I was surprised to encounter Guns & Ammo at Tampa International the other day. Even in the Gunshine State I reckoned the odds of seeing the buff book at “America’s favorite airport” (but not mine) were slim. But not as slim as the magazine itself. Given G&A’s sylph-like size it’s becoming increasingly clear that gun mags’ days are numbered. Did you buy G&A back in the day? Do you now? Or has video killed the radio star the Internet killed the plethora of printed pubs that once towered on a corner of your gun bench?
Sadly I don’t even read SGN anymore, and it actually had decent articles.
I have been writing for Guns and Ammo for about 8 years now. While the internet has prospered greatly, so has the gun magazine industry. We are offering more titles than ever and are actually increasing publications. “Book of the AR15” is so popular that it is being increased from once a year to 4x a year.
I still get Guns & Ammo and Shooting Times. Personally I like ST much more than G&A though.
I still subscribe to Guns and Ammo. Its a cheap subscription. My newest favorite rag is World of Firepower. They basically took the Recoil formula and geared it towards more military subjects. At first I thought it was the same parent company, but apparently not. It is definitely worth checking out if you like reading magazines.
+1
I like the design and photography of “World of Firepower”… good stuff. I don’t subscribe, but if I see an issue with articles I like, I usually buy it.
Sweet nail polish, farago. Print is ideas. There’s only room for boutique rags like recoil.
I can’t remember the last time I bought a gun magazine. I seldom even look at the online magazines. Every month I get “American Rifleman” because I’m an NRA member and I seldom spend more than 5 minutes looking at it. Articles on new guns are nothing but advertisements, articles on old guns aren’t interesting to me and I get enough of the politics from the web or TV. Most of my internet browsing about guns these days is trying to locate a supply of 9mm ammo for less than $30 a box. Don’t need no stinkin’ gun magazines.
I sub to G&A and Shoot Dig, and I get AR with my NRA membership. Reading the ipad on the crapper just ain’t the same.
I travel through lots of airports and I’ve noticed that in many, gun magazines have disappeared. I think the big airport vendors have made a conscious political decision to stop carrying them.
One thing I know for certain: nothing stocked in stores is by accident. There is a plan to the inventory in every store. What is carried, as well as what is NOT carried. Management of the store as well as those manager’s bosses, all have a plan. A doctrine, a policy, a rule book.
You can bet your last dollar that, if a store that USED to carry gun magazines suddenly stops carrying them, that a higher-up manager made a conscious decision to do this. And, they told the magazine suppliers, “No. We don’t want those anymore. Fill the rack with other sports magazines—golf, tennis, hiking–instead.” Seriously, THAT is what happened.
Folks, I find this censorship by stores incredibly disturbing. Because, in effect, what the stores are doing is buying into the left and liberal point of view, and their incremental plan to reduce guns in America. Instead of providing a product that is wanted and needed and desired and bought by a solid 25% of the public, they unilaterally decide to just not even sell it? How sick is that?
It’s not as if gun magazines are porn. Not even close. But, they are TREATING it like porn. Even worse, there are now magazine racks in the USA–especially in airports–that DON’T sell gun magazines, but DO sell pornography. This is demented. A world where porn is treated better than firearms is NOT a world that any of us should want to be part of.
This censorship is not acceptable. It is a sickness that should not be allowed to spread. And here is how to remedy it: when your store is out of gun magazines, complain. Go to a manager and bring it up. And bring it up over and over. And, make it clear to them that those are the products you want, and if they won’t sell you gun magazines, then you’ll “do your shopping at another store”. You see, while your local grocery store manager may not give a rat’s ass if you can’t get your gun magazine at his store, he WILL care if you buy groceries from his competitor because of it.
Refuse to accept his censorship. Realize, this is all part of the larger plan of the anti-gun movement to make gun owners a “crazy fringe element” of society. They want the non-gun-owners to regard us the way America now sees the KKK. Seriously. And, the more they can marginalize us, push us out of the way, push our gun ranges into the sticks, stop selling our magazines, etc, the more they can create this huge gap between us and them.
Don’t allow it. We are tax-paying, law-abiding, family-loving citizens. We are good people. Don’t fall into the trap of allowing the gun haters to turn us into lepers.
