Which gun magazine do you care for the best? I had been getting a couple of different ones for a while. I found myself reading one the most(Guns Magazine). I just received a couple of very low priced offer from G&A and Shooting Times. Also Firearms News. Half the time I read one or two articles and then give the magazines away or drop them off at the shooting range. What are you using?

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

I haven't looked at a gun magazine in years. I can find just about anything I need on the various forums or via google or youtube. That said, I was always a big fan of American Handgunner.

HANDLOADER and RIFLE remain the best but they've deteriorated over what they used to be when Dave Scovill was the editor. Also, one of their best writers, John Barsness retired. However, Brian Pearce, probably the foremost gun writer in the business today, remains.

I haven't seen an AMERICAN HANDGUNNER in a while but based on the last of what I saw, I'd have to rate it very close to or maybe even an equal of HANDLOADER and RIFLE magazines. The rest, including AMERICAN RIFLEMAN have suffered serious decline.

I used to read G&A. Handgunner was a decent read. When Ross Seyfried left G&A so did I. Just get the American Hunter mag now.

Rifle and Handloader were at their best when David Wolfe ran it. Dave Scovill was OK but it got so bad since I finally dropped my subscription.

A great read with a lot of Historical stuff is Gun and Sword collector from Mobray publishing. It is the old Man at Arms magazine.

I grew up with Shooting Times, Guns and Guns & Ammo and now I may skim thru them in the store but rarely buy one. Guns and Handgunner were very good until they slowly became 1911 and tactical magazines.

I still read American Rifleman but only because it comes with the membership.

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Sceva
OGCA SWCA NRA

Exact same here......

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S&W Accumulator

None.

I am one with the search engines.

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Music/Sports/Beer fan

I find myself using the computer search functions and going to web sites/forums more and more. I have to say over the years I've liked Guns & Ammo more than the American Rifleman. I've looked at others, like Shooting Times and a couple more, but I only ever kept G&A and AR going for a long time. I'm an NRA Life Member, and I sometimes think that's the only reason I've stuck with the American Rifleman.

We used to get most of the U.S. gun mags here but they have disappeared from the shelves.

One thing I look forward to when visiting America is picking up a copy of American Handgunner, but last year there wasn’t a copy to be found anywhere I looked.

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View from down under

I'm not implying Internet forums, YouTube, and Google are useless by any means, but they often contain unedited, worthless, and/or erroneous information, often posted by less-than-credible sources. The biggest problem with using Internet sources is that the person looking for factual information must already have a good background. Many who seek information don't have the background. They then pass on the the bad information until many other uninformed persons think it's infallible dogma.

Paper gun magazines, despite their faults, are better sources of righteous information, even if you have to pay for them. Editors may not be the most knowledgeable about every facet of the gun, handloading ,and shooting sports, but almost all of them do an excellent editing job and try to make sure only good reliable information is passed on.

I know some will cite examples of bad information in paper magazines; it happens, but not with near the frequency of Internet sources.

Whether paper or internet sources one must be at least as smart as a cow and spit out the sticks and swallow the hay.

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Music/Sports/Beer fan

A very good, concise way of putting it.

I once had my picture in an edition of Combat Handguns, so I have to go with that one.

Of course I am not sure they are even still around.

Unfortunately many of the talented gun writers of old have moved on to the internet and as a result, I no longer read the magazines.

I do still receive and look over American Rifleman but only read things that truly interest me.

I used to like American Handgunner and G&A a great deal as well as the above mentioned Combat Handguns.

I subscribe to three. Handloader, Rifle and the American Rifleman. These three are the best to be had in my opinion, don't need any more. I used to get Guns & Ammo and Shooting Times but the articles went South as far as my interests so I let them go.

First consider this forum and other gun forums which regularly feature posters' comments about the lack of quality in today's production guns.

If a lack of quality abounds in firearms print media, it could be a gauge of what products they must cover and oftentimes promote to get advertising.

I feel a nostalgic sigh coming on for the maybe not so good old days but better days than now.

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Ubi Est Mea

Really haven't been attracted to any particular one since the passing of Skeeter Skelton, Jack O'Connor, and Elmer Keith.

Boy...after re-reading what I just wrote, I guess that really dates me.

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Pack light and cinch tight.

Got to be careful what magazine you buy; some states have page limits.

I read a bit of the American Rifleman. Beyond that my opinion is that they are all worthless. The old time writers are all gone, and I have yet to see an honest review on a junk gun. They articles always end with you need one of these in your arsenal.

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Pete
I ain't no fortunate son

BITD American Handgunner

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I’m your Boogie Man, uh huh.

I am old. That influences everything.

