Magazine Subscriptions and gun knowledge.

whughett said:

As an older individual and one who even had a collection of American Rifleman dating to the late 40s one could see the general format of magazine publishing evolve with printing technology especially in the photo layouts.

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I found a thrift store awhile back that had a bunch of old (1920's era) National Geographics. The thing that struck me was the ads back then had small drawings or pictures of the item and lots of commentary on it. 90% words, 10% image. Just about 180 degrees opposite of things now.
As for why I read magazines back then was mostly entertainment, not the hyper technical details. I don't care if the hammer of a gun I'm considering is 1 or 1.5 foot pounds of energy when striking the firing pin. Back then reading Skeeter's column was like those bull sessions in the clubhouse of the gun club after a couple of hours of range time. It was a chance to sit and hear from someone with vastly more experience relate tales about guns or gun related things.
Everyone reads for different reasons. I haven't found a gun magazine lately that I care for. Mostly I find I don't like the splashy layouts of, not just gun magazines, but most magazines I come across.
It's all personal taste.

I subscribe to a few magazine publications that are gun related. I do not consider them super valuable information, rather entertainment. I call them comic books. For gun knowledge I have a reference library and the internet. As others have said they are two mutually exclusive things. The most valuable thing I get from the magazines are new products hitting the market.

No secret that the gun publications run on paid advertising- more now than in the past but, they Never Have been the gun-culture equivalent of Consumer Reports. It is typical to report occasional mechanical problems, malfunctions and even a trip back to the factory but " This Gun S**ks!" existed among print-zines only in the old Engledrum GUN TESTS magazines which he launched and maintained without gun company participation in the early 1980s- stopping only when there was a general improvement in Industry Quality Control He was a special case as he became angered when his delightful new,much-save-for Smith 59 would not even function on S&W (Fiocchi) ammunition - or anything else. A decade and more ago, an online GunZine appeared because the publisher had gotten tired of never seeing any negative gun reviews. Now, having attracted industry participation, he refrains from publishing them himself.
If a sample gun simply suks too hard for words, the usual practice is to return it un-written to the manufacturer with the somewhat sincere promise to take another look if/when/if ever they get it right.
Among the current crop,American Handgunner has high production values, interesting subject matter and a publisher with wide interests that depart from the current mania for el-fake-o sub-machine guns. The American Rifleman maintains a substantial page count and a good array of technical, cultural and political content though the current issue contains an ominous insert from Wayne about drastic changes in the Organization.
Other periodicals are bleeding advertisers and, in most cases page-count as the two factors are directly related. Many traditiional advertisers are seeing less benefit from the print-zines when the readership seems to be going to
Independent Internet Practitioners.

Jo'se Ferrer as Toulouse-Lautrec in Moulin Rouge remarked that It is seldom a good thing to meet someone who's work you admire. Many of the old Gun writers were able to define themselves in print -where the effects of Alcohol and Arrogance-when they were present, were not apparent. This enabled them to become cultural icons and/or mythic heros. The recent and current writers are often capable, credible and entertaining but many are hampered by actual public contact and internet interaction with their readership.

whughett said:

As an older individual and one who even had a collection of American Rifleman dating to the late 40s one could see the general format of magazine publishing evolve with printing technology especially in the photo layouts. Ads got more frequent and glosser and the writer them selves started taking advantage of posing themselves in the photos of the wares they were featuring. With several writers the photo ops of them selves filled the pages more than the script.

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Not to mention the oft-repeated autobiography that frequently occupies more than half the article

bannockburn said:

Nowadays the only mag I read is Small Arms Review

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Ditto, but, I only subscribe to read it online []
I've never really considered it a "gun magazine" so much as a historical reference.

I used to get Gun Tests, was one of the early subscribers, but let that lapse. Their sample size was really one or two, and I can find a dozen reviews on almost everything on YT.

Technically, I still get AmRifleman, but, it's delivered to my folks' house--despite 6 attempts to get the address changed--so my nephew collects those up and reads them.

Technically, I still get AmRifleman, but, it's delivered to my folks' house--despite 6 attempts to get the address changed--so my nephew collects those up and reads them.[/QUOTE]

There's a lot of that sort of thing going on now. A friend paid his dues though I don't know if they cashed his check or not. His renewed card and magazine are nowhere to be seen.

I'm not ashamed to admit that I've always liked reading books and magazines. I don't have to agree with every writer's opinion to glean information from other articles in the magazine. I have hundreds of books on the shelves and lots of magazines in the attic and I can truthfully say that I enjoyed reading every one of them. As of now, I subscribe to the following magazines:

The American Rifleman
The Shooting Sportsman
Guns
The American Handgunner
The Handloader
Rifle
Gun Tests
Guns & Ammo
Shooting Times
Muzzleloader

I have an electronics subscription to both Rifle magazine and to Handloader magazine. Until recently I could download the PDF versions to my tablet and read them when I didn’t have access to the internet. They changed it so I can only read the magazines online.
I have maybe a month left on my subscription; I intend to not renew my subscription. I dislike the new format tremendously so they can do without my money.

