Handloader Mag. Failure!

[Ivan the Butcher]

Yesterday I took the wife out shopping and had dinner next to Barns & Nobel. I went in to look at the magazines and saw April 2024 "Handloaded" had an article on 8mm x 56R Hungarian. I had a M95 for over 25 years, along with a Lee bullet mold and RCBS dies. I thought I might learn something new for a round I've been loading for years.

In the summery at the end of an article that talks about everything except loading the round, Gil Sengel, wrote this sentence: "Straight pull rifles are seldom seen except collections." Which is pretty much true of all pre-WW2 military rifles! Then the "Contributing Editor" goes on to say, "There are no sporting rifles. Thus, there is no loading data." He shows some WW2 nazi produced ammo but didn't bother to look up the RWS catalogue number and didn't look at a single reference book other than current loading manuals. There is a nice write up in "Cartridges of the World" with several suggested loads.

I have three other reference books that talk about this round and half a dozen articles! I hope the Publisher/President Don Polacek stopped payment on the paycheck to this lazy bum!

My how the mighty have fallen! I want my $8.99 +Tax back!

Ivan

 

[M29since14]

Gun-related magazine articles these days appear to be more oriented toward production-consumption than for conveying information and worthwhile entertainment.

 

[rockquarry]

I usually don't read the Gil Sengel articles only because he seldom writes of anything I have an interest in. Even HANDLOADER and RIFLE have deteriorated, but they are still the best paper gun publications available.

They also remain far and above the general quality of YouTube material because they are prepared by knowledgeable, experienced writers and the articles are professionally edited and factual. However, a piece with errors occasionally slips through, like the one cited in the original post here.

Some criticize former HANDLOADER and RIFLE editor Dave Scovill for various reasons, but he was an excellent editor for twenty years and the magazines remained top notch publications just as they had when Al Miller, Ken Howell, and Neal Knox were editors. That lineage goes back more than fifty years.

 

[Green Frog]

I have a collection of the early years of Handloader magazines from back in the days when it could only be gotten by subscription, no newsstand sales. Once they went mass market on the newsstands, they had to appeal to a mass market of readers rather than serious handloaders. The results? MEH!
I will now buy maybe once a year if that issue has a promising looking article, but like friend Ivan, I’m usually underwhelmed by even those articles.
I guess I’ve officially become a crotchety old fart.
Froggie

 

[austintexas]

barnes & nobel

My B&N has benches by the magazine rack where you can check out a magazine you wish to buy. You can make sure the article on the magazine cover is one you really want to buy.
SWCA 892

 

[Truckman]

Handloader Mag. Failure!

I'd like to thank the OP for using the word "Failure" instead of the commonly seen "fail" used by lazy kids who get their grammar edjoomacation from the internet...As those of us who paid attention to our grade school teachers know, "fail" is a verb, "failure" is a noun...

End of rant......Ben

 

[27 Man]

I have been a subscriber to Handloader for several years and while not all articles may relate to my interests, the articles by Brian Pearce are always informative and relevant to me. His articles are worth the price of the subscription alone.

 

[venomballistics]

... no sporting straight pulls?
Browning acera ... savage impulse, I recall some flavor of Sig Sauer as well.
Author needs a new dealer.

 

[Bullet Bob]

Maybe he meant no sporting Hungarian 95's? Hard for me to say without seeing the article - or knowing more about those rifles.

I feel like writers of periodicals are more hurried today; editors want written and online content, and there don't seem to be as many different writers. And the sheer number of firearms and variations today needing reviews is unbelievable to me. Would not have forseen it 50 years ago.

I still get Shooting Times, heck it's almost free. In the latest issue Layne Simpson has an article about a couple of 75th anniversary models, and states the original 1949 Standard .22 had an aluminum grip frame, which it did not. Mr. Simpson is a highly knowledgeable writer about firearms, and has been entertaining me for a long time. He has forgotten more about the subject than I'll ever know, but mistakes happen.

 

[David.Hylton]

... no sporting straight pulls? I saw a sporterized Hungarian at an Atlanta gun show. I had been rebarreled to .444 Marlin. I wasn't brave enough to give it a shot.

 

[Mike SC Hunter]

Gun-related magazine articles these days appear to be more oriented toward production-consumption than for conveying information and worthwhile entertainment.

That's why I'm here and other p[laces on the internet.......Learn more and it's free.

Scientist findings are ........Follow the money.

Magazine writers articles are........Follow the money.

Ever read a bad write up on a gun in a magazine........NOPE....And you won't.