As long as there are toilets, there will be gun magazines.
Cell phones? I read TTAG on my phone. In fact I am on the toilet as I write this.
Guilty! I do it every time I drop a loaf.
As a teenager, Electronic Gaming Monthly was like getting news from the front every month. It was the best source of news and opinion on video games, hands down. Then, the internet happened. I still remember one of the last video game mags (probably an EGM) I ever got. Inside there was no information I had not already read online, no codes or tricks that wasn’t on GameFAQs, and no reason to ever buy another. Video games might have been the leading indicator, but it is has come to all niches of print media. Why buy G&A when I can get all that info, from a handful of websites, for free, and immediately spout feedback in the comments while I’m at it?
Still have my EGM back issues… including the one announcing the original PS!
Do you remember the April Fools issue with the All Bonds code for Goldeneye? My brother and I actually did everything they said you had to do. It took forever and led to a few broken controllers. Imagine our disappointment when it was a damned lie!
I can relate…one of my first issues was the infamous Shen Long is real April Fool gag.
Nice. I dumped mine for space a few years ago (they weren’t in great condition anyway), but I know wonder if I could have gotten anything for them on Ebay.
Let mine lapse a long time ago, since every “review” seemed to amount to a knob-slobbing.
+1, LOL. My sentiment is the same (see below), but your comment is much funnier.
Same here. I got tired of every single gun being a great choice and 100% reliable.
On the flip side, I do like seeing chronograph results, which I’d like to see in TTAG reviews as well.
Yup. As someone with a lot of newsroom experience, I’ve never seen a more flagrant, ongoing example of “advetorializing” (buy an ad and we will give you a good review) than the gun mags, and this has been going on for decades. Remember when all the mags agreed that the 9mm Colt 2000 was the greatest handgun in the history of handguns? Do you even remember the Colt 2000? The Edsel of pistols. American Hangunner is pretty objective and has great photos/ National Geographic-grade production values. But G&A and ST both make the local-glossy magazines whose restaurant reviews are blatantly advertising-driven look honest and ethical.
I get American rifleman with my NRA membership, and once in a while I’ll pick up some random gun magazine at the grocery store (they carry about 10 different ones, including g & a)
I certainly hope gun magazines aren’t dead, our I have to find some other bathroom reading.
I don’t subscribe to any magazines anymore, and yes, it’s because of the internet. I used to get both Guns & Ammo and Handguns. Even back then, though, I took the magazines with a huge grain of salt because they were so cozy with the gunmakers. The “reviews” varied from “good” to “great” – never, “this gun is a waste of your money.” My favorite part of G&A was Jeff Cooper’s stuff. Even if you didn’t always agree, he was a brilliant and thought-provoking guy.
I still do enjoy reading American Rifleman, but I really wish they would drop the political stuff because by the time the print magazine is out the political articles are so out of date they really are more like history pieces.
I 100% agree with you on the American Rifleman. Drop the politics, its too late by the time I read it.
American Handgunner always and sometimes Guns. I go to their websites as well. Never did like G&A.
Gun mags aren’t dead to me. I still buy a few and enjoy them. Funny how I reflexively reach for the stack next to the porcelain throne.
I get the American Rifleman in electronic format. I no longer subscribe to paper copy publications. Once you go electronic you never go back. My house is much less cluttered now.
I’ll buy whatever new editions they have for sale at CVS when I’m there but I don’t have subscriptions.
Am I the only one that saw the article link on twitter and thought this was about ammo storage devices?
Nope. Zombie magazines maybe?
Exact same thought and I was pretty confused…
Well, you know, once we use all of the ammo in them, they will be dead. Then we’ll have to buy new magazines that have only 10 rounds in them. /Stupid Progressive
Gun magazines aren’t dead. I read them online all the time (irony intended).
Well there is this one gunblog I like to read online, just cant think of the name of it…
Back a few years I used to buy 3 gun rags a month. Now, I get American Rifleman with my NRA membership and the only other mag I buy with any regularity is Backwoodsman, a country boy living in the bay area has to have a little escapist fantasy.
Backwoodsman FTW.
