Jack O'Connor Opinion

[smoothshooter]

Jack O'Connor was an excellent writer and an accomplished hunter. We see his caliber very infrequently in gun writing circles.

He was a college English professor, or teacher in high school. I don’t remember which. Was reportedly difficult to deal with at times. I read many of his stories growing up.

It is true he really put the .270 on the map.

 

[Mike SC Hunter]

He was an advocate of a 7x57 Mauser. The stores were full of 8 mm Mausers in wooden barrels with the butt stocks sticking out. 50 bucks, I think. No 7 mm to be found. He brought about the universality of the 270 as Elmer did the .44, and Warren Page did the .243. They and Ted Trueblood, Robert Ruark, and Corey Ford gave me the first tastes of classy writing and the longest lasting opinions of ethical hunting and proper equipment.

Loved Corey Ford's "Back Forty" articles. Walter Winnan was famous pistol shooter and writer back in the day.
In the 1964 Outdoor Life issue Jack wrote and article titled "The Big Change In Guns". It was a whole separate center section in the magazine and contained about 15 pages. That issue had a charging Lion on the front.........I kept that issue and still have it.
When JC retired Jim Carmichael filled his spot.

 

[ruger 22]

In years past I read a lot of Keith and O'Connor and while both seemed very knowledgeable the main differences I noted were their choices of rifles for big game. O'Connor felt that if you had a 270 and 375 you were ready for anything the world had to offer; Keith vehemently disagreed and felt that you needed bigger bores for any of the 'big 5' and bigger than the 270 for medium game. I do recall one article by O'Connor where he stated that a 270 or 30-36 was perfectly adequate for lion or leopard. Having read a lot of safari articles, I doubt that he could have gotten too many PWH's in Africa to agree with that. Also having received personal answers from both these gents the ones from O'Connor were grammatically perfect and these from Keith needed a lot of polishing up. Both , however were very excellent and I treasure their books, especially those from Keith.

 

[Nemo288]

The first hunting book I read was by O'Connor and was given to me by my muse, guru, first gunsmith and reloading teacher.
I got a couple more and then started reading all I could about shooting and reloading.
Hunting came in 3rd as internal ballistics soon captured my imagination and quite frankly I turned out to be a mediocre hunter of land animals.
I am not patient enough and get cold easily.
Later came the 12ga and I found out I liked and was OK at bird hunting.
My first handgun was a 44 magnum 7.5" Redhawk and I was smitten to the point of becoming a 44 specialist.
This, as with many, led to me reading most all of Elmer's words as I finally acquired both Gun Notes volumes which are his magazine columns.
Vol. 2 also contains several letters between Jack and Elmer.
The acrimony between the two definitely helped sell magazines and I have always suspected that at least some of it was manufactured or at least egged on by the publishers.
The letters between them are certainly civil in tone if not in complete agreement.
Both authors are well worth reading to this day and that's a testament to their expertise.
Couldn't resist slipping in this seemingly appropriate cartoon:

 

[diyj98]

The feud had little or nothing to do with a difference of opinion about light and fast vs heavy and slow.It had to do with honesty.Keith was very flawed in that area,regardless of who regarded him as a heroe.

"STORIES" of Keith's are famous for being pure B.S. and O'Conner called him on it repeatedly,describing the story,the ficticious events and the out and out lies.To say that they simply didn't agree on rifle ballistics is sheer nonsense.O'Conner called Keith a liar on several occasions.

I enjoy reading a lot of Keith’s writings, but I think O’Conner hit the nail on the head with his opinion on Keith’s tall tales.

 

[double-dipper]

Very old thread from 2009 that Mike brought back from the dead!

Jack and Elmer were two very different people for sure. IMO both of them stretched the truth a bit. One was a story teller and the other a writer.

The OP "Skip" only made it 3 years before he got Banned!

