Todays gun rags are just that. Crap.

[tuna]

I remember reading every magazine I could get my hands on and saving them up as reference material. That was in the day when you couldn't you-tube how to disassemble your firearm.

I try to read them, but find myself sick to death about reading about AR-15s and 1911s. ENOUGH - yes they're great guns. Stop writing about them.

 

[barnbwt]

"They were the grand lions of the gun world."
Don't wax too eloquent; the old guys were full of plenty of wisdumb, themselves.

I personally think modern writing just isn't as good, since it's required by editors and processed by readers much faster now. Modern parlance is extremely terse and blunt, and honestly, not very enjoyable in quantity. This trend seems to have started around the post WWI era when cheap news journalism really became widespread and ingrained (the 'fast-talkin, high-trousers' era). Popular authors like Hemingway were coming out of journalism, and drug the terse, dense, and unsavory* way of speaking they used with them (in contrast to guys like Melville who spent chapters describing shoes). Pretty much every writing style 'revolution' since has been rooted in degrading or subverting prose, rather than building upon it; the result is very bland, repetitive/formulaic, and unpleasant reading unless the writer is being intentionally poetic. Old, old news articles' contents are as repetitive as anything, but are far more entertaining to read with their nearly-absurd verbosity. In fact, the more tedious the contents, the more entertaining the writing, typically.

"AR-15s and 1911s."
No joke; it's seriously getting embarrassing. A lot of these rags are actually getting close to having one (or both ) of these on every other page at this point. Car magazines have no problems writing about the zillions of different vehicles out there, especially ones their readers will never own; somehow, gun writers can only converse about F150's and Camrys

"True glory consists in doing what deserves to be written; in writing what deserves to be read" --Pliny the Elder

TCB

*"savory" as in the taste/sensation of enjoying food; not "unseemly" as in lacking character. Hemingway's war and post-war writings were extremely stark in structure compared to the flowery language of prior eras; it is what caused his writing style to stand out so much to readers.

 

[tommy.duncan]

I enjoy reading the historical stories about rifles in the revolutionary, civil, ww1&2. My Dad told me about the M14 (he used in Nam) and my Grandfathers taught me about both M1s. I usually do not read the new gun reviews because there is a full page ad on the newby in the middle of the article. I do like the reloading info too.

 

[splithoof]

I subscribe to Gun Tests, and of course American Rifleman. My kid's each read American Hunter, and America's First Freedom. Those are a benefit of their membership with NRA.
Yes, we think for the most part that other gun magazines have fallen in the trash pit. They are too kind to the advertisers; when was the last time a major rag said: "don't buy that gun; it is a POS".

 

[twofifty]

Good idea on spreading the word. I've left a few in the hospital's waiting room.

 

[twofifty]

I too buy Handloader every now and then.

Handloader has knowledgeable skilled writers, a great editor, good illustrations, and excellent reloading tips not just for the beginner but also for the experienced loader wanting to take it to the next level of load development.

 

[dickydalton]

I still get some because I can read them in the bathroom. This computer ain't going there!!!
I miss the Surplus Firearms magazine and the Herters catalog..........

 

[kitsapshooter]

On hunting
It is on the rise actually. Especially among women.
They just want live targets to remind husbands who is in charge.

I don't read many mags. I stopped when I when through a mag and found 128 pages of a 240 page mag were ads. And many printed on the back of articles I would have read.

I did read a really good review of a rifle and the summation of the article was this 'This gun is like a pickup truck. It does one thing and does it very well."
Yes I bought that 06 rifle. This was about 6 years ago.

 

[Old Dog]

In the earlier days of this forum, there seemed to be a new thread on gun magazines (the type one reads) every three months or so ... Good to see another one pop up ...

Someone must be reading them. They're still selling, and the production values have gone up (G&A, Recoil, others with nice linen-finished covers, even Combat Handguns with glossier pages and all color photos now -- remember when CH truly was a "rag" with mostly black and white pics, replete with spelling and grammar errors?).

