michael petrov sadly left us but his books remain. his knowledge on great anerican gunsmiths passes time they are getting expensive so if you are thinking of them but now. what i would give for another 10 minutes on the phone with him

I think about Michael often. I miss his enthusiasm when he would find some treasure at an auction somewhere. He had me drive to Ohio to an auction that had a bunch of Hart Arms rifles. He included a picture of one of my dads rifles in one of his books which dad got a big kick out of.

Thanks for the post.
John

I had a more than two decade friendship with Michael Petrov but was only with him face to face twice. He first called me in the late 1980's and offered his research on early American Gunmakers if I could use it in my magazine articles. We each had our areas on interest and I was writing mainly about gunmakers in my own era. I thanked him and never forgot the generous offer.

We stayed in touch via phone calls, then one day in the 1990's he called to ask my advise on compiling his Precision Shooting stories into a book. I gave him the best of my limited experiences and wished him well. When the book came out I was a bit disappointed in the small size, limited illustration and lack of editing. I have since come to cherish Michael's research and the wealth of knowledge contained in the small book and have quoted and excerpted the book any times in my own stories.

He called me again when he was finishing up his second book, asking me to contribute a Foreword and I suggested a jacket blurb and an About the Author addition. Michael was agreeable to the jacket blurb but greatly opposed to the About the Author material. He said, to paraphrase, "No one cares about the author and I don't want the attention anyway". I responded, "Your readers want to know who you are and this is the perfect opportunity to tell them a bit about the guy who is so passionate about the subject as I know you are".

I wrote the About the Author entirely from what I knew about Michael wanting to ask him more but not wanting to tip him to what I was doing. I sent it to him along with the Foreword and jacket blurb I had written. I had no idea if he would use the Author material until I received a copy of the book. I'll bet someone else convinced him it was a good idea to use it.

I remember just a year or so later when he called me up and told me about pissing blood in the snow and his bladder cancer. He died just a couple months later and I was so glad I had written the Author info. Just a little bit about the man I knew and his passion.

As I said, I've quoted and excerpted his research from both books extensively in writing about the rifles and gunmakers he loved in my Sports Afield column, From the Bench. I own a great dept of gratitude to Michael Petrov and surely wish he was around he hear me express it.

I do remember him offering the info 30 years ago before I could use it. I also quite clearly remember his attitude that he just wanted to get the info "out there" for other who cherish these object of earlier American craftsmanship in the present and future. I also hope that the info I have related about current and historic gunmakers will help researchers of the future in their quest for knowledge and understanding.

...and as you fellows have expressed I too miss Michael Petrov, and think of him often.

I bought Michael's books for friends who I knew would never buy them, even though the subject matter is of interest to them. I still have emails we shared and will never give them up. Steven, Michael, and I collaborated to convince Dave Weber to create a "Single barrel rifle" subforum on his Doublegunshop.com forum. It has been a great source of information on early and modern custom rifles, although the site is a bit underutilized. Michael and I were in the planning stages to write a chapter on John Oberlies rifles for a third book that was not to be. Bill Murphy in MD.