 

[Drm50]

O’Connor, Kieth, Jordan and several other gun writers who are no longer with us, actually lived what they wrote about. We are seeing the end of an era. Now it seems any buddy with a cowboy hat and a pair of aviator sun glasses can be a gun writer. A plus is a beard.
I’ve most of O’Connor’s books and still use his 270 & 30/06 loads. I never had the 7x57 fever, and hate goats & sheep.
My favorite O’Connor quote is in one of his books. The chapter on Scopes, he allows their are two kinds of people who take apart scopes. Professionals and fools. I set out immediately to prove him correct.

 

[teletech]

This all makes me want to spend more time with books but hopefully it will wait since this is the season for shooting.
I wish we had more than just the one book from one of the other greats from the golden age of revolvers and hunting, Ed McGivern.

 

[Trooper224]

The "conflict" between O'Connor and Keith was really nothing more than a device used to increase magazine sales. They weren't the only two who engaged is such shenanigans back in the print era.

O'Connor was like many of the gun writers of that sadly past era: knowledgable, experienced and if you were smart you shut up and listened. In other words, diametrically opposed to todays crop.

 

[IrishFritz]

Don't forget Col. Townsend Whelen who is supposed to be the father of the comment" only accurate rifles are interesting".

 

[rockquarry]

I read all the people mentioned so far in this thread when I began reading gun material about 1962. I didn't start handloading until about late 1964 and the Speer #6 was my first handloading manual. I still have it, but there are at least forty or more other manuals to go along with it. I probably read the O'Connor pressure article at least once.

Another writer of the same era who probably wrote more articles and may have written for more years than O'Connor and most of the rest was Bob Hagel - tied with Ken Waters (also of the same era) as my favorite gun writers. Hagel hunted extensively, but only on this continent, I think. Many of his handloading and hunting articles remain timely today.

We have a few good writers today, just like we did years ago, despite what some may think about today's gun journalists. The mediocre ones have always been around.

 

[TXBryan]

I started my subscription to Outdoor Life in 1963 and it's hard to fully communicate how I looked forward to receiving a new issue every month. The first article I'd read was whatever Jack O'Connor was spouting. Sometimes more interesting than other times but always informative; the only sheep hunting I ever did was vicariously through Jack's exploits. He had a way of transporting you to the hunt be it with the Shah of Iran or a Mexican guide in South Sonora. I lapped it all up with a big spoon and never owned a .270 or a 7mm as a result and never shot an African antelope "from behind so clean it didn't leave a hole." That story still makes me laugh today.

It was obvious from Jack's writing that he did not suffer fools easily, didn't come across as Mr. Warmth, and could be quite opinionated. I liked that about him as he seemed to call them like he saw them. When Jim Carmichael took over for Jack I was disappointed and missed him. Jim is a very fine writer and authority in his own right but he just wasn't Jack and I didn't "grow-up" with him. I've collected Jack's books and reread portions of them from time to time - still find them very enjoyable.

 

[rockquarry]

About the time of Jack O'Connor's retirement, he wrote an article for GUN DIGEST about being a gunwriter. I have that GUN DIGEST along with many others but don't remember which one it's in. Having not read the article in years, I only remember one major point O'Connor mentioned: as to writing about guns and anything gun related (hunting, handloading, etc., I think!), there were only about twelve different topics. Everything else was a takeoff on the "twelve". I suppose that remains true today.

 

[Catbacker88]

I have read "Hell, I was there" and "Sixguns" by Keith, and tons of both Keith's and O'connor's magazine articles, although none of Keith's books. His lifetime of contributions to the hunting and shooting sports notwithstanding, I can't help but have the impression Elmer was a bit over the top in his story telling. It's just too much. Colonel Charles Askins was another of that type, and to some degree Jeff Cooper. God bless them, but both of them managed to enlarge themselves in their latter years beyond what they were in youth. O'Connor never left me with that impression.

 

[LostintheOzone]

I think I have every book he published. I hunted in AZ in the 70's so naturally I read his stuff. He was by far a better outdoor writer than most of his contemporaries at the time.