I haven’t bought one for some time due to the expense, plus the content just seemed to be glowing reviews of the latest super toy.
I used to read ST and Handguns semi-regularly, but never was a fan of G&A. I skim the online American Rifleman since I get the digital version as part of my NRA membership.
It’s not only the gun magazines that are going away. I remember the very thick PC Magazine, BYTE, Computer Shopper and others. All gone or shrunk to the size of pamphlets. Notice that the news they present is delayed far too long by the mechanics of print media, look at the demise of Newsweek, Life, Look, etc. The few that are left are greatly reduced in size and struggling to survive. They won’t.
The Internet has become a monster of news. You might say that the Internet can’t be read without a grain of salt, but wasn’t that true of the magazines? And the newspapers? Sad to see this since it is part of my personal memories, but it’s unavoidable.
G&A is not much more than a collection of advertisements with more advertisements posing as articles.
Gun Tests, on the other hand, is a great magazine for those interested in exploring the subject seriously, and their online database is a great resource for in-depth, trustworthy reviews (the only reviews I know that compete with the reviews at TTAG). It’s the one gun magazine I’ll never stop getting.
http://www.gun-tests.com/
I agree on all counts. Gun Tests is the only gun magazine I still read. The online version is a great resource when shopping for a particular gun and the paper mag is fun to get every month. I occasionally look through the NRA magazine for the Armed Citizen column. I used to like the listings of local gun shows, but since I live in CA, gun shows are pretty much a waste of time.
The printed magazine is dead, once people who are 50 something start to die off in another 30 years magazines are going to pretty much go away.
I am 27 and the only Magazine I read on a semi regular basis is Soldier of Fortune, simply because they have some interesting stories.
There is a switch towards the online media. Full magazines are available as PDF if the articles are not in the blog format now.
Publishers actually make a profit by cutting printing and circulation costs and keeping it all electronic. The advertisers get the discount as well.
Indeed it is a big loss for the Postal Service, who once was buoyed by Netflix, but since they too are switching to electronic distribution (streaming) due to how the market is evolving, bye bye Saturday distribution.
You sound like you’re looking forward to the 50’s folks dying off so the rest of you can get on with “modern” living.
There will be some magazines that survive, but probably none that you read.
This very same question has been mulled by the wine writing/rating/reviewing/pontificating sphere for about 8 years now.
Wine blogs (and “vlogs”) have come and gone. As a matter of fact, they are now conducting their self-congratulatory annual wine blogging awards at this time of year.
Nevertheless, Wine Spectator is going strong. The Wine Advocate was recently sold to a group of Asian investors. Nobody cares about Wine Enthusiast because that’s really just an accessory and paraphernalia catalog peppered with articles and reviews by people who don’t know what they’re talking about.
That said, American Rifleman and other NRA mags are online digital publications.
If only they stopped competing with the Church of Scientology for the amount of junk mail they can send a given person…..
“Gun Tests” magazine is not cheap, but contains NO advertising and tells it like it is…if a firearm deserves an “F” it’s so labeled. (www.gun-tests.com).
I’ve subscribed since its inception more than 10 years ago and wouldn’t consider buying a given firearm without the favorable opinion of Todd Woodard the editor.
+1. Best gun mag out there.
Thanks for that. I just subscribed and I’m downloading the 5 buyers guides.
$2 a month isn’t cheap?
No joke. I’m subscribing !
The thing is: I know what I like to shoot and I am not really interested in buying a SIG or a Glock any day soon.
Gun forums are usually a much better avenue for advice. If you are a competitive shooter like me then brianenos.com it will be, then other sites like TTAG for instance. Youtube is also a great source of information (it ranges from very bad to excellent).
As for magazines, I only read Rifleman, because it is included with my NRA membership. And even, “read”. I read diagonally through the political stuff. I like the historical stuff. Then look at the photos, read reviews diagonally, and I am done.
People who read all these magazines, troll forums or Facebook are usually posers.
I know one like that: he has 20 firearms, shoots once every other month. I own 4 firearms, I shoot several times a week and in once month go through full rotation.
So why would I read magazines? I know what I like to shoot and I shoot the crap out of it.
