Bearhunter, I'm not questioning that you have done a lot of shooting. Interesting that you first shot a 22 when you were seven. That is the same age that I first shot a 22! An older brother let me shoot at a grouse, twice, and I missed the grouse both times! However, my 22 event occurred in the very early 1930s.
What I am saying is you had nothing to do with this great period of shooting in the world, following WW2. You may not have even talked to anyone who knew it from personal observation. That makes it so hard for me in writing of it, because there probably is not another person on the CGN with personal observation about it.
Just think of it this way. In the years of WW2 there were no civilian firearms manufactured. At wars end a great many service men returned from war, from not only Canada and the USA, but from many other countries as well, including Australia, New Zealand and many countries in Europe, who wanted to get shooting and hunting. There was a tremendous rush to get firearms and everything related to them, on the market. BC sold more hunting licences when it had a population of 1.5 million, than they did when they had 4.5 million population!
Every descent sized town had shooting clubs and shooting was likely participated in by more people than any other sport. The gun writers of the big three magazines, Warren Page of Field and Stream, Townsend Whelen of Sports Afield, Jack O'Connor of OUtdoor Life and Elmer Keith, among many others, were writing articles and books which are highly sought after today. In short, it was the greatest period ever, in the world of shooting.
But what's the use of me talking to myself about it?
Cheers, Bruce
Bruce, you aren't talking to yourself about it. You are a couple of decades older than I am and I definitely appreciate anything you can tell us about that era.
My experiences were much different than your's but also very similar.
When I first started shooting, I had to hide the fact from my father who was a die hard anti firearms socialist. He came from a Prussian background and had relatives and friends on both sides during WWII. Many never came back and it bothered him to his core. For some reason he blamed firearms. He never did grasp the real reasons behind that war because he was to self traumatized by the results.
My first rifle was hidden in the barn for at least 5 years before he found out about it. He smashed it against the corner of the barn and managed to bend the barrel and break the stock. He and I had a rather uncomfortable talk about that and he finally bent enough to allow me to shoot and hunt. I have to give him that much, he knew his issues were unreasonable. Mind you the job of beheading chickens for dinner, downing hogs and steers was mine from the age of 10. He borrowed a rifle from the neighbor for the job because he didn't know I had a rifle stashed. He just couldn't bring himself to kill anything.
Anyway the neighbor that loaned us the rifle was a mentor for me. He had served with the Princess Pats in Korea. Nice guy but liked his rum and had a horrible temper. He liked me for some reason and gave me my first experiences with firearms. I think he had the hots for my mother.
Anyway he treated me with kindness and liked that I was interested in shooting and hunting. He was also the original Bubba. He just had to "sporterize" every milsurp he owned. He had seen some heavy fighting in Korea and although he appreciated the milsurps for what they were designed for he was adamant that they weren't acceptable as "hunting rifles."
I worked with Alan Lever in his store for awhile in my teens and had a chance to become a partner. This opened up a lot of opportunity for me but I was also a reader and liked some of George Bernard Shaw's writing. I had it in my head that I not only wanted worldly adventures but at the same time I could be a "world betterer." Lessons in reality soon straightened that out. Still, I never lost my appreciation for firearms and like yourself, retain it to this day.
Somewhere along the way I got bitten by the accuracy bug and had a lot of sometimes naive and good ole boys facts exposed for what they really were. Warren Page, Jim Carmichael, Atkins and Keith were my mentors. I still smile when I remember Mr Carmichael's book of short stories "Just Jim." I know you've read it but for those here that haven't, it's a great read full of laughs and quite honestly gives an insight to some of the mentalities that were very common in my younger years and maybe yours.
I met personally with Elmer Kieth and was a guest at his invitation to a Ranch where he was going to hunt Antelope in Wyoming. I got to shoot some of the thousands of ground squirrels in the pastures, well away from the antelope. It was a working ranch and well provisioned. The guided hunting trips were done by contracted guides that usually worked the ranch when the season was finished. I also met Jim Carmichael. Very pleasant man. I met him at P.O. Ackley's shop in Utah. He was there picking up a rifle and no it wasn't chambered in 270 Win but in 308 Win that one of Ackley's smiths had built for him on a pre 64 Mod 70 Winchester. I was lucky enough to be invited to lunch with Mr Ackley and his wife. I say lucky because racism was still pretty much alive and well at that time and my GF was a lovely mix of Cree/Negro. I think it may have been the way she looked in her custom motorcycle leathers that enamored her to them.
Mr Ackley was the main reason I got into the accuracy game. He did his best to cram as much knowledge into my head as he could. He showed me his shop and introduced me briefly to a few of his smiths.
He was the first person that told me about inconsistent jacket thicknesses being the biggest bugaboo at the time for bench rest shooters. He fully understood that there really wasn't any reason one hole groups slightly over the diameter of a bullet was unobtainable because of this and that each shot changed parameters as well. Very knowledgeable fellow. Did a lot of experimenting and writing about his results. Like you, he believed that a hunter/target shooter should be able to pick up a properly maintained rifle and not worry about where its point of impact would be under any conditions. He strove to make sure the custom rifles produced in his shop and any that were brought in for accurising did just that. The thing is, he knew his limitations and he also knew that every shooter is an entity unto him/herself.
He would guarantee any rifle that he was commissioned to accurise would shoot ten shots into 2 inches at 100 yards.
As for every town having a shooting range back in the days you talk about. I believe you and would like to hear more about it. I have always been lucky enough to have a decent place to shoot either on my own property or at approved ranges. Most of the ranges in our area have a long history. It has been an experience watching them become what they are. Some are now on the endangered list for multiple reasons. Mostly population expansion. The other most common is lethargy of the members. The old matches you describe were attended by everyone from the local preachers/teachers/police/mayor/store owners and every other walk of life. By the time I was in the game that was no longer the case and the Flower Kids from the sixties had done a lot of damage concerning the shooting sports.
Sadly the new shooters coming into the game are even more lethargic and other than shoot up the target backings don't volunteer to help maintain the grounds, buildings etc. The clubs will die out without that participation. Just paying a membership isn't enough. The membership fees seldom pay for the day to day expenses of operating a viable club.
