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madcaster
08-21-2007, 11:08 AM
A friend stopped by last night and we talked a pretty good while,Ross Seyfried's name came up while we were talking,and my friend mentioned that he thought Ross had passed away.
Is this true?
I really hope not,Ross has always been one of my top 3 writers.

tommag
08-21-2007, 01:00 PM
Ross's articles were the first thing I read when he was with Handloader.

Scrounger
08-21-2007, 01:54 PM
Apparently he's writing for Outdoor Life magazine now, a parting of the ways with Wolfe...

Swagerman
08-21-2007, 02:28 PM
A few years back, Ross did a great artical on reloading the old 2nd model S&W .455 caliber. The gun has a .455 diamter rifling, and his artical told about using .454 dia. bullits with hollow basing...worked for me ever since.

Too bad about him leaving Handloader magazine, he was my main interest in reading that publication. And I never read Outdoor life.

Jim

DonH
08-21-2007, 03:45 PM
You can also find articles by him in Double Gun Journal. Ross is my favorite writer by a wide margin. After Elmer and Skeeter it was Ken Waters and Ross Seyfried. I learned of Ken Waters late or he would have figured from the beginning.
I think Ross can't stand the back-scratching type articles wanted for most publications these days.

madcaster
08-21-2007, 06:23 PM
DonH,
That is one thing I like about him.
Evidently he is still with us?
Thanks all,
Jeff.

axman
08-21-2007, 08:09 PM
Let me answer the original question, yes he's still here I talked to him about a month ago and my brother talked to him about a week ago!!!

9.3X62AL
08-21-2007, 08:22 PM
That's good to hear. I have always liked his work, even though many of his venues differ from my own.

singleshotbuff
08-21-2007, 08:22 PM
Seyfried was always one of my favorites. I have an old G&A mag from the 80s (when it was still worth reading), it's the issue where he joined the staff and was introduced by the editor. I always liked his style of writing and the fact that his articles never seemed, to me at least, to be an infomercial for whoever had sent him that months product to "test". He seems to enjoy shooting old guns and real world guns (although some are only real world for kings LOL) and actually trying a lot of different things. His articles on boolit casting and paper patching are very good, just like he sat down at your bench and showed you how to do it. He seems to eliminate some of the "smoke and mirrors" present in other articles that try to teach a technique.

If there is one fault in his writing (and it's only a "fault" I guess to someone of my means), it's that he seems to gloat about some of the high dollar guns that he owns and shoots. This may be just my impression, and it sure doesn't keep me from enjoying his work.

Besides, he's a boolit caster, how bad a guy can he be?? LOL!!

SSB

tommag
08-21-2007, 08:58 PM
I can't imagine him writing for Outdoor Life. I guess I'll have to watch for him on the news-stand.
He always seemed to write about old guns and I have never noticed an article from him about the "latest and greatest Remchester" In short, a real gunnut who wrote articles that didn't seem to have a sponsor.

Bent Ramrod
08-21-2007, 10:33 PM
There are several threads on him in the "Ask the Gunwriters" forum on 24 Hour Campfire. The gunwriters are understandably reluctant to hang the laundry of one of their own out, but one gets the impression that Ross is a very good and very interesting writer to read, even a good guy to talk to (if in the right mood at the time) but rather excessively waspish to work with over the long haul, whether you're a fellow writer or his editor.

Too bad it restricted his publishing outlets, because reading a Seyfried article about his latest 16 gauge Purdey caplock rifle or whatever was as good as owning it for a weekend without the high tariff or management challenges. I always felt that I was in his debt for his descriptions and the way his interest in and enjoyment of guns I wasn't necessarily all that interested in (when I started to read the article) came through in his writing and piqued my interest as well. If in the course of this writing, he was also gloating over his acquisitions, well, as the old blues line puts it, "I don't blame you baby; I'd be the same way if I could.":)

madcaster
08-22-2007, 01:04 PM
If Ross is writing for Outdoor Life I feel sorry for him!That Editor Jim Carmichael is someone I do NOT care for one bit.

Bret4207
08-22-2007, 01:52 PM
Oddly, Jim Carmichael did some really excellent work years ago in Handloader and Rifle with cast boolits. I haven't read a thing by him since I last took OL which was in '87 or '88. Must be he's not the favored child anymore

Seyfried did some wonderful work, but seemed to go sort of "Howard Hughes" after a while. Purdeys, Africa, $5000.00 revolvers. Too many other writers also do the same thing. I suppose it's a sign I prefer writers who are still intrigued by the hobby as opposed to some one going through the motions. Ken Waters was one of the few that never semmed to go though that period.

Ah well, at least Handloader and Rifle still have Clair Reese.....HAR!!!!

