I've seen James has posted some about the late Mr. Al Goerg and I to am a huge fan of his (reading about the Brown Bear with a scoped mod.29 was what made me start into handgun hunting). I think he sould be better known among the modern guys (I know JD,Larry Kelly,Mr. Hampton,Gary, and the rest have done alot but I think it was Al that really blazed the trail for modern handgun hunting (just look at his 257 rolling block and you can see where Warren Center got the contender idea from. He had all these ideas in the late 50's to early 60's and it makes you think how much gear we would have today (the last article on him by Ben East in Outdoor Life has pictures found in the plane wreckage shows both moose and caribou with his XP-100 rebarreled to 6 mm and this was in 1965) think how far things could have gone. I don't know if it can be done but maybe we can post some of his old stories or pictures on here somewhere.

That's a great idea.

Al Goerg truly was a pioneer in the handgun hunting field, he just seemed to be way ahead of his time. He had to figure out mounts for his scopes, he built & designed holsters that are still being used today, he was using rifle cartridges in his modified Rolling Block handguns, just a lot of inovations that the rest of us can be thankful for. He is mentioned in the Handgun Hunting book put out by J. D. Jones & Larry Kelly.
Perhaps John Taffin would be the best source for any detailed info on Al's life & hunting exploits.

Dick

I love reading of his exploits,there is no doubt he was ahead of his time!

Never heard of Al. Larry Kelly,J.D.Jones,Hal Swigget; these are the names I know. It was Larry Kelly who got me started in handgun hunting.

It was the same for me 348. Reading the Al Geog story about the bear and the partridge. He really is an unsung hero of handgun hunting. If you don't have the book "Hunting For Handgunners", you should get it while you can still find it.

Larry Kelly and JD Jones have a chapter on Al Georg in their hunting with Handguns Book,as has been said he really was before his time,he seemed to have a vision of what he wanted to do.

Thanks guys I thought some of you might be fans of Mr. Goerg like I am. MikefromPa you should really look into some of Al's work he really was why we have what we have today. Just to give you some ideas of what he did, took brown bear with the scoped mod. 29 but also had his own bullet (drilled out with a brass screw in the hollow point back then all 44 mag. loads were lead SWC)took black bear with a scoped 224 K-chuck S&W. scoped a cap'n ball revolver and took both elk and black bear with it and also saw the specialty pistol idea like rebarreling the xp to 6mm and making a rolling block 257 roberts handgun all scoped of course,and many other things all before 1965.The end is really sad he and his pilot went down in a bush plane in Alaska comming back from Kodiak.The camera bag was found and there were 100's of photos but no one will ever no the story behind them but it looks like he used his 6mm XP to good affect and also took a good brown bear with what looks to be a mark V Weatherby by what Outdoor Life showed in there article on him.

We see you are a worshipper of Al but just because some of us aren't doesn't mean that we have to be; many of us got started into handgun hunting by other means (and hunters). The Mark V Weatherby last I heard was a rifle...

MHO

It’s all right. I still own and use rifles. LOL I do prefer a good shortgun, but when it comes down to putting meat on the table I have been known to take both.

Does anyone recall the title of Al Goerg's book (maybe Handgun Hunting?) and the publisher?

500WE Al's book was called Pioneering Handgun Hunting and from what I've heard he spent the $$$ and published it himself (that's why there aren't many around because after the crash that was it and last I checked they go for about $200.00).
bothbarrels- yes the Weatherby mark V is a rifle (and a great rifle at that I took my first whitetail with one and there very special to me) but I was just giving some info on the article Outdoor Life did about his last hunt all they had were the photos so it's anyones guess what the hunts were all about. It's everones opnion who they look up to but if you know anything about what this man did and never got any credit for it realy is sad.

Bothbarrels.......

[url] http://www.thegunsource.com/item/56461_Weatherby_Hand_Guns_Pistols_WBY_CFP_223REM_16_BL_TAN.aspx [url]

We're all friendly here.

There are two 308's down here for 5000.00 + a piece...

TC,

$500 or $5,000 each?

lol. I think he got carried away.

5000.000... ... ...

