doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Michael McIntosh

Dear Michael;

It has been 10 years since you left us, and the world has not become a better place; not because you left a void that made it worse, although you did leave a void in our minds and our thoughts--the world is just not the same in ways that we nor you could have never dreamed it would be.

We miss your writings and your love of the simple pleasures of a wingshooting, classic double shotguns and the outdoors, and importantly how you kept alive the love of the classic side by side shotgun.

We could trust what you wrote us to be �spot on� as it was seen through the eyes of a person who thought like we did and who loved writing and the mastering of the language of we shooting sportsmen. For whatever the reason no other writer has been able to hold the interest of us old timers as you did.

I have often wondered who is shooting your Purdey Island Lock hammergun and your AyA no. 2 shotgun. Speaking of your AyA, I do not think, you would not like what has happened to the Spanish double shotgun makers, nor would you like what has happened to the interest in side by side shotguns. I even heard a long time classic shotgun dealer say just last year that no one under the age of 65 is interested in a side by side shotgun.

If you were here you could help correct that fault.

Well, that is about all I have to say today, but I suspect some of the others will have some thoughts for you.

Kindest Regards;
Stephen

Stephen,
That was nicely written and appreciated. I remember him after each bird season, as I sit and reread his many books and articles published. My biggest regret was not being up at Fieldsport Ltd. when he was visiting Brian Bilinski and meeting him in person to sign my books.
The northern woods are certainly empty without him.
Karl

His articles and books are what stoked my passion for fine guns. His writing almost brought fine guns to life for me, he made them much more than just metal and wood,....I still find myself occasionally sitting on the couch, opening up an old magazine with one of his articles or opening up one of his books and reading a few chapters. It makes me feel good to read his writing. I�ve read all of it many times over...and it still does the trick.

I shot my AyA #2 today, and it's a gun I most likely would never have bought had it not been for Michael McIntosh's writings. His books are all at the top of my top shelf.

It's hard to believe that Michael's "The Best Shotguns Ever Made in America"--which certainly boosted interest in classic American side by sides--was published almost 40 years ago.

Don Zutz was a contemporary of Michael's, and another prolific writer on shotguns. He also promoted the side by side, if not necessarily the American classics (other than the Model 21). For a long time, if you read a shotgun article in one of the bird hunting magazines, it was pretty much a tossup whether Michael or Don wrote it.

Different approaches, and I think Michael won over more fans as a wordsmith. I miss them both.

It is hard to believe it has been ten years. He left us too soon and his writings are missed.

He won me when he included the Model 32 Remington in the Best American Guns list!

I also enjoyed his writing and bought his books. I stopped buying his books when I learned that he supported bans on semi-automatic rifles. As they say, the 2nd Amendment ain't about duck hunting.

oh, to be reborn and to be a michael mcintosh, or a george bird evans, or a gene hill, or a patrick mcmanus, or even one of the fergus boys...to name only a few of the wonderful writers from the past...

who do we have now that could be considered their equal?

In at least some situations, we might be fortunate that we have the writings on the book shelf, rather than the author sitting across the dinner table?