Do You Ever Buy Gun Magazines At A Store?

Status
Not open for further replies.
The interweb has largely destroyed the concept of paying money for magazines in my case.

Yeah - that holds for every type of magazine for me - not just guns. Its just an outdated medium.

Not to mention most of the "articles" sound a lot like simply wordy descriptions of a spec sheet.

Even outside of the medium I've come to like the multiple viewpoint scenario of the web better rather than a filtered and edited viewpoint of a mainstream media outlet. Forums, podcasts, and social media are just a better way to communicate.
 
Gun Digest has interesting articles every once in a while but not like when John Amber and Ken Warner were editors.

I too get AR through my NRA membership and it helps heat the house. I do subscribe to Fur Fish Game and The Backwoodsman. The firearm articles are often informative but not inspiring.
 
Almost never. I used to buy several per month for years, but realized their product "evaluations" were not credible when compared to my own experiences. Nothing was ever reported as problematic. I stopped buying them and don't miss them.
 
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...

Was it in Texas, at night? perp fleeing with property? no idea who the perp was? If all true, then good shoot.

If the perp was a "gang banger" known to police, the thanking him part would likely be true as well.
 
I wonder how shooters got to be so cynical and jaded about printed material. What happened to the days when shooters craved new material from Elmer Keith, Skeeter Skelton and Jack `O Connor?

I read all the time. I buy magazines and books regularly. I subscribe to Handloader, Rifle and Successful Hunter. Plus Double Gun Journal and The Backwoodsman. I buy A/H sometimes when there's something interesting but Taffin's material has become filler. I buy every issue of Guns of the Old West every quarter.

I would love to know online where I can find a story teller like Skeeter. Or one with such an adventurous life as Elmer Keith. Or one with such a broad expanse of knowledge of the revolver as John Taffin. Or with the handgun hunting expertise as Mark Hampton. Or one who can provide otherwise unpublished handloading data like Dave Scovill or Brian Pearce. The internet is a wonderful thing but it gets too much credit. Anybody can post anything as fact on the internet with no accountability and it's painfully obvious those who get all their info online. There's more BS that gets passed around online than your average gun shop and that's saying something.

Would you go to a doctor or lawyer that got his knowledge from reading online forums? Or would you rather use one with a formal education. Are you going to learn more about a subject by asking one question at a time online, or reading a book dedicated to the subject?
 
Anybody can post anything as fact on the internet with no accountability and it's painfully obvious those who get all their info online. There's more BS that gets passed around online than your average gun shop and that's saying something.

Yes but to a large degree the internet is subject to the largest body of peer review available. If someone spouts nonsense, they're generally called on it - quickly. Go add some incorrect information to a Wikipedia article and if its an unpopular article it'll likely be fixed within a day. If its a popular one it'll likely be recorrected within minutes.

Its also interactive. Rather than being spoon fed specific information from a single source if something isn't clear or an explanation is incomplete - you simply ask for clarification and further discussion ensues. It doesn't even have to be from the same person, but the back and forth discussion is just so much more valuable than static content.

Could just be a generational thing ('course I'm getting older and older myself and starting to fall outside of the "young" crowd), but to me actual printed media is about and quaint and outdated as as the horse and buggy.

Even when I read a "book" these days I do so on a Kindle (why carry a book in my pocket when I can carry a few hundred of them?). That's just me though. Heck I consider television (at least in its old scheduled programming form) to be outdated.
 
If someone spouts nonsense, they're generally called on it - quickly.
Sometimes they are, sometimes it gets passed around as myth and legend. I share information all the time that I expect to be common knowledge, only to find it's a completely foreign concept to those reading. That's the problem with an internet-based knowledge base, lots of holes.

Not every book worth reading is available on the Kindle. I ordered R.L. Wilson's big Colt book last month, regarded as one of the best on the subject. It is not available on Kindle and the information contained therein unavailable from any other single source. Same for Bruce McDowell's book on cartridge conversions. Or Flayderman's big book on Bowie knives. Or the Houze book on Colt factory engravers. Hell, I have an entire library of books not available on the Kindle. You guys are really limiting yourselves and leaving big holes in your knowledge base.

Last week I got three years of backissues of G&A, just to get the Seyfried articles. That information is unavailable anywhere online.
 
Costs close to $14.24 for one, if you can find any, up here.
Aside from endless rehashing of useless stories, the gun rags have become nothing more than extensions of manufacturer marketing departments. I recall one and only one article in eons that panned a firearm. Not American made, of course, but Cooper called the HK VP-70 a Jam-O-Matic.
 
I wonder how shooters got to be so cynical and jaded about printed material. What happened to the days when shooters craved new material from Elmer Keith, Skeeter Skelton and Jack `O Connor?

I read all the time. I buy magazines and books regularly. I subscribe to Handloader, Rifle and Successful Hunter. Plus Double Gun Journal and The Backwoodsman. I buy A/H sometimes when there's something interesting but Taffin's material has become filler. I buy every issue of Guns of the Old West every quarter.

I would love to know online where I can find a story teller like Skeeter. Or one with such an adventurous life as Elmer Keith. Or one with such a broad expanse of knowledge of the revolver as John Taffin. Or with the handgun hunting expertise as Mark Hampton. Or one who can provide otherwise unpublished handloading data like Dave Scovill or Brian Pearce. The internet is a wonderful thing but it gets too much credit. Anybody can post anything as fact on the internet with no accountability and it's painfully obvious those who get all their info online. There's more BS that gets passed around online than your average gun shop and that's saying something.

