Michael Petrov, are you..............

[Emri]

Going to Julia's October firearms auction ??? I was looking at their "selected items" pre-view on their website and thought of you when I saw these. They are shown about 4/5 way down the page.

http://jamesdjulia.com/auctions/div_catalog_346_sh.asp

[Michael Petrov]

"Going to Julia's October firearms auction ???"

Not this time, I am looking for a few rifles which are by makers I don't have. This takes a long time, some I have been looking for for over thirty years. Ii do not write about or discuss the missing makers by name, if I do I'll never get one. It's also unfair for me to write about a maker whose work I have not used and spent some time with. Does all this make sense ;-) ?

[Rick the Librarian]

Perfectly! I still remember the good-intentioned guy who "congratulated" me about being in the lead for an online auction for a rifle I wanted. Needless to say, he posted the link, and, in the space of an hour or so, I had been outbid!

[Michael Petrov]

I get a lot of private email when custom sporters are at auction, both online and the auction companies. I never discuss them publicly until the auction is over. If there is an ongoing auction and they have bids I think it's unfair to post a link to that auction. Many folks work hard to locate something and I think they should be rewarded for their work.

[Emri]

Does all this make sense ;-) ?

Yes, it makes perfect sense. I have to tell customers all the time "I don't have any personal experience with whatever gun accessory you ask about so I can't say good, bad, or indifferent". I just thought of you when I saw the custom sporting rifles. Actually, I thought of you while looking at a Parker shotgun. I thought "something ain't right", the gun had a totally different look to the hinge pin compared factory guns. The description stated that it had been customized by Pachmayr. A posting about a takedown 1903 recently showed pics and when I saw it, my first thought before reading further was "Pachmyar". I have never had one in my hands, but had seen them before and knew that was something he specialized in (takedown conversions).
Thank-you for all the information you provide us with and the wonderful pics of your rifles. I'm looking foward to the new book.

Emri

[Rick the Librarian]

Yes, let us know when it is out and available - I really enjoyed your other book - it came just in time when I purchased the G&H-modified NRA Sporter.

[Michael Petrov]

I should have the books in a week or two, I'm dealing with some health issues and when I can ship them I'll let you know.

As some of you may know Precision Shooting who published my first book is now out of business. I published this edition which has all new material from Vol I.

[ClaudeH]

Michael,

Maybe some day you would comment on the demise of Precision Shooting and the possibility that any part of the venture will be salvaged and made available. I understand the need to quit business when it isn't working, but it smells how Brennan did it. No continuation of remaining subscriptions by an acquirer, no notice unless you were pointed to it on the internet by someone, no apparent effort to preserve and convey what already existed, nothing.

I suppose the internet had eliminated the original resaon for existence which was a reliable means of communicating benchrest information - scores, announcements, meetings, etc. But there was other value that I saw no effort to exploit or preserve.

A set of CDs of back issues would have sold. (I think.) In fact it is not too late to offer such a thing if Brennan resisted dumping everything into a dumpster. And the titles they were publishing could have been continued on a stand alone basis. (I think.) This might have been done with no more effort than putting out the word that the materials/rights to materials were for sale to anyone who would wish to continue with them. (Perhaps that seemed pointless if the proceeds would only go to reimburse non-expired subscriptions and past due bills?)

Precision Shooting was unique as a source of reports of experiment and theorizing, technical analyses, firearm manufacturing technology. research, and on and on. I know of no other source for much of what was unique to PS.

Like I say, I understand Brennan's right to retire, but I think he squandered something of value to many people.

[Tom Trevor]

Pretty much how the GUN REPORT magazine went out. No notice, no refund for remainig subscription, When one of the old great newspapers here went out they published a thank you and farwell issue.

[Michael Petrov]

Although I wrote for PS for fifteen years I was not included in any of the inter-workings, I wrote and they published. I seldom had dealings with Mr. Brennan, I think sometimes not more than once or twice a year. I don't know why they went broke, I suspect they had a lot of money tied up in unsold books. One thing IMO that hurt PS was Mr. Brennan would not have much of anything to do with the computer, no email, no pictures or manuscripts via email.

I had a few talks at the end because I wanted to buy all my unsold books, which I did. It was my understanding that there was more then one person that wanted to keep PS going where they stand now I have no idea. As I said before I went ahead and published Vol II on my own, hopefully it won't bankrupt me as well ;-).