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'The Hunting Rifle' Jack O'Connor found
- Thread starter Ian H
- Start date
Sako Collectors Club Discussion Forum
paulsonconstruction
Sako-addicted
Timeless advice in that book & it would behoove anyone to follow it. Jack wouldn't fit in today. He wasn't one for gadgets & mounting telescopes on sporting rifles.
16b410
Well-Known Member
Another 40 great pages of great book from the great man. I was taught to 'stand up on your hind legs and shoot like a man'. Then I bought this little book in 1992 and found out that the late Jack O'Connor chooses the best and steadiest position to shoot game from. Sometimes even as degrading as planting his butt on the ground. (GASP!) Good enough for Jack, good enough for me too.
Elmer Keith was a great exaggerator, and perhaps even a fabricator, who always advocated "big" calibers over good shot placement. Keith was very small in physical stature and seemed to try compensate for it by shooting only large calibers. Keith claimed that no one should hunt elk with anything less than a .33 caliber with 250 grain bullets. However, Keith loved handguns, so at the same time he was irrationally saying that a .30-06 was useful for little more than deer, he would hunt elk with a .44 Special.
Jack O'Connor's writing seemed much more fact-based, recognizing that there was no substitute for shot placement. His detractors derided him as being "recoil shy" for using a .270 or .30-06 for some of the largest North American game. But he used larger calibers when called for on large African game.
Overall, O'Connor was the much more credible of the two, and having been a college professor of English was much the better writer.
Jack O'Connor's writing seemed much more fact-based, recognizing that there was no substitute for shot placement. His detractors derided him as being "recoil shy" for using a .270 or .30-06 for some of the largest North American game. But he used larger calibers when called for on large African game.
Overall, O'Connor was the much more credible of the two, and having been a college professor of English was much the better writer.
CVCOBRA1
Well-Known Member
I always took Keith as more of a story teller and that was the way he wrote. Kind of like listening to your grandfather relating things that happened to him. O'Connor was more of a traditional magazine writer. And I do have two Sako 270's and a T3X also so he did leave an impression on me.
Yep, and related by birth to the 8mm Mauser (7.9x57 and then 8x57), .257 Roberts, .244 (6mm) Remington...
Compare to the 7mm-08 (from the .308 Win family), .284 Rem (from the .30-'06 family), and the .284 Win (from out of nowhere), plus that .275 Rigby thing from our cousins over there...
Just stirring the pot....
-Chris
icebear
Sako-addicted
The 7mm that seems to get the most discussion in this forum is the 7mm Remington Magnum, which has no relationship to the 7x57 except the 0.284" bullet diameter. The 7mm Magnum is quite a bit more powerful than a .270; a 7x57 somewhat less than a .270.
As a side note, the .270, .280 Remington (aka 7mm Express), and the 7x64mm Brenneke are all but identical in performance (but are NOT interchangeable, although they are about the same size and made for a .30-06 length action).
When O'Connor writes about the 7x57 (7mm Mauser) he is usually relating a story about hunting with Eleanor, his wife. Eleanor was quite a hunter in her own right and most often shot their 7x57, built on a Mauser action.
Many or most of O'Connor's rifles were built on Winchester 70 actions. However, he did own a customized Sako .222 which he praised for its accuracy. It is in other hands now and has been offered for sale recently, but it seems that thus far no one thinks that being associated with O'Connor makes it quite worth the asking price of $15,000.
Many or most of O'Connor's rifles were built on Winchester 70 actions. However, he did own a customized Sako .222 which he praised for its accuracy. It is in other hands now and has been offered for sale recently, but it seems that thus far no one thinks that being associated with O'Connor makes it quite worth the asking price of $15,000.
bigcountry4me
Sako-addicted
Only 15k? Cough...
Super cool. I read your museum post. Veey interesting.
bigcountry4me
Sako-addicted
A long way from London to be sure. But highly recommended if you visit the states, specifically Lewiston, Idaho. Take care.
Sounds like a nice drive. soon as the border opens again we'll start stretching our legs again. Seems like a great landscape.
Have been jumping around chapters - great read. I stopped taking notes for the first pass and am just trying to enjoy it. Lots of great stuff. I like the way he presents opinions. Some of the details of 'the times' are a little eye raising....but it was a different time, and what more could you say about it? The book is doing nothing but sharpen my interest in learning more and getting started again. In my mind I've bought a decent .22, .243, .22 pistol.... all for practice for the .270. My wife has noted my math has gone from one to four or so too. Odd.
Hey Sean,
Thanks for posting the pics of JO’C firearms, never seen those pics before.
I have had his book since 1984, starting to come apart now, because of my constant reference to Him and his Hunting/Shooting knowledge.
His ideas and thoughts and ethics are still very valid today.
That would be a great place to visit.
Thanks again.
Jay
Thanks for posting the pics of JO’C firearms, never seen those pics before.
I have had his book since 1984, starting to come apart now, because of my constant reference to Him and his Hunting/Shooting knowledge.
His ideas and thoughts and ethics are still very valid today.
That would be a great place to visit.
Thanks again.
Jay
South Pender
Well-Known Member
Here's my Jack O'Connor "library":
I picked up the Complete Book of Rifles and Shotguns (with his favored M70 prominently on the cover) early in my hunting career. Not surprisingly, the section on rifles runs about 340 pages, that on shotguns about 100. Chapter 19 is dedicated to his "Seven-Lesson Rifle Shooting Course," in which he states, "In most of the big-game hunting I have done, the queen of all [shooting] positions is sitting," something that I have tried to put into practice over many decades of hunting. Sako gets several mentions in this book. He writes, "The light, accurate Finnish-made Sako rifle, chambered for the lively .222 Remington, is a top combination for varmints" (with a picture of an L461). The Hunting Rifle landed on my bookshelf much later. Both are good reads.
I picked up the Complete Book of Rifles and Shotguns (with his favored M70 prominently on the cover) early in my hunting career. Not surprisingly, the section on rifles runs about 340 pages, that on shotguns about 100. Chapter 19 is dedicated to his "Seven-Lesson Rifle Shooting Course," in which he states, "In most of the big-game hunting I have done, the queen of all [shooting] positions is sitting," something that I have tried to put into practice over many decades of hunting. Sako gets several mentions in this book. He writes, "The light, accurate Finnish-made Sako rifle, chambered for the lively .222 Remington, is a top combination for varmints" (with a picture of an L461). The Hunting Rifle landed on my bookshelf much later. Both are good reads.
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The last mule deer I took was a little less than 200 yards away. I crept up to an aspen tree for a rest and instinctively sat down (regardless of rocks, snow, or whatever other unfriendly objects might be there to meet my derriere). Unfortunately, a bunch of aspen seedlings blocked my clear view of the target in that position, so I had to stand up to shoot over them. Although I still had a helpful rest against the trunk of the tree, the standing shooting position was noticeably less steady than had I been able to sit. Fortunately, my shot went where it should have (the 165 gr. Nosler Accubond broke both shoulders), but I would have been much more confident had I been able to sit instead of stand.
O'Connor knew what he was talking about. Elmer Keith would have probably derided me as a "sissy" for seeking a rest of any kind. Sure, I've taken lots of game shooting offhand and standing on my "hind legs" as O'Connor was fond of saying, but taking a sitting position, when possible, is great advice.