Buckshot
08-22-2007, 02:28 PM
..............Ross's first published article was about paper patching, so after reading that I was ready to check out most anything else he wrote. Writting for a broad audience, you won't always please or interest everyone all the time. Yet he seemed to be interested in, and write stuff that touched on my interests enough to at least have me checking his articles out.

................Buckshot

KCSO
08-22-2007, 02:44 PM
One problem is that Ross will say what HE thinks and won't parrot the company line. His articles on Damascus barrels earned him a LOT of flack from a lot of writers who had never shot or tested Damascus. When he actually advocated SHOOTING those old guns the lawer types all had a hissy fit.

madcaster
08-22-2007, 02:49 PM
Bret4207,
I have seen Jim's sign on his tables at gunshows in the past,and this is what turned me against him.

Scrounger
08-22-2007, 03:02 PM
Bret4207,
I have seen Jim's sign on his tables at gunshows in the past,and this is what turned me against him.

I ran into Jim Carmichel at the Silhouette Nationals in the early 1980s. Surprised me that he was almost completely bald, his pictures didn't show it. He offerred to autograph one of his books I had but I declined. No real reason, I just knew I wouldn't have the book long anyway.

drinks
08-22-2007, 08:36 PM
I do not know the person, I did have a look at a new Outdoor Life while I was having my oil changed, really reminded me of National Enquirer, nothing like the simplistic formula pablum of the '60's.
I suppose he needs the work.

OBXPilgrim
08-22-2007, 08:51 PM
Do any of you remember the article Ross did about large bore double guns? The one I remember (I'm sure he did more than one) - semed like it was for Guns & Ammo, which I happened to get at one point way back when. Anyway there was a photo of him shooting a large bore - I swear I think it was a 4-bore rifle. It showed him in full recoil -- looked like he was getting the SNOT knocked out of himself with that big joker. It looked like his shooting glasses stayed in place but his head was launched rearward when he touched it off.

I remember carrying that article around to show friends & telling them that I was trying to find one of those guns for deer hunting. We howled & got a real charge out of that one.

longhorn
08-22-2007, 09:36 PM
All I know is, reading and re-reading some of his articles about 19 times sure has cost me a pile of money over the years! .32 Mag, .340 Wby, Ruger #1's, etc. No $5k revolvers, though. (yet)

35remington
08-22-2007, 09:52 PM
OBX, I still have the article. It was a 8 gauge double rifle he was shooting from the sitting position, and it was well on its way to rolling him over.

DonH
08-23-2007, 05:22 AM
I have never had the impression that Ross "gloated" over the high end stuff. It just always seemed to me that somehow he could afford it easily enough that it was sort of common currency for him. It is like some of my more wealthy clients would treat a high-end Mercedes more shabbily than I could afford to treat whatever cheapie I happened to drive at the moment.
What I like about Ross is that he writes from real experience. When writes about African hunting for instance, he knows fron having worked as a PH for part of each year for several years. Back in the early 80s he set out to win a world championship in practical pistol competition. He worked his butt off practicing and shooting matches and won the world championship with the 1911 pistol. I was told by a gent who was heavily involved in that sport that one of the top shooters of the day told him that the year Ross won, there was Ross and then there was everyone else.
Having spent my working life attempting to be as high level a craftsman as I could attain I have a deep appreciation for the kind of guns Ross writes about these days as well as for the men who made them. If I can never afford them I guess it won't hurt to get my thrills vicariously. As to him being hard to work with, maybe he doesn't suffer fools very easily. I have had those days myself.

fourarmed
08-23-2007, 11:26 AM
Between my dad and I, we have taken OL since the forties. I have also read Carmichel's books. In my opinion, his knowledge and writing and shooting skills are at least equal to Ross's. That really makes me wonder why he writes so few major articles anymore. Made his pile, I guess.

DonH
08-23-2007, 04:12 PM
In terms of competition shooting over a long period of time, Carmichael may stand alone among the writers.

MT Gianni
08-24-2007, 12:12 AM
Ross is a tinkerer as I read his writings. Elmer was a tinkerer. Jack O'Conner gave me the feeling he was perfectly happing shooting anything with 130 gr 270 off the shelf ammo. I like to read guys that think outside the box and are willing to try new things and explain why the worked or failed. I don't see much of that anymore. Gianni.

