Is "Combat Handguns" or other Gun M(r)ags Serious?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Double Naught Spy

Double Naught Spy

Sus Venator
Joined
Dec 24, 2002
Messages
12,352
Location
Forestburg, Texas
So as to not hijcack the "Is Combat Handguns Serious" thread in the handgun autoloader section are there any gun rags you feel are actually honest in their assessments of firearms and related gear? I am not asking if you think they are competent, but if they are truthful. Do you feel any give truly unbiased reviews and report said reviews accurately regardless of what they find? This of course is assuming the manufacturer hasn't provided a non-representative tuned gun for review.

I ask this as all too often the reviews in the articles seem to be much more glowing than what the product is that regular gun folks find in their gun stores.

So there are a bunch out there and these are a few examples (but not an extensive list), American Handgunner, Combat Handguns, SWAT, SOF, G&A, F&S, American Rifleman, Guns and Weapons for Law Enforcement, Gun Tests, etc. Who do you trust and if not on this list then please add your own preference.

Me, I am not sure I trust any of them anymore.
 
Small Arms Review is seriously one of the best dang magazines out there today, period. There's just so much cool stuff they put into each issue, it's like a monthly firearms history and geography course. I only wish I had all of their back issues :/
 
I ask this as all too often the reviews in the articles seem to be much more glowing than what the product is that regular gun folks find in their gun stores.
Click to expand...

It sure seems that way doesn't it? And some of these magazines need their heads checked, some of the stuf they call inexpensive is nowwhere near that.

-Bill
 
I thing it's a mix of the reviewers not wanting to get on a manufacturers black list coupled with the manufacturers sending well tested / finished / fitted guns to the reviewers.
 
I suspect that most of the so called tests are really demonstrations of hand tuned product put on by manufacturers. That seems to be the way journalism is done these days. I do not trust any test done with anything supplied by a manufacturer. Go to the store and buy the stuff and test it. Otherwise, you have no way to know for sure if what you got is the real thing you are able to actually buy yourself.

Gun Tests was one I trusted. Mostly because they slammed a lot of guns other magazines reviewed pretty favorably. Don't know if it is still around.

The plain fact is that if the company who's product they are featuring is an advertiser, there is extreme pressure to write a favorable article.
 
I've written a few gun magazine articles, and I can honestly say that everything I've written has been the truth. In fact, I'm pretty picky.

See the upcoming issue of SWAT for example. On newstands in October. I review a new rifle and I am brutally honest. And this is the cover article.

I can only speak for SWAT, but I know that Denny has managed to offend a bunch of advertisers. Benelli still hates his guts from the Louis Awerbuck article on the Benelli M4. If a gun is crap, Denny won't hesitate to print it. Even if it does mean that ads get yanked. SWAT also doesn't let us keep the sample guns. If you get sent a free gun for the article, you send it back when you're done, or you pay for it if you want to keep it.

That said, there are some guys in this business who I would best describe as whores. I won't say any names, but there are writers who have literal rooms full of free gear and guns that has been provided by the manufacturers. These are the guys who've never written a negative article in their life.
 
I suspect that most of the so called tests are really demonstrations of hand tuned product put on by manufacturers.
Click to expand...
+1 on that. When Kahr brought out their P9, everyone and his brother writing in gun rags praised it to high heaven. I - and a number of other posters - found to our sorrow that many of the early guns were, in a word, cr@p.
. . . there are some guys in this business who I would best describe as whores. I won't say any names,. . .
Click to expand...
Awww, c'mon, name names . . . or at least give us a hint with some initials . . . ;)
 
Correia: I'll bet you could write a book about the gun rags! Just reading your above reply made me think back on so many great truthful articles, and also "gun whore" articles. I have a lot of respect for a publisher who is willing to print honest articles and take the advertising hits.
 
It's the same with newspapers....I've worked for several papers, full and part time.

It's all about the advertising sales.

If you tell the truth about a crappy product from Company X, then Company X ain't gonna buy no more ad space in your magazine or newspaper.

hillbilly
 
Travis, I'm just a newbie. I've only written a handful, and that is just for one magazine in particular. I've associated with some other writers though, just through the gun business, and through training. Those are the ones that I'm bashing on.

