Magazine Subscriptions and gun knowledge.

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whughett

whughett

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On these pages how many of you readers are magazine subscribers, what magazine and how much do you rely on them for information.

Reading thru all the forums on THR on a daily basis has me realizing just how un-informed I am these days on gun Manufacturing, models calibers and pricing.
For decades in the 70’s tru 90’s I subscribed to numerous magazines, The Rifleman, Hunter, North American Hunter, Shooting Times, Guns and Ammo, Shotgun News, Hand Loader among others.

In 2003 the bride and I decided we’d spent our winters in warmer climes and I canceled all subscriptions. The PO won’t forward magazines beyond a short periods, we change addresses every six months, and I’d lose copies. As a Life member I get American Rifleman but if I don’t notify them Ill lose copies there too. North American Hunter went belly up and the Life membership there is worthless.
Just never get around to buying on newsstands.
 
It’s not always easy to find knowledge in magazines, if you already possess some. There are exceptions but when it feels like you are sitting in a timeshare sales pitch, every month when they arrive, it’s time to do something more productive with the money you spend, like give it to a panhandler so he can go buy a drink.
 
I find that gun web sites, forums (like this one), and YouTube videos are more informative and interesting than printed gun magazines. This has to do with the economics of publishing. The printed gun press (including the NRA's American Rifleman) is beholden to advertising. This makes much of their content simply shilling for manufacturers. You never see impartial reviews of products in the gun press.
 
Magazines and the like (I'll throw in: knowledge that comes from the internet) can be very hit and miss.

My own knowledge comes from experience, study, and knowledge passed from people whom I respect as authorities on a given topic.

Sometimes those who are authorities use forums as their communication medium, sometimes YouTube, sometimes you have to take a class or meet them at a convention or some such.

Sadly many good people have been lead astray because of the internet's commandos and yet many truly authoritative people are putting good content out there.

The same can be said for the magazines we all used to read.
 
When I became a life member of the NRA I requested to receive the American Rifleman, as I am not particularly interested in modern rifles or hunting.
For some reason, they insist on sending me The American Hunter, which reads like one long infomercial promoting guns and hunts that don't interest me at all. It usually goes directly in the trash.
I've tried repeatedly to have this subscription changed, but no luck.
Other than that I have no magazine subscriptions.
 
Still have American Rifleman, Guntest, and Guns magazine. Dropped most of them over time but might pick up Handloader again if I can start reloading again.

Guntest does a decent job keeping up with new stuff and does not accept advertising. Good website (free to subscribers and some stuff is available to non-subscribers) has reviews of firearms going way back. The reviews are sometimes colored by the personal preferences of the person evaluating the firearm but they make that clear. Firearms that do not function reliably get an F.
 
I only get magazines included with sanctioning organization membership, American Rifleman, Tactical Journal, Front Sight, Glock Report. I keep thinking about resuming Rifle and Handloader, maybe American Handgunner, but haven't gotten a cheap enough offer yet.
 
Small Arms review is worth it; American Rifleman is OK, not as good as it used to be, and I get G&A from my dad from Xmas every year, but I occasionally pick up individual issues at the newsstand if they intrigue me.
 
Like others, I receive The American Rifleman with the NRA life membership. I just recently subscribed to Handloader. Before that I think The Varmint Hunter was my last.
 
For those leading a mobile lifestyle, many of the gun magazines are also available in electronic downloadable format these days :)

I read and subscribed to several of the gun magazines for a decade or so from say 1985 to 1995. The nature of such publications is that their information articles (as opposed to new product reviews) tend to repeat after a while.

1911 vs ?
.308 vs .30-06
.45 ACP vs 9mmx19
(earlier) revolvers vs autopistols
etc.
 
We receive American Rifleman, and I almost always buy the current year's edition of Hodgedon's Annual Manual off a newsstand. I used to subscribe to Handloader, but there's one writer for Handloader (I won't mention his name) that I won't tolerate. He either starts off every article with, "Most people think this," or "Most people believe that," or it's somewhere within his first few paragraphs.
I dropped my subscription to Handloader several years ago when the above mentioned writer actually wrote, "Most modern day hunters think that bullets need to be going at least 3,000fps or they'll simply bounce off whitetail deer." I won't waste money on tripe like that. Maybe that writer and his tiny little circle of cronies think bullets need to be going at least 3,000fps so they won't "bounce off whitetail deer," but I sure don't think that, and I don't know anyone who does. And I'm a "modern day hunter" (even though I'm old) and so are a good many of my friends, relatives and acquaintances.
Rant off. Sorry about that.:oops:
 
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In the 90's and into the early 2000's I subscribed to many gun and hunting related magazines. Now American Rifleman is all I get, and tha'ts just because it comes with an NRA membership. I've noticed magazines tend to lag about 6 weeks behind the "greatest and latest", and that's just the way things go with monthly periodicals. By the time an author is able to review an item, write an article, send it to print and distribution there's already several youtube videos, a few blog articles, and possible even some detailed write ups on forums such as this. All of that information I can get for free, so it's just not worth my money to buy the same thing on a time delay.