Nrut
08-24-2007, 12:40 AM
All I know is, reading and re-reading some of his articles about 19 times sure has cost me a pile of money over the years! .32 Mag, .340 Wby, Ruger #1's, etc. No $5k revolvers, though. (yet)
Same here longhorn...He could get you excited about something you did'nt even know you needed...I sure wish he never wrote about those Alex Henery's and Daniel Frasier's... I have yet to see one and that is a good thing as I could'nt afford one anyway![smilie=1:

DonH
08-24-2007, 04:53 AM
Somewhere I have an old article about a well-used O'Connor-owned M70 in .30-06. I don't recall ever reading about that one in his stories; it was supposedly always the .270.

johniv
08-29-2007, 05:12 PM
Hate to dig up an old thread, but I just got back from town where I purchased a magazine called "Under Wild Skies" and Mr Seyfried is listed as a contribting editor, and has 2 short pieces on Samuel Baker and his rifles. I like Ross's work, particularly the historical aspect and background,as well as some of the casting and loading procedures, already mentioned.
John

brshooter
08-29-2007, 10:44 PM
Carmichael is one of shooting's biggest snobs, ask him some time about his stint writing for "Ladies Home Journal". At the Super Shoot every year, he struts around with a Martini and his safari jacket on after the day's shooting. If it wasn't for being a writer and getting free-bees from everyone who's products he evaluates he probably wouldn't own a gun. One gunsmith sent him a custom rifle to test and when he told Carmicheal he wanted the gun back, Carmicheal evaluated the rifle so poorly it wasn't even funny. The gunsmith is one of the better gunsmiths in the benchrest shooting community and is noted for his quality work and was he PO... The greed of these gun scribes is unreal. A local gun scribe asked me if I would recieve an expensive shotgun for him, this dink would not ever even acknowleged knowing me before when I said "Hi" to him. I asked him why the sudden interest in me, what happened to his usual ways of getting firearms shipped to him? I said "Yes, I will recieve that shotgun for you for the usual handling fee of 10% of the retail cost". Needless to say he never got it thru my FFL. There is a few exceptions, but most gun scribes can't write an honest evaluation of any product, two reasons, one, the amount the companys spents on advertising in their rag whose lost will PO the editor, and two, the amount of squeeze or products they are getting on the side. And squeeze and free products are those items those bottom feeders desire most......

Dale53
08-30-2007, 12:22 AM
Back in the late Seventies, Ross won the World IPSC Competition. This was held in South Africa. Soon after, I shot the Winter Nationals with Bill Wilson (he came in second to Ross in the World Championship). Bill and I had a chance to talk. He told me that there was Ross Seyfried at the match and then there was everybody else. Bill was a superb IPSC shooter and he stated that Ross was in a class by himself.

That is a pretty good recommendation for me. I have long enjoyed his articles. Ross Seyfried is the "Real Deal"!!

Dale53

DonH
08-30-2007, 05:05 AM
The complaints made in this thread against gun writers and editors are why I seldom read the likes of G&A, Shooting Times, etc. anymore. After the passing of Elmer Keith and then when Seyfried's tour at G&A came to an end that publication has been on a downhill slide. The end of Petersen ownership really hurt it. The American Rifleman used to be a good place to get straight info on gun stuff but it is next to useless these days. Handloader and Rifle were my lifeblood for years but the last decade has seen them slipping. Venturino, Barsness and Pearce write pretty good stuff but Clair Rees?
The problem, as I see it, is that the percentage of gun owners who actually ser ious shooters is pretty small so most readers probably don't know the difference.

MT Gianni
08-30-2007, 08:58 AM
Back in the late Seventies, Ross won the World IPSC Competition. This was held in South Africa. Soon after, I shot the Winter Nationals with Bill Wilson (he came in second to Ross in the World Championship). Bill and I had a chance to talk. He told me that there was Ross Seyfried at the match and then there was everybody else. Bill was a superb IPSC shooter and he stated that Ross was in a class by himself.

That is a pretty good recommendation for me. I have long enjoyed his articles. Ross Seyfried is the "Real Deal"!!

Dale53

It could be that he has little patience for those who "haven't done it" whether it is hunting or competitive shooting, whether they are his editors or co-workers. Gianni

Scrounger
08-30-2007, 09:03 AM
So he doesn't suffer fools lightly. Fairly common for people of higher intelligence to have trouble with people of lesser abilities. Everything is so simple for him, he doesn't understand how other people have difficulty understanding it.

Steve Collins
08-30-2007, 09:43 AM
I think Elmer Keith was that way also, he KNEW because he'd done it, and was matter-of-fact about it. That's what riled people, but Elmer was Elmer, and he wasn't going to change for anybody.

I have Sixguns over here with me, along with Gun Notes Vols. I & II, and he definitely wasn't shy about giving his opinion! [smilie=1: He is still one of my favorite gun writers.

Idaho Sharpshooter
08-30-2007, 09:45 AM
I had the privilege of first meeting Ross back in the 'nineties when he still had the ranch in Colorado. I was at the Schuetzenfest, and we sat together one evening. He was interested in a wildcat 257 Banshee I had concocted while at Precision Shooting Magazine. I have run into him at SHOT Shows since, and once had the honor or sitting at lunch there and introducing him to Alan Hall...then listening to the two of them talk single shot actions and advantages/disadvantages of many out there. Hall was about to introduce his single shot falling block action. IMHO, coming from an old money family, he does not realize he is "talking down", I don't believe that is the case, to anyone. He simply "has" things and enjoys talking about them...much as you would a new firearm...his are just a step up. He now lives about 135 miles west of me, and is in a position to just do as he pleases. He's the real deal allright, and if he ever gets to Boise he is more than welcome to stay at my house. That is about the highest compliment I can offer anyone.