I buy gun rags now and then; apparently, I am not as much an expert about firearms as most of those posting in this thread, as I don't know everything already. Are they ultimately a waste of my money? Eh, probably. But, I like nice color photos, and American Handgunner, Guns, SWAT all usually have at least a couple articles that hold my interest. I just like reading (and looking at pictures). Guess I'm a dinosaur; I could live without a computer and the internet, but not without books.

 

[evan price]

If I have a few spare minutes at the grocery store I flip through a couple gun mags . Most of them are.a waste..reviews of some vaporware new gadget or gun. Reviews of the new version of some popular platform...like a glock with different texture or an hk with a shorter barrel. Theres the background noise, the AR on every other page, the ammo review of something thats only slightly different. Honestly I only look for Ayoobs articles, or articles about old or historic.items like c&rs. Handloader isnt bad but if one more writer says all you need is Unique im gonna vomit.

 

[Madcap_Magician]

I still subscribe to American Handgunner, but it can be pretty hit and miss. Mostly it's nice for John Connor and Massad Ayoob's columns, and because sometimes the ads or articles let me know about something cool that I might not have noticed without reading the magazine.

Some of the articles do drive me nuts, though. Not gonna lie, Pat Covert is the worst- most of his knife articles are just ridiculous. I still read them, though, because there are so many knives and knife makers that every now and then he reviews someone I've never heard of who looks pretty good.

Guns magazine is pretty similar.

Guns and Ammo is the worst, combined with the fact that it's simultaneously declined in both quality and size.

Some of the articles are kind of laughable. "This expensive 1911 worked great... after we got a replacement from the factory for the one that didn't work, detail stripped it, and polished and tuned all the parts! Highly recommended!

 

[Tirod]

I subscribed to car mags for twenty years, and then when EFI came out, they seized up and quit trying to get around the emmisions controls. It was the norm to defeat or improve certain items before that, but the seachange in cars left the older guys completely out of the running. They were lost, and it showed. From then on it was all about just buy the car because you can't possibly do it as well. They left the hot rodders and pro street/tour guys in the ditch.

Same with gun mags. Note carefully, nobody has mentioned one writer who left his legacy: Jim Zumbo. When he uttered his career ending soliloquy, it was the watershed moment for the gun rags. The line was in the sand at that point - some refused to enter the modern age of sporting firearms, which was horribly ironic since their participation initially was in surplus military firearms in their youth.

You can't have it both ways. The entire existence of the Great White Hunter bolt action rifle was based on the Mauser military action. Even the Springfield '03 was paying royalties to a German bank account held by law until the hostilities were over in 1918. Most of the major improvements in firearms today are based on military designs to increase accuracy, improve durability, and reduce costs.

Try to explain why the pre-64 Winchesters were actually poorly made guns that required handfitting and that the labor was putting Winchester out of business, well, don't even try. Torches and pitchforks appear.

Point out the average $80 liner lock knife has better heat treatment, alloys, and design integrity vs. a Remington 700, and prepare for a lot of clueless debate.

The problem with gun mags was that the internet started to educate the consumer, and he was no longer dependent on the writer and their long lead times doling out little dabs of out of date and inaccurate knowledge.

The ones that continue it have the reader's concerns directly addressed to their email box, and they are taking a lumping when they come out with slanted articles that simply don't reflect reality. Partisanship isn't tolerated when someone can't say a decent thing about a cartridge or gun that has a large following for good reasons. There is nothing wrong with stating the writer simply prefers one over the other, but when they resort to innuendo it's being noticed. They don't get ignored because posters are better informed.

On the other hand, that's if public can read. High school literacy rates at graduation have dropped over the last 40 years, we now celebrate being able to maintain an 8th grade reading level. And colleges now have to provide remedial courses to incoming freshmen. The public reads a lot less, and reads a lot less well. It's telling that so many upper tier magazines that did use to sell to the public went under - the demographic that subscribed is dying off, and those replacing them have no clue what is being printed.

It's not all about the mags, guys, it's about the audience . . . we moved on to get better sources of information sooner, and others are less well off than ever. It's telling that we discuss this on the internet, but there are very few articles in the mags about it.

