Today's Gun Magazines

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.455_Hunter

.455_Hunter

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Once becoming active in shooting as a young teenager in 1989 or so, I started getting G&A and American Rifleman. For the next 15 years or so, the anticipation for the next issue was high, along with the expectation of interesting and varied content. I even subscribed to additional ones for various time periods. Nowadays, I have have dropped them all, because for me, I can expect any given issue to consist mostly of the following:

- The new YA (Yet Another) model polystriker from XYZ.
- An amazing low-cost, push-feed, matte-finished bolt gun with 33% more plastic parts than before!
- Trust Us: This new rifle cartridge is really different than the existing ones with the same ballistics.
- Why 9mm is all you need, and other calibers are stupid.
- How to customize your AR-15 better than your friends and land that hot boy.
- All copper bullets with plastic tips make your traditional hunting ammo look fat.

Do people even buy gun magazines anymore?
 
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I subscribed to a few...one or two for many. Many years...even back to Mel Tappan days.
Not anymore....only magazine I still get is Backwoodsman because I get it for free.
They print your articles, you get a free years subscription!
 
.455_Hunter said:
Do people even buy gun magazines anymore?
Click to expand...

I haven't bought a printed magazine in at least 3 years, and those were the single copies picked up in a grocery store.

I haven't had a subscription in perhaps 7 to 10 years, even though subscription prices of the big name magazines dropped to really cheap levels for a while.

If I was new into guns, and wanted something I could read without needing batteries or a wireless connection, I certainly would have a few subscriptions coming to the house.

But I'm no longer new to guns, I am pretty much set in my ways regarding guns now, and I can find whatever else I need on the 'net.
 
I look at them on the rack and if an article interests me I will buy a copy. I no longer subscribe to any. I still enjoy thumbing through each month’s issue of American Rifleman since I am a life member of the NRA, but I don’t save very many of them.
 
I still get several. They pile up in the "library" and I occasionally take one to read while hunting since I don't get phone/internet service in the woods.
They have deteriorated in quality of content, but we have grown accustomed to instant-gratification due to the internet and they pale in comparison in regard to scope.
 
I get American Rifleman from the NRA and I recently subscribed to Firearms News (used to be Shotgun News)

I used to get Guns & Ammo, GUNS, Gun World, Field & Stream for years but I got so sick of AR this and AR that and the 1911 “Oh my gawd...yet another 1911 you must have” articles that I just gave up. If it wasn’t 1911 related it was polymer 9mm related. Everything wood and steel and revolver vanished.

Now I don’t mind ARs, 1911s and polymer 9mm articles but every freakin’ month?!
 
I don't subscribe to any. If I see one on a magazine stand with an article I find interesting or the general content is (meaning 19th century guns) I'll buy it .... but often it seems the newer mags are there to hype some uninteresting new gun or gun gizmo.
 
.455_Hunter said:
- The new YA (Yet Another) model polystriker from XYZ.
- An amazing low-cost, push-feed, matte-finished bolt gun with 33% more plastic parts than before!
- Trust Us: This new rifle cartridge is really different than the existing ones with the same ballistics.
- Why 9mm is all you need, and other calibers are stupid.
- How to customize your AR-15 better than your friends and land that hot boy.
- All copper bullets with plastic tips make your traditional hunting ammo look fat.
Click to expand...
Buy a gun magazine??? Naw, I can read all of the above listed things on gun forums on the internet.:neener: And I "have to have" internet access anyway - I don't know how I ever got by before email, ordering things I don't need by using my credit card, and examining my bank account daily.:D
 
I get "American Rifleman" as an NRA member perk, but I wouldn't subscribe to it if I wasn't a member. Any information I want to know about firearms I look up for myself on the internet and principably on YouTube.
 
I get the 'old' Shotgun news,they have AMAZING articles and they are totally insightful & well written.
I also get the American Rifleman from my lifetime membership in the NRA.
Still getting American Hangunner as it was too cheap to pass up.
BUT,feeling your pain as I see FAR too many repeating garbage in many [ yes ,even ones I get ].
You left out THE article that I see "is the 1911 dead" and of course "the 45acp V/S 9MM"..
 
