How much history do you like in your gun articles

[Bottom Dealin Mike]

One of the reasons I love writing about cowboy guns more than about modern guns is because I love the history of the period. And I like to have as much of a historical tie-in in my magazine articles as possible.

Sometimes my editors think I'm under the impression that I'm writing for a history magazine instead of a gun magazine.

I'm working on an article on Armi Sport Sharps replicas right now. Here's a draft of my lead for the story. Tell me what you think. Is it too much?

Do you like reading the history, or do you just want me to shut up and get to the gun stuff...or do you skip everything and just look at the pictures? (It's OK. I do that too)

"At the close of the Civil War there may have been as many as 60 million buffalo roaming the plains of the American west. Even that number was just a shadow of the great herds of the early 1840s. In 1845 a two decade long drought caused a population collapse for the American bison. But, in the 1860s, the rains returned and the buffalo population was recovering quickly. Even though commercial hunting pressure was increasing, it only accounted for a couple of hundred thousand buffalo kills a year. But in the fall of 1870 that changed.

Before 1870, buffalo were primarily hunted by both Native Americans and by frontiersmen for their meat. Most of the meat was supplied on contract to army posts, and to the construction crews of the railroads pushing into the west. There was a secondary market in buffalo robes to warm easterners' laps during cold winter carriage and sleigh rides, but buffalo robes were a low demand, luxury item back east.
The whole nature of buffalo hunting changed in 1870 when an English company contracted with a buffalo hunter named Charlie Wrath to supply them with 500 buffalo skins. The English company wanted to experiment with tanning the buffalo hides for industrial use. Wrath and his partners filled the order, but one of Wrath's hunters had 57 hides extra at the end of the hunt.

Wright Mooar, the young hide hunter, shipped his excess hides to his brother in New York to see if he could interest any American tanneries in them. Sure enough a tanner in Pennsylvania bought some hides and experimented with them. The resulting leather was very tough and pliable. It was perfect for making drive belts to power industrial machinery.

The Pennsylvania tannery ordered 2,000 more hides at a price of $3.50 each from the Mooar brothers, and the great American buffalo hunt had begun. Over the next 15 years the American bison population fell from 60 million to around 1,000 animals. Between 1872 and 1874 about five million hides, valued at over 17 million dollars, were shipped out of Dodge City alone.

When buffalo were hunted for meat, they were mostly shot from horseback using short, powerful carbines, or heavy pistols and revolvers. Colt's Dragoon models were particularly favored for this task.
But the hide hunters needed more volume than the meat hunters. They needed to efficiently take out a group of buffalo by shooting them one at a time from long range, so as not to spook the remaining animals into flight. That was a job for a heavy, hard-hitting, accurate rifle.

There were many brands of rifles that were used in the hide hunting business, but, by far, the predominant arm of the professionals was the Sharps rifle. An 1880s traveler in the Rocky Mountains reported, "A large majority of the frontiersmen I met with – in fact nearly all of them - used Shatps rifles. I saw probably a hundred of these in my travels and only three or four of any other kind."

   Sharps rifles weren't cheap. A plain Jane 1874 Sharps Sporting Rifle cost $33, more than twice the price of an 1873 Winchester. Adding options like set triggers, extra-heavy barrels and telescopic sights could raise the price of a Sharps to astronomic levels.
At the age of 84, Frank H. Mayer did an interview with Charles B. Roth that covered Mayer's nine years as a professional buffalo hunter. The story appeared in two installments starting in the September 1934 issue of the "American Rifleman" magazine, and it is the best first person account of the hide hunting game I've ever read. Mayer started off hunting Buffalo with a pair of scope sighted Sharps rifles; one chambered in .40-70-330 and the second chambered in .40-90-420. He paid $100 for the .40-70 and $115 for the .40-90. At the end of his nine year career Mayer changed to a .45-120-550 Sharps. Equipped with a scope, that rifle set him back $237.60...a lot of money for the 1870s. Mayer needed to kill 100 buffalo just to pay for his rifle.

But buffalo hunting was a tough way to make a living. Most hunters quit after a season or two. The high drop-out rate for new hide hunters meant there were always used rifles to be had at bargain prices. For instance, James Cook a buffalo hunter in the Texas panhandle in 1874, bought out a fellow hunter's entire outfit. He wrote that he was, "... fortunate enough to buy off one of the hunters a Sharps .44-caliber rifle, reloading outfit, belt and 150 shells. The man had used the gun only a short time and seventy-five of the shells had never been loaded. It was an elegant, fine sighted rifle with buckhorn sights." The total cost of the deal was $36, and it included the other hunter's camping gear.

   With the exception of the caliber, young Jim Cook could have been describing the Armi Sport 1874 Sharps that I've been playing with lately. Armi Sport is the division of Chiappa Firearms that specializes in producing replicas of the classic guns of the American frontier. Armi Sport makes 14 different Sharps models. So, you have just about every option available to you as our nineteenth century forbearers. But I prefer the plainer sharps rifles, so I chose the basic 1874 Sporting Rifle for my test.

[wildman1]

I would say ya should include as much history as ya can Mike. Certainly makes it more interesting for me. WM

[PJ Hardtack]

BDM

Some historical background adds to an article on a particular type of gun, so long as it doesn't overshadow the technical, hands on aspect. Most (or many) readers will have some prior knowledge or be inspired to buy the books associated with their particular interest, be it Colts, Remingtons, Sharps, what-have-you .....

