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Oh.....I thought this thread was about clips.
I need some.
I need some.
Who Needs Gun Magazines Now that We Have Forums
- Thread starter SharpsDressedMan
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Winston_Smith
Member
I like them for airplanes and the doctors office. If I am done with it, I will stick it at the bottom of the pile for a lucky patient.
Quentin
Member
I also like Mas Ayoob but it's hard to justify buying a magazine for one column. I do have a few of his excellent books though. He's been around as a writer a long time and even hobnobed with a lot of the greats that have since passed on.
SeekHer
Member
My wife and I are catalogueholics! We collect catalogues—we also throw them out as we’re not hoarders…Order A to M odd years and N to Z even years so we’re never more then a year out of date when we have to research something…Be that something for her work, archaeologist, mine, tourist trade or just our reading pleasure for our work of an about to be, future, budding Internet retailer (site being worked on as I write this)…
I have subscriptions to nearly every gun, hunting, knife and outdoor sports magazines...I get all the primitive learning ones as well as homesteading...some other outdoor pursuits, canoe, kayak, boating, sailing, rock climbing, camping, RV trailers, archery, fishing and fly fishing but I'm selective on those...between my wife and I and our six remaining at home daughters, we get 90 magazines delivered to the door and I may buy 12 to 15 more if there is something I really want to read about…They’re stored in stacked on their sides milk crates in the basement…the fire three years ago destroyed 20+ years of Outdoor Life, Sports Afield, Field and Stream, Guns and Ammo, Knives, etc complete, every issue…
Albeit the topics are more diverse (Duh) the information provided in the Forums is usually so full of fecal matter that it isn’t worth the time to read to find out it is full of it…The greater percentage of material presented -- that should be vastly greater – is so incorrect, so biased, so filled with misinformation, erroneous figures and formulas and so full of “mine is better then yours and you’re an idiot if you think differently” that it’s actually, in many cases, dangerous to follow the information…
I’ll read the magazines because I can at least understand what they’ve written, they have used proper grammatical punctuation and usage, spelled it correctly and more importantly, they know what the Hell they’re talking about and have excellent research assistants to provide them with the info and usually from printed or some E-books but seldom from the Internet except from the makers’ sites and of that ilk…
Yes, they promote the “new” guns and ammo because that is what they are paid to do and their corporate Code of Ethics states that they will…For all the glowing reviews, I’ve also seen lots that lambaste the product and some sufficient enough to have the product taken of the market…What difference does it make if some blogger reports to you XYZ Co. just made a new dohickey or a magazine from whence he undoubtedly got the information from in the first place…
I can assure you that any of the periodicals will receive the press releases well before “Bubba’s Big Boo Boo Blog” gets it (No insult intended if there is a Bubba’s blog of that name (No Google for it)…They test it and they like it (or not) and they say so…So they like more then one calibre, more then one type of action, more then one maker—Guess what? So, do I! Are there makes I dislike, of course and for them to prove themselves better, in my eyes, they have to go a long way to achieve it…"It’s harder to fall from grace” as my Nanna used to say…
The instant part of Internet is what scares and fascinates me…some one says something, and like reporters the world over, the information is taken out of context and next thing you know, Jim Zumbo is out of a job for saying something that I agree with -- Assault, battle rifles, those Evil Black Devils aren’t great “big game” hunting arms even if you change the upper on an AR to anything, anything at all, from .223/5.56mm…Too many angles and things sticking out/up/down that get hung up on the brush…Open prairies or for varmint, fur taking or rodent control is another matter altogether…
Have they gotten thinner, well that’s a Yes and a No answer…No, because most magazines have actually added more pages, yes of advertising too/also but that pays for the magazine to be made but also of articles or columns—and primarily to compete against the Internet…I can get all of mine on downloads if I want and I foresee that happening, to do away with paper and that’s where the Yes comes in…The magazines are using a different bond/weight/style of paper, quite a bit thinner so that means a thinner publication of the same page count…
Like Zundfolg – I do not like taking my notebook or laptop into the reading room (toilet) or when using public transportation (buses) to and from appointments…I live outside the city and I drive to the edge of the city, park in a mall parking lot and get on a “Park and Ride” bus and for $6, I get to four places, don’t hassle for parking metres ($4 hr) or parking tickets ($60 or $90), towing ($120), outrageous parking lot fees ($8 hr or portion) and no wear and tear on any of my vehicles…I especially like reading big bold firearm titled mags—stir up the hoplophobes with Guns, Guns & Ammo, Rifle or American Rifleman or whatever else I have with me…
Once upon a time the gun rags were great and the writers legend – Elmer Keith, Skeeter Skelton, Wes Jordan, Col. Townsend Whelan etc. just like you said, but the problem I’m seeing far too often, is that no one is going back and reading their articles or their books (Even on line) and all sorts of erroneous claims are attributed to them…Mrs. Jack O’Connor shooting an elephant dead with one shot of a .30/06 or that you can’t hit a target with a handgun beyond 100 yards etc…
It was a sleepy(ing) lion backed with four big boomers and ALL of the old pistoleros did it routinely even out to 600 yards! — Keith et al...