Rich
DRSS

felix
08-30-2007, 11:33 AM
I have to guess that is correct what you said, Art. Like Rich, I have discussed things in person with Alan Hall at his house in Clanton AL. I needed some travel time to get out of the house when working in Huntsville, and decided to meet one of the best machinists in the industry. Alan knew in advance I was an engineer from Boeing, so that made the conversation much more smooth via mutual respect. He showed me his drop action prototypes, and was surprised he yet hasn't thought about 22LR stuff. This was in spring 1985. This was before the 22LR entered the BR arena, and logic at that time to me was to get ready for it because of the travel expenses to the genuine BR ranges was getting excessive. Several years later he was producing 22LR actions, and complete guns for that matter. ... felix

Blackwater
09-01-2007, 05:34 PM
I never met Ross, but there's something genuine and reverent that comes through all his writings on guns. One can scarcely conceal one's mindset and sense of values and respect when he writes as much as Ross has. Never talked to anyone who's met the man, either, but with all the PC addictions of today's world, even among us shooters, it's no wonder that Ross, a man who pretty clearly says what he means and means what he says, is going to tick off some folks. I can't hold that against him one whit, either. It's good, IMO, to see a man who's still unconcerned with the PC reactions of some of the more sensitive among our ranks. Of course, I come from a time and a place and a people who virtually ALWAYS said what they thought, meant what they said, and didn't care who liked it or not. Back then, folks used to value the simple things, like the simple Truth about what a man thought, and why. Today, it's so much more (sometimes virtually exclusively) about the two things Brshooter mentioned that I also don't subscribe to anything but the American Rifleman, and sometimes I'm not even real proud of that.

Boy! Do I ever more miss those old American Rifleman magazines of the late 40's and the 50's. THOSE articles were written by men, like Elmer for one example, who - like Ross - knew what ought to be expected from a product, and wrote their evaluations accordingly, and with little to no regard for the advertising income the makers brought to the magazine.

The "new millenium" manufacturers themselves, however, are largely to blame for this. If THEY didn't pressure the glossys for favorable reviews, regardless of the products' actual value, then the mags would (often at least) write as the older guys once did. I rather have a notion that if the mfg's weren't so thoroughly CONDITIONED to think and behave defensively, due to the litigious environment they have to exist and work in today, from their college training onward, our mfg's would behave significantly differently.

There's plenty of blame to go around, and I man ALL around, in this situation today, if one wants to play the blame game. For instance, how many of US are to blame when we whine and cry like spoiled children when a simple factory rifle won't shoot like a well tuned custom jobbie that we read about in the glossies? And how many of US are there who actually support the lawsuits that plague ALL our industries today, rather than acknowledging and giving credit to those who MIS-use the mfg's products?

You see, we ALL make the beds we lie in, including this one. I'm old enough to remember a different time, a different people, and a different way of life, when folks just never EXPECTED things to be perfect, and saw accidents as just that, and not black holes into which they'd be "ENTITLED" to remuneration they'd NEVER have seen had it not been for their, or the deceased's, failure to apply good common sense or judgment.

An' thass all I gotta' say 'bout that, boys. But I DO remember that different time, folks, etc. that I spoke of, and .... surprise, surprise! We GET just EXACTLY what we SEW, and it all works together. We do NOT get to pick and choose what we want, without also receiving the inevitably ensuing results of those options. This just ain't rocket science. It's cause and effect, plain and simple, and one thing follows another, which affects something else, which has repercussions on other things in sequence, until .... well, you know. What we sew, we reap. Inevitably and certainly.

targetshootr
09-01-2007, 09:01 PM
In 1992 or thereabouts when he and Bowen were building his 475 damascus #13 Bisley (http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b233/targetshootr/Im003108.jpg) the article he wrote said by the time it was all said and done it cost as much as a Ferrari. Which at that time were going for $90k or more. I talked to the welder in Bowens shop who did the top strap and he confirmed the price but I still think there's some hype involved in those kinds of claims.

TAWILDCATT
09-05-2007, 03:11 PM
BLACKWATER:I know what you mean.I have bought guns that did not work right.but I figured I had not spent much so went ahead and made them work.I bought an AMT hardball for $200 and it stove piped every other shot.pulled extracter and bent it put back in and its fine.same as all the nay sayers on LEE products.I have about 15 presses of various makes I use mostly Lee tho.price is right and I have no problem with them.if some of the young ones had used what I did like tong tools.I'm 83 now.got a 24x24 shop full.
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