Best Gun Magazine (For Reading)

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40SWHero51

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All,

I tried using the "Search" to accomplish this but it is hard to pull up threads about actual magazines for reading and not magazines for holding ammo.

Any recommendations for the best gun magazine covering handguns to shotguns to rifles?

Thanks.
 
IMO: Very hard to beat Rifle & Reloader magazines.
http://www.riflemagazine.com/home/index.cfm?CFID=4893832&CFTOKEN=24825612

Most all the rest are the same writers, selling the same $3000 dollar Wilson Comat 1911's, and anything else they can sell advertising to.

There is more factual info in one issue of Rifle or Reloader then 12 months of the other rags.

Even the NRA's American Rifleman has become rehashed stories by the same writers who write for Guns & Ammo, Shooting Times, and others.
Along with lots of adds for ATV's, Impotency pills and Extender creams!

rcmodel
 
"Along with lots of ads for ATV's, Impotency pills and Extender creams!":confused:

What! I didn't read the whole thing???:what:


But then reliable sources indicate I don't need them anyway:neener:
 
I haven't noticed any penis pills in American Rifleman but I am definitely getting sick of the Mitchell's Mausers ads. These guys are brazen swindlers, charging hundreds of dollars for refinished Yugo Mausers (not even real German ones). They also once sold Mosin Nagant sniper rifles with scopes for like two thousand dollars, and then sold the accessory kit (a greasy oil bottle, a useless pouch and a bayonet) seperately for ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS. Bloody savages!
 
I like Shotgun News. It is exactly what is says it is, A gun sales publication. Others are sales publications masquerading as something else.

In an addition to being a sales publication SGN also has some very interesting and informative articles.
 
rcmodel

Most all the rest are the same writers, selling the same $3000 dollar Wilson Comat 1911's, and anything else they can sell advertising to.

There is more factual info in one issue of Rifle or Reloader then 12 months of the other rags.

Even the NRA's American Rifleman has become rehashed stories by the same writers who write for Guns & Ammo, Shooting Times, and others.
Along with lots of adds for ATV's, Impotency pills and Extender creams!

rcmodel

I've wondered about this. The only mag I currently get is American Rifleman and I must say, it's a rare issue that has a gun reviewed that costs less than $1000. To some of us, a grand is multiple guns (or even a collection :eek: ).

I'll have to look at RoR.

Thanks.
 
+1 for rifle and reloading. also i'd like to nominate american handgunner. clint smith, mike venturino, john connor, and john taffin put out a great magizine. i buy every issue without flipping through it.
 
Thread may as well end now, as far as I am concerned. Rifle, Handloader, and American Handgunner are as good as you're gonna get. The rest have their pluses and minuses, but on the whole are not worth the money.

Worth pointing out, though, that most if not all of these magazines go through cycles. Shooting Times was once a real favorite but slipped badly starting about ten years ago, and is now nearly worthless. Rifle and Handloader have also been downhill the last few years, IMO, but are still very good. And American Handgunner has actually gotten better within the last decade, again IMO. So it pays to review things once in a while.
 
I only subscribe to Handloader, Guns, American Handgunner (Love Venturino's articles) and American rifleman. Used to subscribe to Guns & Ammo and shooting times, but they have really turned to crap magazines. Compare one from the early 90's (When I was young) and one of todays and you will see a big difference. I'm starting not to care much for American rifleman but its included with my NRA membership, so I give it a quick look-over when it comes, but thats about it. All others I read front to back.
 
American Handgunner has slipped badly - that's why I let my subscription expire. It's devolved to "Custom Gunsmith H's 1911" (just like every other custom 1911), "Knifemaker N's Cutlery" (this is what magazine?), and occasionally an article. The columns are worthwhile, though.

For my money, I'd start with Small Arms Review. Follow with Man at Arms, Muzzle Blasts, or Shooting Sports USA.
 
Just pondering...What if the rags haven't slipped but you gained traction?

I remember as a kid eating every morsel of truth that any gun writer cared to drop from his ambrosia laden pen. Nowadays, I trust a few manuals and enjoy the porn in the rest while drinking coffee at Barnes and Noble.

I get American Rifleman because it comes with the NRA membership otherwise, I would get none. Just read them for free.

40SWHero51, do you have access to a Barnes and Noble? A decent library? Heck, even a Wal-Mart? I remember sitting in the aisle of a 7-Eleven reading gun mags--nowadays you can sit in an OS chair sippin' you darn lattes at B and N without spending a dime exceptin' your frou-frou coffee drink.
 
I like GUNS and American Handgunner.

Combat Handguns isn't terribly entertaining, but it has some useful info.

I love Surplus Firearms, which seems to come out at unpredictable intervals.
 
Combat Handguns isn't terribly entertaining, but it has some useful info.
I know its not what the OP was looking for, but Combat Handguns is my favorite gun mag for sure. A little bit of everything in it, though I wish it would have a less serious article every so often to get that perfect blend.
 
Mags

Used to subscribe to several mags for years and now am down to the American Rifleman, and only then because it's free with membership. There was once a time when I couldn't wait for the arrival of the next issue of say Shooting Times, Guns and Ammo or Handgunner, but no more. They have all gone way down hill at least as far as my pocketbook is concerned, not worth the paper they are printed on.
Pat
 
American Handgunner & Guns: The true gunritin' gods write for these magazines.

Rifle & Handloader: Has useful information. One of the gunritin' gods (John Barsness) left and is now with Guns.

Shotgun News: Resource for my C&R habit.

I also get American Rifleman by virtue of NRA membership.
 
Gun Tests - All testing is done by "non-pro gunnies", they don't sell any advertising, all firearms reviewed are bought by the publication for testing, and resold after the review is done.

SWAT - Lot of good info in here. All testing seems more "real world" oriented.


Combat Handguns - Admittedly the "Anti - Gun Test", :eek: sells ads, professional writers, etc. but I like Mas Ayoob's column,as well as a few others, and it always has a plethora of reviews and pics.
 
I subscribe to ShootingTimes, the NRA (American Hunter), and Guns & Ammo. G&A was a cheap subscription, so I doubt I'll renew for normal price.
 
The OP is now discovering what most of us already knew: ask for a magazine recommendation on THR and before the first page is through, every magazine published will be mentioned.

So the library recommendation is a good one. Maybe you're looking for solid technical information on rifles. Maybe you're looking for big glossy handgun pictures. Maybe you're looking for page after page of "Best gun for killing people, and how to most effectively kill people with a gun". In that light it's kind of hard to recommend a "best" magazine without knowing where your interests lie.
 
Rifle & Handloader: Has useful information. One of the gunritin' gods (John Barsness) left and is now with Guns.

I subscribed to both of those mags almost entirely on the strength of Barsness and Seyfried. When Seyfried left I quit the subs but still picked up most issues at the newsstand. With Barsness gone I really haven't seen the point in either magazine anymore. The editor has always struck me as a loudmouth with a chip on his shoulder, and some of the staff writers haven't had anything valuable to say for as long as I've been reading. Without Barsness and Seyfried, we're left with Dave Scovill's bragging, Stan Trzoniec's press releases, and yet another Mike Venturino article about BPCR. Still better than just about any other gun magazine, but...
 
I buy mags when they have things in them that interest me. I don't subscribe to any mags except America's First Freedom. The first thing I read in that is The Armed Citizen. I really hope the NRA is keeping an archive of just these somewhere. There have been several times when I wished I could have just emailed a link to such a repository to someone who told me that guns are too dangerous for anyone but the police or army to have.
 
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