Do You Ever Buy Gun Magazines At A Store?

[Charley C]

I took the Bride to the dialysis center today, and having the next 4 hours to kill, (and no one to bother me while I'm "killing time" ), I decided to run up the street about a block and check out the Sam's Club; Anytime I'm in Sam's, it seems like I always end up in "Books & Magazines".

While looking at the books, I picked up a copy of the real small paperback about "The Life And Legend Of Chris Kyle"; (I had already read about 4 or 5 pages of it at a Wal Mart, plus I read the book that CK wrote with a writer, but this small book is interesting, (and Sam's sells it for $6.36 ), so I put it in my cart and proceeded to magazines.

Sam's always has "Guns & Ammo", so I'm leafing through the May issue, see a story about Eric Poole visiting the factory in Sweden that makes Aimpoint RMRs, and being interested in red dots, threw it in the buggy; then, noticing the March issue of "G & A", and seeing (I forget what ), I threw it in too; (ever notice how time flies when you're reading interesting stuff? ) When I checked the clock, my 4 hours are ALREADY "UP"!

Mad dash to the check out, guy scans the book and two magazines, says, (to my delight ), $14.24! (G&A is $4.99 US, so I'm expecting more like 20 bucks ); surprise, surprise......at Sam's G&A is only a mere $3.47! I love bargains!

 

[ColtPythonElite]

Nope. I have been gifted G & A plus another gun rag subscription for years. I think with a renewal they work out to about a buck an issue. I rarely spend more than 10 minutes looking at on before it goes in the stove.

 

[Davek1977]

The interweb has largely destroyed the concept of paying money for magazines in my case. I can read all I possibly care to about any given subject with the press of a button or two at this point, rather than reading what the almighty advertising dollar dictate I read in the average gun mag.

 

[MedWheeler]

Every now and then, maybe three or four times a year, I'll pick up American Handgunner and/or Combat Handguns at Wal-Mart while grocery shopping. That's about it, and it's only because I don't take my computer to the bathroom..

 

[RetiredUSNChief]

I used to.

I pretty much quit that several years after reading one of those "It happened to me..." articles in one.

The article was (supposedly) written by some guy who worked in a local 7-11 Stop n' Rob place. Sure enough, it was about some guy who tried an armed robbery attempt on him.

So he pulled out his (fill in the blank detailed description of this handgun and caliber) and shot at the bad guy multiple times, promptly missing with every shot. The bad guy, not being entirely stupid, took off running out the door.

The store clerk went to the door and, having lost count of the number of rounds he had shot, took careful aim at the running would-be robber...and shot him in the back, across the full length of the parking lot, just as the guy was leaping over the fence.

Killed him, on the spot.

Police arrived and thanked him for killing the guy.


Not only did the entire story reek of BS, but even if it WAS true, it ticked me off that that story would be told with absolutely NO discussion of the laws on self-defense and deadly force.

He shot a fleeing man in the back, just as he was leaping over the fence all the way across the parking lot. And was thanked by the police.

Riiiiiiiiight...

I considered buying any more such magazines to be a total waste of my money.

 

[dancitizen]

Shotgun News.

For the ads.

 

[rhinoh]

Cannot remember the last time I actually bought a magazine- has to be 10+ years ago.
I do get an NRA mag as part of my membership.

 

[bannockburn]

Whenever I have time to burn I stop at Barnes and Noble and peruse their well stocked gun magazine section. Can usually find Shotgun News and Small Arms Review there.

 

[md2lgyk]

I subscribe to American Handgunner and Handguns, and get American Rifleman because of my NRA membership. I don't hunt, and am not interested in tactical tupperware or in becoming an "operator" so most of what's on the store shelves doesn't appeal to me.

 

[hso]

Sometimes if there's a very interesting article, but Krogers carries almost every gun, knife, and survival magazine and does enough business to keep them coming back.

 

[Ash]

I do hunt, but am not interested in reading other's hunting. Seldom do I carry the most popular hunting arm in the must-have-it camo scheme using the most popular scope or binoculars. I have what works for me, and since it works for me and makes me happy, I don't need to spend money to read about how really inferior my gear is. Ditto for hiking magazines as my Kelty external frame pack, East German mess kit, and archaic canteen place me as some sort of oddity when it comes to hiking.

I am not "an operator" nor do I pretend to be one. I have what works for me, is reliable, and gives me peace of mind. I am confident that, just like killing an armadillo, I could put down a man were that ever needed. I hope it never happens - and I probably will never have to raise an arm against another man much less shoot him. So, I don't need nor want to read about AR's and Glocks, the bulk of rag literature. I don't give a rats hiney about rails or the like, don't need an aimpoint or collapsible stock.

As a result, the bulk of gun magazines are not interesting to me so I don't buy them. Since gun magazines are merely vehicles for advertisements, and since I am not the target demographic because I don't buy the bulk of the featured products (whether in the advertisements or in the advertisements disguised as articles), the content rarely interests me enough to buy them.

