Are gun mag editors ......dolts?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Not Dolts, but I believe that they do not objectively report on firearms because of magazine ads that bring in money.

I have a friend who after has hunted extensively to the extent that he was asked to review products. One brand of ammo did not perform well,(he spent over 10 years hunting and doing some control work in Africa plus a lot of US and Alaska hunting.) He reported it honestly and the magazine wanted him to change it to make it look good as the company was an important advertiser. He refused and never wrote for that publication again.

Regards,
Jerry
 
I've failed to see mention of the cost of these magazines. When I travel, I liked to grab a G&A or other similar magazine to read on the trip. I stopped buying them when the cost came close to $10 after tax and this was for a magazine that is 80% paid advertisement. I feel that is too much for too little.
Click to expand...
Don't buy magazines in an airport, and stay away from the big names (Outdoor Life, G&A, etc). ;)
You don't have to deal with as much advertising, and the writers are not as snobby, in less popular magazines. Even if the magazine is pretty thin (say, only ~60 pages), you still usually get more 'bang for your buck' than with the thicker big-name rags of a similar price.

I haven't paid more than $4 for the average newsstand magazine, in quite some time. But, I rarely buy anything popular off the rack, anyway.
I have 6(?) magazine subscriptions, and none of them costs me more than $2 / issue. Some of them are stupidly cheap, like Shooting Times at $8 / year (13 issues). (I'm not a big fan of Shooting Times, but finding it in my mailbox at $0.67 / issue makes it worth skimming through.)

The only thing I 'regularly' buy off the rack is Backwoodsman; but only when there's an interesting issue, and only because one of my local grocery store sells it for less than subscription price.
 
The Shotgun News....

The printed newspaper type The Shotgun News was handy pre-web/message boards for gun sales & finding parts, gun magazines.
I purchased 2 brand new factory 17rd PX4 9x19mm Beretta magazines in 2009 from a shop in Dallas Texas due in part to a printed ad in The Shotgun News.

It was funny, because I asked how many PX4 9mm magazines the business had available. The clerk replied flatly; "We have 439 Beretta PX4 magazines in stock." :D
I also saw a printed ad in The Shotgun News for a brand new LE surplus Beretta 96D .40 with 3 11rd Beretta magazines. The sale price was $479.00 USD. That was in mid 2007.

CF
 
larrh1108 said:
I've failed to see mention of the cost of these magazines. When I travel, I liked to grab a G&A or other similar magazine to read on the trip. I stopped buying them when the cost came close to $10 after tax and this was for a magazine that is 80% paid advertisement. I feel that is too much for too little.
Click to expand...
Agreed. And while the price has escalated significantly, even for the second (and third) tier gun rags, the page count has gone DOWN. The last one I subscribed to was Shooting Times, Once Sheriff Jim Wilson retired from his regular column and the editor changed, I couldn't convince myself that there was any reason to renew.

As for the comparison to automobile magazines -- while it's true that if a reviewer (or a magazine) completely savages a review sample they likely won't ever get another from that maker ... I don't believe I've ever encountered an automotive review where they forgot the gas for the car.
 
As for the comparison to automobile magazines -- while it's true that if a reviewer (or a magazine) completely savages a review sample they likely won't ever get another from that maker ... I don't believe I've ever encountered an automotive review where they forgot the gas for the car.
Click to expand...
The closest thing I can think of, is the John Broder review of the Tesla Model S, where he was short-charging the batteries, in an attempt to kill the car.
But... he didn't tell his readers that. He was doing it secretly. In his review, he absolutely slammed the car's battery and charging systems and said that Tesla's performance claims were inflated. He wanted 'evidence' to support his claims so badly, that he drove in circles for 15 minutes (after failing to kill it on the highway), to make sure it was completely dead before calling a tow truck.

But... Broder didn't realize that the Model S logged data for all of its systems. Tesla was able to pick the story apart with the data, and show that Broder was deliberately trying to kill the car, and lying about his actions in the article.

It's not, exactly, something a gun company has the option of doing, though....
 
We actually have a gun writer on this board, he hangs out in the black powder forum (duelist1954) he writes for guns of the old west magazine.

He will tell you like it is, he also does YouTube videos.
If a particular gun has a shortcoming, he will make comments about it and suggest the manufacturer change the design..

I haven't bought a gun mag since the mid 80's. I see them on the shelf today, and glance at the titles on the cover, it is the same crap as in 1980.

.45versus 9mm, who will win?

The same argument has been going on since 1847, when the colt .44 Walker replaced the .36 caliber colt Patterson.

Get over it, it is like golf clubs, no single club will do everything you need.

You need to hunt small game, use a small caliber.
You need to make holes in bigger animals, use a bigger gun.
You need to make bigger holes in dangerous animals, get a bigger gun...

Now I will buy a Shotgun news every now and then, but not a regular guns &ammo or similar mag..
 
Last edited:
the editors are dolts, and the writers are dolts as well. Am so sick of each magazine rehashing the same sub standard crap for breakfast every week.

especially the ones with self defense scenario training. half the material in it only works if your a 6 foot tall college linebacker who is in playing shape. Anybody else who tries these dimwitted grappling/flipping techiniques will end up wiht back injuries.


please dont bring up guns of the old west. its been a joke since they stopped doing their gunsmithing series on revolvers circa 2000 ad. No need to review a gun as a whole new model because they changed the finish..

or endless articles on what some actor wore in a low budget western circa 1947... or on a company that reproduces said persons holster...
 