Denny's crew are good guys though. The ones I've met in person have been great, and they are honest in their reviews.

Some of the other writers for other magazines are honorable men who tell the truth, and then there are others who just like to get free stuff.

If you want a brutal product review, read our own George Hill's monthly column in CCW magazine. His review of the HK2000 was priceless.
 
roscoe said:
Any opinions on GunBlast?
Click to expand...
If memory doesn't fail me, I seem to recall gunblast saying that they do not review guns that they can't write good things about.

I interpreted this as meaning if it appears on their web site, they had a good experience with it. If it doesn't appear on their web site, it never sees the light of day.

I think my interpretation is charitable.
 
All "enthusiast" mags are like this

They all depend heavily on advertising dollars. The industry as a whole survives on "churning" their customer base -- they need to keep getting you excited about new products so you will run out and buy them. It's particularly problematic for the firearms industry. With many other "enthusiast/hobbyist" products, the industry can at least count on products wearing out and needing to be replaced (cars, motorcycles and other motorized vehicles, for instance), major styling trends dictating product replacement (clothes, cars again, etc.), or major technological advances driving product replacement (computers, videogames, and to a lesser extent cars). Firearms, by contrast, typically don't wear out in civilian hands, "styling" is relatively unimportant (though look at the explosion of various colors of polymer handguns, lately), and there really haven't been any major technological advances since the intermediate cartridge and reliable self-loaders appeared more than five decades ago.

All enthusiast rags generally try to walk a fine line between angering their advertisers and losing credibility with their readership. Both things will kill the magazine. So they play up the positive attributes of products, while barely mentioning or "glossing over" the not-so-positive. The better the circulation and loyalty of the readership, the more the editors can get away with criticism of advertisers' products, but even then it is rare in gun magazines to see real head-to-head tests with clear conclusions drawn.
 
"Combat Handguns"
Click to expand...

Did not renew my subscription... I'm also not renewing "American Handgunner"...

My impression is that the magazines come across as SPAM... I'm not poor, but I'm also not loaded.. It's nice to see articles on very nice hardware, but there is no way in the immediate future I will be able to buy ~$1k hardware.
 
It's nice to see articles on very nice hardware, but there is no way in the immediate future I will be able to buy ~$1k hardware.
Click to expand...

I don't have a problem with articles about guns I can't afford. In my view, at least I can read about and see pictures of guns I will never be able to afford. Would you read a car magazine that only had articles about 10 year old pickups and "slightly used" econoboxes? I don't think so. Sure, I do some research in car mags before buying a new (used) car, but I also like to read them on occasion for the road tests of Ferraris, Porsches, Corvettes, SVT Mustangs and other cars I will never, ever own.

There's one more analogy that comes to mind, but it involves magazines of a slightly more "adult" nature. Just because you'll never have something doesn't mean you can't admire it. As my wife likes to say, "it doesn't matter where you get your appetite, as long as you come home for dinner." :evil:
 
I think all the true incident letters are really true as are the letters in Penthouse (which I haven't ever looked at, Dear :uhoh: )

Seriously, some of the letters have a strange stilted style which makes me think they are made up by the senders or exaggerations. Some give tales of actions which were so dangerous or silly that I would suggest the mag give an editorial comment after.

I only subscribe to SWAT now.
 
I don't have a problem with articles about guns I can't afford. In my view, at least I can read about and see pictures of guns I will never be able to afford.

....

There's one more analogy that comes to mind, but it involves magazines of a slightly more "adult" nature. Just because you'll never have something doesn't mean you can't admire it. As my wife likes to say, "it doesn't matter where you get your appetite, as long as you come home for dinner."
Click to expand...

I get what you're saying and agree... just need a new scene I guess... :confused:

Maybe I'll check out SWAT...
 
I'm sure "Surefire Presents: Combat Tactics" is totally unbiased :neener:
I picked up an issue and find it hilarious. I was going to count how many times Surefire was mentioned in the magazine but it took too long.
Most of the magazines just love everything (I probably would too though if I got a free new gun to play with). I'd give them more weight if they really ripped on some of the guns that deserve to be.
 
