In Memoriam: Mike Venturino
The Shooting World Has Lost A Gentleman
“Editor’s Note: This remembrance of Mike Venturino was penned by American Handgunner Editor Tom McHale. There is nothing significant I could add to this tribute so we are reprinting Tom’s great words.”
Today’s affirmation-driven world of “me, me, me!” does a lousy job of accurately portraying a man’s impact on this earth. Thankfully, our late colleague and friend, Mike “Duke” Venturino, never placed much stock in such nonsense.
As one ages and acquires hard-earned wisdom, it becomes clearer that accomplishments are fine and expected from a lifetime of productive work, often leaving an indelible mark on this spinning ball we call home. But I think the real measure of a man’s impact is the emotion that comes to mind when you think about him after his passing. What’s your immediate visceral reaction before you start thinking about what he did on this earth as measured by the hamster wheel of humanity?
When I think of Mike “Duke” Venturino, a singular thought comes to mind — without fail or distraction.
“He’s a real gentleman”
While seemingly simple and trite to those who don’t yet appreciate the real value of a well-lived life, I think it’s the epitome of a lifetime of wise investment in one’s life priorities and fellow man. What could be more impactful on those whose paths you cross than to model by actions, day in and day out, the attributes of a true gentleman?
RIP Duke
Mike passed away on June 9, 2024, at his Montana home after a short illness. From some of his last conversations with folks in his circle, he was thankful to get home from the hospital to spend his remaining days with his wife, Yvonne (you’ve seen her wonderful photos here for years) and their dogs. Add in family and the kind of close friends they breed in Montana and you know Duke was surrounded by those he cherished most.
I first met Mike many years ago at a Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade (SHOT) Show in Las Vegas. As I recall, he was in the Wolfe Publishing Group booth at the time, helping represent Handloader Ammunition Reloading Journal. He wrote quite a few stories for those folks over the years — and many other publications to boot. Anyway, this was long before I started to do any work with American Handgunner magazine or any of FMG’s other publications. As a relatively new freelance gun ’riter, Mike wouldn’t have known me from Adam. Even back in that day, he’d racked up decades of peer-respected work as documented by thousands of articles and a generous helping of books.
To a gentleman like Mike, that didn’t matter. We had a delightful conversation about, well, you guessed it, reloading and gun writing. By that time, he’d been in the writing business for 30 years or so and was an established rock star in the industry. No matter, Mike was as humble as they come while treating me as if I was the most important attendee to stop by the booth that day. I think describing someone as “humble” is just about the greatest compliment one can give, but that’s just me.
Reminiscing …
The folks here at FMG have been recalling a plethora of Duke stories and as you might have guessed by now, just about all of them continue to add to his stature as one of the industry’s true gentlemen.
Randy Moldé, our company President, has known Duke for decades and chimed in with a happy memory.
“I’ll always remember the time I got to shoot with Duke at Thunder Ranch in Oregon. He coached me through shooting his Sharps rifle with double-set triggers at a 1,000-yard target. He was knowledgeable, generous and a delight to be around. It was a true honor to have known him. He truly will be missed but his incredible wisdom captured in print and digital will live on.”
Randy is kinda the company guru about remembering and putting to good use the vast library of stuff we’ve produced over the years so you can count on Duke’s articles popping up in plenty of future newsletters and special editions. He left us quite a library to share, so we’ll do our part to keep his memory alive.
Roy Huntington, former Handgunner editor and publisher, had the pleasure of working with Mike for a couple of decades. In fact, it was Roy who lured Mike away from his previous columnist gig and brought him here. I’d say that worked out pretty well. Roy recalls that pivotal move.
“I recall reading Duke’s stories from the very early 1980s, although he was busy writing before that. His first-person, down-home tone and the fact he actually did the things he wrote about always made him the first articles I’d read in a new magazine. How amazed was I when, in the late ’90s, I was attending a “Pre-1900” class at the old Thunder Ranch, and Duke was there! He knew me from my writing for Handgunner and GUNS and we just hit it off right away. He was kind enough to sell me a Shilo Sharps he had just gotten for what he paid for it (when they could be sold for handsome profits in those days!), then showed me everything I needed to know about it.
“After becoming editor at Handgunner, I twisted Duke’s arm to leave G&A and Shooting Times and come to work with FMG. We never looked back.”
Shooting Iron
Looking back, the “Iron” part of Duke’s column’s title wasn’t much of a coincidence. He loved the metal stuff, primarily sixguns, but as many of you well know, he drifted into surplus handguns, rifles and full-auto historical weapons in more recent years.
Roy recalls some discussions about those non-metal guns. “Duke was happy because we let him write what he wanted to write about and would never force him to cover some ‘vile plastic gun,’ as he called them. I once asked him to do a shoot-off between a GLOCK (I heard the pause on the phone …) and a Colt Single Action Army. ‘You had me at the Colt,’ he laughed. ‘But I’m not sure how I would have told you no if it was just the GLOCK!’ The article was great fun, readers loved it and even Duke said, ‘Roy, I think those GLOCKs aren’t too bad after all.’ Shhh …
“Over the years, we had countless pleasant phone calls talking about all things ‘gun,’ and I always left the chats in a better mood. I’d try to wind up the call, and he’d invariably say, ‘Oh, wait a second, did I tell you what I found at the last gun show?’ Then the call went on.
“Duke was one of the kindest, biggest-hearted, most patient gents I’ve ever met. To read his articles is to know the man. Duke was always a bit shy and humble when a reader wanted to meet him at a show and afterward would almost always tell me, ‘You know, after all these years, I still can’t believe I’m lucky enough to be doing this.’ No, Duke, we were lucky enough to know you.”
Farewell and happy trails, Duke …
