Todays gun rags are just that. Crap.

[Yellow Jacket]

I still miss Jack, Skeeter and Bill.

 

[mac66]

As was previously stated, at one time gun mags were about the only source of information on the hobby. If you wanted to know and stay current you had to read. However these days, the internet (good or bad) is one of the if not primary source for info.

One could probably say that about any hobby as well.

These days if I want to read a gun magazine I just go to the basement and pull something from the 60s. 70s, 80s, or 90s stacks. Probably haven't bought a gun mag for 15+ years or so. Interestingly, the articles aren't much different now than the were back in each of those decades. The names change, but the stuff is pretty much the same. The point of magazines/media is to sell advertising. That means just enough substance to entice people to look and mostly fluff to sell ads.

 

[mec]

The American Rifleman was the only trustworthy news organ about gun legislation. Before a vote on one of Kennedy,Metzenbutt, or Rodino's gun bans, the media would be full of predictions that the law would pass by a two/third majority. The day of the vote would come and go and Dead Silence from the media. It didn't take a genius to figure that the anti-gun bill had flopped but we couldn't get confirmation or any details until the Rifleman came out after a couple of months lag time. Now, of course the MSM continues to sull when one of their gun bill fails but we find out within minutes of he vote from the conservative internet fifth column.

 

[tuna]

One good thing about gun magazines - whenever the wife and I go shopping at Walmart or similar - I pick one up as soon as we get in. I can read the magazine, not get antsy wanting to leave the store, not get into arguments about how terrible I am to shop with, and I can finish everything worth reading while waiting in line - paying special attention to ads by EAA and Khar.

For those who miss the old writers, I suggest you pick up a copy of Stephen Hunter's "Pale Horse Coming" - names are changed, but you know who's who. Total fiction, but a fun read.

 

[witchhunter]

I grew up on Jack O'Conner in Outdoor Life. Then loved Gene Hill in Field and Stream. Of course Skeeter Skelton and the old Shooting Times staff. But these days, I don't subscribe to any. I get the American Rifleman forever from NRA, but it's not the same. I am interested in old Winchesters, precision bolt rifles and Smith and Wesson revolvers, not AR's and suppressors. Just my taste has changed I guess.

 

[twofifty]

Interesting times for sure if you're into old-school publishing, journalism or even photography.

With places like THR, there isn't a question -no matter how narrowly focused or technical it is- that can't be answered competently within minutes or at most hours. It would take years of multiple mag subscriptions to find out all that I've learned on this forum.