 

[ku4hx]

I canned all my gun rag subscription in the early '90s when I realized they were repeating old stories. I mean the exact same old stories ... I had years of magazines at the time. The last time I looked at at one in Cabela's maybe a year ago, the graphics were better but the writing was the same. It was almost as if you could tell which old school gun hack trained his "modern" replacement.

 

[19-3Ben]

The interweb has largely destroyed the concept of paying money for magazines in my case.

This. Heck, as an NRA member I get AR every month, and even when it's delivered to my door, I barely read it because I can get all the facts I want, without editorialization, or I can get reviews based on personal experience, all right here.

 

[CajunBass]

I don't very often anymore. Most of what I see on the covers is tactical tupperware, and AR rifles, neither of which interest me a bit.

 

[Bigdog57]

On rare occasions I do, if it's a special issue on a subject I like. Last one was a special on military surplus guns. About a year ago.
The only subscription I get is my NRA American Rifleman due to my Life Membership.

 

[Thermactor]

I bought a gun magazine at a store not long ago. It was a PMAG30 for 7.99 on sale. I think I bought two!

 

[Garrobo]

No, but

being a life member of the NRA I get the Rifleman. In general, unless there is an article about some old military rifle or large bore rifle like the .375 H&H or the .458's, I just drop it off at my doctor's office.

 

[alexander45]

Nope I rather not pay a monthly fee for the privlage of reading commercials when every place els gives them to me for free while I'm trying to get to the worth while info

 

[wgp]

I subscribe to American Handgunner and get American Rifleman thru the NRA membership.

On rare occasions I'll buy off a store rack but seldom see a topic of interest.

When I was new to guns and shooting I read all the magazines, and learned a lot. Then I began to realize I was annually reading the current version of "The 30.06, America's Favorite" or "The Versatile .22" or of course "9mm vs .45, Which Is Better". Pretty much stopped reading those magazines.

 

[ApacheCoTodd]

Nope

The periodical format just doesn't offer me anything anymore.

The quality of writing has plummeted.

As a source of data or comparisons it's left well behind by computer media.

The weight of advertising and pandering or manipulative writing leaves me cold.

"Trend" fanbois seem to overrun most editorial decision making.

Probably most of all though is that I simply am no longer a "new" gun buyer. I wait for failings to be worked out, wait for trend reflecting pricing to settle down and really don't find much that's "new" being offered as a "must have" for me. Consequently, write-ups, compos, shoot-outs, etc... mean nothing to me.

I pretty much went the same way for cars and motorcycles. Print needs to offer me a desirable product... one I may and likely will re-read over time for art and the writing. While I've left all other motoring periodicals behind, two stand-outs underscore what I want in a magazine; "Classic Bike" and "Traditional Rod and Kulture".

Were there a firearms related mag such as these are to motoring... I'd be a buyer - hell, I'd try like hell to be a contributor.

Todd.

 

[JSH1]

Not any more. I used to subscribe to about 6 magazines and would occasionally pick up a copy of an interesting magazine off the newsstand. Not any more. I saw an interesting new magazine in the check-out line at Sportsmans Warehouse that I thought about buying until I noticed that it was $6.99!

I did get suckered into subscribing to Motorcyclist and Popular Mechanics recently when I got an offer for a years subscription for $5 each. Motorcyclist is still good but Popular Mechanics was a joke. Not even worth the $0.42 I paid for the issue.

I recently joined my local library and love their magazine section. I went through the past year of Guns and Ammo in about 1 1/2 hours. It is a great way to read the 1-2 articles I'm interested in per issue

 

[herrwalther]

I will flip through a gun rag magazine to kill time waiting for the wife to go through checkout. Look at an interesting article or so. If there is an ad for a new firearm or ammo I am interested in, I take a picture with my phone to look it up at home. I rarely buy a magazine, as most of the information is typical selling junk. Everyone remember the hype and good press surrounding the R51? Gun magazines are in it for the sales, they would try to sell a Ford Pinto with a leaking gas tank if they were in the same business.

In total I have about 8 or 9 magazines that I have bought over the past 15 years. The last one I bought was 4 years ago for a very well done and detailed article over the defensive capability of .22 magnum. At the time, my wife (and a running gun for me) was carrying a .22 magnum for defense and I found interest in the article as ballistic tests or .22 magnum are not very common.

 

[benEzra]

I often do when traveling, especially in airports...also whenever I'm with my son in the hospital, or whenever a magazine at the store catches my eye with an interesting article. I agree that there is often better information on the Internet, but sometimes a magazine article will give a very good discussion of a broad topic that might take a bit of research to piece together online.

 

[OpticsPlanet]

Only if they are on clearance or hard to find online

-Matt S.

 

[Double_J]

I look at one every few months, but they are all the same. I don't needanother ar/ak/tactical rifle, glock, nor 1911. I also notice that they never do a test on a 1911 without sending it out to be tuned up. Do the writers expect meto drop $800 on a pistol then another $400 to getit tuned up? I don't think so, I will spend the money and get one done the way I want out of the box.
I also got tired of the same "reviews" of guns and ammo and no one ever finding fault with anything.