Thinking About John Taffin

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.