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

Guns Magazine, July, 2009 by John Taffin

Old West Teachins

One of my all time favorite movies is Quigley Down Under. To be able to effectively portray buffalo hunter Matthew Quigley, actor Tom Selleck had to learn how to realistically handle a Sharps rifle. To learn he needed a teacher and the teacher selected was our own Mike Venturino. Selleck went to Montana for expert teaching from Mike who is probably the reigning expert on frontier firearms. In fact, Mike has produced four excellent books covering the firearms from the last three decades of the 19th century. His books provide lessons in history and use of these great old firearms, as well as reloading each particular caliber of sixgun, single-shot rifle, and levergun with black powder.

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The Venturino Quartet includes Shooting Colt Single Actions In All Styles, Calibers & Generations and Shooting Sixguns of The Old West, which is a sequel to the first book presenting the rest of the frontier sixguns available. Shooting Lever Guns of the Old West covers the use and loading for all the great Winchester and Marlin leverguns and, finally, Shooting Buffalo Rifles of the Old West addresses the use and loading of the grand single-shot rifles of the frontier.

John Hisself

I've been a teacher all my adult life, first in the classroom and then with my writings. I've tried to play the teacher in all of my five books. Two of these, Big Bore Sixguns and Big Bore Handguns cover the history and use of sixguns, semi-automatics, and single-shot pistols from .357 Magnum up, while Action Shooting Cowboy Style mainly looks at sixguns and leverguns from the frontier period in the same manner. All three of these are now out of print, however they can usually be located at www.abebooks.com.

My latest books are Single Action Sixguns in which I have tried to cover everything from the Colt Paterson of 1836 to the great single actions offered today, while The Gun Digest Book of the .44 covers the history and use of all 44-caliber firearms from the Colt Walker of 1847 through the early single actions, leverguns, and single shots fight up to today's .44 Magnums. This is the fourth and final installment of "The Learning Never Stops." However, I may have to reconsider the final part as we haven't even touched on the many books offered on the history of various firearms as well as such a great book as Hamilton Bowen's The Custom Revolver. A wise man once said leave some for seed (I think I have plenty of seed left).