Mike Venturino

[Drydock]

Mike Venturino passed on 9 June. Fair winds MLV.

[Dave T]

He was a prolific writer and something of an icon when it came to Sharps rifles and cast bullets. He wrote about much more than that but those were the things I remember most about his published works. Best wishes and prayers to his wife and other family.

Dave

[St. George]

That's a damned shame - he was a good man...

R.I.P., Mike...

Vaya con Dios

[Abilene]

Sad news. He left quite a legacy for us and will surely be remembered.

[Major 2]

I had the pleasure to meet and dine with him at the 2007 Shot Show in Orlando.

I briefly conversed with him again in passing @ SHOT 2009.

RIP Mr. V

[Trailrider]

I just picked up the latest (July-August 2024) issue of American Handgunner, which has two articles by Mike. One on his favorite handguns, and the other on British .380 Revolvers. I'll keep that issue along ide his great books. Don't know if those will be the last article to be published. Depends on whether AH has a backlog of articles. As always, his wife, Yvonne, did the outstanding photography accompanying the article.

When Ruger brought out the Vaqueros in .44-40, they made a mess of chambering the first ones. I bought one of the first, and Ruger refused to take it back, until Mike complained about this in print, and I complained about once a week, until they finally gave in and replaced the cylinder (although they left the throats .425"). I am sure that if Mike hadn't written them up, I'd still be waiting to have uniform chambers. (I left the throats at .425", however, and using .430" hardcast bullets, mine drive like tacks!)

RIP, Duke, we won't see your like again! 

[Tascosa Joe]

RIP

[Niederlander]

His articles taught me to cast bullets close to forty years ago.  Learned a lot about reloading for revolvers from him, too.  Thank goodness his writing will still be with us.

[LonesomePigeon]

I only knew him through his published material and a few forum posts. He had a wealth of knowledge and a talent for sharing it. He will be missed.

[Dave T]

Do any of you know what happened to him? Has he been ill for a while now and we his followers just didn't know?

Dave

[Major 2]

Heart failure.

[Tascosa Joe]

I have subscribed to gun magazines in the past because he was a regular contributor.  For selfish reason's I will miss him, because he was the only writer that wrote about the guns I love. 

[Kent Shootwell]

Mike was the kind of writer that knew what he wrote about. He didn't just get a gun and shoot a few rounds then write. As an example he did an article about the .380 cartridge. At the end I showed him a AMT I had bought and he gave me some factory ammo, a large bag of empty brass, and several boxes of bullets of various types. He had even cast bullets to test. All this from his testing, reloading and load development for these little pocket guns! When he wrote it was with a through understanding of the subject. Not many men of his calibre have shared their knowledge as well as he.

[Professor Marvel]

He had been ill for some time, in and out of the hospital.
He went in again recently, Things were looking poorly this last time, but they found a medicinal that
Stabalized him and he went home. But it only lasted a few days, and he passed via heart failure.
At least he passed at home.

This data , is my best recollection, gleaned from some social media page or other