I’ve got a G&A sub on my nook tablet. Its worth the $1 whatever an issue. Also have Shooting Times on it. I love that magazine, always interesting. I buy the occasional dead tree gun mag if it looks interesting.
Gun mags are over. And good riddance, because even in their heydey, most were simply vehicles to promote the manufacturers who bought ad space. Real reviews were few and far between. Most gun mags never saw a gun they didn’t like in pretty much every respect. That sort of “review” can be found on the internet also (i.e. Gunblast.com)
Worthwhile gun writers have found good homes on the internet. I have no idea if they are compensated as well for their work though.
But for real reviews, by real users with real opinions, YouTube is much better than any gun mag ever was.
That sort of “review” can be found on the internet also (i.e. Gunblast.com)
Where every gun is “a dandy” and “a joy to shoot.”
To be fair to Jeff, he stated he only puts up videos of guns he thinks are worth buying.
What good is that? If the gun you are interested isn’t there, you don’t know if it’s untested or tested poorly.
@RKflorida, I know why he does it and I find gunblast to be very entertaining. But one time, couldn’t he review a gun he didn’t like? Just once?
The reason the magazine is so slim is new federal Legislation limits gun magazines to 10 pages or less other wise it is a “high capacity magazine”
🙂 !
Print magazines are made from paper which are sourced from trees that are no longer alive therefore gun magazines are dead. Next question.
Magazines are only for waiting rooms for doctors and barbershops, and even then, everyone has their cell phone and they surf the net instead of thumbing through old magazines.
I think the internet is also helping to kill of print for gun mags. Anyone other than the most novice shooter knows that the reviews are just fluff pieces. The manufacturers will continue to supply the writers with guns as long as the reviews are positive. Kinda feel sorry for the reviewers because, since there is very little really new out there, there is not much to say. How do you act like this new, shiny, striker-fired or 1911 is really something different?
The stuff you read from users gets to be pretty easy to filter, but, if you can take the owner/user reviews and average them you can get a better idea.
For the politics I use a blend of MSM (kind of average Fox, CNN and the big 3) and my own common sense. What is published in a magazine is history by the time it hits the news stands.
I don’t hunt. Most of my interest is in defensive shooting, so a modification to a Remington 700 is only mildly interesting. I shoot an AR, but now have it as I want it — red dot, co-witnessed iron sites, Timney trigger and a decent sling. I don’t want the cup holder and other BS that is being put out.
So, in short, I can find little-to-no reason to read most of them. My partner and I are both NRA life members, so we get 2 of the mags monthly. I’ve usually digested them by the trip from the mailbox to the recycling bin. There’s such sameness there.
Wayne and Cox hate Obama and the Dems. Evil people who want us all to die at the hands of gang bangers. Check.
Someone has a new gun out. Check.
There’s an old gun that made a contribution to shooting/history/freedom. Check.
And now I’m at the recycling bin…..
The only gun magazine I read is the all new RECOIL which is expensive, but gorgeous- incredible photos. I found it at Wallmart and it is excellent. If you haven’t yet seen it, check it out. Worth the $10/issue
$10 a copy and no T&A? What is the world coming to.
American Handgunner, Guns of the Old West, and via hand me down, Gun Tests. I have a nice pile in the library, aka bathroom, waiting to read. When I get home my phone either goes to my 3yo who plays PBSKids like it’s his job, or onto the charger so when he plays, the battery is full.
The American Rifleman because it comes with NRA membership, and Guns & Ammo out of momentum more than anything else.
I look at the cost of these periodicals as a large detractor for people. Between $5-8 is a good chunk of change for something that gets thrown out over time. Yes subscriptions are cheaper but I only buy them if there is a story that intrigues me or has some form or relevance at the time.
Published rags are a type of misnomer now-a-days. People want interaction, exchanges of opinion & ideas, not just one perspective of like it or leave it… I generaly choose the latter.
The only gun magazine I read is American Rifleman, because its free with my NRA subscription.
I won’t pay for the others, when they are so biased towards the manufacturer. Lets get real, not every single gun out there is a 9/10.