Will printed magazines go the way of the Dodo bird? Definitely, for sure, you betcha! When—probably within 5 for sure 10 years! Too much of an environmental impact! Will the Internet put magazines out of business? No way in Hell! They’ll just go digital so bloggers and forum members can more easily post copy written material and plagiarize the authors’ work to their little hearts content and pose the same question, worded slightly differently, thirty times in a half year because they're too stupidly lazy to do a search… Please put quotes and note the source(s) when using someone else's words--thank you!
How many times have you seen the same topic, worded slightly different, ten, five, even two posts below it...Topics like Ruger 10/22 vs Marlin 60, .308 vs. .30/06, Mossberg 500/590 vs. Remington 870, Is the .22LR, .25 ACP, .410 Gauge an ideal defensive round, ad nauseum...Sorry, about the rant, venting my spleen but it really irks me to no end! You want to tell them where to go and what to do when they get there but you answer nicely because they're newbies!
First of all, that's ancient history, since then Mr. Zumbo has apparently broadened his horizons a bit and seems to be the better for it. I think he was able to take the incident and do something constructive with it. He also has his job back (or at least some of his jobs).
Second, he didn't simply say that they weren't good for hunting and no one misrepresented his words or took them out of context, they were posted on the web for all to see. What got him into trouble wasn't simply voicing an opinion that AR-15's weren't good for hunting but his comments about them being "terrorist rifles", the implication that anyone who used one would be "lumped into the group of people who terrorize the world with them", and his statement that "game departments should ban them from the praries and woods."
Since you seem to believe they are ok for "open prairies" you don't agree with him at all--and it seems obvious that you're ranting about what happened to him without even knowing what he said.
For what it's worth, I agree with the general sentiment of your post. You have to wade through a LOT more garbage on the web to find the worthwhile nuggets of information.
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rbernie
Contributing Member
One word - iPhone. 
22-rimfire
Member
I think forums are a bit "too instant" and seemingly anonymous which leads to quick shoot from the hip statements. I think many of us would be better off typing any long reponses to a thread topic off line, reviewing it, and then pasting it into the forum reply. That includes me especially when I allow emotion to take presidence over intelligence or experience.
You generally will not see this in the sporting print media as there are editors who usually go over every article prior to publication. So the information is likely more accurate and better written.
You generally will not see this in the sporting print media as there are editors who usually go over every article prior to publication. So the information is likely more accurate and better written.
AR-15Nutt
Member
Jeff Cooper, Elmer Keith...Skeeter Skelton....Bob Milek, Neal Knox, P.O. Ackley, and many more, sadly, these men are no longer with us. and that is why i do not buy or read the mags they regularly wrote in, my favorites now are SWAT, SAR, Tactical Weapons and Weapons for Military & Police i rarely ever notice who the author is except for "Mad Dawg" Mike Getty, who is a personal friend of mine.
I subscribe the 4 (soon to be 3) gun mags. I still enjoy them but it seems the reviews are becoming less objective and more like infomercials. Like a previous poster I am a Mas Ayoob fan; his stuff comes across as highly credible. Anyone noticed that the gun rags have mostly tiptoed around the ammo shortage situation? I figure it's because they don't want to offend advertisers.
Wil Terry
Member
In my opinion, sir, you premise is full of balogna
You are giving credence to folks hear who have no provenence, post under phony names, and basically operate as a bunch of spoiled brat blowhards. SO, are there folks here who do indeed know their way around a sixgun or autoloading pistol ??? THERE CERTAINLY ARE !!! But you have no way of knowing who they are and you will never know because they'll run and hide before you get too close to figure out who they are, let alone what they are.
