SpeedAKL
Member
First off, I'll confess that I get American Rifleman in the mail and occasionally browse the various gun mags at Barnes and Noble, so some of the following comes from personal experience.
I've seen a lot of references to "gun rags" on here and other forums and I had not considered much of it. However, I recently conducted a fairly comprehensive search for a new combat handgun before making my choice. What I realized was that gun mags are basically useless for consumers looking to get detailed, honest info on the strengths and weaknesses of a product.
I'm a huge car guy and have 6 car mag subscriptions. A typical car mag will thoroughly detail the strengths and weaknesses of a product, but it a F-150, a Focus, or a Ferrari. In addition, they will conduct thorough comparison tests between competing models to give car buyers the best insights possible. They have no problem calling out cars that do not measure up to the competition, regardless of manufacturer or nationality. I rarely see this in gun mags. I know buying a defensive handgun is a much less costly investment than buying a new heavy-duty pickup, but $600+ is still a substantial purchase for most of us. The gun mags don't do anyone favors by reading like glorified advertisements.
Let me use an example to illustrate. You are looking for a defensive carbine to protect your home and family. Where among the gun mags can you get objective comparisons between, say, the AR platform, the SIG 556, the FS2000, the Mini-14, the AK, etc etc etc? If you pick the M4-type AR-15 from those, where can you get objective comparisons and assessments of the many manufacturers out there...what/how much QC do they use? How close to mil-spec? What features go "above and beyond" milspec, if any? What add-ons / accessories come standard, and for what price? Good luck getting that out of a gun magazine, where any M4-type carbine is billed as the finest battle weapon on earth regardless of whether it costs $600 or $1600.
What's funny is that all hobby magazines are full of advertisements....car mags, fishing mags, travel mags, video game mags, etc etc etc. Yet most of these are able to objectively report on products. Why can't gun magazines do the same?
I get the skinny on gun products by reading THR, FiringLine, Arfcom, M4Carbine, and other valuable web resources. This site has a wealth of information and has proven FAR more useful than ANY gun magazine.
I've seen a lot of references to "gun rags" on here and other forums and I had not considered much of it. However, I recently conducted a fairly comprehensive search for a new combat handgun before making my choice. What I realized was that gun mags are basically useless for consumers looking to get detailed, honest info on the strengths and weaknesses of a product.
I'm a huge car guy and have 6 car mag subscriptions. A typical car mag will thoroughly detail the strengths and weaknesses of a product, but it a F-150, a Focus, or a Ferrari. In addition, they will conduct thorough comparison tests between competing models to give car buyers the best insights possible. They have no problem calling out cars that do not measure up to the competition, regardless of manufacturer or nationality. I rarely see this in gun mags. I know buying a defensive handgun is a much less costly investment than buying a new heavy-duty pickup, but $600+ is still a substantial purchase for most of us. The gun mags don't do anyone favors by reading like glorified advertisements.
Let me use an example to illustrate. You are looking for a defensive carbine to protect your home and family. Where among the gun mags can you get objective comparisons between, say, the AR platform, the SIG 556, the FS2000, the Mini-14, the AK, etc etc etc? If you pick the M4-type AR-15 from those, where can you get objective comparisons and assessments of the many manufacturers out there...what/how much QC do they use? How close to mil-spec? What features go "above and beyond" milspec, if any? What add-ons / accessories come standard, and for what price? Good luck getting that out of a gun magazine, where any M4-type carbine is billed as the finest battle weapon on earth regardless of whether it costs $600 or $1600.
What's funny is that all hobby magazines are full of advertisements....car mags, fishing mags, travel mags, video game mags, etc etc etc. Yet most of these are able to objectively report on products. Why can't gun magazines do the same?
I get the skinny on gun products by reading THR, FiringLine, Arfcom, M4Carbine, and other valuable web resources. This site has a wealth of information and has proven FAR more useful than ANY gun magazine.
