I read a 3 page thread on who were/are the best gun writers. The discussion was spirited and many fine writers were mentioned, but no consensus reached. My question is who is/are the worst, most pompous,egotistical gun hacks still writing? I have a strong opinion, but am curious as to what others in the know think. Jerry Hoover

Jerry,now that's quite a loaded question (so to speak).I choose not to disparage another mans work but keep my own council. It is human nature that some like Chevys + some like Fords.None are wrong,only different tastes.Let me address this from a different place. Several years ago after my divorce I went out on a blind date + one thing she asked me was what musicians I liked. I told her + she said but they are all dead. Same story here. There is bound to be some new gun writers out there but I have not found any recently that I am impressed with. Just a note out of school,if Handloader would bring back Ross Seyfreid I would take out a life subscription.

It is generally agreed that Ross is one of the best.when I was a boy,Jack O'Connor hung the moon and Warren Page was not far behind. Bob Hagel, Finn Aagard,, and if I wanted a good laugh,Elmer Keith always had a unique point of view,but you could not argue with his conclusions based on experience. Decorum prohibits me from being more explicit,but someone who has usurped John Wayne's nickname leaves me wondering. Today's best are Ross,John Barseness,Peter Flack, Kevin Roberts,Gregor Woods, and Craig Boddington. I am sure there are others, but this is a good start. The other individual wrote a book about hunting big game and he constantly refers to being the first or the best, etc. the words "I bagged the biggest, the first, etc until I threw the book away. Rant over,I do enjoy a well written gun piece that does not glorify the author or is filled with pontificating. Jerry Hoover

I agree completely.I have all the 1st ed. of our gents that we like to read about.Righjt off the top that a porker would try steal John
Wayne.well there you have it.

Rather than a disparagement, a question. How was Jack O'Connor able to afford his many custom built rifles (by best-quality makers) and hunting trips and expeditions throughout the world? He was for some of his life a professor at, I believe, Arizona State University, gun writer, and author of several books. When he was active, university teaching was not a highly paid job.

Minor correction, please: It's Kevin RobertSON,
DVM, writer, ballistician, farmer, and raconteur par excellence. I admire him for naming one of his daughters Purdey, while his wife was still in hospital. He said that was the only way he'd ever afford a Purdey!

I have to agree with NormanConquest. My particular likes and dislikes may not coincide with others, so I tend to keep them to myself. Many of the highly touted writers past, and present are just not my cup of tea, but if they can make a living at it and are respected by the community, more power to them.

I miss the writings of Skeeter Skelton. Honest, concise, informative and humble.

Ok, now for the other side of the coin.

I write for gun mags and have been for years. I'm now writing for the internet and just finished the last of 83 articles.

If you wish to judge gun writers, here's exactly how to do it correctly.
1. Sit in front of a blank screen
2. Write something
3. Sell it
4. repeat as necessary

'Taint all beer and skittles in the writing field, my friends. I used to fly airplanes upside down (Citabria Decathlon), spent 53 years on motorcycles, raced cars(S.C.C.A.) and married four times (my bad). Writing and selling is the hardest thing I've ever done.

One of my favorite Texas writers was John Wootters.

http://www.fieldandstream.com/...n-wootters-1928-2013

John wrote articles in such a way that they didn't just tell a story, they provided information that made you a better hunter. I learned a lot from him.

I can't remember any bad writers, not because there weren't any, but because they quickly disappeared.

What I find a disgrace are the multitude of TV hunting "experts" that teach an inexperienced hunter nothing, just shoot some game on camera with an "aren't you impressed with me" attitude, and wet themselves when they make a kill; making me wonder whether they really have much true hunting experience themselves.

I do respect Boddington's writing. His book "Buffalo!" is almost an exact template for what I found Cape Buffalo hunting to be. Any first-time Buff hunter should read that book first.

quote:

Originally posted by Kensco:
One of my favorite Texas writers was John Wootters.

QFT.

I once read an article by Wooters that explained why he refused to write new product reviews. It was highly informative and tremendously elevated him in my mind.

