American Handgunner Magazine?

BinRat said:

I just got an offer in the mail to subscribe to American Handgunner magazine for $14.77 for 2 years, or $35.00 for 5 years. Even knowing that there are only 6 issues per year, that's a pretty good deal. That is the only gun magazine I've ever subscribed to and that was about 4 decades ago. I'm pretty much only into handguns, so it fit me pretty well back then and I liked it. I don't recall why I quit subscribing to it.

My inquiry is whether the magazine is still worth subscribing to. I've seen a lot of references in threads over the years that really trash the gun magazines so I'm asking what you think about this one in particular.

Thanks for your input.

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Top notch magazine! At one point I subscribed to about a dozen gun magazines. For the last 10-15 years I'm down to just two - American Handgunner and Combat Handguns.

Have they ever done a gun review that said the gun they were testing is junk? I mostly gave up on the magazines when I realized that I had read hundreds of gun reviews and every one of them said the gun was super awesome. The magazine writers seem to be the only ones in the world that never got a gun that they do not much care for.

It’s one of many gun magazines I get delivered to the house .

That’s a good deal, I hope they offer it to those of us who already subscribe!

Stay safe!

AH is great, good price on that.

Gun Tests. No thanks, I understand no paid ads etc but during the time I did subscribe everything that was tested was junk. EVERYTHING WAS JUNK??? Every time o got a new issue all items tested were no good. I have run into problems over the years with guns I bought but that was the exception not the norm.
After watching GT slam all products I just gave up on it.

My opinion, it’s worth what you paid for it.

I'd say it's a great deal, but that's only remembering all the years I subscribed, probably twenty years or better. But I haven't subscribed in over ten years, now. It was simply the best of all my magazines.

BinRat said:

My inquiry is whether the magazine is still worth subscribing to.

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I subscribe to a lot of magazines and, when it comes to firearm rags, American Handgunner is one of my favorites. Other favorites are Rifle, Handloader, GunTests,The Shooting Sportsman and Guns. I've been a subscriber to Guns & Ammo and Shooting Times since the early sixties and still find them interesting and worthwhile.

Guns & Ammo and American Handgunner were the last two magazines I subscribed to aside from the American Rifleman and the Front Sight that are the result of lifetime memberships. I really enjoyed American Handgunner. The only thing I didn't like about them was their habit to sent renewal notices and make me think my subscription was near expiration.

Once, when Devel magazines were unobtainium, I heard a rumor of another eight round .45 1911 magazine and called to see if they could point me to the manufacturer. The managing editor called me back to try to help. Can't ask for better service than that. I'm now so used to internet forums I doubt I'd ever subscribe to another print mag.

My favorite!

I've been gettiing AH for what seems like
forever....still one of my favorites!

-And the Kindle edition of AH is $15.00.

Save the trees - for gun stocks!

Bill Raby said:

Have they ever done a gun review that said the gun they were testing is junk? I mostly gave up on the magazines when I realized that I had read hundreds of gun reviews and every one of them said the gun was super awesome. The magazine writers seem to be the only ones in the world that never got a gun that they do not much care for.

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You're never going to see one of those articles and for myriad reasons, probably not the ones you think. First, everybody wants to see a negative article until it's about one of their pet play pretties. Second, nobody is making "junk". Any bad samples are not representative of the product as a whole. So problem guns get replaced or the article is not written. Third, magazines rely on ad revenue to stay afloat. Everyone wants cheap magazines but then decries them for the advertising aspect. Which is to say, people really just want to complain and not actually think about something before sharing their opinion. Fourth, what do people expect? Do they expect to be able to relinquish their own judgement and let a magazine writer do it for them? Personally, I look to magazines for information and inspiration. I use my own experience and powers of deductive reasoning to render judgement.

I get 5-6 mags a month. American Handgunner is my favorite.

The Nov/Dec 2018 issue arrived today.

CraigC said:

You're never going to see one of those articles and for myriad reasons, probably not the ones you think. First, everybody wants to see a negative article until it's about one of their pet play pretties. Second, nobody is making "junk". Any bad samples are not representative of the product as a whole. So problem guns get replaced or the article is not written. Third, magazines rely on ad revenue to stay afloat. Everyone wants cheap magazines but then decries them for the advertising aspect. Which is to say, people really just want to complain and not actually think about something before sharing their opinion. Fourth, what do people expect? Do they expect to be able to relinquish their own judgement and let a magazine writer do it for them? Personally, I look to magazines for information and inspiration. I use my own experience and powers of deductive reasoning to render judgement.

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I can remember some time back reading an article by, I think, JD Jones, that totally bashed the new S&W 625. If it wasn't Jones it was the Magnaport guy. Lots of flack from that article. Funny, I had bought one and it had none of the flaws noted. Mas Ayoob has been hard on the 29 Smith a couple of times as I remember him writing that he had to have three, one to shoot, one for backup and one in for repair. You don't see much critical these days.

Dirk Pitt said:

AH is great, good price on that.

Gun Tests. No thanks, I understand no paid ads etc but during the time I did subscribe everything that was tested was junk. EVERYTHING WAS JUNK??? Every time o got a new issue all items tested were no good. I have run into problems over the years with guns I bought but that was the exception not the norm.
After watching GT slam all products I just gave up on it.

My opinion, it’s worth what you paid for it.

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I would disagree with your characterization being a subscriber for over ten years. Gun Tests is rightfully nitpicky--that is what I buy them for rather than affirmation of what I bought or want to buy. The overall grade for a firearm though is what you take away from it. A would be a good buy for most folks, B, has some issues that might or might not turn off people. C or worse, be cautious as the problems are usually function, ammo suitability, parts quality, or some other fairly major issue. The nits that they pick (apart from guns that don't function properly) are the individual likes and dislikes of their panel of reviewers. Some of these I agree with and others I don't--but they lay it all out for the reader to consider.

They are not perfect. I have firearms that I disagree with Gun Tests about within about one letter grade. But, I've also avoided most of the poorly rated ones in Gun Tests' articles after confirming that via comments on gunblogs etc. Most of their consideration of milsurp arms, I consider to be shallow and less informed as they try to use their standard rating system on them and accessory/ammo/silencers coverage was weak until recently. Recently, they have introduced rating self defense ammo which needs a standardized approach and they do not overcover the 1911 custom market or do much in really high end rifles. Most of the firearms that they test can be found used or new in the average LGS or available via order. Aside from their editor page, they largely avoid politics which might also please some folks. They also now have an archive of all of their prior reviews by firearm/caliber/etc. cued up for subscribers and a searchable database of all of their articles. Along with Handloader, I find Guntests one of the few mags that I find reading cover to cover. If I didn't handload oddball cartridges, I probably would drop Handloader too.

I have subscribed to just about every gun mag being printed today. I love to read, especially about guns, and I go to bed early and sit and read. Every mag has a writer I like and some I don't. I stopped getting Gun Test after about 5 years mostly because the biggest percentage of the guns were guns I wasn't interested in. Supposedly Conner is on "sabbatical." Whatever that means