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[jhm]

Advocate:  One of my bigest pet peevesand I will get a lot of negatives on this but here goes I would tell the editor I understand we have to pay the bills and advertising is the way we do it.  However as important as the pickup truck and the suv is to the hunter and shooters how many FORD/ CHEVY/GMC/DODGE dealers did you walk into and see them advertising  the merrits of hunting with a browning / remington/ etc/ etc. All the adds are one sided the shooting magazines advertise for the big 3 however the big wont go out of their way to do as much for the shooting sports.  Yes they will donate some trucks here and there but thats advertising for them also You wont walk into a dealer a see any banners on the wall supporting the NRA or advertising a winchester / colt/ think about it. their is my article now by that magazine.   JIM

[Mikey]

Advocate - you have stirred my literary emotions.  I have always wanted to write articles for gun magazines.

My first choice would be between two topics:  either one on heavy bullets and cast loads in the 444 Marlin, or one on turn of the century bottlenecked pistol cartridges like the 30 Luger and the 30 Mauser, but in modern day applications.

After that, articles on heavy bullets in revolvers, different rifle calibers like mil-surps and old levers, and the list goes on, and on, and on.  

Hmmmm, I see a post retirement possibility here.  Might keep me busy enough to keep me off the streets at night.  Just thinkin'.  Mikey here.

[huntsman]

What I would write, given the opportunity, is stories about real hunters (not the writers or celebrities on some all-expense-paid romp) in the real woods, how they have bonded with their firearm (of whatever caliber or make), and how the sport of hunting has improved their human character.

I think far too much is made of products and what this caliber can do versus that other caliber, etc. The truth is that with so many choices available to hunters, the real story is not what gun they choose, but how the gun they have works for them and enhances their hunting experience. Grandpa stalking with his 30-30 in LA, because it is the first and last deer gun he has ever owned. Junior learning to shoot his handed-down .243 and killing his first doe in TX. Joe making a beautiful shot on a trophy mulie with his custom rifle in CO. Jenny not killing a thing but enjoying the time she spent in the GA woods with her milsurp .303 she bought for $100.

I think we need stories that we can all relate to as ordinary hunters. We need stories that affirm why we hunt, how it makes us better people, and why hunting is a spiritual experience for those who enjoy it.

[Advocate]

Huntsman:  Just wanted to say how much I enjoyed your post about the positive influence of hunting on the human character.   It deeply touched me.

[Yukon Jack]

Hmmmm,
Maybe about one of my sheep hunts in the Wrangell's, Brooks or Chugach Mountains.  Toting one of my No.1's of course.

What I really have come to dislike is the innate description of equipment used.  Especially when it is right at the shot.  "I stalked within 100 yards of heavy beamed bull and leveled the crosshairs of my Swarovski Habicht 2.2-9x Austrian made scope with the 30mm tube and 50mm objective lens sitting in Conetrol deluxe mounts on Leupold bases, sitting atop my Brown Precision Mauser actioned, Shilen barrel 6.72 lb Alpine Light rifle capable of .58" groups at 1000 yards in a MacMillan Alaskan kevlar-graphite 1lb 2oz classic styled stock with shadow line checkpiece.  The bullet was the extraordinary 150 grain Barnes moly-coated XLC boattail driven by 74.387429 grains of H-4831 to an amazing velocity of 3,019 fps, generating 2,000 foot-pounds of kinetic energy and a Taylor Knock-out value of 27.  The Timney trigger's 1.87lb pull broke clean as glass and the Federal 215 Magnum Primer ignited all 74.387429 grains of H-4831 that was held securely in the once fired Winchester brass.  The brass was trimmed to 2.02531578" using my RCBS auto-electric trimmer.  The load was developed on my Dillion Precision 440 Celebrity special, inline seating CH4D whatchacallit dies with a neck tension of 25lbs/mm.  Shoot, I missed...."

I don't mind them giving the rifle description or load somewhere in the article, but most of 'em just get too carried away with it.  I am ready Jack Atcheson's book right now, and it is as good a hunting book as has ever been written.  Check it out.

[Graybeard]

Well since you guys are in such a literary state of mind it just so happens that on the new GBO Home Page we have a place for such articles. If you'd like to have yours show up here on the GBO Home Page write them and send to either me or Matt.

Naw the pay stinks.    Only $00.00 per article accepted  :eek:  but you do get to be famous more or less and have your article potentially read by tens of thousands of folks each month.

GB

[Advocate]

Yukon Jack:  Great idea for a story.  Which no. 1. Which caliber? barrel length? Scope; Bullet weights and powder?   Carbon or stainless steel?  Ballistics.  

Sorry, but gun writers cover those details  because their readers are interested in guns and in the details relevant to them.  Too bad you find them so annoying.  Remember the title of this thread was what gun story would you write, not what hunting story would you write.

[Yukon Jack]

Ah, but folks like Keith, O'Connor, Carmichel, Whelen all wrote incredible gun articles where the information was presented in a much better format, imho.  Carmichel might have described the rifle while he was writiing about packing for the trip and how much excitment felt the night before leaving.  While describing his plane ride (a short paragraph), he might rehash his load development and the many enjoyable, though frustrating hours at the range.  Its a way of getting all the details across without slamming the reader with so much commercialism that is prevalent in most articles today.  It's almost as if the writers are trying to include every brand out there so they might get something from that company.

[Mikey]

Huntsman - I would read your article before I wrote my own.  Yours held the kind of positive ideas I wish I had thought of myself.  Mikey.

[Hud]

I have written an article on out-of-state mule deerhunting on the cheap.
My buddies read it and wouldn't let me send it in. I was going to try FUR - FISH & Game.

We (5-6 guys) go out west and have a quality mule deer hunt, usually get our deer. Sometimes some nice ones.  We do it all for less than $500 a piece, sometimes closer to $425. That is the out of state licence, gas, motels on the trip out, food in camp, cafe food. The whole works. We usually take two trucks and travel over 700 miles to where we hunt.
I have some  pictures of our "camp" and a few deer in the photos that are listed in the website on my profile.

Hud

[L-Roy]

Advocate,
I'd write a competent article on the guns that use the seldom written about 7.62x25 bottle neck pistol/submachine gun round and why the Russians are about to revive it.  Hey, it penetrates body armor quite well!  And yes, the little one has even been wildcatted.  Some have loaded sabot rounds for it with a light .22cal jacket bullet at spritely velocities

My most favorite user of that cartridge is the CZ 52.  Simple, efficient!