 

[ruger 22]

This is a very interesting thread to be sure. One thing that I get out of this and the many readings I have done is that Keith and Askins both,while a bit on the wild side, have had a much broader horizon of experience than O'Connor. The latter was the real refined gentleman and former were the rough riders. All of them as well as the others mentioned are most definitely worth reading.

 

[slickracer]

I have read "Hell, I was there" and "Sixguns" by Keith, and tons of both Keith's and O'connor's magazine articles, although none of Keith's books. His lifetime of contributions to the hunting and shooting sports notwithstanding, I can't help but have the impression Elmer was a bit over the top in his story telling. It's just too much. Colonel Charles Askins was another of that type, and to some degree Jeff Cooper. God bless them, but both of them managed to enlarge themselves in their latter years beyond what they were in youth. O'Connor never left me with that impression.

I would agree, Jack a more modest individual

 

[Nemo288]

writing about guns and anything gun related (hunting, handloading, etc., I think!), there were only about twelve different topics. Everything else was a takeoff on the "twelve". I suppose that remains true today.

I think that is mostly true for any specialty magazine.
I quit subscribing to gun and motorcycle mags after a few decades when I realized I was reading the same things over and over.
The only one I currently get is "Handloader" which has gotten thinner but still has some things of interest.

One of the better story tellers was Skeeter Skelton.
But with him you knew which were serious and which were strictly for fun.
If you don't have his books, you are missing some great gun lore and some hilarious yarns.
I think there are only 2 hard-cover books by Skeeter.
His stories of just walking across the border into Mexico in search of Colts to rebuild are from an era long gone
as is the state of border patrol in general.
He was the one who convinced me to get revolvers chambered in 44 special instead of shooting them in magnums.
Definitely a good move.
A gun writer I truly do miss.

 

[ddixie884]

Elmer wrote one time of killing 13 rabbits with one pistol shot. Then he admitted it was a pregnant female. Elmer keith was man from the frontier who went to work doing a mans work at an age when it would have done him good to still be in school. His wife was a school teacher and I often wondered if he would have been able to write some of his early books without her. I got a letter from him in answer to one I wrote him when I was a young Sea Bee overseas and the typing had many errors including .45 Folt. It meant a lot to me that he cared enough to reply and there are a lot of others who got them too. I have read many times that folks went to his house and were invited in and treated as instant friends.

 

[rockquarry]

I think that is mostly true for any specialty magazine.
I quit subscribing to gun and motorcycle mags after a few decades when I realized I was reading the same things over and over.
The only one I currently get is "Handloader" which has gotten thinner but still has some things of interest.

One of the better story tellers was Skeeter Skelton.
But with him you knew which were serious and which were strictly for fun.
If you don't have his books, you are missing some great gun lore and some hilarious yarns.
I think there are only 2 hard-cover books by Skeeter.
His stories of just walking across the border into Mexico in search of Colts to rebuild are from an era long gone
as is the state of border patrol in general.
He was the one who convinced me to get revolvers chambered in 44 special instead of shooting them in magnums.
Definitely a good move.
A gun writer I truly do miss.

I read Skelton articles from the time he began writing in the '60s, but was never much of a fan. While he would occasionally do a pure "gun" article, many weren't. I never found the "tales" to be worth much and I realize I'm in a minority position with such an opinion.

You mention .44 Special revolvers...there are exceptions to every rule. The article Skelton did for SHOOTING TIMES ( a once great publication that suffered an equally great deterioration) in the early '80s when Smith & Wesson introduced the 24-3s was truly a memorable article regardless of who wrote it. This was certainly among Skelton's better works; pure "gun" as I recall, but it's been a long time.

Had to have a 24-3 after reading the article but these were hard to come by when they were introduced. I finally found a new 4" from a distributor in Alabama in the fall of '83. Still have it along with a couple of other 24-3s. This has been one of the best cast bullet revolvers S&W ever built. Had it not been for Skelton's urging, we would likely have never seen S&Ws re-introduction of this revolver.