Guns & Ammo magazine

You're totally wrong about Rohrbaugh.
I've dealt with him personally & he's not the type of guy you're making him out to be.

That test sample was not a "generous gift", it was a test loaner, exactly like the one I borrowed from him for testing.
No gift to GT, no gift to me.

The one GT wrote up had already been loaned to another writer.

Get that- LOANS.
You have no clue what you're talking about.

Rohrbaugh wasn't pitching a hissy fit because his pet didn't get a good rating, he was annoyed because GT didn't understand the gun & didn't disclose that it was obtained as a LOANER directly from the maker.

He didn't send the gun because he wanted a favorable opinion, he answered a T&E request for a sample, just like he did with several of us who reviewed it.
Had GT produced an honest review, and a QUALIFIED review, he would have accepted it even if a couple minor unsatisfactory aspects had been mentioned.

Rohrbaugh is no "typical hobby gun maker", he's a very astute businessman who designed something quite unique at the time, a high-quality sub-compact 9mm pocket pistol.

I first met him at the SHOT Show when he was just introducing the pistol.
I was favorably impressed by both him and his product, and BORROWED one shortly after to review.

In discussions with him about development of the design and production of the pistol, it was obvious he fully knew the design's limitations, and by limitations I simply mean no slide lock, diminutive sights, and a recoil spring that was never meant to be fired in volume.
The pistol was quality-made from good materials and did exactly what it was designed to do.

Some compromises in features had to be made in that tiny package to keep it small & simple.

GT, as is frequently the case, didn't understand either the product or its use.
I found their review made that quite obvious.

Rohrbaugh was just pointing that out, rebutting their mis-informed assertions, and noting publicly that GT does not ALWAYS obtain their test samples from over the counter sources, as they claim.

Also, that the same pistol had been previously reviewed by another noted writer with a helluva lot more credibility than GT will ever have.

"Sorehead loser"?
Rohrbaugh designed that pistol himself. It was quality, it was unique.
He put the program together.
He established manufacturing capability.
He built a niche gun that had no equal.
He built a company.
He sold that company to Remington for millions.

That sounds like a loser to you?
Denis
 
Guns & Ammo, like most of the gun magazines I receive, are great for bathroom reading. Nice pics, some interesting articles re antique firearms, some history, and some interesting biographical pieces about the gunfighters and lawmen of yore.

These gun magazines are an important vehicle for manufacturers to showcase new offerings and for other innovative items to get recognized by their readership so we try them out. But that's just it. Forget about reviews of the firearms because you'll rarely find anything but praises. So, if an ad or an article piques your interest about a certain firearm or product, ask about it here and seek out other forums to talk about it. And in the final analysis, its your money. You're the one that must be happy. Or not. The more firearms and ammo you buy the greater the likelihood you'll eventually purchase something you're less than happy about. We've all been there. But mostly, you'll make good decisions and like what've you've purchased. I do. And I pay attention to what these guys here say and what they recommend. Bias or no, you'll here the pros and cons because chances are whatever gun you ask about there's gonna be more than one person here that has one or had one or worked on one.

In my case, I'm a real fan of SIGs, not exclusively, but mostly. But there are some SIG offerings I would steer you clear of and definitely not recommend.
 
No gunmag is a definitive Be All/End All Buyer's Bible.
You should never expect a gunmag to tell you if you're going to find a product satisfactory, or to tell you to buy one vs another.

The mags give you an introductory overview about features & what a given product did in a given writer's hands.

YOU take it from there.
YOU decide if it's worth pursuing.
YOU do the ultimate performance evaluation in YOUR hands.
Denis
 
As a possibly interesting side note while on the subject of gunmags- In court documents filed in New York State earlier this year concerning the dissolution of Harris Publications, the company estimated approximately 25% of its publishing revenue derived from advertising, and 75% from newsstand sales.

There are three legs of the tripod that bring you a gunmag- Production, Advertising, and Sales.
No widely circulated commercial for-profit gunmag can exist without all three legs.

And while the ads are critical, they don't wag the dog nearly as much as many think they do.
Denis
 
I hear there's a "great" example of G&As 'quality of work' in the current issue, covering .458 SOCOM and CMMG's ridiculous claims about their new "ANVIL" rifle.
 
No gunmag is a definitive Be All/End All Buyer's Bible.
You should never expect a gunmag to tell you if you're going to find a product satisfactory, or to tell you to buy one vs another.
Click to expand...

I don't take reviews in magazines as the be all/end all when doing research on guns and gun brands but I might use it as a source of reference. Just like with Consumer Reports. I am not going to let a review in Consumer Reports determine how I shop, if I did I would always go to Cosco and never go to Walmart even though Walmart sometimes has better deals since Cosco was ranked 1sd and Walmart last, but Consumer Reports can give good reference to be looked into. But since Consumer Reports does not to my knowledge cover firearms I've been trying to find a magazine that does and I thought Guns & Ammo might be such a magazine but apparently not.
 
