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Dale53
11-18-2007, 04:02 PM
I spend a good bit of time on the computer. I am not only a writer but a photographer and editing of both are, of course, on a computer.

Plus, I am always eager to read about a new perspective on our shooting sports. There is a great deal of really good stuff on the web (you Do have to be able to sort the wheat from the chaff[smilie=1:).

Of course, when it comes to techniques of casting and shooting cast boolits, right here on Cast Boolits is where you will find some of the best "REALLY good stuff".

However, there are other good web sites and particular favorites of mine are John Taffin's "Sixguns.com". There have been very few, if any, new additions there for a long time, but the information is in general "solid". From my point of view, the only limitation is the emphasis on "Elephant Killers". There is little there about everyday target loads and certainly nothing about NRA Bullseye level loads.

For that you need to go to: http://www.bullseyepistol.com/

This is an excellent site but is STRICTLY for NRA Bullseye. I find it's recommendations similar to what I have been using for over fifty years for pleasurable use with great accuracy. I have found, over the years, that if I practice with target loads, then just before hunting season, work in with "heavy" loads gradually, I do not have a tendency to flinch. I can easily transfer from target to hunting level (full house .44 magnum, etc). This also saves unnecessary wear and tear on the guns.

A completely separate story is Self Defense and I DO work on that on a semi-regular basis. As a former "A" class IPSC shooter when it was a "Martial Art" I will never fully lose my interest in the real world of Self Defense.

Then there are several "general purpose" shooting forums. They have some good information, but more and more they seem to be just shills for new products and calibers that may or may not have relevance to most of us. I am not slamming them (heck, we all have to make a living, etc) but I find it a bit sad that there seem to be a dearth of Elmers, Townsends, and Skeeters out there. I hope that I am not just an "old fart" who is whining about the "old days". Frankly, as far as I am concerned, in general, the "Good old days" are NOW!! We have better everything and we certainly have more spendable income, etc, but we do NOT have more of the likes of the three people I mention above. Now, don't get me wrong, I like John Taffin and Mike Venturino (Mike may be the most honest writer of them all) and Steve Garbe but a lot of the rest leave me a bit unsatisfied.

One of the reasons, of course, is the onset of television. Magazines are trying to compete and losing the battle. However, trying to compete with printed "sound bytes" instead of in-depth articles is sure not MY way... I would surely like to see some more general "using" articles. Why we carry what we do woods walking, what small game handguns and rifles do we prefer and why? Good Lord, most of us hunt more small game by a factor of ten or even a hundred over big game and yet all of the printed page is dominated by the latest "Big Blaster" whether rifle or pistol and little of the needs of the edible small game or varmint hunter.

When we talk about hunting, there is little "hunting" description, just killing a mile away. Where is the stalking up til you see the "whites of their eyes" then shooting with a handgun?

Most of all I deplore the fact that most of the recent TV shows are just flat running ads for the "newest and the latest" instead of being truly informational for the real world of gun enthusiasts.

Now, what do YOU think?

Dale53

ktw
11-18-2007, 04:34 PM
I don't own a television and long ago came to the conclusion that I could learn a lot more by trial and error 'doing' than I could from reading anything put out by the magazine industry.

This site has been wonderful as far as practical knowledge. However, I recently spent a couple of days out at deer camp. When I came back there were over 1,000 new messages. It's getting hard to keep up with everything going on here over the last couple of months. I have had to cut back to targeting just the most interesting categories, people and topics...

-ktw

JohnH
11-18-2007, 08:04 PM
This is really the only place I come to anymore. Cast boolits are the only hting that interest me anymore from an "I want to learn" level. Funny, I'm not sure I learned so much here as I streamlined my methods and quit doing things that were "motions of work" but produced nothing (like fluxing). As well, there is a plethora of knowledge not only of casting but of every aspect of firearms and shooting here, I would say that there is not a more rounded and solid group of experience to found anywhere.

I have given up hope that there will ever be a firearms magazine that I would be comfortable subscribing to again. I like Mike V for the same reason, he's honest. You can take your gun, go in your backyard and get similar if not the same results he writes of.

I bought the laestt issue of Guns and Ammo, out of despertion for something to read. In a revue of the Ruger Compact Magnums (We need another magnum?????) Mr. Boddington was giving a lecture on the superiority of the 338 caliber penetrating ability as compared to that of the 375 (based on sectional density and reduced friction because of diameter.) What he failed to mention was that on expansion, both bullets would be about 70 caliber and none of the mathmatical BS would mean anything. Both chamberings he was discussing will penetrate thru the vitals of any animal 1500-2000 pounds and less at any reasonable angle one would be likely to take a shot. Just more BS to sell the newest latest greatest.

Unfortunately, there is little new in the world of real world hunting. Well placed shots with any reasonable chambering for the game being hunted almost always results in meat on the table. We are inundated with the latest, greatest because it is novelty that sells, not need and not reality.