Print publications in general are a dying medium. It’s a bit like the last days of the Pony Express once the telegraph came online. I do get some publications sent to my e-reader, and I can imagine people reading things on their computers and iPads. Each one of these represents one less print copy. Personally, I like the tactile nature of magazines; the big color pictures and glossy paper, and not having to worry about a battery charge status. That said, this is just change which, as the Talking Heads once said, is the “same as it ever was.” I listen to MP3s now instead of CDs (and cassettes, and eight tracks before those), my “newspaper” is an e-publication, my “radio” is Raditazz and Pandora, and the only time I see “Guns & Ammo” is on the Outdoor Channel. (Or is it Sportsmen’s? I can never remember — LOL!)
Back in the day I got every gun rag that came out, as I’ve gotten older and wiser I’ve gotten more selective that being said I did pick up that issue of G&A for the artical on the ARX-100.
Ironically, I’ve found plenty of gun-related magazines over here in California. Maybe because people aren’t buying them here?
I get World of Firepower and Recoil every time a new one drops. Not so much to read it myself, but the format and graphic design is so much better, so I leave them on my coffee table. More than once they have sparked a conversation about guns or have assisted in at least sprouting interest in someone I knew that would not necessarily want to go shooting had I just asked in casual conversation. I think of them as advertisement for the cause.
Honestly, between TTAG and The Firearm Blog, I always feel like I’m pretty up to date, firearms-wise.
In my opinion… The only thing magazines are good for is fooling inexperienced and old school marketers into thinking that print magazine advertising has a positive return on investment.
The information on blogs and YouTube is MUCH more insightful, partly because it’s a two-way street. I can post a comment/question and get immediate feedback. Can’t do that in a magazine.
My profession is marketing… And I witness the print industry in general die a little more each day. Gun magazines are no different.
I usually browse gun mags if I have the time only when I’m at:
-Grocery store
-Book store
-Airport
I don’t have any subscriptions, but if I see an article that interests me, I’ll usually pick it up. I still have boxes of my father’s old Guns & Ammo magazines, meticulously labeled and organized chronologically, but I rarely read them.
Nowadays, between TTAG, Firearm Blog, and YouTube. there’s already plenty of great information about there – everything from no-holds barred reviews, tips on cleaning / assembly / mods, shooting drills, etc. Ah, the glorious Interwebz…
I get Guns and Ammo because it is dirt cheap, Guns, and Shooting Times (got that one as a free gift, won’t be renewing). As a Sabbath observing Jew, I like to have paper stuff to read on Saturday afternoons, no electronics on Shabbat!
I don’t think the gun magazine industry is dying anytime soon. Was just at the grocery store and Barnes&Nobel and there were easily 20 different magazines and specials.
Back in the 80’s there were two magazines I regularly bought at the magazine counters: Computer shopper, and Shotgun News. Computer shopper was the same as shotgun news: big newsprint catalog of articles and tones of articles. It was about 3/4″ thick at the height. Computer nerds dream 🙂
Shotgun news wasn’t far behind back then. A big catalog of interesting things for sale. But with the internet, it doesn’t pay as much to advertise anymore in paperback.
In my mind. There are two major things that are killing gun rags. The first are the ads. I know you need some ad revenue in addition to the cost of the magazine itself, but having more than half of the inside of the magazine covered in ad space is just ridiculous. I want gun reviews, not Kimber, Taurus, Kahr, and Mitchell’s Mausers ads. The second thing is the reviews themselves. They are nothing more than ads for the companies that buy the most ad space. I got tired of them singing the praises of guns that are second rate, unreliable, and overpriced for what you get when I can go to online blogs and message boards and get honest reviews of products by people that weren’t paid by the gun companies to do them.
Stop posting spam, jerk.
uhh, huh?
My “jerk” comment was in response to someone spamming the blog with ads for his company. His post was removed, but mine was not…so my post looks rather odd now. 🙂
@Hal J., it’s good advice anyway, even if it is out of context.
ROFL!!!! My daughter’s keyboard.. she’ll be home soon!!!
Speaking of GUN MAGS. Does anyone remember PISTOLERO? THERE was a no-nonsense gun mag!!
Internet info and forums for me. The magazines are just giant ads from cover to cover with “reviews” that say every gun is great.
