GUN RAGS

G

George Hill

Staff Alumnus
Quite Often here on TFL we read about the many shortcomings of the Gun Rag market. How biased and shortsighted they are. I am going to go through one here and we can talk about it.
I picked up the September/October issue of American Handgunner. A.H. is a very good magazine – probably the best there is at this time. Why? Two Words for you: Ichiro Nagata. National Treasure.
If he were to start photographing nude women… well, my wife would not be happy about it. Too Bad. :D
The man is an ARTIST. More on that later.
On the Cover we see a very well shot photo of a 1911. In this case a Kimber. Some sort of automatic knife lying closed besides it. Often people deride the gun rags because there seems to be a dominance of this type of pistol on the covers. Now, when Cindy Crawford appeared on over a dozen magazine covers all in the same month – I don’t remember hearing anyone complain about that! I would say that the pictured Kimber has curves just as sexy as Cindy’s… From a firearm point of view, of course.
On the inside cover there is an add from Wilson Combat, one of the most prolific advertisers in the gun industry. That AR he puts out… What’s the point of going with a flat top receiver just to build a FUGLY bracket to raise the scope back up to the level it would have been at if the regular handle had been left in place? I would think that a flat top is rather useless unless you have the folding front sight to go with it. But that’s a discussion best left to the rifle forum… I’ll move on.
Features: Page 26 Better Shooting… The author Dave Anderson makes a very good point about shooting, and the benefits of shooting steel plates… I would counter that there are some target options such as the paper targets that give a colored ring around the bullet impact… While those are expensive when it comes to long term use it is cheaper than the investment of a set of steels. However in the long run – probably by the end of a summer – that the steels will have paid for themselves when compared to the Shoot’nSee stuff.
Page 36 The Ayoob Files… Some folks don’t agree with all of Massad’s ideology. I however enjoy and appreciate the time he takes to put together these Files. While not as memorable as our Lawdog Files… Ayoob Files should be IMO required reading for those who pack iron everyday.
Page 38 The Sixgunner. John Taffin is a great gun writer and I get a kick out of his articles. I am waiting for him to convince me that I need a roundgun… But every couple months he comes close.
Page 54 – Cover Story. Kimber CDP series… Ichiro should receive commissions for gun sales from across the country. The Fed Gun Form should include a box “IF Ichiro Nagata influenced you to buy this gun…” then an automatic deposit should go into his bank account. His pics could be considered cheesecake.
I mean this guy takes a picture of a gun with such detail and clarity – you can FEEL the gun. I don’t know of ANY OTHER shutterbug that is as good or even close. Question – What’s that knife in these spreads?
I would wish that these guys would write a little dialog box listing everything in these pictures… including holsters and even cloths – I like that sport coat. All I gotta say: “Ichiro hired by Victoria Secret” Happy Day!
Page 62 The Hissatsu… Nice looking knife… but about 3 times the price it should be. While speedy looking, I don’t see the advantage it as over many other knives on the market. That skinny knife is Glock money. (For some reason I factor sums divisable by the number of new Glocks I can buy… don’t ask me why – its just a gift.) I would say that almost any other knife made by reputable makers would work just peachy with out being SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED TO BE USED BY SWAT PUPS… Thousand year old design my arse.
Page 68… Charles Petty writes a briefing on a ROCK RIVER ARMS pistol… Reading it will bring to light some of the reasons why an actual cutom 1911 is a good investment. Why these guns do actually hold an edge over even very good production 1911s such as the Kimber (who uses the word CUSTOM like some companies use MATCH and TACTICAL) or even my beloved Springfield Armory. You DO get what you pay for.

One thing I want to point out… If you got this issue - Turn to page 32.. Under the Bolded heading AN UNQUALIFIED RECOMMENDATION: a Springfield Armory 1911A1 LOADED model… :D
Also – take a look at page 52. Mike Dalton just BLOWS AWAY what one person on TFL used to argue against – the value of training. In this case training by competition shooting. I say this because I know that person still lurks here. :D

All in all this gun rag offers some good value for the 3.95 cover price.
 
I gotta agree about AH and the sister publicaiton, Guns. Good mags with good photos.

The whole problem with the gun industry is that the products are TOO well made. How many on this board have actually completely worn out a good quality handgun they purchased new? I know I haven't. I have several pistols I've owned for a decade that MIGHT be approaching thier half-life. For most, I paid about a week's wages. Think about that for a minute, 20 years of use from a weapon that costs one week's average wages.

Rifles are even worse. I buy new, but you don't really need to. Many rifles of the hunting variety sitting in pawnshops all over this country aren't even well broken in yet. My dad has a lever action Marlin .22 my grandfather bought used. Its had so many rounds through it in the last 50 years they probably can't be counted. It's been used and abused, dropped and sat on and gone years between thorough cleanings. I figure it will probably get handed down to my 2 yr old before it gives up the ghost.

