In fairness to today's gun writers the ones that I (Age 59) "grew up" reading were from a different era with different experiences. Charles Askins and Bill Jordan served in the Border Patrol when the Southwestern Border was still a pretty rough place and is Askins is to be believed, many criminals had to be taught the hard way not to tangle with the Border Patrol. Askins and Jordan saw action in WWII, Elmer Keith came of age just as the transition from black to smokeless powder took place, and in the absence of the Internet or a large number of gun magazines the boundaries of gun knowledge were expande by individual experimenters like him-he was sort of the Thomas Edison of the Gun World. Skeeter Skelton grew up during the Depression. Townsend Whelen actually KNEW TR-who died in 1919, he's been gone quite a while.
Then the spread of knowledge-through the Internet, books, private research and experimentation-has created quite a few genuine if uncredentialed experts. The old definition of an "expert" was a windbag 100 miles from home, the new definition is someone with a few published articles and maybe books to his credit. I have the reputation of being something of an "expert" in the gun circles I travel in, I attribute this 40 plus years of shooting and even more importantly reading and I blessed with an extremely powerful memory, so I either remember what I have read or at least where I read it. Having a good selection of screwdrivers and small tools in my shooting box at the range confers "expert" status when I help other shooters with jams or similar problems-especially thos I have experienced. I do not hunt and pay little attention to the hunting articles,I am not a shotgunner, if a handgun is not steel and walnut-or at least all steel-I am not interested. Likewise no DAOs, "safe actions", whatever for me. Not a Glock fan.
I think the fairest thing to say about today's gunwriters is that Keith, Askins, Jordan, Skelton, Cooper et al.-they're a tough act to follow.