 

[Mike SC Hunter]

I have a collection of the early years of Handloader magazines from back in the days when it could only be gotten by subscription, no newsstand sales. Once they went mass market on the newsstands, they had to appeal to a mass market of readers rather than serious handloaders. The results? MEH!
I will now buy maybe once a year if that issue has a promising looking article, but like friend Ivan, I’m usually underwhelmed by even those articles.
I guess I’ve officially become a crotchety old fart.
Froggie

Welcome to the club.......

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

That's why I'm here and other p[laces on the internet.......Learn more and it's free
.
Scientist findings are ........Follow the money.

Magazine writers articles are........Follow the money.

Ever read a bad write up on a gun in a magazine........NOPE....And you won't.

The one time I saw a bad write up in ANY magazine was about a huge battery pack (now called "Solar Generators") in a backpacking magazine! The product was advertised 3 places in that issue, and still it got a bad rap! The entire brand was never in that Mag again. I never saw a review by that person again either.

Ivan

 

[twodog max]

I have been a Handloader subscriber for a long time. Every time the renewal comes up I start to quit as it has gotten sort of tired. Often when a new issue shows up I page through see nothing of much interest and never pick it up again. I used to take Rifle as well but dropped it 3-4 years back. I could not take another article about AR's or 6.5 Creedmore.
I figure when my current Handloader subscription expires our association will end.
As was said follow the money and you see where the orientation is focused

 

[glenwolde]

Yesterday I took the wife out shopping and had dinner next to Barns & Nobel. I went in to look at the magazines and saw April 2024 "Handloaded" had an article on 8mm x 56R Hungarian. I had a M95 for over 25 years, along with a Lee bullet mold and RCBS dies. I thought I might learn something new for a round I've been loading for years.

In the summery at the end of an article that talks about everything except loading the round, Gil Sengel, wrote this sentence: "Straight pull rifles are seldom seen except collections." Which is pretty much true of all pre-WW2 military rifles! Then the "Contributing Editor" goes on to say, "There are no sporting rifles. Thus, there is no loading data." He shows some WW2 nazi produced ammo but didn't bother to look up the RWS catalogue number and didn't look at a single reference book other than current loading manuals. There is a nice write up in "Cartridges of the World" with several suggested loads.

I have three other reference books that talk about this round and half a dozen articles! I hope the Publisher/President Don Polacek stopped payment on the paycheck to this lazy bum!

My how the mighty have fallen! I want my $8.99 +Tax back!

Ivan

I was a subscriber for decades. I went online with them and was OK with it as it was just a PDF of the print version. I learned to prefer it actually.

When they stopped supplying that online and just offered up the digital content as separate online articles I quit. While I prefer the paper magazine I don't like getting them through the mail and I don't like storing them. The PDF of the magazine was ideal for me.

 

[Greyman50]

Hummmm, many of us have been reloading longer than he has been alive. Some 20 something year old “ dealer” at a show told me there was no Colt 1911 that shot 38 Spl. When I showed him my Mid Range he was speechless and told him “ you have a lot to learn”….

 

[flintsghost]

I think you have made a very valid point. I do believe, however, as much as I appreciate reading this that you should tell them before you told us. I haven't read or seen a Handloader or Rifle in years. When the original publisher sold it, I quit reading it.

 

[alwslate]

I've been a subscriber of Rifle and Handloader since the 70s. Best gun magazines available in my opinion. Getting ready to renew both right now. No, all articles are not perfect but it seems that every issue has something of interest.

 

[GypsmJim]

Let me use boating as a corollary. I have owned boats for over 60 years. Back then I subscribed to many magazines and basically learned proper seamanship at a young age. Now, talk to any "dealer" (usually a youngin) or read a magazine and it is obvious that almost nobody knows what they are talking about.

The root cause is that writers are uneducated and editors also don't know, or don't take the time to see if the info is correct.

When a Millennial looks down on me asking if I'm computer literate, I tell them I was writing code before they were born....and likely before your mother was born.

 

[The Norseman]

Not good for business

I just had to read the offensive Cartridge
Board; 8x56mmR article to see what the
fuss was about.

I thought this was a Reloading Magazine!
Gil Sengel has been writing for this magazine
for years. He should know by now to have
reloading data available. He needs to forfeit
his pay and give it back to Handloader.

Also Editor David Roddy should’ve caught
that there was NO Reloading information
in the article.

Man, if Brian Pearce had no data in his
articles my association with Handloader
would end.

Not every issue is perfect, but it is suppose
to be about Handloading.