 

[TarDevil]

I still read "Guns" magazine because 1) Editor Roy Huntington is a class act guy that takes a personal interest in his readers, 2) I get to read Ayoob, and 3) the content is diverse.

Shooting Times is still a respectable read from the Intermedia group, but I refuse to spend a penny on any of their publications. Sad, because I think Boddington and Sweeney are good and knowledgeable writers who aren't afraid to shake down a bad gun or cartridge. Not their fault they have to work for people like Jim Bequette.

 

[Mike OTDP]

I think the biggest problem lies in the lack of variety in articles.

American Handgunner, for example, consisted of:

a. "Gunsmith W's Custom 1911" (identical to Gunsmith A through V's custom 1911s, covered in the last five years' issues)

b. "Custom Knifemaker K's Tactical Knife" (same comments)

c. A rotation of "Big Wrist-Breaking Revolver", "Cowboy Action Shoot", and "IDPA/IPSC Shoot" articles.

Maybe once a year you would see something novel. And none of the other mags were any better - at least AH had Ichiro Nagata's photography (outstanding).

Right now, American Rifleman probably has the least bad overall coverage.

Still, if the gun magazines want to stay in business, they need to be willing to publish articles from free-lance writers (i.e. hobbyists). It's almost impossible to crack the industry these days.

 

[mec]

The "I hate Gun Magazines and Gun Writers are Fat" threads have subsided a bit but they stll seem to gather more posters than a lot of other subjects.

 

[Slamfire]

The older I get the more I hate shills, and it has become even more obvious, gunwriters are shills. They don’t have any real objectivity because their next commission depends on the sales boost from the current article. They sold their soul for very little: all expense paid trips to product rollouts, hunting trips necessary to sell the article (notice on every new article on a firearm there is a picture of the gunwriter next to some poor dead animal?!) , industry days, etc. They have to keep the advertisers happy and that means they have serious conflicts of interest.

I guess I am mad at them because for so long, I trusted gunwriters and thought they knew what they were talking about. Now I know, when it comes to technical stuff, they are as brainless as sock puppets. I remember an article from the 70’s, it was about Lugers. The gunwriter claimed the toggle breech was the strongest breech mechanism ever made. Now I know, the toggle breech is a mechanically weak locking mechanism, too many pins and pieces for the load path and it is a long load path, and the thing is mechanically unstable. Given that gunwriters are basically sock puppets, it is more likely the gunwriter’s jaw was being flapped by the hand up his large colon. It took time, but I had enough education to really doubt the technical advice ever given by any gunwriter. In one of Martin Fackler’s articles on bullet construction, he basically blames gunwriters for getting Cops and Soldiers killed. The misinformation (advertizing claims) gunwriters had written about ammunition performance was unfortunately taken seriously by purchasing agencies and getting good guys killed.

Friar Frog’s rule #11 really rings true: 11) Most gun writers are pathological liars.
http://www.frfrogspad.com/frogrules.htm

A current 2 year subscription to Guns and Ammo is $15.00. I don’t even know if that pays the postage. Still, I read them.

I guess I have a love hate relationship with gun magazines.

 

[Mainsail]

In defense of the writers themselves- it ain't easy, trust me.

I wrote for a monthly on-line magazine for a year or so once (they tried to go print but it tanked) for a minor hobby/game. There is only SO much you can write before you're either rehashing something old or digging deep into the minutia barrel for something to keep the editor off your back.

One would think that with all the different guns, gun types, accessories, and real-life self-defense stories out there it would be easy to tilt your head to one side and have an entire article tumble out your ear- except it isn’t. That doesn’t excuse the magazines themselves though- they could be better but choose not to be.

I would subscribe to a magazine if the writers and editors would put fact and truth first, and profits second- but they might not last long if they did.

 

[gulogulo1970]

Before the internet gun magazines were my only source of information on guns. I learned about the history of important guns. I learned about what was new, what worked, what didn't. I possibly wouldn't have ever gotten into the hobby if it weren't for the magazines. The hours I burned as a kid looking at all the neat stuff.

We're blessed to have the internet now, and forums now, but it is a shame to see print go.

 

[tomturkey]

I have given up on all out door magazines except

Fur Fish and Game.

