Thinking About John Taffin ... trying to remember ...

[JimT]

I don't remember how I first got in touch with John. I believe it was by written letter but again I am not sure. My Dad had some articles written about him in some early gun magazines and it may have been through one of those. Some time in the early 1970's Twyla and I were traveling and stopped in Boise to visit John and Dot. We had been communicating by letter and phone calls before that. But a real friendship had developed between us.

I disremember what year but I think it was 78 or 79 .... though it may have been earlier than that ... he and Dot were traveling and came by our place in Oracle, Arizona. They stayed for a couple days.

John and I worked together by phone and by letter on loading heavy bullets in the .45 Colt. That was during the time when all the common wisdom was that you could not do it. Gun writers wrote about the .45 Colt brass being weak and all sorts of stuff that was just ridiculous. I communicated with Elmer Keith about his experiments with the 300 gr. .45-90 bullet in the .45 Colt and went from there. John introduced me to John Linebaugh and that was when I first saw the potential of the cartridge. Later John Linebaugh helped me get pressure-testing done at Hodgdon's and that proved the loads were safe, though I had been shooting them for quite some time before that.

In 1985 John asked my Dad and me to each write a short article on the subject of a "shootists holiday" ... a week of shooting where you only brought a couple guns. What would you bring? What loads would you use? What kind of shooting would you do? After the article was published those of us who had been invited to write urged John to do it for real. With the help of Paco Kelly John found a place for us to meet in Freedom, Wyoming, hosted by Freedom Arms! The Shootists Holiday was born. This year will be our 40th Anniversary. We will honor John at this one for sure.

A young John Taffin (1986) in top bunk. The first meeting of the Shootists. The finger on his right hand bandaged because of shooting 300 + rounds through the 454 the previous day. I opened the door to his camper and took the photo.

[KWK]

... shooting 300 + rounds through the 454 the previous day.

Even as a young guy I never had a desire to try that! Today, a 38 is Just Fine.

Thanks for the reminiscences.

[AmBraCol]

I came late to the party, "meeting" John Taffin on the forums of sixguns.com and sixgunner.com late in the 20th Century. Then meeting him in person at his home in Boise, ID in '01 - before the twin towers fell. He saw me struggling with the heavy loads I was given for my Ruger Vaquero and kindly passed me a box of "Cowboy loads" which allowed me to get comfortable with the gun before trying the barn burner loads again. I still reload that brass nearly a quarter century later. He gave me a cartridge belt and holster stamped "John Taffin Maker Boise Idaho" - if I recall the stamping correctly. But most of all he became a good friend and I could always count on him answering our newsletter with A BRIEF REPLY and "GOOD SHOOTING AND GOD BLESS". I'm glad his suffering on this earth is over and my prayers go out on behalf of Dot and the rest of the family as they adjust to him going on before them to his reward.

Hey, brother John! Keep a pot of coffee on the fire. We'll be along directly!

[JimT]

1988

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1990

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1993

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[Crazy Horse]

Great pictures!

[AJMD429]

.
Looks like Good Times....

[black river smith]

Thank you for sharing your pictures and memories with us. I find it helpful, to see these people in normal settings, rather than just the photos and names in magazine articles.
I do appreciate this.

[Bill in Oregon]

We need to "sticky" this thread for the sheer history that is in it. Thanks Jim!

[LeverGunner]

I never met John, but I spoke to him in brevity on singleactions forum. I've always read him and admired him. My two-tone Blackhawk was made because of an article he'd penned in Gun Digest.

[Rube Burrows]

Thanks for sharing your memories and photos of JT. By all accounts he was a great man. I never knew him personally but have always admired his work as well as the other gun writers of his kind.

[Walt]

Thank you, Jim

[Streetstar]

... a week of shooting where you only brought a couple guns. What would you bring? What loads would you use? What kind of shooting would you do?

/wow -

a couple as in just 2 ? -- or my definition of a "couple" which means 4 or 5

7.5" Blackhawk --- (and if stretching definition of a couple - the companion .45 Colt Trapper i have )

4" Colt Lawman as it is my most seentimental sidearm --- and a 3" Python

lastly - id bring some manner of .22 just for campside plinking and impromptu competitions


-- but if only 2 -- id have to say the Blackhawk and a .22