By Craig Boddington
John Lazzeroni's long and short magnums are the fastest of their kind. His rifles are no slouches either.
I think it was 1965 when I first met Roy Weatherby. He flew into Kansas City to speak to the Kansas Rifle and Pistol Association meeting, and I got to accompany my uncle, Art Popham, who knew Roy and acted as his "escort." I was a gun-crazy kid, and I had just taken my first big game animal that year. I must have bombarded the poor guy with questions while he tried to prepare for his speech.
Fifteen years later I was a fledgling writer, and Roy Weatherby was extremely kind to me, and I thought the world of him. He worshipped at the shrine of velocity. I don't agree that velocity is everything--especially 40 years ago, when so few bullets would hold up under increased bullet speed--but I truly believe that Roy believed. He was a zealot, and our business has been much the poorer since his passing.
It has been nearly 20 years since I met John Lazzeroni. I didn't like him at first. He can be brash, impudent, abrasive and stubborn. But like Roy Weatherby he is also a zealot. I recognized this early in our association and suspected I might be seeing some of the traits that Roy Weatherby might have displayed in the 1940s and '50s, so I gave "Lazz" more rope than I give most people I initially dislike.By Craig Boddington
John Lazzeroni's long and short magnums are the fastest of their kind. His rifles are no slouches either.
I think it was 1965 when I first met Roy Weatherby. He flew into Kansas City to speak to the Kansas Rifle and Pistol Association meeting, and I got to accompany my uncle, Art Popham, who knew Roy and acted as his "escort." I was a gun-crazy kid, and I had just taken my first big game animal that year. I must have bombarded the poor guy with questions while he tried to prepare for his speech.
Fifteen years later I was a fledgling writer, and Roy Weatherby was extremely kind to me, and I thought the world of him. He worshipped at the shrine of velocity. I don't agree that velocity is everything--especially 40 years ago, when so few bullets would hold up under increased bullet speed--but I truly believe that Roy believed. He was a zealot, and our business has been much the poorer since his passing.
It has been nearly 20 years since I met John Lazzeroni. I didn't like him at first. He can be brash, impudent, abrasive and stubborn. But like Roy Weatherby he is also a zealot. I recognized this early in our association and suspected I might be seeing some of the traits that Roy Weatherby might have displayed in the 1940s and '50s, so I gave "Lazz" more rope than I give most people I initially dislike.