Back in the 1980s, John Taffin wrote a column describing a hypothetical concept he called the Shootist's Holiday in which a group of gun-writers would get together with various representatives from the shooting industry along with several notable shooters, and they would just spend the week shooting, sharing ideas, working through problems, finding solutions, etc. and just have fun. Response to his column was positive. Someone asked, “Why not do it for real?”, so the next summer they did and a group of a couple dozen folks got together and spent several days burning powder, sharing ideas, and socializing. It has been held every year since then (in June), and has grown to about 100 people. It is a closed group, by invitation only, to keep things manageable. It has been held in various locations, but in recent years it has always been held at the beautiful NRA Whittington Center in Raton, NM.
I was first invited to the Shootist’s Holiday about 20 years ago, but I had to send my regrets because my wife was going through chemotherapy at the time and I was needed at home. I got another invitation about 10 years later, but that year I got called back to DC for a very important program review that directly conflicted with the scheduling of the Holiday. Once again, I had to send my regrets. In the December of 2019, I got another invitation, but my wife was going through 6 weeks of radiation therapy, in preparation for major cancer surgery in February, and we had no idea how long her recovery was going to take, so once again I had to say thanks, but no thanks (it turns out that this was a moot point since the Covid pandemic shut everything down in 2020, including the Shootist’s Holiday). In December of 2020, I got a message from my friend Bud McDonald, and I thought about it for a second, and responded, “You know what Bud, I think I can actually make it this year…”
My drive to Raton was long, but uneventful. We got the waivers signed, and drove on to the Whittington Center to see where my friends were staying in some of the log cabins, and then drove around to see some of the amazing facilities scattered around the Whittington Center. I had booked late, so I was staying in a hotel in town. The next morning at the safety meeting, we went through introductions, reviewed the safety rules, and outlined the agenda for the week. There were old friends I hadn’t seen in years (e.g. Jim Taylor), there were folks I had known online for years but never met face to face (e.g. John Killebrew), I met people that I had known by reputation for years (e.g. Mick McPherson and Ben Forkin), and I met people from the shooting industry that were new to me (e.g. Matt Peake). And of course, I was able to re-new friendships with shooters that I knew well. All in all, this was not unlike trying to drink from a firehose, but the bottom-line is this was a gathering of special people, and they were all very welcoming to “the new guy”.
The range we had reserved for our group was the Hunter Pistol Silhouette range that had banks for NRA half sized silhouettes of chickens, pigs, turkeys and rams (from 40 to 100 meters). These were set up for straight-walled handgun cartridges only (from either handguns or rifles). There were also steel gongs on the hillside behind the targets at 300, 400, 500, 600 and 1053 yards that you could shoot at with pretty much anything.
With all these targets of opportunity, I didn’t fire a single shot that first day. I figured, I can shoot my guns anytime, but I don’t get a chance to talk to people like this every day, so I did the social butterfly thing, and chatted with as many as I could (which was only a small fraction of those present). There were many highlights on this trip, but one that was really special to me was seeing Jim Taylor again after all these years, and hearing him tell some of his stories.
These conversations continued on the 2nd and 3rd days, but they were punctuated with loud noises on the firing line. I was working mostly on the 100m rams with various iron-sighted revolvers, but also got in some much needed practice with the 1903A3, loaded with cast bullets (of course), on the hillside gongs. John Killebrew, Paul Moreland, and I had a lot of fun with those gongs.
On the evening of the 4th day, we had our banquet (I had prime rib, which was delicious!). Lots of prizes had been donated by the members of the Shootists to raise money for the Whittington Center, and for educational activities, through the sale of raffle tickets (which had been overseen by Mark Roberts). The Shootists donated an impressive sum of money to support these worthy activities. This is a very generous group of people.
I was honored to have been invited, and delighted to have been able to attend. Finally.
I was first invited to the Shootist’s Holiday about 20 years ago, but I had to send my regrets because my wife was going through chemotherapy at the time and I was needed at home. I got another invitation about 10 years later, but that year I got called back to DC for a very important program review that directly conflicted with the scheduling of the Holiday. Once again, I had to send my regrets. In the December of 2019, I got another invitation, but my wife was going through 6 weeks of radiation therapy, in preparation for major cancer surgery in February, and we had no idea how long her recovery was going to take, so once again I had to say thanks, but no thanks (it turns out that this was a moot point since the Covid pandemic shut everything down in 2020, including the Shootist’s Holiday). In December of 2020, I got a message from my friend Bud McDonald, and I thought about it for a second, and responded, “You know what Bud, I think I can actually make it this year…”
My drive to Raton was long, but uneventful. We got the waivers signed, and drove on to the Whittington Center to see where my friends were staying in some of the log cabins, and then drove around to see some of the amazing facilities scattered around the Whittington Center. I had booked late, so I was staying in a hotel in town. The next morning at the safety meeting, we went through introductions, reviewed the safety rules, and outlined the agenda for the week. There were old friends I hadn’t seen in years (e.g. Jim Taylor), there were folks I had known online for years but never met face to face (e.g. John Killebrew), I met people that I had known by reputation for years (e.g. Mick McPherson and Ben Forkin), and I met people from the shooting industry that were new to me (e.g. Matt Peake). And of course, I was able to re-new friendships with shooters that I knew well. All in all, this was not unlike trying to drink from a firehose, but the bottom-line is this was a gathering of special people, and they were all very welcoming to “the new guy”.
The range we had reserved for our group was the Hunter Pistol Silhouette range that had banks for NRA half sized silhouettes of chickens, pigs, turkeys and rams (from 40 to 100 meters). These were set up for straight-walled handgun cartridges only (from either handguns or rifles). There were also steel gongs on the hillside behind the targets at 300, 400, 500, 600 and 1053 yards that you could shoot at with pretty much anything.
With all these targets of opportunity, I didn’t fire a single shot that first day. I figured, I can shoot my guns anytime, but I don’t get a chance to talk to people like this every day, so I did the social butterfly thing, and chatted with as many as I could (which was only a small fraction of those present). There were many highlights on this trip, but one that was really special to me was seeing Jim Taylor again after all these years, and hearing him tell some of his stories.
These conversations continued on the 2nd and 3rd days, but they were punctuated with loud noises on the firing line. I was working mostly on the 100m rams with various iron-sighted revolvers, but also got in some much needed practice with the 1903A3, loaded with cast bullets (of course), on the hillside gongs. John Killebrew, Paul Moreland, and I had a lot of fun with those gongs.
On the evening of the 4th day, we had our banquet (I had prime rib, which was delicious!). Lots of prizes had been donated by the members of the Shootists to raise money for the Whittington Center, and for educational activities, through the sale of raffle tickets (which had been overseen by Mark Roberts). The Shootists donated an impressive sum of money to support these worthy activities. This is a very generous group of people.
I was honored to have been invited, and delighted to have been able to attend. Finally.