Objective Gun Magazine Recommendations

[Michael Courtney]

Please list your a few favorite gun magazines in order of your assessment of their objectivity in reporting.

Here's mine:

The Varmint Hunter
The American Rifleman
Guns and Ammo

Thanks,

Michael Courtney

 

[CanteTinza]

The only one I read anymore is SWAT.

 

[leadcounsel]

GunTests is okay. It's a good reference but they need to be more scientific and choose more samples of the same gun.

Sometimes they are right on the money and sometimes they give bad recommendations. Their prices are never reflective of market prices.

 

[ProficientRifleman]

favorites, not in order

Guns, American Handgunner, Guns and Ammo, American Rifleman, Shooting Times, I read The Varmint Hunter also and it is one of my favorites, but isn't published often enough.

 

[Wags]

Gun List

 

[kirkcdl]

Gun Tests,but they're pretty clueless when it comes to "non-mainstream" weapons like the AK,Saiga,and Makarov guns.But I have to give them credit,if it's a piece of crap they'll say so...

 

[ColoradoKid]

gun magazines

I don't read any of them anymore. I find them over priced, poorly written and BORING......!!!!!!

 

[candr44]

Shot Gun News and Combat Arms printed by Guns and Ammo.

 

[Ian]

SWAT. Nothing else compares.

 

[2400]

Handloader, Rifle and Bowhunter.

 

[ShackleMeNot]

SWAT.

 

[Kentak]

I spend too much on gun magazines. Mostly, it's for the information about new products, and, I like the ads and the "it happened to me" type of article.

However, I gotta say, I'm not impressed with most gun writers and the articles they write. They present a lot of subjective opinion as fact, and often seem to be trying to say in 1000 words what could be said in half that number.

K

 

[rangerruck]

small arms review, predator, shooting times, americas first freedom, rifle shooter, soldier of fortune, combat & survival(british mag)

 

[lucky_fool]

Shotgun News, since I'm mostly reading any of them for the ads anyway. Plus they have pretty good articles on gunsmithing and milsurp stuff.

 

[ACP230]

Small Arms Review.

(Truth in posting disclaimer: I have written for Small Arms Review, but would recommend it if I hadn't.)

 

[DBR]

I'm old enough to remember American Rifleman as it was in the 1950's and 1960's. To me that was a gold standard. Today I find American Handgunner just OK and I can't think of anything else worth the paper and ink. I admit I am not aware of everything out there and I would like to find a mag that had more real technical info.

 

[k_semler]

Shotgun News

 

[RON in PA]

Ditto re: The American Rifleman from the 1950s and 1960s. Gun rags seem to progressively dumb down.

 

[Sharps Shooter]

"However, I gotta say, I'm not impressed with most gun writers and the articles they write. They present a lot of subjective opinion as fact, and often seem to be trying to say in 1000 words what could be said in half that number."

I think maybe they get paid by the number of words they write.

 

[Jeff White]

SWAT and Small Arms Review. The only two worth spending money on IMO.

Jeff

 

[Zen21Tao]

Shotgun News

 

[HankB]

Handloader
Rifle
American Rifleman
American Handgunner*
Guns**


* - I've been reading this (and have every issue in my files!) since its debut. It's had high points and low points, but I'm seriously thinking of not renewing my subscription. Rates are up, and it's clear that internet forums like THR, TFL, and the S&W forums are a sore spot with them. The last issue had a large article defending The Lock on S&W revolvers which sarcastically debunked all the issues hashed out both here and on the S&W forums, and other contributors (Ayoob, Clint Smith) indulge in juvenile name-calling (sometimes using borderline profanity) of those who disagree with them. They can't take being contradicted or criticized.

In a way, their attitude mirrors ABCCBSNBCCNN which look down on Fox and the internet - they no longer have a virtual monopoly on dissemination of information, and they're subject to public scrutiny and public feedback.

** - I took this sister publication to AH for a year because of a $10 promotional subscription. It's worth that much, but unless they offer this same promotion again, I won't be renewing.

 

[beaucoup ammo]

"American Handgunner" (primarily for the pics..not as good as Oleg's!). Wish they'd get off the 1911 jag and spend more time on Wheelguns.

"Gun Test" accepts no advertising and presents an unbiased review of weapons. My problem is the web sight. For what you spend on a subscription, I figured you'd be able to pull up past reviews at no cost. Not so..they gig you for that.

Those are my choices, however I'll look into "Small Arms Review." Sounds like something I'd like. I'll see if they have a web sight.

 

[jason10mm]

I like SWAT and the G&A "specials", mainly for the nice pics. There are definitely a lot of writers for SWAT that are very verbose in their application of terminology to convey the meaning of the written information they are transcribing for our usage Especially the "fecal material hitting the rotating oscillator" term, damn, just use SHTF if you can't say the word ****! But they are still good for all that I think the signal to noise ratio is way down with that mag and they review a lot of secondary gear besides the new pistol of the week. They do spend a lot of time reviewing new AR-15 uppers though. Come on, how different can they be?

 

[boofus]

Another vote for Small Arms Review. They go over the good and the bad of every gun they review. Granted they cater towards the NFA community so some of the pieces are fairly rare. They still go over plenty of non-Title 2 guns though. A few issues ago they had tested some of the new Wolf .30 Carbine ammo and it got fairly good results.