Writer's influence

[PapaG]

Sitting around nursing a bad back and doing some introspection as to who influenced me to buy some of the guns residing in my safe. I have to admit I was a precocious reader, beginning with my dad's 1944 Gun Digest around the time I was four or five('49).
An old WWII vet, Dale DeVore was my first mentor or it might have been Earl Fox, the guy who owned the Marshall Field collection before John Amber bought it from him. Both answered innumerable questions from a gun nut kid.
As for the guns, Ned Roberts gets the blame for the Henry Leman half stock.
Elmer Keith, the 29, and the Model 70 but Col. Whelan shares that.
Super Blackhawk, Blackhawk 357, Skeeter Skelton.
Contenders, Bob Milek and JD Jones.
45 Blackhawk, Ross Seyfried and John Taffin.
My 19 Smith, good old dad.
This is just a start. Who were your influences?

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

Magnum PI- M1911 and Webley
James Bond- Walther PPK
Miami Vice- S&W 645
Die Hard- M92 Beretta and H&K P7
Zulu- Martini Henry
Gunga Din- Krag Jorgensen
Sgt. York- M1903 (even though he carried a 1917 IRL)

Most of the protagonists in books I read as a kid carried swords or laser pistols. Would be nice to have a Dorsai spring-rifle someday.

 

[entropy]

Hemingway made me want a 6.5 "Butter-knife" Mannlicher. If I ever get one, I will try to keep it away from my wife.

 

[Steve Milbocker]

Jack O’Connor-270

 

[usaral63]

A long passed childhood friend intro'd me to the /06 when I saw him "bark" a groundhog that was stretched out on a boulder about 300 yards out...........beat up old 721 inspired my affection for the caliber and I have never been less a couple.

 

[Dave DeLaurant]

I took my first steps in handloading with the late George Nonte.

 

[Jim Watson]

I'd rather not think about it.
I admired what I read about and was unfortunate enough to buy some of it.

 

[The Night Rider]

Disregard, I didn't realize till I went and looked at this discussion again that was about gun writers and I can't think of a one.

 

[.38 Special]

Keith, Skeeter, Seyfried, Taffin, Bill Jordan - yes, I'm a handgunner!

I do love rifles, even though I'm a crummy rifleman, and Robert Ruark has probably been my biggest influence there. I don't remember a time that I didn't want to own a .416 Rigby.

 

[Heir Kommt Die Sonne]

Gun writers? Hmm can't answer that one.

As for influencers at all, Howard Darby (a western speed shooter of some renown, known for his fancy handling of single action revolvers) influenced me to get the Ruger Vaquero. He literally recommended it for practicing speed shooting, as it'd handle the wear very well and it's balanced very similarly to the original Colt SAA.
Thats how I developed a penchant for Ruger revolvers.

As for writers though, I really can't think of any. Do forum members count?

 

[Mk-211]

I think it comes down to when you were born.

Being a Gen X born in the late 60's, it was more TV and movies for me.

 

[Walkalong]

I used to want anything Ross Sefried wrote about

 

[LimaCharlie]

I read about African Safaris and the Weatheby 460 Magnum when I was in high school in the early 1960s. I was in awe. I found a custom rifle in Weatherby 460 Magnum from an estate a couple of years ago at a great price. I had zero need for it, but it came home with me.

My wife asked why I needed it. I told her in case I needed to stop a runaway rogue elephant or a 1959 Buick with one shot.

 

[doubleh]

I have always been a voracious reader. Of course I grew up before TV was really a thing. I read everything gun related I could find. For some reason I have never become a fan of Elmer Keith, Jeff Cooper or Earnest Hemingway.

 

[.38 Special]

I used to want anything Ross Sefried wrote about

He was solely responsible for my fascination with hot .45 Colts, Ruger Bisleys, and Hamilton Bowen.

My search for a .585 Nyati ended only after I got to spend some time with an overloaded .505 Gibbs - and by the time the bruises faded, I still kind of wanted to order one.

 

[Old Dog]

As a young boy, I was enthralled with the first-person books about combat experiences in World War II.

I think Guadalcanal Diary (Richard Tregaskis, who also wrote John F. Kennedy and PT-109) was the first one I read in the mid '60s.

Helmet for My Pillow by Robert Leckie and With the Old Breed by E.B. Sledge were great. Many of the adult males in my family and our social circle were WWII vets, and in the early '60s, the war wasn't that far behind us.

So initially I was fascinated by the 1911, the M-1 Garand, the Thompson, and big knives and bayonets... Jeeps, flamethrowers, field artillery...

My dad turned me on to Herman Wouk, I read The Caine Mutiny (and later Winds of War and War and Remembrance), got hooked on naval warfare.

Discovered Robert Ruark in grade school and a bit later, Hemingway. Two huge influences on me with regard to hunting and the art of the rifle.