I was quite surprised this past week when a neighbor told me he was considering buying a bolt gun in an '06 case chambering, when it occured to him that most all of his deer shooitng took place under 50 yards and that he would prolly be better served with a scope upgrade for his Marlin 336 (30-30) He upgraded his scope and bagged his deer Saturday (opening day) at the literal crack of dawn. That story might sell a few scopes, but it won't sell any rifles, yet it is proof in the pudding that the cartridges and rifles that worked for our fathers and grandfathers will work for our grand children. What we really need the firearms magazines to do is encourage a return to good shooting techniques and a return to the practice of shooting regularly.

But I expect nothing of the like from them. At the height of the Cowboy Action craze, Winchester had not produced one rifle for the sport, even though the company had built it's fame on the very rifles which are the darlings of that sport. When the manufactuers cannot see and don't respond to the real wants and needs of their customers, it is high hopes indeed to expect the same from the industry's chorus section

uscra112
11-18-2007, 10:09 PM
I long ago quit buying ANY news-stand gun mags. Only gun mags I ever look at now are from my collection of Pre-WW2 American Rifleman.

I was in the machine tool industry 20 years or so ago, when I got a call from a "writer" (I use the term loosely) from one of the big-time manufacturing industry mags. I gave him a rather long and detailed interview, and lo and behold a coupla months later there was my interview, almost verbatim, written up as "editorial content" by said writer. Turned out my boss had spoken to the advertising dept., who spoke to him, who spoke to me. I still feel dirty.

All the current enthusiast mags of any kind are as bad or worse today - posting names and addresses of mentioned products right in the articles for example! One or two people I knew in the '70s still write for one particular motorcycle rag, and seem to have maintained their independence. Otherwise, if it's got a glossy cover, it's junk, (not to use a stronger word).

IMHO it's the huge school of scam-artist lawyers we now live with who have driven the latter-day Keiths and Townie Whelans and Col. Harrisons out of the print marketplace. Elmer has been reviled by some people I've met as the damnedest liar that ever wrote a line for a magazine, but whether that's true or not, he could write what he thought and not get sued, and some of it was pretty useful stuff, or at least exciting.

These bottom-feeders haven't gone after bloggers, Web publishers, and forums like this one (much, yet) because you can publish on the Internet with a net worth of less than the value of a used car, (e.g. Kim du Toit), and they ain't interested. But a print publisher - he's likely to have an investment in the millions, and a lawyer can cripple him with just one or two lawsuits.

So, THANK YOU AL GORE ! The only good thing you ever did ! (/sarc off)

BTW I last owned a TV in 1977. I consider myself a far saner man as a result.

Also BTW, the term is "sound byte". A particular hobby-horse of mine - the term is derived from computer language. A byte is the number of bits necessary to transmit one comprehensible alphabetic character in ASCII code, usually eight. (ASCII was the code used in the old Teletype systems going back to before WW2, adopted for the earliest computers, and to some extent still used today.)

Bob Jones
11-18-2007, 10:21 PM
Just thought I'd share a story about how magazines work. Back in the late 80's I'd started a manufacturing business, not gun related, and was making some high end products in a fairly small market. I was one of the 3 or 4 leading manufacturers in the world in my market. I was spending $5-6K per month on advertising with a couple of the major magazines in the field.

I called the editor of the mag and told him it was time for him to do a review of one of my products. He agreed and told me to contact their lead reviewer, and older and very respected member of that community.

I called the reviewer, explained my product, how it worked, and started discussing how to get a sample to him as it was large and heavy and had to go by motor freight.

His answer to me, "Hell kid, I'm too old to be screwing around with that kind of stuff. Just send me some nice pictures and I'll take care of writing the review."

And that, my friends, is how the magazine market works.

Bret4207
11-19-2007, 10:06 AM
There is far more good, solid information to be found in back issues of Handloader, Rifle, American Rifleman, Precision Shooting, Shooting Times, G+A, even Sports Afield. Outdoor Life, Field and Stream than is to be found in most any rag produced since the early 90's. Sometime in the mid to late 80's something happened that caused the magazine Editors to lose all sense of reality. Another almost perfect example would be the Gun Digests and Handloaders Digests.Although annuals, their content under John Amber made them stand out among the crowd and to be something worth buying. Sad to say there are few articles in any print form worth my $$ these days.

Thanks goodness we have this place to come to.

blackthorn
11-19-2007, 01:30 PM
While I agree that the current crop of magazines leave a lot to be desired, and I cant really recall the last time I spent any of my limited dollars on one, here are a couple of thoughts. A long time ago (longer than I care to remember) I came across the following quote: "Those who pine for the long-ago should remember the outhouse at 40 below". I thought at the time (and still do) that pretty much says it all. The "good old days are NOW, its just too bad I am too dang old to take full advantage.

Magazines today have become catalogues for which we are expected to pay premium prices. There are few articals that are not just a re-hash of what has been said before (just different word structure). Having said that, they likley do attract some number of new/young people and it is to be hoped that those people will become interested enough to be the next generation of shooters that will keep our sport alive.