I pick up a copy of Recoil whenever it comes out these days, but that’s mainly for reading on airplanes and making my neighbors uncomfortable.
I get around half a dozen magazines a month (some are bi-monthly) and I think I spend less than $25 a year on them, definitely worth the couple of hours of entertainment I get a year.
Gun mags aren’t dead yet. I see the main stays like G&A, American Handgunner, Shooting Times, Handloader, etc. are still going strong. I haven’t seen a Book of the AR 15 in a while. I don’t like on line mags but do like sites like TTAG. But I am afraid it is just a matter of time when there will be no more print media and we will all have to spend more time in front of a display and keyboard. I only surf the web to kill time at work.
Honestly i like recoil a whole lot. I know about the whole debacle but that was when the magazine was new and now that all the hiccups are over i have enjoyed every read.
All paper magazines are dead. They just don’t know it. Virtually all print material is going the way of digital. Yet, is there a need for online? That’s up to the public. If their articles are good and resourceful, I suppose.
I used to when I was in middle school and high school. I stopped picking up most gun rags when I was in college. Only rags I get now are American Rifleman and Front Sight, only because of NRA and USPSA memberships. I’ll also pick up S.W.A.T. on occasion.
Reading a gun review that consisted of “This gun needed a 100 round break in, but after that it ran flawlessly for the next 200 rounds! Buy one now!” right along side a full page ad for said gun/gun company left me skeptical of most of the gun mags. I look at them mostly like this:
http://pistol-training.com/archives/2600
I used to get SAR a couple years ago, but let that one lapse after a year. That one was the same ol’ good ole boys reviewing stuff that noone would get to play with. Cool from a historical point of view but not worth the coin.
I subscribe to Recoil magazine, love it! Keep up with current events before you decry Recoil for being anti-2A please. Moving forward, I used to subscribe to Guns & Ammo but I got tired of reading about some obscure caliber or historic rifle, its just not a magazine for me.
these days the only one i subscribe too is “gun tests” they have to adds and reviews seem honest. they one of only magazine i know of which will give a gun a failing grade. As subscriber I can access back issues online.
I still subscrible to Guns and Ammo. The price is more than reasonable. Do purchase a Recoil every once in awhile, basically whenever I have to fly somewhere.
So much of the fodder for a gun rag has been rehashed so many times it is kind of boring. Someone finally explained something about the 1911? Oh boy! How about a Kimber ad on the back? Buy some fake diamonds for the wife while you’re here? How about a pajama-gram? Hey look, the “next gen” of something! Let me order a cheap reproduction of some iconic knife or handgun covered in gold leaf and laser etching! Which .32 sucks the least? Join the NRA (umm… yeah… yeah, way ahead of you).
Also, It’s kind of hard to depend on paid advertising and do a real gun review at the same time.
We have better now, for example:
Ballistics By the Inch
Gunblast
Hickok45
Strumgewehre
Faliaphotography
22plinkster
Box O Truth
Chuckhawks
MrColionNoir
iraqveteran8888
The Firearm Blog
TTAG
and many others covering the topic in an egalitarian manner, from the grassroots.
Yep, their material is better than the gun rags. And it’s free. With the internet, I’ve never felt the need to bother with the gun mags.
Gun’s and Ammo is thin now because of the new Magazine size restrictions!.
I still buy a few each month. Haven’t gotten comfy brining the iphone or laptop into the bathroom yet =p
I used to subscribe to both Guns & Ammo and Handguns, and when done, pass them along to a buddy. We used to joke: “All the 1911 news that’s fit to print!” “The latest 1911 report!” “How to _____ your 1911!” It was indeed comical how every other cover had some sort of 1911 on it. (And now ARs have joined the redundant repetition roundup.) With all due respect to the 1911 fans, the ink wasted on this 100-year-old gun is ridiculous and part of the reason why I let my subscriptions lapse.
I read mostly Front Sight (USPSA) and the IDPA magazine (can’t remember the name). I also get American Rifleman, but it’s mostly fluff and politics.
I think the magazine industry in general is not what it used to be, though there are more magazines than ever before.