What this means for the firearms industry and the gun media (they have to promote this theory to sell ad space, after all) is they somehow have to convince you that there have been tremendous technological advances that make the 30-06 obsolete. Everyone knows the 6mm's out there shoot flatter and faster and are way deadlier. Everyone except the deer, who fall just like they always did to those obsolete 30-30s and ought-sixes ;)

Same with handguns. Somehow we now need not one, not two, not even three or four but upwards of SIX (maybe more) cartridge selections in the approximate diameter of .355. Why? Didn't the 9x18 or 9mm Kurtz or 9x21 or 9x23 or the 9mm luger or 38 Super fit the bill? We need a .357 Sig now?

Frankly, I enjoy it all so I'm really not complaining. Just pointing out that the industry has got to convince the average gun-buyer every other year or so to buy a new rifle/handgun/shotgun with the latest and greatest gadget or newest, fastest bullet with the brand newest technologic advances which allow the bullet to expand an additional .04 inches (like the target would ever know).

The gun rags are in on 'the conspiracy' so that people like Taffin and Libourel can have cool jobs which mostly involve shooting lots and lots of guns (SOBs. They need to quit and let ME have thier job). As for me, I just enjoy the pictures and the articles, take it all with a grain of salt and don't get too worked up about any of it.
 
Well I will take the other side of the arguement. The gun rags are rags. They are designed to sell advertisement...so like modern news media they are shallow and glitzy.

Now compare the news stand publications to Precision Shooting which is almost a journal. You have more information in one issue of PS than you get in a whole year of a gun rag.

The goal of a publication like PS is to share information vs turning a profit, and the difference shows.

Now if you like looking at "pretty pictures" fine, but if you want information you need something more than a pretty picture.

[This message has been edited by Glamdring (edited August 21, 2000).]
 
I will say this, even though I still occasionally purchase gun magazines, I have not purchased them nearly as often in the last few years that I've been on TFL as I did before.

AH is my favorite. For the pretty pictures. :D Nagata is the man. I also enjoy Ayoob files, take him or leave him, personally I think his files are full of good info.

With that said, I believe that they can still be usefull, but on this board I can find a wealth of great information, faster, from folks who are just as experienced if not more so, than the magazine authors.

And nothing I've ever read in a gun magazine has made me laugh as hard as The Lawdog Files. :D
 
Ichiro Nagata is indeed an artist and not just a photographer. I remember Charlie Petty talking about an article he had in the works and Nagata was there shooting the pics for it. He said, "Itchy could make a Lorcin look like a $4000 Les Baer!" (Not an exact quote, but you get the gist.)

Another good thing about Nagata is that he also shoots what he shoots. I saw an article where he placed pretty well in a national IDPA (or similar) match.
 
Gun rags, like all other publications has to make money and they make money by selling advertising space. When was the last time you read how terrible a particular gun was in these rags? Lets face it they don't want to offend a potential advertiser. I still buy a copy of AH or Guns once in a while to keep next to my throne.
 
George, I agree with you on the photography, it's miles ahead of anything else.
I too read AH, for most of the reasons listed above. They have a good stable of writers, and try to give coverage to the different aspects of handgunning, i.e.
IPSC, IDPA, hunting, training, new gun reviews, industry news, etc.

My complaint has to do with the brevity of the articles. A lot of the stories could easily be longer. Instead, they usually print only a page or two when the subject matter cries out for in depth coverage. It's only printed 6 times a year, seems they could give us more information.

I like Rifle and Handloader magazine too.
The articles are longer, they have some good writers (Ross Seyfried is the best gun writer around, imho). When I get one of these mags, I put it down knowing something new. Not allways true with AH.
 
C.R.Sam, She's my wife. :)

Hill, dont let Nagata know how good he is or he is likely to go to cosmo and make 10k a shoot!

Jack the reason we dont see guns wearing out is because they outlawed belt fed rifles from the average guy.
 
I should tell you about the time Cindy Crawford kissed me...
This is for real. Her mom worked at a little bank in a little town near Dekalb, IL.
I talked to her several times there.
Was at a friends house just outside Dekalb - opposite side of town from NIU campus. Was playing catch with a girl there. Cindy was driving past in a convertible mustang...
Saw us - she knew the girl... she stopped got out greeted us both with kisses and talked for a minute. This was back sometime between 1990 - 1991 but I forgot when.
I do remember what she was wearing though - blue tank top that was too small, white short shorts, red ball cap and nike sneakers.

:D
 
I bought a gun magazine the other day. I took it out to the park to try it out and it seemed very well printed for such a low price.
Some of the pages were upside down and I did get half smothered by subscription cards, but all-in-all, considering that this was a pre-release book, I think the production books will overcome these problems.
Some of the words were illegible and misspelled, but for my money it is certainly within tolerances.
This just might be the best gun book ever.
:p
 
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