The TV shills these days make watching a hunting show look like Home Shopping Network; pathetic.

Wootters was a class act. He wasn't in anyone's pocket.

A very subjective subject.
Personally, I don't like Boddington.
I have absolutely no respect for the man after he essentially self promoted himself by pinning that star on. At his rank, he should have known better and it would have taken a Congressional approval.
No matter if he was told to, he knew the difference between a lawful order and an unlawful one.

Well ikesdad,

The USMC "promoted" Col Boddington to General by telling him to refer to himself as such while overseas on a specific assignment. It had to do with command presence and equality in dealing with a foreign military where he was ordered to serve by the USMC.

If you are old enough to have heard about the issue as it unfolded, you would have known that a USMC General made the decision RE the rank the Colonel was to be referred to during the operation without proper consultation with his superiors.

Colonel Boddington's mistake, and his only one, was to not have the paperwork in writing prior to following orders. He folded ranks, and did not choose to embarrass the Corps or the General Command. A sacrificial lamb of sorts. His career ended, either way by complying or not, without getting that order in writing prior to following it.

In the military, any branch, when a superior Noncom or officer gives you a command, an order; you immediately comply, or face serious consequences. You are allowed to respectfully question the legality of said order. However, once a very short discussion has occurred, and the order is repeated, your options are two:

1. request the direct order in writing, and then comply.
2. refuse the direct order and state why in front of witnesses.

The first option will cya if the order and ensuing actions cause a serious issue.

The second option will absolutely get you a Courts Martial. You will then have the burden of showing (in a military tribunal) that the order was in direct violation of the UCMJ. The UCMJ is an encyclopedia sized set of books that cover every aspect of life in the military, known as the Uniform Code of Military Justice. 99% of the time, that Courts Martial is more concerned with why you refused to obey a direct order than the legality of the order.

It covers everything from how to fold your socks and display them in your footlocker to the fire on command VS fire at will order. And everything in between.

I can give you two personal examples.

1. I went from RVN to the Army hospital in Ft Carson. Went from 130+ degree weather to -17. When out of the hospital, with seven weeks left of active duty, I was sent to supervise a Christmas Tree cutting operation to procure trees for the Officers and Enlisted men and their families. Two of the Sp4s under my command, anticipating return to civilian life let their sideburns grow beyond the ear limit. This SSg told them to trim them. They both wanted to discuss it. They talked, and the SSg gave them both a direct order. The wise one took a polaroid shot of each ear, and then trimmed them to comply. The other one, a confirmed shit disturber took about .050" off his that evening. The next morning, the SSg inspected both in the formation, prior to policing our area and heading to breakfast. Smart one, in compliance is okayed by the SSg and then requests to speak with our CO and is granted permission to do so. Other one tells the SSg (Staff Sgt) he complied. The SSg takes him up to the CO. He is given a Courts Martial, reduced in rank from E-4 to E-1, fined a month's pay, and sentenced to 30 days in the stockade. Smart one sees the CO, and the SSg is called in. The CO tells him he saw no illegality in the sideburns length, and gets a reprimand. Smart one finished out his time with very nice sideburns.

The other guy: he could have been given a dishonorable discharge over refusing to comply with a lawful order.

2. Involved me, in command of half a six-man Ranger Team in RVN. Three volunteers are asked for to take a possible suicide assignment. Yeah, I'm an idiot. I volunteer, and so do about twenty other Rangers. I had made Sgt, and was an ATL. Assistant Team Leader. The other two Sgts chosen, had less time in grade, so I got to be the official NCOIC. Non Commissioned Officer In Charge. I get written paper work promoting me to Staff Sgt, and the next day, to Brevet Captain. You had to be at least a SSg to get a field promotion. I get an ID card identifying me as such, Captain's bars, and all the authority due my rank. We get a chopper ride to a firebase the dinks had threatened to overrun come dark of the moon that month. They had done so the three months prior, and a platoon sized unit had been sent. The NVA/VC opted to wait a month, and another, and then a third. Army brass decide it is a bullshit story designed to scare the South Vietnamese troops assigned there into deserting.