Guns & Ammo (and the other gunzines) is more like a collection of company press releases. You will never see anything said bad about a gun or accessory. Any obvious fault is brushed off as a rarity not to be found in the next gun off the assembly line.
Any resemblance to Consumer Reports is in the minds of their subscription salesmen. Note that G&A is full of advertisements, they probably make more from advertising than they do from sales and subscriptions. They are not going to offend their big supporters.
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I also take motorcycle mags and only one, Motorcycle Consumer News, takes no advertising since 1991. That is exactly what we need and I'm convinced would be a success here. It would be nice to read a gun test that we could count on being unbiased and if it sucked they would say so.
 
No, it wouldn't be a success here.
Been tried before Gun Tests & didn't go anywhere.
Gun Tests itself has a limited circulation & is not a big money-maker for its parent company.
Denis
 
Franken,
What did they do?
Haven't seen it.
Denis
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I haven't seen a copy yet.
Perhaps I'll check another store or two later tonight.
I'm told it involves bad ammo, out of spec ammo, over-pressure ammo, a .458 SOCOM CMMG Anvil (with an unlicensed PTG-dimension chamber), a Rock River LAR-458 (licensed chamber), and a lot of ridiculous statements.
 
So, in other words....no problem, right? :D
They still have gunmags in Idaho?

Heard all the migrating Californians had 'em banned.
Denis
 
They still have gunmags in Idaho?

Heard all the migrating Californians had 'em banned.
Click to expand...
In a few places. There are still at least a couple thousand, or so, people that know how to read and have enough income to afford more than bread and milk.
;)



I just got back from a circuit around the usual well-stocked news stands.
The September issue was nowhere to be found. My guess is that only subscribers are reading it for now.


...Which makes me sad, now that I have realized that I have friends who pay to willing read Guns & Ammo. :(
 
I get Guns & Ammo, Shooting Times, and Field and Stream. I know the articles are going to be all positive and that they're paid by the gun companies. So what? For less than $15 for two years, who cares? It's good bathroom reading, ignore the wife for 30 minutes while she's mad about XYZ. Take everything they say with a grain of salt... good hunting stories. Pictures of things I'll never get to do or experience.

I see no problem with the mags, just know your more honest testing probably comes from the forum!


Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk
 
Wish you guys could manage to get it through your heads that the articles are NOT paid by the gun companies.

But, it seems to be too deeply ingrained.

Remember, the Earth is flat, too.
Don't let anybody talk you out of that one, either.
Denis
 
Do any of you really read G&A? Do any of you remember a year or so ago when the "new editor" of G&A came out in favor of gun control? There was more of a back lash than they expected and they stepped back from that.... at least for the time being. But didn't it make you wonder why a gun rag would come out in support of gun control? Well there is an answer and like most things, it only becomes evident when you follow the money! In this case, do you really want to give your money to a company that opposes gun ownership? Do you really want to support a guy who is a close buddy of people like Killary? Do you really think that it's a good idea to give your money to a multi-millionaire, if not billionaire, who is so much a part of the Democratic Party that he was once considered to be a candidate to replace Terry McAuliffe as head of the DNC? If you dig through all the BS that clouds the issues of who own what you will find that the guy at the top of the pile, the person who really owns Guns and Ammo is Leo Hindery. Might want to look into that name a little deeper. He tries to keep a low profile but in an election year.... who knows!
 
You're mis-stating facts.

Bequette was not the "new" editor of G&A, he'd been at it a while, and it was Dick Metcalf, a writer & columnist, who wrote a piece saying some gun rights need to be regulated, in 2013.

Metcalf did not advocate across-the-board "gun control".
Bequette did not come out "in favor of gun control", he merely allowed Metcalf's opinion piece to run.

Both resigned over the backlash.

Get your facts straight.

Neither Bequette, Metcalf, or the parent company, Intermedia, opposes gun ownership.
That's an absurd statement regarding a printing conglomerate that publishes several gunmags that have been in business for decades, besides producing extensive TV programming SUPPORTING the firearms industry.

If it was the intention of Hindery to destroy the gunmags, his position & influence would have done so by now.

And DO NOT interpret this in any way as me approving what Metcalf wrote.
Denis
 
Gun Tests provides some entertainment, but they often don't take the time to learn enough about the guns they review to do a proper evaluation.

I stopped taking them seriously when they wrote about a Makarov that "broke" when the safety rotated up past the detent and came out of the gun. That's precisely what's supposed to happen. That's the proper way to disassemble the slide...
 
I keep subscribing to Guns and Ammo because it only cost me about $1 a mag delivered. I like to look at the pictures.:)
 
Guns & Ammo (and the other gunzines) is more like a collection of company press releases. You will never see anything said bad about a gun or accessory. Any obvious fault is brushed off as a rarity not to be found in the next gun off the assembly line.
Any resemblance to Consumer Reports is in the minds of their subscription salesmen. Note that G&A is full of advertisements, they probably make more from advertising than they do from sales and subscriptions.
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This. It's one big ad fest. I cancelled my subscription. You can find more useful information here on the forums.

If you want a printed magazine that's fairly unbiased and actually has useful reviews, check out Gun Tests. It's a great magazine. I actually keep old copies of it, in case I want to go back and check out their opinions before buying a gun. They're very good.
 
Yes, gun magazines feature lot of ads and stories celebrating new guns – so what. I really enjoy reading about the latest technology, but I will consult several sources including TFL before making a purchase. The only magazine I subscribe to is American Rifleman for obvious reasons, but do occasionally buy single issues of the others if they catch my eye at the news stand.
 
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