Still a great magazine with good writers. None of this Afrikan safari crap just down to earth common man and women stuff.

I still have all the magazines I received back into the 50's.

 

[MrTuffPaws]

Shotgun News is the only one I bother with.

 

[Grassman]

Journalism is dead in America.

 

[PT92]

Before the internet gun magazines were my only source of information on guns. I learned about the history of important guns. I learned about what was new, what worked, what didn't. I possibly wouldn't have ever gotten into the hobby if it weren't for the magazines. The hours I burned as a kid looking at all the neat stuff.

We're blessed to have the internet now, and forums now, but it is a shame to see print go.

^This.^

Very well put and I should think it mirrors a lot of us here "in our age bracket."

I hazard to think that some "youngins" here don't recall a time when it was all print media...

 

[Double_J]

I quit buying them on a regular basis about 10 years ago. I guess I got sick of never finding a flaw with ANY gun they shot, shooting guns that cost more than I made in six months, and taking a brand new gun and sending it off to the "custom smith" for "tuning." I also got sick of a "NEW" 1911 every month, or a "NEW" AR pattern rifle every month, or a tacti-cool toy on every other page, and the new carry methods everyone should use.

I do miss some of the old writers and some of the old tests but that is where the internet and gun forums come in handy. I have learned so much from reading unbiased opinions of other users, and from seeing video of a given tactic vs. reading it in print. These things helped me decide on what gun(s), ammo, cleaning kits, etc. and saved me a BUNCH of money that would have been wasted on overpriced junk.

 

[Black Knight]

My Dad always told "You can't argue with a man when you know he is right."
It has been more than 15 years since I stopped getting most gun magazines. About the only one I still get is "The American Rifleman" from the NRA.

 

[mec]

Read critically, and checked independently all sorts of sources can be useful and a few can be entertaining. Ayoob's gun magazine articles are both informative and entertaining and his books are good too. Reading his two recent books on the World's Greatest Handguns, I learned that the walther pp/ ppk is only completely drop safe if you engage the safety. I've adopted that when I carry mine and it doesn't take any time at all to flip the safety up. He also confirmed that the Colt 1903 can fire if dropped- killing a long term notion that I had to have one.

A year or so ago I did an informal poll of this forum and thefiring line asking who had heard of these people from various segments of the "Gun Culture." Name recognition was low for defunct gun writers, upper level competitive shooters and most gunsmiths. With a couple of exceptions, recognition of current gun writers was fairly low- even those that exert themselves with self-praise and devote about half of the space in their articles to autobiography.

Non Scientific.
Thefiringline
John M. Browning 19
Ted Nugent 19
Massad Ayoob 19
Les Baer 18
Jack Weaver 16
B. Tyler Henry 15
Ed Brown 15
Jeff Cooper 14
Elmer Keith 14
Alexander Sturm 14
Sheriff Jim Wilson 13
Bill Jordan 13
Jack O'connor 13
Skeeter Skelton 13
Mike Venturino 10
Phil Sharpe 9
Garry James 9
Jan Libourel 9
Ray Chapman 8
Adolph Toepperwein 8
John Taffin 7
William Tilghmany 6
Virgil Tripp 6
Dean Grennell 5
Ron Power 5
Patrick Sweeney 5
Bill Blankenship 5
Clay Allison 4
Lucian Cary 4
China Camp 4
Rod Redwing 3


The highroad
John M. Browning 19
Hiram Maxim 18
Massad Ayoob 18
Ted Nugent 17
Jeff Cooper 16
Elmer Keith 15
Skeeter Skelton 14
John Taffin 10
Mike Venturino 9
Rob Leatham 8
Lee Jurras 7
Hamilton Bowen 6
Bertha Von Krupp und Holbaugh 5
Thell Reid 5
Hal Swiggert 4
Jim Clark 5
Dedonne Saive 4
Athena Lee 2
Taran Butler 2
Scott Caylor 1
Dave Dawson 1
Russel Tinsley 1
Gene West 1
Dave Dawson 1
Corey Ford 1
Leonard Lee Rue III -1
Russell Anabel 0