You are giving credence to folks hear who have no provenence, post under phony names, and basically operate as a bunch of spoiled brat blowhards. SO, are there folks here who do indeed know their way around a sixgun or autoloading pistol ??? THERE CERTAINLY ARE !!! But you have no way of knowing who they are and you will never know because they'll run and hide before you get too close to figure out who they are, let alone what they are.
Zak Smith
Member
I've been writing shooting-related articles on the internet since 2004 and for print magazines since 2006. Let me see if I can relate some of my experience in the form of responses to comments already posted to this thread:
On the other hand, a freelance gun writer makes almost no money writing articles. On average, if he produces one great article a week with good artwork and data/testing behind it, he'd make about as much as someone working full-time for $12/hour. I find it takes me 4-8 weeks to put together a really good article, from first getting the equipment to finishing the article. Subtract out necessary expenses like ammo, tools, fuel, range fees, targets, whatever, and it's even less viable. So this excludes freelance gun writing as a true profession and we are left with people who do it on the side almost as a hobby. It's easy to see how a gun enthusiast who gets to write articles from time to time could become enthralled by the steady stream of demos and hesitant to criticize them. I've seen some examples that were so bad I was embarrassed for the writer.
I can see both sides of this issue. From an author's (ie, my) perspective, he is getting paid by the publisher, not the manufacturer. If he wants to retain some level of credibility, he better accurately criticize or praise the products. That is what I attempt to do. But what an author writes is not necessarily what will show up in print. His editors have final say and it's not uncommon for a few things to be changed - or omitted - from time to time.
On the other hand, a freelance gun writer makes almost no money writing articles. On average, if he produces one great article a week with good artwork and data/testing behind it, he'd make about as much as someone working full-time for $12/hour. I find it takes me 4-8 weeks to put together a really good article, from first getting the equipment to finishing the article. Subtract out necessary expenses like ammo, tools, fuel, range fees, targets, whatever, and it's even less viable. So this excludes freelance gun writing as a true profession and we are left with people who do it on the side almost as a hobby. It's easy to see how a gun enthusiast who gets to write articles from time to time could become enthralled by the steady stream of demos and hesitant to criticize them. I've seen some examples that were so bad I was embarrassed for the writer.
This is true, however, the quality of writing in gun magazines is often lacking when compared to other print media. As for research assistants: the majority of authors of gun-magazine articles are freelance (ie, not under contract) and have no assistants.
Being able to say, "I'm going to review this for XYZ Magazine" is a huge help in getting demos and information out of a manufacturer. In the last couple years, they have warmed up to online media especially if they've heard of you before. However, even if both parties get the information at the same time, the internet media guy has a huge advantage in that he can get readers as soon as his article is together; the print-media guy has to wait until that huge machine chomps on his article for months. By that time, it's "old news" to everyone who is paying attention.
Zak Smith
Member
The flip side to this is that I believe people who regularly research things on the internet have a better-developed ability to judge the likely level of truth of things they find. I find that people without internet experience as more like to simply "believe something because I read it."
CoRoMo
Member
I think there are too many forums.
earlthegoat2
Member
Ditto that.
Also with magazines at least there is some credibility to the writer because the author does appear under the title of the article. Also there are sometimes pictures of the author taking a few shots or running tests. Here in the forums everyone is an expert with little to no real credibility. Yup, even me.
Having said that the only gun mag I get is American Rifleman and even though that has some good political information and other RKBA stuff and I know the money I paid for it is going to a bigger cause than just the magazine I still find myself tossing it in a bin before reading it. Its just more of the same drivel.
Erik M
Member
I sometimes flip through an outdated copy of Shooters Bible to look at the pretty pictures. I cant find a magizine that doesn't scream tacticoolio when im in front of the magizine rack at BookLand.
That and
That and
federalfarmer
Member
- Joined
- Oct 3, 2008
- Messages
- 312
Gun Mag's when I want a good opinion! I like reading on here BUT I do not know you and have to take everything with a grain of salt. No offense!
Forums are excellent sources of tips, you can ask and expect a reply from fellow members.. But for people like me who loves to read, I still get good magazines once in a while. My recent purchase is Shooting Times and bought it from this magazine coupon site, great buy!
But for people like me who loves to read, I still get good magazines once in a while. My recent purchase is Shooting Times and bought it from this magazine coupon site, great buy! - Status