A friend of mine once told me regarding things I hear or read about to:

"CHEW UP THE MEAT AND SPIT OUT THE FAT" So, while I enjoy reading Combat Handguns, Guns and American Handgunner I tend to read for enjoyment and research purposes, but I make up my mind based on what the people on this board know about guns and share with the rest of us, as well as a couple of other forums. I respect several of the writers and enjoy reading their articles. I have noticed something that bothers me in some of the Rags, it seems that the particular gun being reviewed is followed closely by an advertisement for the exact same gun or a gun from the company who made the review gun. Sure the ad space may have been purchased indepently of the review article but as they say " perception is reality" and the perception is Do a article on our gun and we will purchase ad space, anyone else notice that?

That said, I will continue to read the Rags for entertainment and research purposes, but the descision to buy a certain gun or ammo will never be made based on just what the editors in the gun rags have to say. I do depend heavily on what the members on this forum and a couple of others have to say about their experience with a certain weapon after they have purchased it, "THANK YOU"
 
I wrote a review of the KelTec P3AT for SWAT magazine. April, 2004 issue. The pistol was bought from my regular dealer out of his regular inventory. Paid for by me with my money. I bought the ammunition for the tests. And the targets. Oleg did take the photographs.

Neither KelTec nor my dealer knew I was reviewing that pistol until the article was published.

The pistol shot several hundred rounds of several brands and varieties of ammunition with no malfunctions of any description. I stated this in the article and have witnesses to the test firing. I found the pistol's recoil to be somewhat uncomfortable due to the thin grip. I stated this.

I still own that pistol and carry it daily. It now has over a thousand rounds through it with no malfunctions of any description. I've cleaned it once or twice. I blow out the pocket lint from various places now and then. I shoot it at the range directly out of my pocket holster with the lint. Runs like a top.

I know that a good many folks have had problems with their P3AT's. But I wasn't reviewing their pistols, I was reviewing mine. It worked precisely as it was designed and I wrote what it did.

It's bone stock, was not supplied by KelTec, and was paid for by me. SWAT paid me for the article, yes.

Think I'll wave that article around and see if KelTec will supply me with a pistol when the new 9mm comes out if I say I'll write an article. I don't know anyone who makes a substantial part of their living from writing gun articles. I do know several people who have written a few. I don't know of any of them receiving guns from the factory gratis.

By the way, based on what I was paid, I'd have to publish about three articles a week to equal my salary as a registered nurse. Maybe I was just getting entry level scale but Rich Lucibella is no cheapskate either. Even getting paid three times as much, I'd still have to publish an article a week just to equal what I make now. Know any writers publishing an article a week? Every week? Year in and year out?
 
Take careful note of how many firearms magazine PUBLISHERS there actually are. You don't have to dig very deep to discover that there are only two major ones, two minor ones, and a couple more fringe players. The majors publish a lot of similar-but-not-quite-the-same rags, using the same writers and often covering the same topics/products/firearms.

Objective? You must be joking. Pay attention to how often you find a full-page ad for a gun on the page facing the article in which that gun is reviewed. Did you think that was an accident, or coincidence? All of those magazines are shills. It's commonly understood that they derive most of their income from advertising revenue, not from magazine sales. That alone should dispel any notion that there might be any semblance of editorial integrity involved.

Hint: there ain't.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

A
  • Locked
Gun mag discrimination!
2
Replies
28
Views
2K
Average Guy
A
D
  • Locked
Best Books to Begin A Gun/2nd Amendment Library
2
Replies
29
Views
1K
Z_Infidel
Z
J
  • Locked
Tactical Shooting / Combat Handgun Magazines?
Replies
1
Views
347
Zak Smith
Zak Smith
TimboKhan
  • Locked
A question for Massad Ayoob.
2
Replies
41
Views
4K
30 cal slob
3
S
  • Locked
gun magazines
Replies
10
Views
879
SpeedAKL
S
Back
Top