It finally happened.

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

I've been ranting for ages about "new guns" that are nor superior in any practical way for average shooters.  Lever action "tactical"rifles, 1911 derivatives, factory mounting points for sights, etc.

 

Today I got a magazine that I have been getting for years with an attached notice that the next issue will be the last if I don't renew NOW!  Over sixty pages and not one single word that I wanted to read.  I won't renew even at their desperation renewal prices.

 

As a life member of the NRA, I'll get American Rifleman, and I still like Guns (I still have their first addition that I bought while still in Junior High School.  They both have some things that hold my interest. All rest I have let go and today I got the last, or next to last, Shooting Times that I'll ever get.

 

I can still scan the magazine racks at Safeway and Fry's to see if there's anything I might want to check out, but subscriptions won't ever be renewed.

 

Sorry folks, but I just don't need this crap cluttering up my mail box and giving me nothing worth having.

 

 

[Eyesa Horg]

Which reminds me, I haven't seen a Guns of the Old West in quite some time.

[DukeSoprano]

4 minutes ago, Eyesa Horg said:

Which reminds me, I haven't seen a Guns of the Old West in quite some time.

 

Facebook is full of post about angry subscribers saying it went all online and they want their money back.

[Eyesa Horg]

GRUMP

[Pat Riot]

I get two gun magazines. American Rifleman and Concealed Carry by the USCCA. I let all others lapse a few years ago. Most gun mags are blowers of sunshine up the skirts of…well, whoever reads their always glowing reviews regardless of what a piece of $#!¥ the gun actually is. 
My last “magazine bait” was that no good lousy POS Remington R51. The purchase of that garbage was the final straw for a couple of my magazines. It’s been so long I can’t remember which ones they were. 

[Stump Water]

Ya got more tolerance than I do.  I gave up on all gun rags over 20 years ago.

[John Kloehr]

As an NRA member (and certified safety instructor), I get a magazine. I'm not sure which one I actually get and most of the content is the same in each of them. I just ask my lady which she wants and select that. Frankly, I find no value in most magazines unless a I have a particular interest (SASS is an example, those do get looked at). Still I dig deeper before spending money, I want to hear from those I both know and trust.

 

For guns, I dig directly at shooter impressions, rent them if available, take some shots when offered to try a gun. Someone recently offered to let me try a 9mm Palmetto AKV...

 

My most recent acquisition is a 9mm Palmetto AKV pistol, just fun to shoot. Also plan to SBR it and add a can. Did I mention it is just fun to shoot? There is no magazine which can convey the simple truths in this post.

[Dapper Dave]

I get America's First Freedom for the rest of my life...but I rarely read it. I'd drop them off in local doctor's offices, but no doc offices even HAVE magazines in them anymore. 

[Tex Jones, SASS 2263]

Old West Guns magazine ceased publication a while ago.

[Eyesa Horg]

9 minutes ago, Tex Jones, SASS 2263 said:

Old West Guns magazine ceased publication a while ago.

That'd be a good reason why I haven't gotten one in a while 😕 

[Charlie Harley, #14153]

2 hours ago, Forty Rod SASS 3935 said:

All rest I have let go and today I got the last, or next to last, Shooting Times that I'll ever get.

Shooting Times was my go to magazine since I was a kid.  
 

Skeeter Skelton.  Bill Jordan.  Elmer Keith. George Nonte and Peter Capstick on occasion.  Rick Jamison wrote some great pieces on advanced reloading techniques.  Mike Venturino and Sheriff Wilson we’re about the last writers I cared to read.

 

Most current rags, including Shooting Times, are glorified advertising for the latest gee whiz thingamabob.  
 

‘Nuff said.  Time to move on.

 

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

18 minutes ago, Charlie Harley, #14153 said:

Shooting Times was my go to magazine since I was a kid.  
 

Skeeter Skelton.  Bill Jordan.  Elmer Keith. George Nonte and Peter Capstick on occasion.  Rick Jamison wrote some great pieces on advanced reloading techniques.  Mike Venturino and Sheriff Wilson we’re about the last writers I cared to read.

 

Most current rags, including Shooting Times, are glorified advertising for the latest gee whiz thingamabob.  
 

‘Nuff said.  Time to move on.

 

Precisely!  I can find more good info on this site than most rags being published today.

[Kid Rich]

I used to subscribe to Sports Afield and Outdoor life until some liberal outfit bought them. Did not renew either subscription. That was a long time ago.

kR

[Linn Keller, SASS 27332, BOLD 103]

10 hours ago, Forty Rod SASS 3935 said:

Precisely!  I can find more good info on this site than most rags being published today.

EGG ZACHARY!

[Rye Miles #13621]

I too didn’t renew my subscriptions to some I was getting. I get American Rifleman and I still like Handgunner. That’s all folks🤠

[Pat Riot]

Kind of related…

 

Years ago I had subscriptions to the following:

American Rifleman - still do

Guns & Ammo

Shooting Times

Shotgun News

GUNS

Gun Tests

Rifle Shooter

And I am sure I am forgetting one or two. 
I also bought the annual Gun Digests. 
 

I read them all, religiously.

I became friends with an older gent in my early 20’s that had family in Madison Avenue (advertising) and friends in the gun industry at Colt, S&W, Ruger and a few gun parts suppliers to the big boys. This man definitely had a neat perspective on the gun industry and advertising. 
He was the one that clued me in on gun mags as advertising beds for the industry. 
From that time on my perspective on magazines was jaded, but it was very educational for me.

Out of all my magazines I found Shooting Times to be least biased with the least BS. Guns & Ammo was the worst. 
 

There was a magazine I discovered in 2012 that I thought “Finally! A new magazine that tells the truth with no bull crap!”

That magazine was “RECOIL”. There was a article about a pistol and the main photograph to start the article showed a guy throwing a pistol at target on a stand and the caption read something like “This is the one way to be sure the (brand name) pistol will hit your target!”

I was hooked immediately.  Unfortunately that magazine became just like all the others and I dumped it. There is no money to be made by magazines that actually tell the truth. 

 

[Chantry]

What is the going newsstand rate for magazines? 

[Pat Riot]

40 minutes ago, Chantry said:

What is the going newsstand rate for magazines? 

Don’t know. I haven’t bought one in quite a while. 

[Black Angus McPherson]

3 hours ago, Chantry said:

What is the going newsstand rate for magazines? 

 

Too D*** much!  I was in a book store a month or so back and was taking a gander at the magazines.  They all seemed to run from $14.99 to $18.99 with a couple near the $25 mark.  I have no idea what the subscription rates were.  That's crazy for a magazine that has 60-100 pages.  Regular books were cheaper.

 

Angus

[bgavin]

Ahh Forty... you have a lifetime membership in "Curmudgeon"

Truly a man after my own heart.

 

I'm also Life NRA, and didn't get the magazine for 10+ years, suddenly coming again now.
And I did not make another donation to the Wayne LaPierre Suit Club.

 

[Cholla]

GUNS Magazine sells for $6.95 per issue at stores that actually sell them. Some stores (Kroger, Frys) will not sell gun magazines with assault weapons in them (define assault weapons! A Brown Bess, 1860 Colt, and M1 Garand were designed as assault weapons), which really cuts into readership. But if you get a subscription, the cost is $2 per issue. If you buy a three-year subscription, the price is even less.

 

https://gunsmagazine.com/