My interest in firearms goes back to my youth. My love for westerns and cop shows started my life-long interest in SAA and DA revolvers. So I read all of the magazines.

My eventual LE career, 30+ years of it, fed the DA interest. I loved westerns too much to get away from SAA (and clone) revolvers. Once I advanced far enough in PPC competition to convince myself I needed at least one PPC revolver, those became a major area of interest.

My last issued duty revolver was a no-dash Smith & Wesson 686 4". I remember it well because I was the one that got my patrol division from the 66 4" to these. I consider the L frame the best .38/357 caliber Smith has ever made. I like it so much I have a competition-modified no-dash 586 6".

When we transitioned to semi-auto pistols we went to the large frame .40 Glock (don't remember the model number). Ugly it was. Functional it was. I considered it ideal. As well as I fired my 4" 686 (Distinguished Master in my dept, which required >97.5 average), I shot that Glock better. Not too much wiggle room from 97.5%, but I shot clean, 100% until I retired. I was the only one in my department to do so. Finally top gun going out the door. Not too long after I retired I bought a Glock 26, based on my duty Glock experience.

Now all of this time I had been reading Hook & Bullet magazine faithfully to stay up with my interests.

What I have learned is that there is nothing of any consequence to be learned between 1981 era tests of the then-new no-dash 686 to road tests of the current 686-9999 (slight poetic liicense there for editorial impact). There isn't anything about the L frame Smiths, regardless of suffix, that hasn't already been written long ago. It may be new to younger readers, but that is not me.

PPC revolvers are now historical curiosities, too low on the radar for the mass media. On here they do get some mention, and admiration for what they could do. Such discussions are usually in the context of someone happening to acquire one and recommendations from other posters to take out the new toy to shoot it and enjoy its smoothness and accuracy. Not exactly the stuff of current events in the firearms world.

The same goes for the Glock. I have one super reliable polymer frame pistol. That is all I need. The scariest sound in the jungle is 'click'. No one I am aware of produces a more reliable pistol to insure I never hear that sound than Glock, so I am not shopping, not even kicking tires.

The media have changed - and not for the better. Massad Ayoob was then the master of giving us info we would not otherwise learn, thanks to American Handgunner magazine.

I was a PPC competitor from the late 60s to the early 80s. I still have my PPC revolvers. During that era there was a lot of interest in those revolvers. At one point American Handgunner published a series of in-depth articles written by Ayoob where he spent a lot of time with legendary gunsmith Ron Power on how Power built up his Smith and Wesson K frame PPC revolvers. This was a series of four lengthy articles.

I just do not see that depth and detail emerging from the mass media now.

Part of the change is due to the internet. I use this forum to stay as current as I desire in areas that either interest me or where I think I can add something of value. It is very easy to avoid areas in which I have no interest

One thing I have learned to be watchful of is conclusions passed off as facts. Some of these have been amazing (but thus entertaining). I remember one here a few years ago during one of the on-going forged vs investment cast arguments (thus Smith vs Ruger) where one poster insisted that Ruger used investment casting to be able to use pot metal instead of steel. He was openly mocked for this, but stuck to his guns because he knew about these things.

The web site, in my opinon has evolved and matured because knowledgeable posters don't let the psuedo experts gain any traction.

The mass media, as we have known it, is not coming back

Glocks and ARs, all dolled up. Maybe a lever gun that they bolted all sorts of useless eyesores onto. Who needs that?

I read American Rifleman and Safari Club Magazine....and National Geographic

Robert

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Robert
SWCA #2906, SWHF #760

When I was in high school I looked forward every month to buying Peterson’s Handguns from the news agent up the street from school. I also got Guns & Ammo and Combat Handguns there every month. Skipping lunch most days paid for the magazines. I also wrote to Smith & Wesson every year for the catalog and price list, which they were good enough to send me at no cost.

These days I buy American Handgunner and Guns at the grocery store. I particularly enjoyed the writing of Mike Venturino and John Taffin, so they will be missed. Not too many gun magazines pay much attention to old revolvers these days.

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Wheel guns are real guns.

Like Mule Packer I date back to what I consider the glory days of Skeeter and Bill Jordan. Read and enjoyed everything they wrote. Now I get American Handgunner, Handloader, and American Rifleman but it just isn't the same.

I'm a Benefactor Member of the NRA and have a subscription to American Handgunner paid up into 2030. My dad was a Life Member of the NRA back in the late 1950s and I'd have his American Rifleman read before he got home from work. My third bedroom has all of these magazines stored in boxes. I hope the floor holds up. When I pass on, they are going to my honorary nephew's law firm to help with its firearms law practice.