I get a few but it's mostly because of the cheap offers I get sent.

2 years of Guns And Ammo for $8? Why not?

Gun Tests is good though
 
I received American Rifleman off and on through the years. Since things have gone largely digital I no longer receive mail from the NRA. I can still go through the magazine at friends houses if there is anything on the cover that looks interesting. About the closest thing to a "subscription" I get these days is "The Blue Press". I usually really like the reviews of historical firearms they print.
 
I think reading gun magazines is something you do when you’re new to the hobby. Those articles are interesting the first time you read them, but like the OP said you can only read essentially the same thing so many times before it gets old.
 
One of the G&A highlights I remember was Gary James's complete assessment of the US Military's cartridge firing handguns- from the ball & cap conversions and Remington single-shots all the way to the M9. Every month was a new treat, like putting the .38 Colt New Army through its paces, instead of the normal one sentence summary of "the action sucked and the round lacked stopping power".
 
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They are good for keeping you up to speed on the latest models, cartridges, and....ads.

That is not worthless but I still don’t get any regularly. If something looks interesting, I will pick it up at the newsstand.
 
I also used to grab most of the gun mags, dating back to the 70's. Like many I guess I've become jaded. I miss my old friends, most notably Skeeter Skelton and Bill Jordan (never knew them personally I might add).

Don't need any of the new "hot" rifle rounds. They don't kill game any deader out to 300+ yards than those that have been around for 50-100 years.

I'm down to three subscriptions. As a NRA life member I get the American Rifleman. I also get Handloader and American Handgunner. I may drop Handloader since I'm settled on what cartridges I use and the loads for them, I don't experiment anymore.
 
.455_Hunter said:
Once becoming active in shooting as a young teenager in 1989 or so, I started getting G&A and American Rifleman. For the next 15 years or so, the anticipation for the next issue was high, along with the expectation of interesting and varied content. I even subscribed to additional ones as for various periods. Nowadays, I have have dropped them all, because for me, I can expect any given issue to consist mostly of the following:

- The new YA (Yet Another) model polystriker from XYZ.
- An amazing low-cost, push-feed, matte-finished bolt gun with 33% more plastic parts than before!
- Trust Us: This new rifle cartridge is really different than the existing ones with the same ballistics.
- Why 9mm is all you need, and other calibers are stupid.
- How to customize your AR-15 better than your friends and land that hot boy.
- All copper bullets with plastic tips make your traditional hunting ammo look fat.
Click to expand...
Boy does that sum them up!

My experience parallels yours. All of them for a while, now I'm down to "Rifle" and "Handloader". And I must say, I liked them better under the old management. Who retired and I cannot blame him for that. Many of the old writers are dead; I'm still a bit peeved over that.

I think the reason for the cycle of 'read them all' - 'they're boring' is due to the magazines recycling much the same thing over a number of years. I don't need another "593 loads for the .297 Whiffenpoof" article. For someone that has a new Whiffenpoof, it is probably interesting and useful. As far as I can tell, the reason for the recycling is the publishers feel most readers are fairly dumb. I can remember articles in the American Rifleman with footnotes crediting the sources. Sources?

Much like Mr. Mayberry, I'm settled on certain cartridges.
 
we've reached an interesting state of stagnation. Technology has reached its peak, so now we're left with illogical and stupid changes.
Buy this! Its disgustingly heavy!
Buy this! Its European, and expensive
Buy this! They bribed government officials to get a real contract!
Impingement sucks! Get a piston! Ignore what you see, believe me, I talked to a navy seal!
Fun stuff.
 
I still get a few, but it doesn't take long to read them.

For all the complaints about yet another 9mm striker fired article, or yet another AR15 article:

I seem to remember in the 80s it was yet another 1911 article, and another feature about a steel and walnut bolt action.
Really, they all looked alike....
 
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