The learning never stops: part IV: Today's Teachers

Guns Magazine, July, 2009 by John Taffin

In our last session on the Old Masters it was, of course, necessary leave out many excellent books due to space constraints. One of those not mentioned is Pioneering Handgun Hunting written in 1965 by Al Goerg. Goerg truly was a pioneer of handgun hunting and his self-published book provided a lot of the inspiration for me. This book is not easy to find and will be quite pricey, however I believe it is worth the search and the dollars. Goerg was killed in a bush plane crash in Alaska on one of his hunting trips.

There are several handgun-hunting books available by Today's Teachers. Major George Nonte, one of the Old Masters, co-authored the book, Handgun Hunting in 1975 with Lee Jurras. Friend Lee is still around, quite active, and also one of the pioneer handgun hunters. He also basically single-handedly revolutionized ammunition with his SuperVel line and was the founder of the Outstanding American Handgunner Awards Foundation. He is worth listening to.

Another book on handgun hunting going back to 1990 is Hunting For Handgunners authored by two of the top handgunners of this or any other time, and two men who are also personal friends, Larry Kelly founder of MagNaPort and J.D. Jones of SSK Industries. Larry initiated the Stalker series of hunting revolvers built on Ruger and Smith & Wesson .44 Magnums and the Freedom Arms .454 Casull while J.D. offers a long list of hunting calibers chambered in custom T/C barrels including many of his JDJ line of wildcat cartridges. My two favorites are the 6.5 JDJ and the .375 JDJ. The latter is now offered as a standard chambering by Thompson/ Center. Anything these two men say about handgun hunting is definitely worth listening to.

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Three 21st-century handgun-hunting books have also been authored by personal friends. Mark Hampton has hunted all over the world and shares his personal experiences in Handgun Hunting published in 2002. Mark is a big fan of the scoped single-shot pistol and has much to share about its use. From 2003 we have Clair Rees's The Ultimate Guide to Handgun Hunting covering the hunting of large and small game. I'll just bet Clair did not personally select "ultimate" to be included in the title. I always wonder about publishers using such words as ultimate and complete.

The latter choice is especially amusing when the Complete Guide To ... is so incomplete a new one comes out every year!

The latest book for handgun hunters is Handgun Hunting and Hunting Handguns by Gary Reeder of Reeder Custom Guns. Gary, who offers a long list of custom GNR cartridges in both T/C barrels and Ruger revolvers, also has extensive hunting experience around the world using his custom hunting handguns resulting in much interesting and useful information to share in his book.

Self Defense

Hundreds of thousands of times every year honest law-abiding citizens use firearms for self protection and/or crime prevention. Jeff Cooper founded Gunsite to provide proper training and was one of the first recognized legitimate teachers of the art of pistolcraft and the use of firearms for self-defense. There are several schools today with many teachers and we have two of the best on the staff of GUNS and American Handgunner.

Massad Ayoob is probably the most prolific gun writer when it comes to using a handgun for self-defense. For teaching others he founded the Lethal Force Institute, writes for our magazines, and is also the author of many annual publications on semiautomatic pistols especially. One of the most important books, at least in my opinion, ever written for those who would carry a firearm for self defense is Massad's In The Gravest Extreme which is subtitled The Role of the Firearm in Personal Protection. This little book is filled with no-nonsense information concerning carrying a handgun. You can go to the Internet and find all sorts of bravado, bragging and macho-ism concerning the carrying of handguns and using one in self defense. It's all nonsense. Mas presents the reality of carrying a firearm.

Most folks believe the first rule of a gunfight is to have a gun. That is not correct! Both Mas Ayoob and another of our staff writers, Clint Smith, would be the first to tell you Gunfighting Rule No. 1 is if there is any way possible to avoid a gunfight, do it. Anyone carrying a firearm for self defense who doesn't adhere to this rule needs to re-think the whole aspect of carrying. Clint Smith founded Thunder Ranch outside of Kerrville, Texas, and a few years ago moved his operation to Oregon. Clint's first book will be out shortly, perhaps by the time you read this, however the publishers of this magazine offer a series of DVDs under the Thunder Ranch Training Series. Currently there are six 2-disk sets available. There are certainly many fine teachers out there, however Clint Smith has to be ranked fight at the top. He is witty, practical and provides a no-nonsense, commonsense approach.

All of Clint's teaching in the Thunder Ranch Training Series addresses mental preparation and proper technique, and also provides shooting demonstrations. One of the Clint's most commonsense approaches is found in Defensive Firearms/Defend Yourself With The Gun At Hand which is based on the proposition of being able to defend yourself with whatever gun is available. Everyone doesn't have a 1911 or pocket pistol, but the standard hunting rifle or shotgun can be quite effective in self-defense and Clint provides information on how to do this. Other Thunder Ranch DVDs include Defensive Handgun, l Defensive Revolver, Defensive Shotgun, Urban Rifle, and Defensive Tactics. All are subtitled Logical Solutions for the Real World. All of these exceptionally good instructional DVDs can be ordered at www.gunsmagazine.com.