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Who in the gun industry has influenced you?

9K views 103 replies 82 participants last post by  bmcgilvray 
#1 ·
I just came across a video where Ken Hackathorn and Bill Wilson talked about the people in the gun industry who had the greatest effect on them personally. Everyone from John Browning himself to Elmer Keith to Rob Letham. I'm curious who you guys would consider the biggest influences on you regarding getting into firearms. My picks:

1. Chuck Taylor. I read his Complete Book of Combat Handgunning from cover to cover until I pretty much memorized it.
2. Massad Ayoob. Not so much for teaching me how to use firearms, but understanding when and why especially as it pertained to self defense.
3. Jan Libourel. Gunwriter from the 1990s who did lots of candid reviews on the very kinds of guns I liked most. He was one of the rare ones who wasn't afraid to say something if the evaluation gun had issues.
4. Garry James. Another gunwriter who specialized in military surplus guns, spurring my interest in WW2 firearms.
5. John Browning. Pretty much a shoo-in as he designed most of my favorite firearms.
 
#2 ·
I am not easily influenced by a word written in a paternalistic way, which is what I feel is the most common way of things being written in a gun world. Biggest influences were industry people with whom I interacted personally, pretty much invariably in classes. From "been there/done that" group those were Pat McNamara, Larry Vickers, and Pat Rogers. From "know how to shoot gun well" group - Ben Stoeger, Rob Leatham, and Ernest Langdon. Notable mention to late Todd Louis Green, to whom I used to listen a lot.
 
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#4 · (Edited)
Not a lot of current people. Obviously the ones mentioned are high on the list. I had a brief mentor with Dan C9mbs the Oklahoma Highway Patrolman and trick shooter. At one time he was in the running with Bob Munden for the fastest with a gun. His main trick was to put 6 rounds from his model 19 357 into the center of a bad guy before the guy could clear leather. While he did all the gee whiz stuff that mere mortals will never approach his real goal was to teach officers to survive when the other guy had already presented a gun for firing. It is a chore to teach young officers to zap off 6 rounds of full power 357 ammo, from the hip and hit in a small group..

I am not a competitor just a law enforcement survivor but Rob Lathom just won his 19th Bianchi cup. Mere mortals cannot understand the precision he must have. He shoots the Ruger now, but he could provably do it with a High Point.

Mas has already been mentioned but I will say when he came on board he was a part-time cop in some small town who portrayed himself as some gee whiz expert that did not impress me at all because I was some hotshot federal agent. Then he took that confidence, that knowledge, outstanding shooting skill proven in hundreds of matches, and perfected his knowledge of deadly force to the point that he is quite likely the foremost expert in the country on the use of deadly force. What a fool I was on that early call. If I have needed an expert to explain my shooting he would be the guy.

As to writers, I like John Taffin a lot. His big bore packin pistol column I enjoy a lot. He started the Shootist Holiday with a bunch of gun guys decades ago. I have met a few of them at their annual shoot at the Whittington center each June.

And last there is Bill Ruger. I own a bunch of more expensive guns. But everything I own with his logo on it just keeps on going, hefty and accurate and decent in price. If you want a big boomer he makes it, if you want an AR or 1911 there are few better and his precision rifles are outstanding. I still have a mini 30 I carried in a police car and killed big deer with. Nothing I own of his pile are anything other than excellent.I have taken big deer home with his model 77.

Now as far as two people who have probably done more than any two for the gun industry , is Larry Potterfield and his wife who created Midway USA and those other companies. He was a Captain in the Air Force who loved guns hunting and shooting. He and his wife, who is the equal partner created the biggest network of guns stuff on the planet. I love Brownells but they do not have the package that Midway has. Every so often they donate a million bucks to the shooting sports.

As a couple said above I like most of the gun rag writers and read several each month and pick up a few tips. But the question was who actually influenced me and those are the ones that come to mind. Of course that old guy who invented the 1911 has filled much of the shelf space in my safe and ammo cabinet
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#5 ·
I don't put stock in gun writers per se. Apart from my father teaching me how to shoot accurately & safely, hunting & surviving in any landscape, I'd say Jack Weaver for developing the best method (IMO) for controlling a pistol recoil & firing fast & accurate. Jeff Cooper for the philosophy of pistol craft & John Farnham for teaching me straight up combat shooting.
 
