Townsend Whelen (March 6, 1877 – December 23, 1961), called "Townie" by his friends, was an American hunter, soldier, writer, outdoorsman and rifleman. Whelen was a colonel in the United States Army, and a prolific writer on guns and hunting, writing over two thousand magazine articles in his career. He was a contributing editor to Sports Afield, American Rifleman, Field and Stream, Outdoor Life, Guns & Ammo, and other magazines, and author of Suggestions to Military Riflemen, The American Rifle, Telescopic Rifle Sights, The Hunting Rifle, Small Arms and Ballistics, Hunting Big Game (of which he was the editor), Amateur Gunsmithing, and Why Not Load Your Own. An autobiography, Mr. Rifleman, was begun by Whelen, but finished by his family and published after his death. Whelen edited and wro