Jack OConnor

J

JasonYuke

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What was he known best for, or will you remember him by.


I myself always think of the 270 when i think of Jack, and think wow, between Jack and Winchester, they could have sold anything to anyone. What a great marketing job they did, with all the storries, and articals promoting one single cartridge.

And it worked, they took a .277 bullet stuck between 2 of the best bullets ever made the 6.5 and 7mm and kicked there butts for a few years in sales. You just have to love marketing.
 
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His writing on the .270win and hunts with it still hangs on todays marketing people, they choose the .270wsm as production in guns and thus causing the death of 7mmwsm.
Funny I read where Jack said himself the .280 rem was a better cartridge.
and for me it is still better in 7mmwsm than .270wsm
 
I still read his hunting stories,especially the sheep hunts,and would have loved to hunt that way.Also his insights on shooting and rifleman ship are something we can all learn from.One of the best outdoor writers ever!!
 
I will remember him by The Shotgun Book. The edition I have is dated 1965 but it still contains information that is valuable and relevant 40 years later.
 
Great writer, in fact I was browsing through Big Game Hunting last night.

Advocate for .270, but admitted the 30.06 was a more versitile cartridge.;)
 
Without doubt, the dean of the hunting/shooting editors. And, this was at a time when there may have been as many as eight, or so, hunting/shooting editors out there writing.
It was also at a time before the huge law suits came into effect and a writer could write with little fear of being sued. Thus, we got so much information we don't get today. Jack was always giving his favourite loads, which were usually pretty stiff! A word of caution may be given, such as, "Only load this if you have a strong actioned rifle."
His hunting also was at a great time. He claims to be the first "dude" hunter, as he calls all guided hunters, to hunt the fabulous country at the head of the Prophet River in northern BC. His first trip in there was a thirty day horse trip. Great adventure and maybe the best hunting writer ever, to tell of it.
 
Without doubt, the dean of the hunting/shooting editors. And, this was at a time when there may have been as many as eight, or so, hunting/shooting editors out there writing.
It was also at a time before the huge law suits came into effect and a writer could write with little fear of being sued. Thus, we got so much information we don't get today. Jack was always giving his favourite loads, which were usually pretty stiff! A word of caution may be given, such as, "Only load this if you have a strong actioned rifle."
His hunting also was at a great time. He claims to be the first "dude" hunter, as he calls all guided hunters, to hunt the fabulous country at the head of the Prophet River in northern BC. His first trip in there was a thirty day horse trip. Great adventure and maybe the best hunting writer ever, to tell of it.
 
LOL, well if they can't see it on the internet, it can't exist. JO was a good writer who hunted, as opposed to a hunter who took up writing, which is one of the reasons his stuff is so eminently readable. As for the pimping for Winchester and the 270, well, back then writer's tended to "hang their hat" on one cartridge and write it up a lot. Hey, it sold magazines which paid the rent and for the hunting trips. I prefer Elmer Keith and Skeeter Skelton, as well as Jeff Cooper from a technical aspect, but what the hey, a good read is a good read. - dan
 
Gatehouse said:
I htink of well written hunting stories, much different than most of the wirters out there today.
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My thoughts as well. He had a gift that no other hunting writer I have ever seen shared. He was an incredible wordsmith, and made most writers seem like illiterate hacks.

Oh yeah, and my first "real" hunting rifle was a Pre-64 M70 270. Think reading O'Connor had much of an effect on me? :)
 
Jack's other great firearms push was the Model 21 Winchester shotgun. My brother had one. He passed away, and I had his gun to sell. I had no idea what a Model 21 may be worth, so I wrote Jack O'Connor. By this time he was with the Peterson group, but he sent me a hand written letter, in a hand written envelope!
I still have them both, as a memento.
 
O'connor's innate dislike for trophy hunters, that is those that would resort to any means to get a book animal. He was a big advocate of what today is known as "fair chase".
 
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