum/roundtable headed up by Wayne Van Zwoll. They are all guests at the dinner, I sat with Jim Zumbo, and old friend Eldon/Buck Buckner who knew Jack and is an incredible historian of all things O'Connor!!
I have known Bradford for 30 years, introduced by our Weyerhaeuser PR guys when Brad was Sports editor for the Seattle Times. We have cruised together with wife Ann, both sharing great stories about "Dad and Mom-Eleanor, and all of his compatriots of the time...lots of Single Malt consumed!! Brad is a spitting image of Jack...and just as eccentric!!
Paul Snider, purveyor of the Idaho gunshows, also puts on a little gunshow during the event where many of Jack's guns will be present.Both Al and Roger Biesen, and Jerry Fisher, consumate gunsmiths attended each year too, often building rifles for the Center. They were Jack's gunsmiths, and Paul was a neighborhood friend of Jack too...
I collected all of Capstick's books, he autographed every one of them for me and returned them.I met him several times at SCI, and he showed up in our camp in Botswana, a friend of Hunters Africa GM Gordon Cundill...he had my wife terrified about Buff after reading DEATH IN THE LONG GRASS, before my hunt. Great campfire stories...
The good ol days!!

I had the pleasure of guiding Charlie Elliot of Ga turkey hunting many years ago. Also guided Bill Jordan of Border Patrol fame. Really nice fellas.

Jack O'Connor once asked a fellow gunwriter, by way of doubting his opinion:

"How much is Remington paying you to work for Winchester?"

They truly don't make them like that anymore.