Gun writer statements that are no longer applicable or you don't agree with.

I think we forget these guys are human and are as full of sh!t some times as the next guy, they just write well. Jack O'Connor was one of my favorites and I have a fondness of the 270 win because of him I'm sure. Things have changed in the 40 plus years since Jack passed , As good a hunter and writer as Jack was I think he failed us by not acknowledging the 280 rem or the 7mags , they were better then the 270 win he knew it but was so locked in to his own writing that he wouldn't back off. All these guys have their opinions , the bests are flexible the rest just arrogant . Quite honestly I read this forum and the contributors much more than I read anything written by gun writers anymore. Trust me it wasn't always this way but I get real time up to date information everyday from guys getting it done in the field on their own dime!
That's probably the biggest change for me , are there any gun experts writing anymore for all of us? Truth is I only know Petzal because of the F&S forum that has just 15 or so contributors. We all have access to data, product reviews , chronographs ,members input etc! We all know Immediately when we are being given bogus information or getting pumped up numbers. I look at this forum as a Co op between members, someone out there with hands on experience sharing their observation of what's going on. The day of the gun writers god like opinion is over! They cannot survive in this instant access world we all live in. I believe in some ways those guys stunted us as shooters and I see it on other forums , Petzal says you can't so........ ! I have said this a couple times , I'm glad for this LRH forum and it's members, it has upped my game and it gets better everyday! The day of the know it all gun writers is dead !
 
Pmacc60 said:
I think we forget these guys are human and are as full of sh!t some times as the next guy, they just write well. Jack O'Connor was one of my favorites and I have a fondness of the 270 win because of him I'm sure. Things have changed in the 40 plus years since Jack passed , As good a hunter and writer as Jack was I think he failed us by not acknowledging the 280 rem or the 7mags , they were better then the 270 win he knew it but was so locked in to his own writing that he wouldn't back off. All these guys have their opinions , the bests are flexible the rest just arrogant . Quite honestly I read this forum and the contributors much more than I read anything written by gun writers anymore. Trust me it wasn't always this way but I get real time up to date information everyday from guys getting it done in the field on their own dime!
That's probably the biggest change for me , are there any gun experts writing anymore for all of us? Truth is I only know Petzal because of the F&S forum that has just 15 or so contributors. We all have access to data, product reviews , chronographs ,members input etc! We all know Immediately when we are being given bogus information or getting pumped up numbers. I look at this forum as a Co op between members, someone out there with hands on experience sharing their observation of what's going on. The day of the gun writers god like opinion is over! They cannot survive in this instant access world we all live in. I believe in some ways those guys stunted us as shooters and I see it on other forums , Petzal says you can't so........ ! I have said this a couple times , I'm glad for this LRH forum and it's members, it has upped my game and it gets better everyday! The day of the know it all gun writers is dead !
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Couldn't have said it better myself. The days of claiming this cartridge or that cartridge is the best, just because we own one and killed 10,000 animals is becoming antiquated. I don't need to always have the most modern cartridge there is. I can be quite effective with some of the old cartridges that were overlooked in their time because of the old gunwriters. My thoughts are, there's really not bad cartridges but there's others available that will do much better for an intended application. I don't want to get caught up today in the same thing as the folks got caught up in reading the old gunwriters content and miss out on using a great cartridge just because it's not what the so called gurus of shooting may think is the greatest. I think at least a good 80-90% or more of the folks on this forum are knowledgeable & experienced enough not to get caught up in this sort of thing that folks bought into during the old days due to going to magazines for a majority of our information. I'm not bashing nor promoting any new or old cartridges. Just saying as you said, there's enough information out there now that we can make alot better choices based off of factual information vs gun guru writer killed 10,000 animals from all around the globe in his lifetime with one cartridge and one particular bullet, with alot of gray area, fill in the blank and try to decipher how badly exaggerated the story is.
 
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I added up the pages devoted to advertising, and found they were way over half the magazine. Since then I figure they should pay me to read them.

Biggest pet peeve is advertising product that will be lucky to make it too the shelves in 2 years. Then last less than 6 months.
 
358 WCF said:
Who?
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David petzal. Gun writer for one of those outdoors magazines. I can't remember which one cause I haven't read one in years. Couldn't find much real world data in them, just things you would do if you were getting a free ride on your gear & hunting trips. He don't believe in shooting over 300 yards at game, Shots my son made when he was 10 years old. I guess he doesn't believe in using a bipod either, maybe it's why he doesn't shoot over 300 yards.
 
djfergus said:
David petzal. Gun writer for one of those outdoors magazines. I can't remember which one cause I haven't read one in years. Couldn't find much real world data in them, just things you would do if you were getting a free ride on your gear & hunting trips. He don't believe in shooting over 300 yards at game, Shots my son made when he was 10 years old. I guess he doesn't believe in using a bipod either, maybe it's why he doesn't shoot over 300 yards.
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I guess I need to make a sarcasm on button for my computer... :cool:
 
Funny to me how 90% of all the bolt action rifles these magazines tested over the past 20 years shot moa & less groups with factory ammo they randomly picked up. I believe alot of bolt guns will shoot moa with the right factory ammo, but sometimes it takes several tries of different offerings. As they reported most of the time, at Least one of two boxes they randomly picked would shoot sub moa. Maybe they are just better shooters than I am. Maybe my 1/2 moa groups are really .1 loads in their hands, lol.
 
djfergus said:
Funny to me how 90% of all the bolt action rifles these magazines tested over the past 20 years shot moa & less groups with factory ammo they randomly picked up. I believe alot of bolt guns will shoot moa with the right factory ammo, but sometimes it takes several tries of different offerings. As they reported most of the time, at Least one of two boxes they randomly picked would shoot sub moa. Maybe they are just better shooters than I am. Maybe my 1/2 moa groups are really .1 loads in their hands, lol.
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I agree 100% with that! I picked up a Remington 700 ADL in 270 win 10 years ago for my son in-law . He wanted to get into shooting and hunting with My sons and I . The gun shoots one hole groups out of the box with factory rem ammo. Almost all the factory rifles we own shoot under a inch( all we kept ) handloading and trigger work are key. Also one of the things that freed my mind up nearly 40 years ago was advice from WW 2 vet who was a rifle instructor in the Army. The rifle will shoot better than you!
PS Petzal writes for Field and Stream I'm case you want to catch up... or maybe not ! 😏
 
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