"Women buy guns to protect themselves!"...

Like the local TV news media, Im not fond of the US gun press's constant articles & special updates on how "more woman are buying guns" or "woman buy guns to protect themselves".
Really? :rolleyes:
I spoke to a local female gun shop mgr/FFL holder who quit doing local TV news interviews on the topic & was annoyed with US gun firms who revamp handguns, put pink grips or a rose on it, then charge $50.00-$100.00 more. :mad:

She had a valid point.
 
I can honestly say I have never bought an issue of the mag I mentioned.
I just said we have a writer on the forum..
 
We have considerably more than one writer on the forum. And more than one or two editors, current or former.

pax
 
Forgive me a little thread veer, Lavan. I never read Outdoor Life, but :) I chanced upon an issue a month or two ago. An article by an editor/columnist spoke of the old gun writers; he may have known some of them. Talked about how they all drank and hated one another. He spoke of Keith hating O'Conner, and O'Conner Keith. He said Warren Page hated everyone. O'Conner was the easiest to read. Page had the best style (he was Harvard educated, I didn't know that). Good things said about Skelton. As always, there is an exception to the rule. Amongst all the hating, everyone liked Townsend Whelen. He idea of testing a rifle was to get lost in the wilderness for three days. Bet he didn't forget anything.
 
Bigtime annoyance: magazine writers who, in printed form, make snarky and snotty comments about folks & opinions offered in internet forums.

Bigtime annoyance: folks in internet forums who believe all gun magazines and all articles in them are worthless fluff pieces of trash & can't find it in them to enjoy even a bit of what a magazine offers, and use an extremely broad brush to paint authors as dolts & useless.

Has anyone read some of the articles that Guns & Ammo runs written by Garry James when he does a spread on a couple of wartime firearms from opposing sides in a particular conflict? If you've read these articles... what's the horrendous complaint?! (that's just ONE example of some of the good you can find in a gun magazine)

I grew up with them before I had the internet. I went to gun shows and bought as many back-issues as I could haul out in a wagon. There are some gun writers out there (many of which are no longer with us) who I consider serious influences on my love of the shooting sports.

I also enjoy one of the internet's most oft-whipping boys that write a lot, and that's Ayoob. He may dramatize some of his opinions, but I get a lot from the articles he writes even today, and I've been reading him since the 1980s. He may also be -the- printed gun magazine's foremost snark when it comes to some of the ridiculous things that have been penned & submitted on internet forums, and it genuinely annoys me when he inserts yet another one of those in to an otherwise decent article.

Meh, I know the stuff out there isn't written specifically for me, so I can deal with it. :p
 
Ayoob; gun writers, web forums....

Massad Ayoob is IMO, one of the better gun press writers on the scene. His writing style has improved greatly since the late 1980s, when I started reading his articles.
I do not agree with 100% of what Ayoob says or teaches but I also don't find him; "snarky" or "ill-informed".
Ayoob has called it the error-net & stated his frustrations with some remarks too, but to me, he's spot on.
He put out a gun magazine article using a online/forum poll of how many members carry extra rounds/spare ammunition. So, it shows that at least he's not anti-web forum/message board.

Id add that one older gun writer who I used to follow & respect started to become a bit salty & bitter. :rolleyes:
His sage advice may be worth reviewing but I won't put much stock in it.
In a gun press item from a few years ago, the retired LE officer & former SWAT unit leader stated that most armed bank robbers are "professional" & don't want to hurt you. :confused:
Im sorry, but I highly doubt a bank robber or thug with a gun on me is going to have my safety or welfare under consideration. I'd also say that most robbers are not going to be like Brad Pitt or George Clooney. They may be high, drunk, unstable or in a panic.
Gun writers & the gun press have their merits but like anything else, keep a open mind & think about what you read or watch.

Clyde
 
Not to put too fine a coda on this discussion, but I'll have to say that it's not the gun writers who are dolts...

The dolts are the people who buy substandard magazines and keep them in business.
 
I can't recall anything as egregious as the "Forgot my ammo bag" example...
Click to expand...
-Originally Posted by Aguila Blanca

I can. There were at least two examples I read, just this past summer. The magazines are packed right now, so I can't look up issue numbers; but they were in Handloader and (possibly) Rifle
Click to expand...
-Originally posted by Frankenmauser

You complain to us about them, yet you subsidize their product ....

Not to put too fine a coda on this discussion, but I'll have to say that it's not the gun writers who are dolts...

The dolts are the people who buy substandard magazines and keep them in business.
Click to expand...
-Mike Irwin

The only gun rag I still get is an NRA publication that comes with my membership ..... and I have come to believe that the reviews in that and any other gunrag are not worth the paper they are printed on ....... the pictures sure are pretty, but ever since they named the Taurus Judge the "Handgun of the Year" ..... objectivity and veracity just are not there.

For reviews, I'd rather listen fo folks here, many of whom can engage in a rational discussion on the merits of a thing, and don't have any advertising dollars as skin in the game ......
 
jimbob86 said:
You complain to us about them, yet you subsidize their product ....
Click to expand...

I wasn't complaining. Try re-reading that post, and not taking things out of context.
All I see are straight-forward statements. ...No praise. No disparaging remarks. Just statements. :rolleyes:


The internet is a tool. Follow your own golden rule. ;)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top