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We still remember it, too.
A message from Sheriff Jim Wilson and Shane Jahn
Like many of you, we grew up in a time when we looked forward to getting the latest gun or outdoor magazine in the mail and couldn’t wait to read it. And we read those magazines for entertainment as well as information. That’s because our favorite writers wrote interesting and entertaining stories that just happened to include useful information. That’s the spirit we’re keeping alive at Gun Tales—and inviting you to be part of.
Who knows, we may even feature the occasional piece from a guest writer—someone who shares our love of a good story that has guns in it. And, not by accident, we have included a section for you to write in and tell us what you liked and what you’d like to see in the way of future stories.
We hope that you will join us as we dig up history, swap yarns, and sing the blues about the big one that got away. So the coffee’s on the fire, pull up that camp chair and make yourself comfortable. We’d enjoy your company.
Best Wishes,
Meet the Gun Tales Team
Owner | Writer
Jim Wilson
Jim Wilson is a native Texan who served as a Texas peace officer for 30 years, in Denton and Crockett Counties. The last eight years of his service he was he elected sheriff of Crockett County, Texas, with the county seat at Ozona. In 1990, he sold his first gun articles to Petersen’s Handguns and has since written for Guns & Ammo, Shooting Times, The American Rifleman, and Shooting Illustrated. He has also contributed articles to Gun Digest, NRA Family, and True West magazine. He especially pays tribute to Bill Jordan and John Wootters who were kind enough to mentor him and help him get a foot in the door in the gun writing business.
A lifelong hunter, Wilson enjoys handgun hunting and hunting with the more traditional guns such as single-action revolvers, lever-action rifles and the Ruger #1. In addition to the continental United States, he has hunted in Alaska, Canada, Mexico, Africa, Australia, and Argentina.
Wilson has also spent a lifetime studying the history of the American West, the lawmen, gunfighters, and outlaws. Wilson says, “We can always learn a lot from studying history and, in my case, it helped prepare me to deal with situations and issues of my own.”
Owner | Writer
Shane Jahn
Shane Jahn is a native Texan, lifelong outdoorsman, hunter, shooter, and student of southwestern history.
He began his outdoor writing career shortly after returning from his first African safari in 2015. Since then, his freelance writing has been published by NRA Family, Gun Digest Magazine, Guns of The Old West, The Mag Life Blog, Safariland’s Cadre Dispatch Blog, Texas Outdoors Journal, and a few others.
Each year he covers the New Revolvers & Others section of the famed Gun Digest Annual.
Shane enjoys the challenge of handgun hunting and has returned to Africa twice since 2015 to successfully hunt cape buffalo with a revolver. His long gun interests lean towards iconic lever-action rifles, traditional bolt-actions, and Ruger No.1s with highly figured wood stocks. He enjoys finding guns with stories and sharing those stories with readers.
He recently retired from an exciting 22-year career with the U.S. Border Patrol and resides near Alpine in the Big Bend Region of west Texas.
Owner | Manager
Matt Covert
Matt Covert is a Texas transplant from the Great State of Maine, where he lived for 31 years before wandering south.
He served as an Aircraft Crew Chief with the legendary Maineiacs in the 101st Air Refueling Wing in Bangor, ME. After seeing Germany, Kuwait, Qatar, Hawaii, Guam, Alaska, and Israel, he chose to escape the -30 degree winter temperatures that blister the northeast runways.
A lifelong reader, Matt grew up on dog-eared paperbacks and stories that earned their place—tales of hardship, courage, and quiet grit. Gun Tales offered something rare: a place where story still matters, and where a man who’s spent a life reading can finally step across the firelight and add some of his own.
As a licensed private pilot and co-founder of Gun Tales, Matt splits his time between the skies, the keyboard, and the desert. His background spans everything from aircraft maintenance to racecar driving, from podcast production to marksmanship.
He’s likely to be building a new aviation training software, fabricating parts for an experimental aircraft, or quietly exploring the West Texas backcountry by air.