Jeff Quinn: 1/16/1959 - 07/27/2020

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Our brother Jeff Quinn passed away in July 2020, finally succumbing to a systemic infection that his body had fought for years. As a founder of Gunblast.com, the first Online Gun Magazine, Jeff was a pioneer in the firearms industry. But more than that, Jeff was a beloved brother to me, our oldest brother Greg, and our little brother Anthony; a devoted son, whose earthy father went on to his Heavenly reward in 2011, and whose dear mother passed shortly after Jeff's passing; a husband to a faithful wife of 40 years; a father to a loving daughter; a grandfather to an adoring grandson and granddaughter; a disciple of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, serving as a Deacon in his local Baptist church for 40 years; a dependable kinsman to many aunts, uncles, and cousins; a respected member of the firearms community; a member of the Shootists, where he served on the Shootists Board of Directors for many years; a proud Biker and long-time member of his local charitable Biker organization, Bikers Who Care; and a dependable friend to thousands around the world. 

Jeff lived his life as a full-grown child, whose home was in the woods next to a national wildlife refuge in Tennessee. He always loved guns and shooting, and  really enjoyed writing about the things he loved. Born in 1959, Jeff was a Benefactor Life Member of the NRA, a Shootist, a conservative, and a Baptist. You may not have agreed with his opinions on guns, politics, or life in general, but he would still have given them freely to all who would listen, and extend the hand of friendship with equal enthusiasm to those who agreed or respectfully disagreed.

I miss my brother Jeff. I looked up to him my entire life, and I never thought I would ever have to face the world without his love, his friendship, his guidance, and his humor. We will carry on with Gunblast as Jeff wished, and honor his legacy, but the world is a much, much darker and sadder place without him.

Jeff Quinn's Memorial Service - August 1st, 2020

- Boge Quinn

Boge Quinn

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Boge Quinn is a life-long shooter, born and raised in the Great State of Tennessee. A co-founder of Gunblast.com in the year 2000, along with his brother Jeff Quinn, Boge has continued on with Gunblast after Jeff's passing in 2020. A Lifetime Endowment member of the NRA, Boge serves on the Board of Directors of The Shootists, an organization started by John Taffin in 1985, as did his brother Jeff. Boge appreciates firearms of all types, but his soul is particularly stirred by the "older style" guns: lever-action and single-shot rifles, along with Single-Action and Double-Action revolvers and 1911-style pistols. As a former professional artist, Boge appreciates the aesthetics of a fine gun, as well as its mechanical precision and practical application. His particular affinity lies in the world of handguns, and he has hunted mostly with handguns of all types since the mid-1970s. A regionally well-known musician, Boge is also a Deacon in the same Baptist Church where his brother Jeff formerly served as Deacon, and where their Dad finished his 50-year career as Pastor.

E-mail Boge

Greg Quinn

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Greg Quinn has been a high-technology business consultant specializing in start-up technology businesses since 1985, and is CEO of Quinn Consulting, Inc, a leading international technology consulting organization. Born in 1957 and an NRA Life Member, Greg functions as VP of Business Development for Gunblast.com, and directs all business activity for our company.  Greg is active in local and national political circles, and is an ordained Baptist Minister.

E-mail Greg

Contributing Writers

(Listed Alphabetically)

William Bell

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Born in 1954, William Bell, a.k.a. La Vista Bill (SASS #11869), has been writing about guns since 1983.  He is a veteran of almost 29 years in law enforcement and presently works for the Bureau of Customs & Border Protection, Dept. of Homeland Security.  A firearms instructor for some 15 years, Bill has also written articles for Combat Handguns, Guns & Weapons for Law Enforcement, Guns of the Old West, Glock Auto Pistols, Police, The Backup (CD-ROM magazine), Wild West, and Police Marksman.

Bill has been honored by membership in the Shootists and the Western Writers of America.  He is an NRA Life Member and a member of the Masonic Lodge, plus an avid reader, book collector and student of the Old West.  He also does a passable job singing A Boy Named Sue when accompanied by Boge on the guitar.  We are proud to welcome Bill as a contributing writer here at Gunblast.com!

R. K. Campbell

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We are proud to welcome R. K. Campbell to the Gunblast.com family.

An established and well-respected outdoors writer, Bob writes for Shotgun News, Handguns, SWAT Magazine, American Gunsmith, Knifeworld, Police,  Women and Guns, and GunWeek, among others. He is Contributing Editor of Women and Guns and Executive Editor of Boar Hunter. Bob has also published occasionally in Tactical Knives, American Handgunner and Guns, and he is a regular at Krause Publications' Gun Digest and Handguns. He also wrote a significant portion of the 4th and 5th Editions of Assault Weapons.