At some point I became interested in the aerial warfare of World War i (possibly because I liked Snoopy and his "Curse you, Red Baron!" adventures). George Thenault’s The Story of the Lafayette Escadrille made me a huge fan of those old WWI bi-planes (and Richthofen's Fokker tri-plane), so I read anything and everything related to air warfare in the Great War. Eddie Rickenbacker was one of my first boyhood heroes, his book Fighting the Flying Circus was so cool to a ten-year-old boy.

I found Jeff Cooper after weapons training courtesy of the U.S. Marine Corps -- the Gunny in charge of the training cadre was a fan, so of course, I started reading everything he'd written, including his wonderful back-page essays (Cooper's Corner) in Guns and Ammo.

Of course, my father, a dedicated outdoorsman, subscribed to Field and Stream, Sports Afield, and Outdoor Life, so I read every single page of every single issue religiously, so all those guys were influences. O'Connor, Keith, Milek, Skelton, Wooters, Whelen and Page were guys whose articles and columns I would read over and over.

 

[Dave DeLaurant]

He was solely responsible for my fascination with hot .45 Colts, Ruger Bisleys, and Hamilton Bowen.

My search for a .585 Nyati ended only after I got to spend some time with an overloaded .505 Gibbs - and by the time the bruises faded, I still kind of wanted to order one.

It's been awhile, but I used to read some of Seyfried's more recent output in The Double Gun & Single Shot Journal. His content was always sufficiently outré to get my attention. It's been awhile since I picked up a copy so I can't say whether he's still a contributor.

Home | The Double Gun Journal

The World's finest magazine about the best double & single shot guns on Earth.

www.thedoublegunjournal.net

 

[Hookeye]

I liked Bob Milek
Carmichael was good (have reread his home gunsmithing book a few times).
Layne Simpson articles I still read (I run his .44 mag loads- wooweee!)
Miss the old Varmint Hunter Association magazine.

Old Bowhunter magazine was good too, still like MR James.
G Fred Asbell has passed away. Enjoyed his writing even though it was more down to earth.

Unfortunately, most everything bores me these days.
But a lighthearted story w a sprinkle of tech sometimes makes me smile.
Back page kinda stuff.

 

[luv2safari]

Sitting around nursing a bad back and doing some introspection as to who influenced me to buy some of the guns residing in my safe. I have to admit I was a precocious reader, beginning with my dad's 1944 Gun Digest around the time I was four or five('49).
An old WWII vet, Dale DeVore was my first mentor or it might have been Earl Fox, the guy who owned the Marshall Field collection before John Amber bought it from him. Both answered innumerable questions from a gun nut kid.
As for the guns, Ned Roberts gets the blame for the Henry Leman half stock.
Elmer Keith, the 29, and the Model 70 but Col. Whelan shares that.
Super Blackhawk, Blackhawk 357, Skeeter Skelton.
Contenders, Bob Milek and JD Jones.
45 Blackhawk, Ross Seyfried and John Taffin.
My 19 Smith, good old dad.
This is just a start. Who were your influences?

As a kid I wanted to do everything Ted Trueblood did with everything Ted Trueblood used. I still do.

I was mad at Ed Zern for years!!!

I forgave Zern and met him for a brief handshake in the early 1970's and told him I forgave him. He chuckled and asked "Trueblood ?" He knew.

 

[.38 Special]

It's been awhile, but I used to read some of Seyfried's more recent output in The Double Gun & Single Shot Journal. His content was always sufficiently outré to get my attention. It's been awhile since I picked up a copy so I can't say whether he's still a contributor.

Home | The Double Gun Journal

The World's finest magazine about the best double & single shot guns on Earth.

www.thedoublegunjournal.net

Sadly, DGSS folded about a year ago. I went through their list of back issues and picked up all the ones where Seyfried had contributed anything even remotely of interest to me - which of course was nearly everything...

 

[.38 Special]

Old Bowhunter magazine was good too, still like MR James.
G Fred Asbell has passed away. Enjoyed his writing even though it was more down to earth.

I've been away from the archery game lately and hadn't heard of Asbell's passing. That man was a real hunter, and an enjoyable - and truly useful - author.

 

[Old Dog]

I was mad at Ed Zern for years!!!

I forgave Zern and met him for a brief handshake in the early 1970's and told him I forgave him.

Holy crap! Can't believe I forgot about Ed Zern. I'd have read Field and Stream even if his column was the only content in the magazine... What a wicked sense of humor, "Exit Laughing" was the best ever!

So I'd be remiss if I didn't also mention Patrick F. McManus, the other writer who kept me in stitches.

 

[.308 Norma]

Do forum members count?

That's what I was wondering.

 

[PapaG]

Madison Avenue Rod Gun Bloody Mary and Labrador Retriever Benevolent Association. Zern's imaginary club.

 

[PapaG]

I took my first steps in handloading with the late George Nonte.

View attachment 1181865

I met George when I had aspirations about becoming a writer. He could produce print quality pictures with a box camera and a desk lamp, or so it is said. Even got a couple guns from him when he was "short'.