Has there ever been a negative firearm review?

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Jayman-
If Benelli has "come after us" we're not aware of it. Hard to litigate against the truth.

It was an interesting coincidence, though, that Beretta redesigned their shotgun stock after I said it "was designed by chimps for use by gorillas.":D

Someone also asked about negative reports on schools: Rob Pincus wrote a very unfavorable report on an Israeli course he took in Florida.

Speaking of Rob, he is now the director of Valhalla Training Center in Colorado. And even though he's on the S.W.A.T. Staff I gave him a far less than glowing report at that facility--even though he's like a brother to me, (however, a lot of changes for the better have been made since I was there.)

Whore? Maybe. We tell it like it is right up front, charge a price for a product and don't lie about what you get.

Denny
 
Whore? Maybe. We tell it like it is right up front, charge a price for a product and don't lie about what you get.
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And that's why I read and subscribe to SWAT.

Come to think of it, I think my subscription has lapsed. I should scrape together some cash and renew it; I don't want to miss the new issue where they review the DSA FAL...
 
I don't have any Gun Rags delivered to my home.

I do have SWAT Magazine delivered tho'. :D

I appreciate the honesty of the reviews in SWAT. Denny and others , even with their busy schedule, have taken the time to discuss various subjects.

Same goes for many members of TFL/THR - thank you.

IIRC there is a review by a Mike Irwin in regard to a AMT...I kinda sorta got the impression Mr. Irwin didn't care for this firearm...:p

Nice to hear from Mr. Lucibella again.
 
Denny, the thing about Benelli was a rumor and I probably heard it wrong anyway.

I do appreciate SWAT's honesty, and I have yet to hear anything negative about you guys. That's one reason why I too subscribed...

Thanks for putting out something respectable in a field where most simply don't. :)
 
Thanks, guys.
Balog-
If you're serious about writing, we're always looking for folks who are switched on. Email me.
 
"IIRC there is a review by a Mike Irwin in regard to a AMT...I kinda sorta got the impression Mr. Irwin didn't care for this firearm..."

SM,

Que?

I never wrote any reviews, or anything for that matter, for SWAT magazine, or any other firearms magazine, for that matter, regarding AMT firearms.
 
Rock on Rich, I'm glad that SWAT is doing so well. I just re-upped for another year of SWAT. It is now the only magazine that I have a subscription for. Honestly you guys do a great job.
 
You guys need to understand how magazine writers write "gun test" articles. Here's an example:

Gun Writer: "Hi, I'm Joe Blow from Guns R Us and I am here to write a totally objective article about your new gun."

Gun Maker: "Ok.'

Gun Writer: "First question: Are you going to buy advertising from my magazine or is your new gun a total piece of crap?"

Gun Maker: "Uh, we're going to buy advertising."

Gun Writer: "Are you going to buy 4 color spreads over 10 pages or is your new gun a total piece of crap?".

Gun Maker: Uh, we're going to buy 4 color spreads over 10 pages".



You can probably figure out how the rest of the article is written from hereon.



Albin
 
A gun magazine that is absolutely unbiased and always tells the truth is the German magazine VISIER.

Those guys give a damn about attempts of the firearms industry to threaten them with advertisement cancelling if a gun test is not to their liking.

A good example of their honesty is the test of seven 9mm Luger target pistols of the absolute top class in the 01/2004 issue.

The following guns were tested:

- SIG P 210-5 heavy frame LS
- Smith & Wesson Target Champion
- Peters Stahl Multicaliber ( a German weapon)
- Strayer Voight Infinity Scepter
- Nowlin Challenger
- STI Trojan
- Les Baer Premier II


The test results were:

SIG: a superior pistol with the best accuracy of all tested guns

Smith & Wesson: a very well made and very accurate pistol

STI Trojan: the accuracy was not quite up to the best of the tested pistols

SVI Infinity Scepter: mediocre accuracy for a pistol which costs 2.699 Euros (3.240 $). The test crew felt, that this gun was somewhat defective and not up to the otherwise superior quality of SVI guns. Therefore no final judgement about that pistol was passed.

Nowlin Challenger: wildly erratic accuracy with factory ammo. From excellent groups with 115 grs Magtech ammo (21mm) to inacceptable with S&B 115 grs FMJ (68mm). There were seven misfires of 200 cartridges fired in that gun.

Les Baer Premier II: The barrel was faulty and obviously slipped through factory quality control. That resulted in a horribly bad accuracy for such an expensive firearm. Instead the accuracy results from an older test gun with 6" barrel were published. THAT pistol was absolutely top notch with a 16mm group at 25m with Norma 123 grs VM-Kst ammo.

Peters Stahl: very good accuracy, reliable with the exception of the S&B 115 grs JHP ammo which produced some some jams.


I doubt, whether all those facts would have been published in any of the US gun magazines.
 
