The Good Old Gun Writers...

[Merle]

Hey guys, refresh my memory wasn't there a reloading writer by the name of John Wooten?

John Wooters.....

[Birdman]

John Taffin, Mike Venterino, Bill Jordon would be my top three.

[flightsimmer]

Hey guys, refresh my memory wasn't there a reloading writer by the name of John Wooten?

John Wooters.....

Thanks, that's the one.
I have his book on "The complete book of practicle hand loading", well my son in law has it right now.

[Booger Bill]

Somewhere I have a old Guns and Ammo magazine that shows Jeff Cooper watching me shoot in a early silhouette match in California. I have a nickle 8 3/8 s&w model 29. Looked like a beached whale. I didn't win or even near it, but that's the picture they published for the story. Think it was in 1969 or 1970.

[Noah Zark]

I'll second much of what's been posted . . .

My favorite was Skelton, both his firearm specific pieces and his semi-fictional stories.

Going really back, I enjoyed Townsend Whelen when he still wrote pieces for the American Rifleman, and I enjoy all of his books.

Other favorite writers from the 60s through the 2000s include Jeff Cooper, Bob Milek, Dave Arnold, Bob Shimek, Rick Jamison, Garry James, John Wooters, and that guy What'shisname on here that can only type in CAPITAL LETTERS (Sorry, Terry, I couldn't resist).

I like reading Paul Scarlata and John Taffin very much.

Jack O'Connor used to joke that he wrote only six gun articles in his lifetime, and just changed the first and last paragraphs for each time an article was published. To an extent that's true, the content of his articles tended to be somewhat repetitive but I still enjoy him and have all of his books, even the expensive ones.

I used to like Mike Venturino when he was all leverguns and singleshots and in what I call his "Buffalo Hunter" mode. Back then he had nothing to do with military arms, and sometimes threw disparaging "hints" about milsurp owners and shooters. Some years back Yvonne inherited some $$$ and Mike got the milsurp and machine gun bug in a big way. Now he's an "expert," and he's parroting a bunch of stuff in his milsurp articles that was written back in the day by others containing a mess of errors. A guy can change his interests, no problem with that, but he kinda comes across as a reformed substance abuser that also just got religion.

One writer for whom I have a low opinion is Peter Kokalis. IMO, Brian Williams can't ever hope to as good at "creative Writing" as Kokalis. Aside form the "there I was, ankle-deep in hot brass, the M60's barrel glowing red . . . " references, his articles are shot through with errors and "facts" that have been written and rewritten by gun writers for decades and Kokalis still makes those "factual" errors. I'll read his tripe with a red pen in hand. Still Kokalis’s writing is much more enjoyable than listening to Kokalis the person.

Back in the day, articles were more informative than they are now, today being not much more than obvious "infomercials" for products name-dropped in the body of the article. Sure, that happened back in the day, but the commercialistic aspect of the older articles was not a blatant as it is now. David Fortier is an example of this style of writing, and although I understand all too well that the article product tie-ins pay the bills for magazine publishers, tactikool David "Dress UP Your AK/AR" Fortier doesn't show me much. Steve Matthews' kit assembly project how-to articles are showcases for Brownells, Midway, Harbor Freight, and Grizzly, but at least there's good practical detail for the DIY-er.

JMO,

Noah

[Booger Bill]

Think about it. I would hate to be a gun writer today, at least in my interest field`s, (Mostly everything that aint plastic or "Tactical"), as everything possible to write about has long ago been rehashed more times than we can count! I believe the golden age of gun magazines was the same exact era of my buying those magazines. About 1957 until the cheaper internet that coincidentally was the same time that LEO went from revolvers to auto`s and the world turned to shaved heads and tactical. Boys, we are dinosaurs!

[4t5]

Coopers's Corner was my favorite , but the hunting books by BEN EAST were great reads.

[Charles]

There were many fine gun writers back in the day, but my favorite was Townsend Whelen. While in the Army Col. Whelen at different times commanded both Frankford and Springfield arsenals. He knew his stuff.