I've always admired the writings of Mike Venturino for his balance of history and 'been-there-done-that' know how. Same for the guys that contribute to 'Black Powder Cartridge News', like Croft Barker.

[Kent Shootwell]

BD Mike,
I also enjoy a bit of back ground on historic fire arms. Add a side bar with the hard data such as American Rifleman does and get to the shooting and functioning of the piece, don't leave out any problems either. I read to learn rather then be entertained. Oh and have pretty gals in the photos!

[fourfingersofdeath]

That was an amazing bit of history, I was always under the impression that feeding the railroad workers wiped out most of them, but then again, I also read where the Indians were confused that skinned carcasses were left rotting everywhere. The drive belt stuff explains it.

For most of us, if you are reviewing a Colt Walker clone for example, have a pretty good idea of how the gun come about, but then again, a lot of readers are new to it and it is interesting and necessary.

I think the history needs to be balanced to the article and a rarer gun, along with one that evokes a lot of history, such as the above article, can stand a decent lead in.

My interests extend beyond cowboy shooting and I read most of the Aussie gun mags and some of the American ones. I generally scan through the history lead in and get to the crux of the article. If the gun being reviewed is one that I know little about, I will read the lot.

If you were just writing for us guys, maybe you could abbreviate it, but you are probably also writing for a 15 year old who is new to it all.

[brazosdave]

Actually, reading about the history is one of the main reasons I enjoy the magazine! I sit around and re-read old issues until the new one comes out. There's a lot of us out there who want to know everything we can about the guns and the actual events of the time. that's part of the joy of collecting and shooting the reproductions, in my opinion. Keep up the good work!

[Major 2]

I would say ya should include as much history as ya can Mike. Certainly makes it more interesting for me. WM

+1
and I'd ecko Wildman 1

In truth I'm less intrested in the Bling Happy Trails Guns and rigs

[Fingers McGee]

How much history do you like in your gun articles

Lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots

[WV Scrounger]

Agree with Fingers...the more history the better  ! ! ! !

[RickB]

I've always felt that talking (or writing) about guns should include the history of how the gun was used and by whom. They just go hand in hand in my humble opinion.

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

BDM;  Here's some more history to mull over; Maybe the Sharps had some assistance from cattle diseases born by the sodbusters herds.

http://www.petersenshunting.com/2012/09/04/was-the-buffalo-nearly-hunted-to-near-extinction/

Mike; Sorry for that bit of a hijack.  To answer the question. I agree with the majority in that there has to be an historical context for the subject of your article.  Your proposal seems just about right for a Sharps, and provides some information that is new to me, thus probably for most of your readers.  (only refer to the linked article I posted as an aside ; - Only if you must!)

[hellgate]

Anyone thinking of shelling out for a Sharps is going to do it mostly for the sense of history and the role the gun played and stories where the gun was used so he can feel part of that world he has studied or wants to emulate. Recreation is re-creation. We like to imagine what it was like back whenever so the more we know and stories we hear the more we can appreciate the rifle. Go for the history to set the stage of actually shooting the gun and once again being or feeling part of history.

[Bottom Dealin Mike]

Sir Charles, thanks for the Fadala article. That was really interesting.

[Mogorilla]

Count me in for more history.   That is what got me into this sport in the first place. 

[Justician]

Ditto on history. This is my escape from the stresses of the modern world. I want to know how it shoots, but I also want to know who shot it and who got shot by it.

Justician

[fourfingersofdeath]

Boy, they were sure exciting times and the guns were interesting, but, boy, am I glad I'm around now and got my modern heart pills, lol.

I think a lot of us here are missing Mike's point. We ain't paying him. For us, we will soak up the history and happily wade through it, especially if it about something we never knew before. Buttttttttttt, we arent' the average shooter, so as far as Mike's writing for general distribution, the history has to fit the story limit and a proper share of the available space, needs to actually got to the gun and how it performs.

The audience and the employer will dictate the proportion. For us,pile it on, for the general gun mag, give them agood taste and hope they will come back for more. If you keep doing tests for guns and your readers go out and buy history books  , instead of the guns being reviewed , the guns and the advertising dollar will fry up and move on .

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy Mike

First off, count me as one of those who really enjoys reading about the history of guns. As such, I found your post very enlightening and learned a few things. However, looking at the body of type you have there I have to agree with your editor, it is a bit much for a magazine article about guns. After all, you are writing for Guns of the Old West (I think), not the History of the Old West. Right? I would try to cut down on the word count but leave as much of the historical information in there as possible.

But that's just me.

[Cliff Fendley]

I love the history of the guns, after all thats a big reason we are still playing with the old designs. I think when doing an article on a gun the history and how correct that gun is to the original are many times as important as how the gun functions.

[hellgate]

I think we, on this board are typical of the type who would buy and read Guns of the Old West compared to the general shooting public. So keep up with the history.

[Dick Dastardly]

Howdy BDM,

Let me chime in late here.

Yes, do the history, label opinion as such and keep the data in tables.  That way readers, including myself, can read long and enjoyable slow, or they can skim and zero in on the data.  Most of us that go for the data do go back and read the entire article at their leisure.

Just my thinking.

DD-MDA