P7M8, or, "Don't Believe Everything You Read"

T

Tamara

Moderator Emeritus
I bought the latest issue of Handguns because it featured a review of my new Springfield Professional. I got home, started reading it, and found that it also had a P7M8 "Firing Line Report" by Phil Johnston. Cool! I'm a big fan of this gun, and am on my second one. I flipped to it and was immediately annoyed by a couple of glaring inaccuracies...

The H&K P7 is a recoil operated semiauto based on the timeless Browning patent. H&K took Browning's design several steps farther, however.
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The P7 is a fixed-barrel, gas-delayed blowback pistol that has nothing in common with John Browning's locked breech, tilting barrel short recoil design except that they both have triggers and launch projectiles out the muzzle.

The pistol also features a slide release lever that can be used to drop the slide when the magazine is not installed in the pistol
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The pistol features a slide catch that can be used to hold the slide to the rear when the magazine is not in the gun. To release the slide with no magazine in the gun, the slide need simply be pulled to the rear and released or the frontstrap can be squeezed.

Sigh... :rolleyes:
 
I got the same issue because I was excited to see the Glock 21 on the cover.

Low and behold 2 WHOLE pages devoted to the gun, a couple of b&w photos, and as much (biased) information as a Glock brochure.

I buy them just to see pictures of my gun in a magazine.:p

Yeah, sometimes I think a monkey can do their job.
 
Handguns is rapidly heading downhill - just like Guns & Blammo. Years ago G&A was a great mag & Handguns was pretty good for a while too. Everything started to change after the EMAP/British takeover. Is everyone else getting as tired of Col Craig Boddington as I am?. The only "author" worse than Johnston (wasn't he banned from another mag a few years back?) is Chuck T*ylor with his "dramatic" accounts of handguns in action. GUNS is headed the same way - thank goodness for Shooting Times, good old Gun World & Combat Handguns/G&W for LE.
 
This kind of nonsense is why I let most of my gun magazine subscriptions lapse. I used to subscribe to a bunch of them, too, before I found out how little iron they contain among all the slag. It's like I was paying to have my intelligence insulted. I wonder just how stupid the editors and writers of these mags think their readers are.

Anyway, now I only receive the American Rifleman and Man at Arms. Both are interesting and reliable publications, IMHO.
 
Kind of like Tamara talking about Delta Elite frame cracks all the time.
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Happened to the first two rental Delta Elites at The Bullet Stop on Sandtown Road in Sandy Plains, GA. I'd not hesitate a moment to buy a newer one as the problem seems to be solved. However, when you're eighteen and you've saved up your money from your $3.40/hr drugstore paycheck to go rent The Mighty Ten Millimeter and find out that this one is deadlined with a cracked frame, too (and the magazine still hadn't arrived for the Bren Ten in the rental case... ;) ), it kinda leaves an impression on your young mind.
 
Gun rags are going downhill fast. I gave up on Guns&Ammo and Shooting Times a decade or two ago - I was tired of reading recycled stories like "Skeeter's Favorite .357 Loads" every 10 months or so, and articles like "Wondernine Shootout - Which Is Best?" that never get around to actually answering the question in the title. And I've lost count of the times they heaped copious praise on some real POS that I wouldn't take on a dare.

American Handgunner and Guns have gone downhill in content recently, and AH's insistent defense of S&W despite their sellout really turns me off. (Pursuit of the almighty ad dollar - or maybe freebies to the editor?)

On the other hand, American Rifleman seems to have actually improved in the last year or two. (Though the NRA's internal politics have become nasty.) Go figure!
 
Tamara,

I know they happened on rare occasions with the early pre-enhanced models, but from some posts you'd think they were as common as broken locking blocks on Beretta 92 pistols... :p
 
This is why I never buy them, only peruse them at the mag rack...if you wear your "shoot 'em all let God sort 'em out" T-shirt you can read for hours without being chased by the vendor....
 
NRA's internal politics have ALWAYS been nasty.

I was with American Rifleman from October 1990 to April 1994, and it was, quite frankly, a relief to be laid off.

A worse place to work can't be found.
 
I must chime in and agree that the majority of gun mags have gone downhill. My subscriptions have all lapsed and the only thing I get is the Guardian with me NRA membership.

There are only so many times you can debate 9mm vs. 38 spl and show how to quick draw from the "thunderwear". :)
 
Tamara:

I have a subscription to HANDGUNS, which means I had that garbage delivered to my front door. Did the guy really have a P7M8 on-hand? The most distinguishing features of the P7 were flubbed in his description. I would also add that his performance chart and a details of his test firing don't agree. It's frightening to think that someone considering purchasing a P7M8 may read this article.

The other articles I was interested in had fewer errors, but were sparse on relevant information. This subscription is gonna lapse.

JJCII
 
Sounds to me like someone "kitbashed" an old article together..

In magazines sometimes you find yourself needing "filler" if something doesn't hit deadline, or you manage more ad sales. Often you end up needing "canned" or prewritten articles. That "modified browning" description is from the USP.. I'm thinking the article was kitbashed. That's horrible writing.

Rob
 
I have let all of my subscriptions expire except for American Rifleman and Precision Shooting. I will probably give Handloader another try as I always thought it was a quality magazine. I recently attended training put on for our agency by an outside school and while I was dryfiring one of the instructors told me that I looked like I was "........ready for the cover of Guns and Bull***t magazine". I have come to the realization that you learn by training, shooting, and being around knowledgeable people. You find out what works by trial and experimentation. Gun mags can be fun to look at but they are mostly BS, I'm spending the money previously used for magazines on reloading components.

Regards,
Marvin
 
where can I find a girl who's only dream in life is to rent a 10mm and go blasting? I must be looking under the wrong rocks.:confused:
 
Well, if you're looking under stones I'm pretty sure you are looking at the wrong places. Unfortunately I haven't found the right places either. ;)

About magazines (the ones we read), I was going to let my G&A subscription lapse, but the latest issues have been better then in many years, so I just sent the renewal...

Also considering SWAT, despite the name, we'll see.
 
I suscribe to Playgun and Gunhouse.....even if they run retread articles of Leroy Thompson and his double shoulder rig for the umpteenth time, the pictures are great....especially the centerfold...
 
Leroy Thompson in a centerfold?!?! :eek:

Thanks, now I'm back in therapy... ;) :p

(Disclaimer: I'm sure Leroy's a swell guy, but he's no Russell Crowe...)
 
SWAT magazine seems to be a cut above. Articles are informative and mostly original. Great columnists, especially Louis Awerbuck. There are some of the obligatory "Fat Guy" pictures, but for the most part it's a really good read.
 
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