Fourth month, there are a couple dozen South Vietnamese, the three of us, and our ten man KCS indigenous personnel atop this OP. KCS are our version of local peoples, generally, who have chosen to join us and take a very active part in hunting NVA/VC small units down and killing. We had Nungs. The SV soldiers go down to the village at the bottom of the hill, to have dinner with their families, before returning to stand night watch. This time, there's a full company of NVS (based on our next morning body count) and local VC waiting for them. Given the option of dying or switching sides, they decide to switch. As time passes, we get that bad feeling. After reporting the situation on the radio we get assurances that Cobra gunships have our back. We start taking small arms fire. We see shadowy forms advancing. My Nungs are in high-heaven. They have been given an order, relayed by me from the TOC (Tactical Operations Center) to fire at will. It is absolutely pitch dark, and I have my RTO (RAdio Telephone Operator) request Illumination Parachute Flares, and permission to treat the entire area, including the vill as hostiles, citing fire coming from several points inside it. We get that. My two guys start lobbing HE and WP (High Explosive and White Phosphorus) rounds from M-79's into the vill. Wind is blowing and the illum is being blown out of useful range. My RTO is severely wounded, upper chest. My other guy has been killed. My Nungs are capable of filtering down the OP and escaping. We three are not.

I discuss the situation with the TOC, and request an ArcLight. That is an intense bombing artillery bombardment of the OP, with the intent of leveling it and killing everybody within about half a mile. They agree, and tell me a LOH (Light Observation Helicopter (2-3 seater) will be sent for me and the wounded, but alive American Ranger. They order me to leave my dead comrade. When the Cobras start dispensing hellfire, the LOH arrives. I put my wounded guy in the seat and strap him in. I stick my dead comrade on the outside edge of the seat, and tie him in. The chopper pilot tells me to unload him and take his place.
Gives me a direct order. I level my rifle at him and tell him to leave. He complies since I am a Captain, and he is a Pilot/Warrant Officer. I wasn't sure I had that power, but a loaded rifle outranks his 1911.

I get dinged up a bit, and when we get the 60-seconds to Hell command over the radio, my Nungs and I di-di. They absolutely altered the topo maps after that to accurize the terrain changes. They wanted to give me a General Courts Martial for disobeying a direct order from the TOC in battle, but chose not to after my JAG lawyer told them it would not look good to the dead Ranger's parents. Or the press. I testified at a pre-trial hearing that the radio was breaking up, and that I could not clearly distinguish the command. They did take away my Captain's rank, and the SSg as well. The lawyer told me I had skated on a technicality.

But that is how the military operates. They cannot have soldiers questioning orders, or picking and choosing which ones to follow. That, IMHO, is where Col Boddington ran afoul of the rigidity of the UCMJ.

My Nungs got me off the mountain side alive, and the two Rangers under my command did too. That was all I cared about.

Again, he should have known better than to have accepted a verbal that the promotion was imminent at such a high officer grade. This was not some tactical battlefield situation but a general officer promotion.
We were always taught to follow the rules and the rules would protect you. He did not, especially in the Corps.
"...embarass the Corps", are you kidding ? He let his ego blind him.

Always considered Jeff Cooper a pompous Ass.

Grizz

I enjoyed the early, as in 50s,60s and 70s writers. Most of the current writers appear to have started their writing careers writing the small print in your insurance policies, loans and government forms.

Jim

Grizzly, I agree with you completely. I also must add that is'nt that a prerequiset for a Col. in the Marine Corp.? ! have disagreements as well but by + large I tend to side with his opinions (+they are BIG!) I knew Bill Jordan + met Elmer Keith once.We live by their writing;I suppose that I show my age by saying that these pups today don't hold a candle.Well that's the GD. Truth.

I always respected Jeff Cooper's work and that of Elmer Keith. Skeeter Skelton was the real deal as well.

Loved both Col. and Major Askins work as well.