I receive American Rifleman through my NRA membership, the others I will skim through at Barnes and Noble. Interested mostly in historical articles. The writers I grew up with-Keith, Askins, Jordan, Skelton, Nonte are all gone, don't hunt, not interested in the latest wonder rifle rounds .Nor the latest wonder handguns which are either just tricked out M1911s or some plastic and aluminum lightweights-not a fan of the M-16/AR platform. When I subscribed to more gun magazines I found they had a 3-4 shelf life, then they began to repeat, often found the most interesting parts were the columns.

I don't need no stinkin' gun magazines. I shoot revolvers.

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protocalldesign.com

I used to subscribe to all the usual suspects but all have been allowed to expire except for one. I have been a subscriber to Gun Tests magazine since they started. They generally do a decent job of doing fair reviews of the firearms tested. Just like the rest of us, they do have their bias' and it comes thru in their reviews occasionally.

Thanks for all the replies. I have had a subscription to Guns Magazine for two reasons. First are the writers, John Taffin and Mike Venturino. Now that they are gone......? Second was the fact I meant some of the staff when we had a shoot here sponsored by Guns Magazine. The only other writer that I read all of his articles is Will Dabbs, mainly for the humor involved. I look through American Rifleman when I see one laying around at the range office. I never joined the NRA due to LaPierre, I thought for years he did more harm than good. Now that he is gone, I may have to rethink my position on that subject. I get offers from G&A and ST with very low subscription rates. At about $0.60 a copy it makes it worthwhile just to read a couple of articles and pass it on.

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

I don't know if Roy Huntington is still the editor of GUNS and AMERICAN HANDGUNNER, but he was a few years ago. Excellent editor and was responsible for the good content of the magazine and keeping talented and experienced writers like Taffin and Venturino busy with their great articles.

I haven't seen the magazines recently. Perhaps there are still other good writers working for them.

The editor now is Brent T. Wheat.

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

I used to subscribe to a couple, but I came to the conclusion that they are just paid advertisements with biased reviews.

And since there aren't any old school news stands anymore or gun magazine selection at places that do sell magazines, I can't browse and find one I actually want to buy. Oh, well...

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Thread Killer.

I've never heard of him, but maybe he'll be a good editor. Roy Huntington probably retired. He was editor for a long time and that was after a twenty-year career with the San Diego PD.

You have to take most articles with a grain of salt.Not many give less than a stellar review. Rare is the article that show any defects in that firearm. Just remember who pays for the advertisements that fund the magazine and the writers. Most of the guns in a lot of the magazines that are reviewed are high end firearms, no one that I know buys them and certainly not me! I mainly read the historical articles and not the reviews. Sorry to ramble.

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

I still subscribe to AH, Guns and Handloader, largely because I never take my phone into the bathroom. I'll very much miss Venterino, Taffin, and Mark Hampton. Dabbs is fun to read..

Sent from my SM-S921U using Tapatalk

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I used to be disgusted..

You'll find the magazine writers often will not do a review/article on guns that are problematic or are junk. The lack of an article might tell us a lot. Many readers may be unaware of this. An advertiser is likely to advertise in a magazine only if he has a good product and is confident it will pass the test of the reviewer.

I don't believe you will find too many gunwriters who would give a false or misleading review. If they do happen to skate over some facet that needs more words, then read between the lines. Again, this doesn't happen nearly as often as some imply.

Bear in mind that a review or detailed article involves only one gun almost all of the time. It makes the article much easier for the writer and there is less space taken up in the publication. Shorter articles (2,000 - 2,200 words) are what is published these days. The 3,000 - 3,500 word comprehensive (and better) piece of years back is long gone.

Use two guns in a review or article and you have a much better piece that tells the reader a lot more about a gun, and/or handloads, etc. but you have a longer article. Same difference between shooting two five-shot groups vs. one. One doesn't tell you much.

I'm speaking only of paper published magazines, not YouTube material.

Still read a few. Shooting Times, Handloader, Guns. I do really enjoy Will Dabbs stories also.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

This exactly. I only subscribed to 2 publications. NY State Outdoor News and Guns. I let the Outdoor News expire. It was bi weekly and I found myself only reading it in cold weather months. My Guns subscription ended and I’ll probably renew because it’s less than $1 an issue.

Fourty years ago I was at the Reno libarary and they had several mags
that I never knew or heard about, that I found, down right enjoyable.
Not a gun rag really but they were fun reading.
the name was.........
Fin & Feathers.

I've been reading American Handgunner since issue 1! That is the only one I read these days and I renew my sub for 5 years at a time when it comes up.
I actually still had all of them but when I moved I didn't want to pay the movers the price per pound to bring them west. I probably would never have reread them anyway.