Bob has also authored three books: Holsters For Combat and Concealed Carry (Paladin Press), The 1911 Semi Auto (Stoeger Publishing), and The Handgun In Personal Defense (The Second Amendment Foundation).

Bill Hamm

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Bill was born in 1945 and grew up in rural Alabama. As with many good Southern boys, he learned to handle guns, shoot, and hunt at a very early age. His interest and love for guns has always remained steadfast. Bill traded $10 and a good bicycle for his first, very own, handgun when he about 14 years old. That gun happened to be a Ruger Single-Six "Flatgate" 22, and he has had a thing for Rugers ever since. 

While he has owned many different makes and models of guns over the years, Bill began to really focus on collecting Ruger single action revolvers in the early 1980s. He was honored by the Ruger Collectors Association (RCA) in 1995 when he was asked to represent them with his collection of Ruger .44 Magnum "Flattops" and Super Blackhawks at the NRA Annual Convention in Phoenix, AZ.

 Bill is a Field Representative for RCA, Life Member of the NRA, a member of various gun collectors associations...and our friend.

Jesse L. "Wolf" Hardin

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A fine writer, a wonderful illustrator, photographer, poet, musician, historian, hunter, outdoorsman...Jess is a man who wears many hats, and wears each with aplomb. A Renaissance man in the truest sense of the word, Jess is nevertheless a plain-spoken and down-to-Earth guy. He has written four published books, along with hundreds of articles in publications as diverse as Shoot! Magazine, Guns, Gun Digest, International Militaria Collector, Gray's Journal, Wilderness Way, and Mother Earth News. He lives in a remote area of the mountainous Southwest, where he can live the life of a true Mountain Man. He looks the part; he walks the walk; and he has the ability as a writer, storyteller and illustrator to take us on his adventures with him, and to truly make history "come alive".

Please join us in welcoming Jess Hardin to Gunblast.com!

Frank "Paco" Kelly

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Paco was born in New York during the 1930s.  He went into the military in the mid-1950s and was transferred to Africa in 1957.  He trained military units in small arms - a service the US was providing for some African countries during that time.  Over a two-year period in Africa while providing training, Paco was also able to hunt and do ballistic testing.

He did two short tours in Southeast Asia and then was discharged.  He entered the New York School of Technology and graduated in 1965.  He entered Federal service with the Dept. of Treasury in 1966 as criminal investigator. In 1968 he was transferred to Virginia.  In two years he made so many criminal cases on Federal drug violations that the Governor of Virginia appointed him Director of the then-new Virginia Division of Drug Abuse Control in 1970. He was the youngest State Commissioner appointed in Virginia and the first New Yorker to hold the rank. During his 5 years of service, the drug abuse statistics for the State of Virginia fell from 3rd place in 1970 to 47th in 1975.

Paco returned to Federal Service in 1975 and worked for the Dept. of Justice until he retired in 1984. He now lives in Tucson with his wife Barbara.

In the 1990's Paco began studying for the Ministry and today is Associate Pastor of a Church in Tucson.

He is also a past President of The Shootists, a gathering of writers, firearms manufacturers and enthusiasts from across the country.  Their annual meeting, called "The Shootists Holiday" is a week-long affair that brings some of the top "gun" talent in the country together.

A prolific writer, Paco has written thousands of articles and several books over the years.  For a number of years he was Technical Editor of The Fouling Shot, the publication of the The Cast Bullet Association.  He was a Field Editor for The Sixgunner, the publication of J.D. Jones and Handgun Hunters International.  A book that he wrote in the 1980's - LEVERGUNS, AN AMERICAN HERITAGE (now long out of print) is sought after by collectors and shooters.

Paco has invented a number of tools for reloaders/experimenters over the year and is currently producing tools to increase the accuracy and efficiency of the .22 Rimfire.

Paco continues writing. His articles can be found on the Internet on Gunblast.ComSixgunner.Com and his own web site, Leverguns.Com.

We are honored to have the legendary Paco Kelly as a member of the Gunblast.com team.

Charles "Butch" Kent

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The photo of Butch Kent shows him in action, or reaction, as he fires some of Jeff's handloads in a Ruger No 1 in 45-70.   Butch loves almost all shooting sports but most of all, he loves the challenge of working with a fine firearm and getting the most out of it with home brewed ammo. He has been reloading since 1968 when he acquired his first centerfire rifle. Since then, Butch's handloads have kept him shooting his collection of rifles and handguns. Whether its on paper or in the field after game of any size, he has perfected a load that ensures the best accuracy and performance of the firearm in use.

His recent retirement from a career in the nuclear power industry provides more leisure time and new opportunities for hunting and shooting adventures. Now that he has joined the Gunblast staff of contributors, he will be sharing some of his pet loads and experiences at the range and in the woods.