Would you go to a doctor or lawyer that got his knowledge from reading online forums? Or would you rather use one with a formal education. Are you going to learn more about a subject by asking one question at a time online, or reading a book dedicated to the subject?
Pretty much ditto for me, even the selection of magazines overlaps to a fair degree. I especially enjoy Handloader, Rifle, and American Handgunner. These are solid magazines with some pretty good writers.

I am a chronic reader of books, magazines, and sporting relating information from the internet. I definately get a lot of useful information from the internet, but one really needs to be extra careful of the reliability of information presented on almost all shooting forums. If a good soul asks a quality question, often hugely conficting answers are given in response. Some answers are presented by knowledgeable and experienced shooters, others are presented by 12-year olds just being sent to bed by momma or from someone's jail cell after lunchtime. Some of the information presented can be dangerous or, if not, just plain rediculous. If you have been in this game for a while, it is often not too tough to sort out what is what, but if you are a new shooter this can be much tougher and cause severe misinformation to be accepted. The very anonymity of the web forum process adds to its misinformation danger.

This problem is usually greater on smaller web forums dedicated to general shooting. Huge ones like the HighRoad reduce the problem to a degree because so many answers often come in to any particular question that useful information is a little easier to filter through. We also have great and knowledgeable moderators here that do a good job of filtering.

Certainly, misinformation is often presented in printed material. Luckily we know exactly who the writers are and we can call them out when we see it.

Nope, I will never give up printed material like books and magazines. Just like the internet forums, sort through and find what suits your needs the best. And, of course, I found this question and responded to it on an internet forum.
 
The only time I buy a gun magazine in a store is if I'm on vacation at a cabin with a goal to relax, and want something to break up the current novel I'm reading. Otherwise I read online, or in the American Rifleman that comes to my P.O. Box. I wish the NRA offered American Handgunner as an option.

I'm looking to read Sixguns by Keith here in the not too distant future.
 
Last edited:
Quit all my subscriptions about 30 years ago when I realized the stories repeated every year and the reporters never saw a gun they didn't like.
 
I will have to check magazine prices at Sam's next time I'm there. I hate paying $10.00 for a magazine. I thought I looked and the price was the same.
 
I'm 22 yo and I pay for several magazine subscriptions. There's something about reading a hard copy of something that I much prefer to reading off a screen. When I'm traveling long distance either by plane or car I also buy a few magazines. Computers are good for free movies and typing papers… that's about it for me
 
No Way do I buy them anymore

Many years ago, I used to subscribe to G and A and a couple more, After reading them for quite a few years I started to notice that I was seeing recycled articles and articles written several years before and updated to make it a "New Article". About the only items that were new were product reviews and they seemed pretty biased,
So NO, I no longer subscribe to any of the current magazines, I can find more accurate information and more extensive information on the net.
In addition , I can look at articles when I choose and not when a publisher decides I need to read something.
 
In my opinion, the only practical magazine for the outdoorsman is FUR-FISH-GAME. The others are simply recycled articles from past issues.

I can't stand Boddington's attitude toward shooting animals: any angle, any shot taken with his latest magnum rifle. He once shot a mule deer 3 times with his Weatherby before it died. Hips and guts shot out before a good chest shot was taken. His kind of trophy hunter gives us all a bad name.

TR
 
I still suscribe to G&A simply for its porn value, not to mention that I can throw 'em in my bag and peruse them in the doctor's or dentist's office instead of Woman's Day, The New Yorker, or Forbes that typically grace their magazine racks. After reading them, I enjoy peeling off my address label and leaving them behind in the office, just to piss off the antis. :)
 
I subscribe to a few mags, but will pick up Handloader if they have an article I am interested in. I like to relax and read at times. Mostly in the winter months. Besides, I don't have a computer in my bathroom.
 
Nope, stopped 20 yrs ago. Recycled, lazy, stupid at times pap. I remember the article that did it. A well kown writer actually endorsed carrying a snub nose in a back pocket without a holster.
 
All the time, I'm an inveterate reader. Guns, & American Handgunner are automatic, find several something's in every issue to enjoy, love John Conner. Also Rifle & Handloader, always something to enjoy. Beyond that,American Rifleman & whatever else happens to catch my eye and interest. I keep stacks of them at the house and enjoy reading & re-reading.

Gun magazines were instrumental in nurturing my interest in guns. Skeeter, the tail end of Elmer, Ross Seyfried, Bob Milek, Mas Ayoob and a whole host of others. Most gone, some still around but especially in the those mentioned above I find many things of interest.
 
Why would I want to read that the gun they drooled over last month, which rendered all other guns ever made totally useless, has been replaced this month by another one so much better as to render the last one useless?

We're told deer have gotten together and voted not to die unless they're shot with the latest and greatest Super Kawabonga Turbo Grande Magnum. :rolleyes:

No magazines, thanks. And if I hear the word "tactical" one more time........... :barf:
 
Nope, stopped 20 yrs ago. Recycled, lazy, stupid at times pap. I remember the article that did it. A well kown writer actually endorsed carrying a snub nose in a back pocket without a holster.
Uh, yeah. That'd be the last time I ever read anything from that author again.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top