I trust the information I can get for free a lot more anyway. I take more merit from the opinions of 50 random internet strangers, even if 40 of them don't have a clue, than one single author who won't ever give his true opinion for fear of being blacklisted by that manufacturer.
 
I'll sound old as dirt and just 'bout as gritty but I gave up even browsing mags when the last of the old school writers and editors bowed out.

Art was lost and enjoyment waned rapidly.

It coincidentally - or not - really hit when the next *new* polymer was gonna be a *game changer* and EVERYONE was *thinking outside of the box* and magazine capacity was king.

Tactical ruled the day and sporting oriented writers; whether hunting or competition, were pushed out. Too, this might have actually started around '84 with the over-infatuation with the Joint Service Small Arms Program... at least for me.

Interestingly, this same thing occurred for me not much after that with motorcycles. You can essentially mark my periodical-literature disinterest with the onset of CAD and carbon fiber. Here as well, for older or more *basic* folk like me, technology and those who bow & scrape to it left me cold and once again.... wholly disinterested. Art and gut-felt-JOY gave way to grams and hundredths of seconds.

In the end; irony of ironies - it was technology came to my aid. The internet allows one to actively seek out the information, associations, support and *news* one actually cares about without sifting though pages of dull screaming about what's gonna be the next *big thing*.

I miss; Skeeter, Jordan, Keith and their ilk. When those fellas said-so.... It WAS so and fun to read to boot!

Todd.
 
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If you have a choice of spending money on gun books versus gun magazines, the books are a far better investment. It's been said that for a serious gun collection, a person should have a book for every gun. That's probably an exaggeration, but a gun book collection is an important adjunct to the gun collection itself. It's also worth noting that classic gun books, although they tend to be expensive initially, also tend to hold their value very well. I have certain gun books that, on the used book market, are worth easily ten times what I originally paid for them. (The two-volume International Armament set, covering milsurps, is a good example.) Gun magazines, on the other hand, just add to the household clutter until you finally throw them out.
 
AlexanderA said:
If you have a choice of spending money on gun books versus gun magazines, the books are a far better investment. It's been said that for a serious gun collection, a person should have a book for every gun. That's probably an exaggeration, but a gun book collection is an important adjunct to the gun collection itself. It's also worth noting that classic gun books, although they tend to be expensive initially, also tend to hold their value very well. I have certain gun books that, on the used book market, are worth easily ten times what I originally paid for them. (The two-volume International Armament set, covering milsurps, is a good example.) Gun magazines, on the other hand, just add to the household clutter until you finally throw them out.
Click to expand...
I make a point of buying one VERY good reference book each year at Small Arms Review in Phoenix.

Money MUCH better spent than on overly-filled-with-advertising magazines.

Todd.
 
Ah my mis-spent younger days In the dark days before the WWW one looked for knowledge and entertainment where it was most abundant. Books and magazines. And if the subject was something your could grasp and hold on to so much the better.
At one point I had an American Rifleman collection that went back to the early 50’s. 25 years or so of Hamdloader,
I also left various magazines at any Doctors or Dentist offices that would allow it, address redacted of course, and gave the local library many also.
Perhaps those were before the days of the “whore to the corporate advertising” gun writers.
Gun writers who lived what they wrote. Skeeter Skelton, Elmer Keith, Warren Page, Jack O'Connor,
Thownsend Whelen, Charles Adkins, Bill Jordon thanks guys, thanks for the knowledge and for the entertainment.

Mutually Exclusive Indeed.
 
At least some of the normal rags will have the occasional hand loading, gunsmithing, or bullet testing article. That is the type of stuff I care about and I have many books directly and indirectly related to one or more of those topics.
 
jmorris said:
(I)t’s time to do something more productive with the money you spend, like give it to a panhandler so he can go buy a drink.
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Funny you should say that. A few years ago there was a panhandler at an intersection I frequented to and from work. One day he held a sign that said: "Honestly, I just need a beer." It was one of those hot AZ summer days so I turned into the next Circle K, bought a cold six pack, drove around the block and gave it to the guy. He appeared quite surprised.
 
The only magazine subscriptions that I currently have are AARP and American Rifleman because they automatically come, for no additional charge, with the memberships. The former I immediately toss, unopened, and the latter, at best, gets a quick scan before it gets oval-filed.

Assuming that it is considered to be a "magazine", the only gun magazine to which I have ever paid for a subscription was SGN (ShotgunNews). I let that one run out about 14-15 years ago after it was obviously suffering from ... something ...

For a couple of decades my primary source for firearms info has been, at any given time, a couple/few, select internet forums.
 
I guess the benefits, off thread, of an AARP membership offsets their anti gun CEO. Or is that out of date news. At 78 years young I resisted their siren song for years
 
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