I used to subscribe to Gun Tests because they supposedly were not interested in money from advertisers. Which is total bunk because they always tell you a price and where to get the item at the end of the review.

Also they gave a "Best Buy" rating to a Runger P97...I bought one and it was a nightmare.

They gave a "Don't Buy" rating to a Bersa Thunder .380....simply because of the decocker...and it was one of the more accurate and reliable guns I've owned.

They give a Glock 22 a "Best Buy" and a Sig 229 a mere "Buy" when the Sigs I own are flawless and the Glock 22 I had was prone to light hits, stovepipes etc. dependant upon ammo.

They make odd side by side comparisons like the Sig 229 going up against a Glock 22...and then they discount points because of the Sig's price tag vs. the Glock. Well how about comparing it to the Sig Pro instead since THAT is Sig's answer to the Glock challange.

That being said I like the magazine...but I had to cancel my subscription...I was buying too many guns. :neener:
 
A gun magazine that is absolutely unbiased and always tells the truth is the German magazine VISIER.
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Makes me wish I'd learned my Deutsch better when I was in Germany... all I ever got good at was ordering food and beer. :D
 
The problem with any gun review is that you are reviewing that particular gun. If you get a Glock that does not work you can't really say that all Glock do not work, we know they do. Maybe all the gun rag writers need to test run 10 or 20 of the guns in question before they write a definitive recommendation. I do understand that they can only review the gun they have on hand. If they get a lemon they either have to say, “This gun blows,†or say, “We think we got a lemon because it is pre-production.†I can understand either, although I would rather see what really happened when the author had a hold of the weopon. That said I quit buying gun mags a bit ago for the reviews.

I love those Ichiro Nagata pics though. Love ‘em.
 
I did not read all the posts so please forgive me if I am repeating something already stated by someone else. The only gun magazines who ever gave honest reviews were the old "Pistolero" and "Handgun Tests". The others have been/are bought and paid for whores of the industry. The publisher of the above mentioned mags was one Phil Engledrum. The only writer/tester to ever tell it like it was. If it was junk, he was not afraid to say so; if it was good, he stated that also. Damn, I miss him. One of the things he stated so eloquently, lets see if I can remember this correctly...... "You must have been reading the gun comic books too much, and damaged your brain". Or something to that effect. He was very blunt and outspoken in his opinions, and didn't give a damn whose toes he stepped on. Not really a very good writer; a damn good man.
 
I second KRAUTGUNNER's opinion.

Visier is an excellent and unbiased german magazine, they post objective articles and they are not afraid of the advertisers and dealers.

I cancelled ALL my subscriptions to US magazines long ago. I really got tired of those "dead-boring-1911-of-the-month" type reviews and the 3-6 page long advertisements masked as articles. :cuss:

I am an euro gun writer and I also can write anything I want in our magazine.
 
I agree with several of the postings above that you need to read reviews carefully. If they don't say it didn't jam, it probably did. If it shot terrible, they probably won't include one of those little accuracy charts. If they don't mention some aspect of the gun (grip, ergonomics, accuracy, reliability), beware. There is a review in one of the current mags where the reviewer admits that he sent the first specimen he received back to the factory to be fixed. But to expect a medium supported by advertising to routinely bash the advertisers' products is naive. There's a reason they don't review used firearms. It would certainly be possible to start a high-quality gun magazine that did not accept advertising, but it would cost about ten dollars an issue.
 
"A good example of their honesty is the test of seven 9mm Luger target pistols of the absolute top class in the 01/2004 issue."

YES! Absolutely true!
The Visier is the best gun magazine in Europe.

I also read that test!!!

2000+ Euros "supersportguns" which do not work. No American magazine could print it.
 
"
I am an euro gun writer and I also can write anything I want in our magazine."

And I am his boss, so I confirm this statement.
 
Albin-
Judging from the certainty of your post as offering the "real truth", I have to assume that you are a gun writer for whom I have very little sympathy. I suggest you find another magazine that doesn't force you to sell your reputation in that manner...they do exist. Our writers, for instance, do not sell ads...nor are they aware of who is advertising in upcoming issues.

Certainly, you're a well known industry insider....or, you're out to prove the maxim: "Those who can, do; those who can't, teach." ;)

YMMV-
Rich Lucibella
One Proud Publisher of One Independent Magazine
 
doubt, whether all those facts would have been published in any of the US gun magazines
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Actually, I've seen those same facts published in other mags. But then again, look at the facts. They had a defective SVI and rather than say "this thing sucks" they just chalked it up to a bad sample. Isn't that precisely what was being complained of with other magazines ("we know this thing couldn't hit the broadside of a barn but you know what? We're chalking it up to a lemon, not a bad design.") Maybe that's because lemons occur and writers give companies benefit of the doubt.
 
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