If they were 500 I would have bought them both already. LOL

They are set up for steal shooting and the wood on them is out of this world. (This gun store is known for being a little high. I think they even missed their own mark on this one. But, you should see some of the other guns they have. They have quite a few “real” collector pieces. )

Ouch............

Doc

Ditto!

348,I`am in complete agreement with your words about Al Goerg. Over the last 20 years I`ve tried to locate every story he wrote and I`ve put together quite a collection. If you give me a little time I`ll try and put together a readable article (with plenty of pictures)including details of his last hunt that lead to the untimely plane crash.....

That would be cool James. Appreciate you taking the time to do this for us.

James that sounds great. A few years ago I tracked down his two sons and one of them Richard was his backup (with a 270 rifle) on the Brown Bear and he also took the pic. that's in the book. Said the bear surprised them at lunch time and Al hit it with one of the "brass screw bullets" near the spine from the scoped 29 and it ran into the brush a little ways and that was it the first scoped 44 mag. brown bear. He really was way ahead of his time just think what he could have done (might have been the first to hunt africa with a handgun) had he lived.

I've had the Hunting For Handgunners book for a long time, and always enjoyed reading Al Goerg's section in that book. Also have a collection of Outdoor Life articles that includes the story of Al's last hunt.

I would be extremely interested in any of Al's writing that can be provided here or in print form.

Thanks for starting a topic on Mr. Goerg.

Brian.

James,

Great idea!! I have some articles and his books in my collection, as well as an order form for his holsters, etc., signed by Al. Perhaps we could compile articles from the members of HHM.

Doc

Great...

I just ordered a copy of "Pioneering Handgun Hunting". If it's alright with the owners of this site, I would gladly transcribe the book so all here can read it.

Brian.

WheelchairBandit: sound like a great idea if you can. That's the idea I was looking into. The only thing I don't know about are the laws. I have some of the older articles and pics. and was going to try and scan and post them as photos but I can't find out if that will cause a legal issue.I know there old articles before '65 but a friend told me outdoor life,Guns&ammo,Fur Fish and Game,etc,.. still own the rights so that's what I'm trying to find out.

Fellows, Thats what kept me from posting much of what I have..

If you click on the "about" section and read what Gary say`s about submitting an article and pictures:
"if you are not the original owner of a photo do not post it because its a copyright infringment"

How about just the text? What if I make it into a file and e-mail it to those who are interested?

As far as I know, Goerg's book was self published and any copyright on it has long since passed.

Brian.

Brian, I scanned and sent a few of the members a number of his articles in the past and your idea sounds great for those interested.

Unfortantly, my scanner is about 15 years old and won't work with any of the computers I have. I'm going to have to type this one out, which isn't a huge deal as I'm a fairly good typist. My only concern is how to format it with the pictures. If I can figure out how to import pictures into a Word document, I'll be golden.

Now, I just have to wait for the book to get here. I've been sitting by the mailbox for days.

Brian.

Brain,

I have 2 hard copies of Pioneering... . Let me know when you get your copy and transcribe it into Word. I'm not sure who holds the copyright for Al's stuff.

Doc

Brian,

Sorry about mistyping your name. I, unlike you, am a lousy typist.

Doc

Doc,
Don't worry about it. When my father filled out my birth certificate, he spelled my name "Brain". If it wasn't for some nice nurse pointing it out to him, I would have been branded for life.

I will let you know when my copy of Pioneering gets here.

Brian.

Got the book in the mail about 20 minutes ago.

This is gonna be a serious task to transcribe, mainly because it has a ton of photos which are intigrated with the text. This might take me a minute.

BTW, my copy came with an old brochure for Goerg's holsters and bullet conversion kits.......signed by Mrs. Goerg. Also a note from Al's son apologizing for the raise in price of various items, circa 1972.

Brian.

I read the first 1/4 of the book last night. This book is positively fascinating. The story about Goerg following up a wounded grizzly bear with a 44 Magnum in each hand is classic.

Brian.

Brian if you don't mind me asking,what did you have to pay for Goerg's book?

Cool that you got the old brochure with it.

$200 plus shipping.

It was worth it.

Brian.

Thanks Norm