I buy fewer and fewer as time goes on; the expense is certainly part of it. Lately I’ve bought cigar mags, but just to do a bit of catching up on what’s current. I used, as decade ago, to buy SGN all the time; it’s been years since I’ve brought one home.
The webonet has certainly made vast changes in the publishing world, but it’s also that there seems to be less content, and less content of interest. A wider array of mags might be affecting that. I’m not sure.
More time on the net; less time reading magazines and newspapers. THAT, to me, seems to be the crux of the biscuit, as the saying goes. Or went.
Family, shopping, sleeping. Friends. Work. Drinking. Playing. There’s tremendous competition for our time, like never before. Things are changing.
I think it’s possible that all print media’s days are numbered, however where you find gun mags on the shelf might be a function of location. I live in a semi-rural area of southern Ohio and half a dozen or more gun publications can be found even on the limited magazine shelf of any given convenience store. I still buy them occasionally though I’ll admit to more often referencing the internet when I’m looking for such articles. Perhaps I’m a luddite, but on a trip, on the toilet, or at the Dr.’s office ect. I still prefer a printed magazine to a laptop or tablet. Also, one ought not to use a computer to protect ones head from the rain or swat the occasional spider, and frankly they aren’t very effective as a means of concealing other things that might be in ones pockets either (the leading edge of a folded magazine protruding from ones inside coat pocket explains away an incredible amount of bulk under that side arm while one sticking up from a rear pocket both explains bulk and prevents printing if you carry in that pocket or directly above it on the belt. Both techniques can be useful for when either additional scrutiny might be an issue, or for when one isn’t precisely dressed for concealment of the weapon in question but requires some very short term concealment on the way to from an open carry area).
Incidentally, that makes me think that a good QOTD might be “What improvised, short term means have you used to conceal a pistol on the go when originally you’d planned open carry or else circumstances have changed (such as loss of the primary concealing garment)?”
Only peripherally related, I wonder, when all print media is gone long enough, how will Hollywood have gangsters and spies conceal long suppressed pistols in the moments before the hit, or surreptitiously pass bundles of cash and documents at the table in diners?
ALL print magazines for enthusiasts are pretty much useless today. I’m a photographer. Been one for over 40 years now (almost as long as I’ve been a shooter). I’m also a music and audio enthusiast. I used to subscribe or buy all those enthusiast mags but no more. Most of them are as dead as the trees that printed them. Those that the internet have not already killed are taking their last breaths. Once information became readily available to those of us who know how to do basic search functions, we could find out all we needed to know about guns, cameras and hi-fi equipment without paying for a publication’s opinion.
I’m an old guy who sometimes waxes eloquent over how great things used to be but I know how much better some things are today. Information is near the top of the list.
But, damn. I sure miss Skeeter Skelton.
Most gun mags are now owned by InterMedia Outdoors. Take a look at the media outlets currently owned by the company; this list is long and, chances are, there is something that you either watch or read regularly on that list.
The company CEO is Leo Hindery, a rumpswab and known left-wing Democrat supporter [ass-kisser]. He contributed generously to the campaigns of Barry O, Comrade Cuomo, and Fauxahontis (a.k.a. Elizabeth Warren).
Many believe he intends to slowly kill every component of InterMedia Outdoors.
Current subscriber to G&A although lately i havent been reading them. Not likely that I will renew my subscription.
I wish I had seen this topic sooner. I run the newsstand portion of a large national bookstore chain location in VA near DC. In the 13 months since I asssumed responsibility for this area the unit volume is up 6.4%. My sports category is up 20%. My subcategory for gun/hunting is up 29%. Recoil, Firepower, Book of the AR-15, Massad Ayoob’s annual handguns mag (the exact name escapes me), Guns-Handguns, and AK-47 – and Other Russian Weapons (all quarterly/bi-monthly/semi-annual/ or annual) are huge sellers. Among the monthlies: American Handgunner, GunWorld, Handloader, and Rifle Shooter are the big sellers.
Many of these are available on the nook as well and sell strongly there.
We have added 4 gun/hunting mags this year bringing my total to 65. Dead or dying? I don’t think so!
The local Top Foods has a SLEW of gun magazines. I bought 3 or 4 the other day.
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