#6 ·
There have been many great pistol shooters that have influenced me over my 40+ years of shooting. My first venture into competitive shooting was NRA outdoor Bullseye, where all shooting was with one hand. I was a great admirer of Herschel Anderson, who was at the top of his game when I was shooting. I believe he still owns a National record or two....

When I stopped shooting NRA Bullseye, I was intrigued by the relatively new sport of USPSA shooting...... my two greatest influences at that time was Rob Leatham, Brian Enos (I read his book "Practical Shooing Beyond Fundamentals") several times, and it still contains a great deal of excellent information on how to shoot fast and accurately. When I started shooting IDPA, I watched many videos of Dave Sevigny, and his techniques.

There are too many people to list that have influenced my shooting, but the above are some of the top people......
 
#8 ·
I like Ayoob, he writes a column in Combat Handguns about Self Defense and the law and have learned a lot over the years.

I like the likes of the TOP gun fighters like Jim Cirillo, who have actully had to kill creeps on a regular basis. I've read most of his books. It is the real deal and a much more realistic view of what will go down then you will get from the self proclaim "expert" clowns who punch paper at the range, telling how fast their splits are, and how many rounds they have in their gun, but never have shot even one round in action.

In general, I value the opinions of those who have seen action in the streets and in war like a Zillion times over those who just shoot paper and can just tell you how good their FAST drill is when they go shooting with their buddies.
 
#11 · (Edited)
I would say that it was folks like Winchester, Remington, Smith, Wesson, Sturm, Ruger and Colt that influenced me the most in my younger days. But then Weaver with the Weaver stance and modified Weaver stance probably influenced me a huge amount too.

As a kid some of the old Remington hunting advertisements used to have me dreaming of being out in the wild like they depicted too. It did prompt me to getting one of the Remington Model 8's in 35 Rem even though the gun was made way way before I was born.

611971
 
#13 ·
Ive read the work of many, if not most, of the gun scribes. I found most entertaining, but not all that influential as I was well into adulthood by then. My single biggest influence into firearms and hunting was my step dad, the late Keith Benoit. His brother Larry Benoit (we called him Uncle Ling) was a pretty well known and written White tail deer hunter from Vermont. The stories Keith and Ling would tell of their childhood and hunting/shooting escapades put most of the magazine scribes to shame.
 
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#17 ·
My primary gun Influencer was Robert M. Milek. Bob was rifle hunter a handgun hunter and reloader for Peterson Publishing . This man caused me to purchase a couple 8" revolvers and add a red dot to the 357mag it when a tube type red dot back available in '80 in a buelher mount and a XP-100 in 7mm BR in 1980 or '81 . Bob was also a fine BP shooter . A gunman first but a talented writer too .

611972
 
#28 ·
My primary gun Influencer was Robert M. Milek. Bob was rifle hunter a handgun hunter and reloader for Peterson Publishing . This man caused me to purchase a couple 8" revolvers and add a red dot to the 357mag it when a tube type red dot back available in '80 in a buelher mount and a XP-100 in 7mm BR in 1980 or '81 . Bob was also a fine BP shooter . A gunman first but a talented writer too .

View attachment 611972
Bob spent 10 days in Africa with me in the mid 80s
 
#20 ·
Pat Rogers, hands down. We met in the early 90's when we were both Sergeants in the same command. We bonded over firearms and a lifelong friendship ensued. He trained me up on the 1911 and we went to Gunsite together, him taking shotgun and me taking basic pistol. Meeting and training with Jeff Cooper was an incredible experience. Without Pat I would have gone on being a Beretta fan, with little or no knowledge of the 1911, the Modern Technique, or Gunsite.

My sons would sit enthralled whenever he came over to our house for dinner listening to he and I exchange stories and experiences. He was the first person I called on the morning of 9/11, and every year thereafter he made it a point of calling me on the anniversary, no matter where we were or what we were doing. That's the type of guy he was.

I have trained with others, including Larry Vickers, Ken Hackathorn and Bill Wilson, but the instruction provided by Pat was the foundation upon which all else was built.

I miss him greatly.
 
