Breakfast with Legends: Winchester’s Last Writers Seminar
- Apr 28
- 8 min read
by Kevin E. Steele
Kevin Steele is a publisher for the Outdoor Sportsman Group; the outfit that brings us Guns & Ammo, Handguns, and Shooting Times, among others. And my connection to Kevin goes back to my earliest days as a gun writer. I sold my first articles to Handguns magazine and Kevin was an assistant editor at Guns & Ammo. Before long, Kevin was made editor of Guns & Ammo and was kind enough to invite me to write for that magazine as well. That was many moons ago and we have been friends ever since. One of the things that has made Kevin so successful, besides good business sense, is that he is a lifelong gun enthusiast and hunter. He has hunted all over the world and has the reputation of being a good shot and fun to be in camp with...one characteristic being as important as the other in my opinion. Having been there and done that, a writer doesn't have to explain much to Mr. Steele; he understands from experience. One of my favorite Kevin Steele memories is when he spotted me at SHOT and walked right through the middle of an active video shoot to say hello. But I guess I'll have to save that story for another time. Kevin is a good 'un...but please don't tell him I was bragging on him. —Sheriff Jim Wilson
It was mid-November 1978. I had been on the job as the editor of GUNS magazine for just eight months as I found myself on a jet traveling from San Diego to St. Louis. This was to be my first national assignment, and to say I was somewhat trepidatious would be an understatement on a grand scale. Barely twenty-four years old, my journalism school training and my lifelong passion for firearms and hunting had gotten me the job. The event I was on my way to cover would be my debut into the rarefied world of gun writer royalty. My stomach was in knots.