I am a Life Member of the NRA thus American Rifleman each month but it is the NRA publication Shooting Illustrated that I find to be more interesting that I also get.

mec said:

Technically, I still get AmRifleman, but, it's delivered to my folks' house--despite 6 attempts to get the address changed--so my nephew collects those up and reads them.[/QUOTE]

There's a lot of that sort of thing going on now. A friend paid his dues though I don't know if they cashed his check or not. His renewed card and magazine are nowhere to be seen.

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I, too, am an NRA Life member. I signed up to receive the American Rifleman but I've been getting American Hunter for the last 20 years (over my frequent protests).

American Hunter is the epitome of the "never say a bad thing about a new gun - especially if it is made by an advertiser" magazines. I despise it.

I prefer historic weapons.
Most modern firearms don't qualify - at least in any positive way.

I just found out that the NRA DID cash the check my frien sent them but has not sent his magazine, renewal care or the NRA log gimme hat promised

It appears that the new Colt Pythons that arrived a the magazines at the same time they went out to the you-tube people (Hickock 45 et al) might be an eg of what you mention. Several of the websters found that the cylinders stopped turning at some point during their evaluations. Colt responded by at least mentioning some possible fixes for this and for double-action light strike failures to fire.
The examples that went to the gunzines were apparently perfect and more strongly built than the originals . No mention of any beta-test issues at all. . .

From a informational standpoint, I like the NRA Publication-Shooting Illustrated.

I still get a couple of gun magazines but do not go by the gun reviews as I have never seen a negative review in all the years I have subscribed to them. They do have some interesting articles in them.

Magazines will keep you somewhat up to date on what's going on in the firearms world.

That way you're not the last person to know something and think it's important enough to make a post about it, even though there are four other posts showing on the first page about the same thing.

I canceled all of my subscriptions after most of these magazines became half a magazine worth of full-page ads for crap I didn't care about, and the quality of writing decreased.

Got tired of gun magazines. Same old "best this best that, top 5 etc. Yes, some articles are nice but nothing you cannot find on the internet.
That said, Today, when I was leaving the LGS range, they were giving away
"The American Frontiersmen" magazine. One of the coolest mags I have seen. Lot of pages, almost like a small book. And all kinds of articles, pics of History, mountain, men, civil war relics, trap, and on and on.

I get American Rifleman. That’s it.

The rest of what I know comes from regularly checking manufacturers websites, checking into a few forums, and discussions on THR.

Free is better. It’s also more irritating though with some outlets.

I get American Rifleman due to life NRA membership.

When it arrives, I open it up and go to the dope bag section to see which $2500 AR or $3000 1911 they are pushing for the month, see what the latest article on WWII/Civil War/Korean War and the guns of that particular war is, ignore the 40% NRA event/propaganda, 40% advertising for guns they give glowing reviews for, then file it in a cabinet. It's my emergency TP supply and fire starter.

My dad used to write for Field & Stream in the 70's, then wrote a weekly newspaper column in the Outdoors section for decades. He was a huge fan of Hemingway and rubbed elbows with Elmer Keith and Jack O'Connor.

They have been replaced by tacticool "operators" with perfect beards, Oakley sunglasses, and too-tight T-shirts obsessed with trigger reset and BC at 800 yards. Pretty sure my old dad is in a perpetual state of annoyance by today's gun writers.

jmorris said:

It’s not always easy to find knowledge in magazines, if you already possess some. There are exceptions but when it feels like you are sitting in a timeshare sales pitch, every month when they arrive, it’s time to do something more productive with the money you spend, like give it to a panhandler so he can go buy a drink.

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3rd reply and the thread could have been closed.

I had several magazines I subscribed to at one time for a couple of decades. The last hold out subscription was Guns and Ammo. The day I read that Col Jeff Cooper had given up the ghost was the day I decided to let it run out. To me, without ‘Thoughts from the Gunner’s Guru’ it wasn’t worth my money anymore.

I’ll buy Handloader and anything that has something on the cover I’m interested in as a one-off purchase. No more subscriptions for me.

Guns And Ammo used to have the highest paid circulation. Page count for American Handgunner is still over 80.Guns, and Shooting times are at 73-74 pages down from 80. Advertisement sales govern the page count and it's a gun-sellers market now. Some Magazines have disappeared and other poor performers are carried by a higher-performing title (if the company has one.) The American Rifleman is a different story and remains as page-heavy as previous standards.
Does anybody know what the page count of Guns and Ammo is now?\
Thanks

I'm not a big believer for the most part in the "good old days" theory of things but for gun mags it's true! Back when Skeeker, The Colonel, Jordan, Askins, Carmicheal, O'Connor, etc wrote there was a lot of good information there and not just sales pitches.