#34 ·
Pat Rogers, hands down. We met in the early 90's when we were both Sergeants in the same command. We bonded over firearms and a lifelong friendship ensued. He trained me up on the 1911 and we went to Gunsite together, him taking shotgun and me taking basic pistol. Meeting and training with Jeff Cooper was an incredible experience. Without Pat I would have gone on being a Beretta fan, with little or no knowledge of the 1911, the Modern Technique, or Gunsite.

My sons would sit enthralled whenever he came over to our house for dinner listening to he and I exchange stories and experiences. He was the first person I called on the morning of 9/11, and every year thereafter he made it a point of calling me on the anniversary, no matter where we were or what we were doing. That's the type of guy he was.

I have trained with others, including Larry Vickers, Ken Hackathorn and Bill Wilson, but the instruction provided by Pat was the foundation upon which all else was built.

I miss him greatly.
Many of us are envious at the name dropping. When you train with some of the best you have certainly have the right to make the rest of us envious. Lucky you. . I have met Bill Wilson on your list and his no nonsense matter of fact method of discussing the 1911 were enjoyable and instructive. And he was kind enough not to laugh at the young man who explained to him why his new Colt would not feed ball ammo. He just told me what to try without telling me what a rookie I was.

I have trained with some of the most experienced guys around, most of which worked at State Department Security, CIA security, embassy security, and the military anti-terrorist and protective security training staffs along with all the standard military arms training spanning 27 years. While I went on tax dollars and tens of thousands of free training for me, I always felt that direct training by Cooper was a bucket list event I had lost. Lucky you. I was one of those fan boys that read his last page column as the first thing to be read. If he was still around, I would do that today, his insight went far beyond the 42 ounces in his hand.

I do think that there are lots of living great trainers out there today and there is an ton of free or cheap videos by Vickers and others that give the new guy instruction far beyond what exisited when I went to Military Police Academy 50 years ago. Back then a 45 could break your wrist if you held it wrong and a hit to the shoulder could blow your arm clean off, as some of you geezzers may recall.
 
#22 ·
Although these folks were never part of the Gun Industry, my firearms instructors during critical assignments during my USN career, were incredibly influential in my firearms development.

Some of the scenarios I was taught had a profound impact on me, and gave me a deep appreciation for our military’s front line combatants. It’s hard to remember allot of things as I get older, but some of the firearm assault training I received can’t ever be forgotten.

I can actually thank this forum for promoting a high degree of firearms safety awareness. Allot of folks share their experience, both positive and negative, including their faults and desire for improvement. Never remove your learning cap.

This forum also reminds me that other than my beloved 1911’s and revolvers, other exciting firearms do exist. :) While that hasn’t actually contributed to me getting into firearms, which is the spirit of this thread, it has expanded my knowledge, along with my firearms playing field. So in essence, it help keep me into firearms.
 
#25 ·
I'm not sure that 'influence' would be the right word, but Eugene Cunningham, author of 'Triggernometry' did help me come to realize very early on that there's really little, if anything, truly 'new' in terms of firearms basics and techniques.

Unfortunately, the modern-day gun writers (magazines or otherwise) do nothing for me. The trainers are interesting and helpful, but I don't think they fall under 'influencers' either.

Perhaps the only other person who comes close is Gen. John T. Thompson. A wealth of life experience and involvement in the world of firearms - with long lasting impact.
 
#26 ·
I would say that I was always fascinated by firearms since the age of 11 when we were taught to shoot with a .22 lr rifle at a summer camp I attended.

Then later as a teenager by an employer who was an avid hunter. Bought my first firearm as soon as I turned 18. My family was not a firearm owning family, I was the first and I think that influence my dad later who got a revolver a few years later.

Now, back to the topic I think it was John Lott, Mas Ayoob, and a Florida lawyer named Jon Gutmacher who wrote an extensive book on self-defense and Florida gun laws, that influenced me the most... mainly on, firearm laws, the 2nd amendment rights and the right of self defense. Prior to that my interest was more of target shooting, recreational shooting, and hunting. Self-defense and the laws around self-defense were really secondary prior to getting my CCW license.

In fact when Florida came out with the CCW shall-issue licensing law, I was rather against it. I didn't like the idea of a customer carrying a conceal weapon coming into our business with a weapon without (our) my knowledge. But over time, during the 1990's I saw that it was a good idea and there were definitely advantages to getting a CCW license.
 
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