Please join us in welcoming Butch Kent to the Gunblast.com team!

Terry Murbach

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Our dear friend Terry Murbach passed away December 22nd, 2018. He is, and always will be, deeply missed.

We were proud to have Terry Murbach to our staff at Gunblast.com. A handgunner since 1951 and an Endowment Member of the NRA, Terry was one of our closest friends and brother Shootists: Terry had been a Shootist since 1990, and was honored as the 2010 Shootist of the Year. 

Terry was a Magna Cum Laude graduate of Miss Healey's 4th-grade class of 1954, Church Street School, Bowling Green, Ohio. In 1955 he borrowed Elmer Keith's then-new, seminal "Sixguns by Keith" from the school library, and kept it the entire school year. It was FAR more interesting than Miss Anderson's 5th-grade class; he says she didn't like him much anyway, probably because he knew far more about sixguns than she did!

In his former career as one of our country's most respected gun writers (he was on staff at "Handgunning" and "Peterson's Handguns" magazines) and as a ballistician for two different ammunition manufacturers, Terry established himself as one of the foremost authorities on handguns and metallic cartridge loading; at last count, he loaded for 135 different cartridges. Terry was not the least bit dogmatic about cartridges, as they all have their place in the scheme of things: each does what it can do, and no more.

We were gratified that Terry agreed to emerge from his retirement to pen a few articles for us. He was a hard man to get to know; a complicated (some would mistakenly say misanthropic) genius; and a sweet, generous, loyal, and loving friend. His passing leaves a void in my heart that will never be filled, until I see him again someday.

- Boge Quinn

Matt Olivier

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Matt is an avid handgunner, a Shootist, an NRA Endowment Life Member, a Ruger collector, and a custom 1911 collector. He has loved guns and shooting since before he can remember! Matt is a 1993 graduate of Penn State University, and a 2000 graduate of Lehigh University. He is also one of our closest friends, and we are proud to welcome him as a contributing writer to Gunblast.com.

Nick Rukavina

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Nick Rukavina and his wife, Marcia, live in a 61 acre, wooded valley in rural Ohio’s Amish country. Nick is a Shootist, has trained widely with firearms, with over 3,000 hours in his training resume and has worked as a volunteer trainer with the local SO for three years. In addition to teaching conventional, concealed carry classes, Nick has also conducted combined CCW and Defensive Training classes for rape survivors. 

A teacher for over thirty years, Rukavina also worked as a SCUBA and sailing instructor, free lance marine writer, boat captain and salvage diver. An avid hunter, Nick has hunted Africa three times, taking a Cape Buffalo in 2019.

Jim Taylor

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Gunblast.com is proud to welcome our friend Jim Taylor as a contributing writer.

A true "renaissance man", Jim is equally at home on his ranch, at the range (you should see him shoot a match holding his revolvers upside-down "just to make it fair"), or behind the Pulpit.

A Pastor for over thirty years and a former Missionary to Mozambique, Africa with his late wife Twyla, Jim has retired back to the United States to write books and reflect on Life.

Jim has been Contributing Editor for The New Gun Week, and Chairman of The Shootists. In 2005, Jim was honored as the Shootist of the Decade, joining the legendary John Taffin (1995) and Jeff Quinn (2015) as the only recipients of the Award.

We welcome Jim's vast knowledge and expertise as a member of the Gunblast.com team.

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Leroy Thompson

Leroy Thompson has been writing military, law enforcement, security, firearms, and knife articles for more than 30 years.  He has had more than 1500 articles published and 37 books.  He specializes in tactical articles and tactical weapons.  But since Jeff Quinn is his hero, he wanted to do some writing for GunBlast.com!

Andy Tuttle

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Andy is a school psychologist by day who works with special education children but his passion is for exploring, camping and shooting. His shooting experience began approximately 9 years ago with his best friend and a Lee Enfield rifle in 303 British. This set in motion a chain of events that eventually led him to Mic McPherson, who built two custom rifles for Andy. In gratitude and friendship, Andy helped Mr. McPherson set-up the Peggy McPherson Benefit Account when she became deathly ill. Through Mr. McPherson, Andy was eventually introduced to other Shootists. Meanwhile, Andy was writing travel essays with photos of his camping trips, and eventually firearm-related articles on Paco Kelly's Leverguns.com. Andy eventually found another friend and sponsor to get him into the 2008 SHOT Show where he met the Quinn brothers, Jeff and Boge. Andy is perhaps best known for his promotion of the Friends of Billy Dixon Ultra Long Range Shooting Facility in Hotchkiss, CO where he continues to seek the limits of how far he can shoot his 71/84 Mauser, named “Old 3120”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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