What Print Gun Magazines Do You Read and Why?

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American Rifleman
Shooting Times
Shooting Illustrated
FireArms News
Guns and Ammo,
Guns
American Handgunner
Gun Digest
Gun World
Handguns
Recoil
Field and Strean
Outdoor Life
Off Grid
Survivor's Edge
American Survival Guide.
Rifle
Handloader
Rifle Shooter
Pistol
AR-15
Just because I love to read, and because I love to read about my passion.
 
Like many others, I read Rifle and Handloader. I occasionally pick up Shooting Times or Rifle Shooter. I also read lots of fishing magazines. :D

When I was in high school (about the time that Moses* landed the Ark and let all the animals out according to my kids) I spent most of my lunches in the back room of the library reading the back issues of Outdoor Life, Sports Afield, and Field & Stream. Then one of the librarians showed me how to use the microfiche machine and I read the _really_ back issues. I remember reading articles about the amazing new fishing line called "Stren" on one the microfiche reader. That would have been a late '50s article. That's also where I learned that the "8mm howitzer", as we called it, that my dad owned was a Mauser and my Grandpa's 30-06 was a 1903 Springfield, but most of my focus then was on fishing info.

My understanding is that gun magazines aren't even allowed in the library at the high school now and that hunting books are locked up and you have to have special permission to get access to them. This is in a rural high school. How times have changed.

Matt

*Yes, I meant to say Moses. It's a running joke in our family.
 
It seems like once you subscribe to one gun magazine, many more subscription offers suddenly flood to your mailbox. Usually they have good starting subscription prices too. I had several coming & when I got them I paged through them quickly & then set them aside to read later. These started to stack up until the wife complained. I just hated to throw away a magazine I hadn't fully read yet. Then I realized most of the articles were about black rifles or small carry pistols. Now to set things straight, I have several AR's I enjoy & a carry pistol or two. But enough is enough with over-doing these articles. I let my magazine subscriptions laps except for Handloader & Rifle. I kept them electronic in pdf only. Same with the American Rifleman. To tell the truth, I'm a little disappointed in Handloader/Rifle magazines too. I wish there were new rival reloader/shooter magazines out there. Something more like the early issues of American Rifleman, Handloader & Rifle.

Most of the interesting reading these days is on-line like here on THR. Posters are regular folks & sometimes its the good, the bad & the ugly, but that is what keeps things interesting!

JIMHO
 
Let me see if I can list them all.

American Rifleman
Handguns
Guns and ammo
Handloader
Rifle shooter
Gun Tests

I guess I can't list them all off the top of my head. I get a few more than that.

Why? I'm an old fart. I like the ability to hold the paper in my hand. No power required. I love guns, shooting, and reloading. I'm an information addict.
 
pert near said:
many more subscription offers suddenly flood to your mailbox
Click to expand...
Most of the periodicals use "subscription services" which actually handle getting the subscriptions. Those services are a "middleman" where they aggregate the subscriptions into a bundle, which is then sold to the publication.

They make enough off this to offer "deals" better than the pub can. It's also in their interest to get you to subscribe to as many pubs as they can talk you into.

However, there can be problems. Like if the pub changes its preferred service, but the one you initially used, still keeps your business. I ran into this about two decades ago with G&A, where, 6 issues into a 3-year subscription, I stopped getting the mag. That took almost 6 weeks to sort out. Pedersen comped me a year's subscription to "make good" on the debacle. But, I've never bothered to renew since.
 
A very interesting thread. I enjoy seeing what other folks read. It looks like i need to check out reloader magazine.


I get Muzzleloader and Muzzleblast magazines for my traditional black powder hobby. Also get Fur Fish & Game for practical hunting. Nobody gets "Backwoodsman"?
I let my Trap and Field lapse, but i need to renew.

I let all the othets expire. I got tired of seeing hunting stories of expensive exotic hunts on other continents, and reading about which handgun would best kill an intruder.

I get a mailbox full of farming magazines.
 
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I read everything online now. Paper is so last century,
  • Gun Tests
  • Firearms News
  • Shooting Illustrated (NRA)
I must add that platforms such as THR are generally a better source of useful information than most paper pubs. Also, truth be told, there are a lot of good, informative videos out there.
 
