Post by Bowenbuilt on May 12, 2009 16:28:45 GMT -5
To the editor,
I just read Mike Venturino's article in AH, .44 Special....ain't so special. I don't usually get upset about magazine articles and just read them with an open mind and try to appreciate a sometimes differing opinion from my own. In the case of Mike's latest in American Handgunner about the .44 special, the more of it I read the angrier I became. Mike is not offering his bashing of the .44 special as an opinion but in several lines refers to this unabashed load of crap as fact.
I have followed Mike's articles since he started writing, I have even purchased several of his books. His writing has most always focused on odd ball or obsolete guns and cartridges from years past. For the most part they always seem to be a weenie pip squeak type of hand gun and certainly all of his reloading data that is published is on the minus side of any kind of actual performance. To be honest, I don't know how he ever made it into the gunwriting profession.
To the point; In his latest off the wall article he has taken the position that every writer who ever praised the .44 special has been lying to all of us for the past 75 years. John Taffin in your sister publication, Guns Magazine, just wrote an article about the new Ruger .44 Special in which he states that his 2 guns shot groups from 1.5" to 7/8" groups. Mikes article tells me that John is lying, according to Mike there is no way that Johns guns could shoot such small groups. Mike says that Elmer Keith, Gordon Boser, Ken Waters, Skeeter Skelton and John Taffin have mislead us all with myth and false information all these years.
I have been collecting .44 Special handguns since the age of 14 when I received my first N frame Smith & Wesson, long before Mike Venturino ever picked up a pencil. Every .44 special I have is capable of sub 1.5" groups at 25 yards. My latest gun from Hamilton Bowen does one hole groups at 25 yards with most any kind of load or bullet combination. I must be misleading you according to Mike. I believe that Mike should stick to those weenie guns he is used to or maybe the ones with cork and string might be more appropriate. He should NEVER be allowed to write another article about the .44 special for which he knows nothing about. I wished Elmer Keith was still alive so Mike would know what it felt like to have a 90+ year old man slap the shit out of him. As I gather up all of Venturino's books for the trash can let me say that I have never been more offended and insulted and if this was what was intended you did a damn fine job.
I just read Mike Venturino's article in AH, .44 Special....ain't so special. I don't usually get upset about magazine articles and just read them with an open mind and try to appreciate a sometimes differing opinion from my own. In the case of Mike's latest in American Handgunner about the .44 special, the more of it I read the angrier I became. Mike is not offering his bashing of the .44 special as an opinion but in several lines refers to this unabashed load of crap as fact.
I have followed Mike's articles since he started writing, I have even purchased several of his books. His writing has most always focused on odd ball or obsolete guns and cartridges from years past. For the most part they always seem to be a weenie pip squeak type of hand gun and certainly all of his reloading data that is published is on the minus side of any kind of actual performance. To be honest, I don't know how he ever made it into the gunwriting profession.
To the point; In his latest off the wall article he has taken the position that every writer who ever praised the .44 special has been lying to all of us for the past 75 years. John Taffin in your sister publication, Guns Magazine, just wrote an article about the new Ruger .44 Special in which he states that his 2 guns shot groups from 1.5" to 7/8" groups. Mikes article tells me that John is lying, according to Mike there is no way that Johns guns could shoot such small groups. Mike says that Elmer Keith, Gordon Boser, Ken Waters, Skeeter Skelton and John Taffin have mislead us all with myth and false information all these years.
I have been collecting .44 Special handguns since the age of 14 when I received my first N frame Smith & Wesson, long before Mike Venturino ever picked up a pencil. Every .44 special I have is capable of sub 1.5" groups at 25 yards. My latest gun from Hamilton Bowen does one hole groups at 25 yards with most any kind of load or bullet combination. I must be misleading you according to Mike. I believe that Mike should stick to those weenie guns he is used to or maybe the ones with cork and string might be more appropriate. He should NEVER be allowed to write another article about the .44 special for which he knows nothing about. I wished Elmer Keith was still alive so Mike would know what it felt like to have a 90+ year old man slap the shit out of him. As I gather up all of Venturino's books for the trash can let me say that I have never been more offended and insulted and if this was what was intended you did a damn fine job.