CDW4ME said:
One of the last gun magazines I subscribed to had a particular columnist that read as condescending to me.
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That's the exact reason I unsubscribed to Handloader. To me, it seems like one of Handloader's columnists thinks that nobody except he, and his tiny little circle of acquaintances know anything about rifles or big game hunting.
I still pick up a copy of Field and Stream or Outdoor Life occasionally - if there's an article I'm interested in that I can't finish reading while my wife is shopping. Don't get me wrong - I help with the grocery shopping, but I'm not much interested in doilies, figurines or dish cloths. My wife is, so I go to the magazine rack while she shops for such things.
My wife and I are both members of the NRA, but I elected to not get American Hunter because my wife gets an American Rifleman every month anyway. After we each thumb though the American Rifleman, we cut the address label off and leave it at the doctor's office or the barber shop - depending on which place we visit first. Given my wife's and my respective ages, it's a toss-up which place (the doctor's office or the barber shop) we visit first about once a month.:D
 
Speak of the devil...I got my American Rifleman in the mail today. Ruger Precision Rimfire on the cover.

I said before - a day late and a dollar short. A year late and much more than a dollar short with this issue.
 
The only one's left are the American Rifleman and The Front Sight both as a result of club affiliations. I don't even read them thoroughly.
 
I get the American Rifleman, as well as the the American Hunter, both thru the NRA, with my membership, I generally read the articles that interest me in regards to "I have this old gun" and the "dope bag", as well as just about all the American Hunter. Occasionally I'll read the political .articles that are in them.
 
BilliamB. said:
I read everything online now. Paper is so last century,
  • Gun Tests
  • Firearms News
  • Shooting Illustrated (NRA)
I must add that platforms such as THR are generally a better source of useful information than most paper pubs. Also, truth be told, there are a lot of good, informative videos out there.
Click to expand...
Last century? What are y'all gonna do when the power grids go down from the EMP/earthquake/volcanoes? (Anyone read William Forstchen's "One Second After?")

At any rate, I read many of the current print periodicals, but SWAT, American Handgunner, Recoil and Outdoor Life are my standbys. I'm usually outside, on the water, in the woods or trekking up the mountains, so I always take a couple magazines and a paperback with me. Hard to read internet stuff on one's portable electronic devices when there's no mobile service, too much bright sunlight or lots of water or humidity present. Also, while I agree there's a lot of information on the internet, not all is useful and most is anonymous. I also like high quality photos and even read the ads, as it's another way to keep up on what's new and available.
 
Old Dog said:
Last century? What are y'all gonna do when the power grids go down from the EMP/earthquake/volcanoes? (Anyone read William Forstchen's "One Second After?")

At any rate, I read many of the current print periodicals, but SWAT, American Handgunner, Recoil and Outdoor Life are my standbys. I'm usually outside, on the water, in the woods or trekking up the mountains, so I always take a couple magazines and a paperback with me. Hard to read internet stuff on one's portable electronic devices when there's no mobile service, too much bright sunlight or lots of water or humidity present. Also, while I agree there's a lot of information on the internet, not all is useful and most is anonymous. I also like high quality photos and even read the ads, as it's another way to keep up on what's new and available.
Click to expand...
I was being a bit facetious, and am greatly saddened by the demise of print.

FWIW, I have read "One Second After," which I found well thought out, very chilling and a great impetus to stock up on .22 ammo. Next on my reading list (and on my Kindle) is the second in Forstchen's trilogy, "One Year After," followed by his finale, "The Final Day."
 
Shanghai McCoy said:
"Print is dead..."
;)
Click to expand...

Some people don't have internet. Obviously I do but I know many people, including some relatives who do not. One of them is a great gun enthusiast, and actually makes his own barrels and other parts for some of his self designed guns. He also doesn't have electricity.
 
Old Dog said:
Last century? What are y'all gonna do when the power grids go down from the EMP/earthquake/volcanoes? (Anyone read William Forstchen's "One Second After?")
Click to expand...
LoL.
Come the End of Electricity, all that paper will only be good for outhouse use [:0]
Or bundled and baled to increase insulation and bullet resistance [:)]

Lights go out, and I'll still have Knight's Modern Seamanship; Bowditch; and the Mechanic's Handbook.
My problem will be in finding someone who can grow food--I have a brown thumb, even silk flowers are at risk in my care.
 
American Rifleman
Shooting Times
Guns and Ammo
Gonna' drop Shooting Times as it does not follow my interests. It was only $8.xx to subscribe in the first place.
 
I haven't read any periodical in many, many months. No matter what the topic is about, periodicals about products (firearms included) just don't draw my interest at the moment.

However, I am thinking of subscribing to The Backwoodsman just for the bi-monthly light reading as it isn't sold at my local grocery store any more. They include some sort of firearm or muzzle loader in nearly every issue.
 
all my periodical reading (and 70% of my online forum attention) has been reoriented towards overlanding the past 2 years.
my friends at matches tell me any time a new piece of gear comes out that is must-own. otherwise, after all the years of reverse banic, i'm pretty well set
 
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