A while back I posted complaining about trying to "keep up" with all the latest in gun models and trends, and that I had subscribed to too many gun rags to try to "keep up". Many of you advised to stop trying to keep up because it was pointless unless you needed to for your job as a gun retailer or whatever. Well I knew you guys were right, but it took me a little time to internalize it. But what a damn relief. My only gun mags now are NRA Rifleman (which is actually pretty good when you think about it), Guns & Ammo, Gun Tests, Field & Stream, and a high brow hunting mag with Craig Boddington, though I'll never do that type of hunting abroad.

I find that between the Rifleman and Guns & Ammo, the types of things they write about line up pretty well for me personally, and if I miss a great article from some other gun rag, so freaking what. Guns & Ammo is the only mag that consistently hits the mark for me personally consistently every month. That's good enough.

I now join the official club of old crumudgeon gun farts who don't necessarily and always give a damn about the latest plastic fantastic with the latest fantasia dangly thingie on the right side instead of the left.

What a relief. God Bless the wisdom of the Great Sigforum.

American Rifleman is the only gun mag I get. I used to get Guns and Ammo but dumped them about 10 years back after I got sick of mainly seeing reviews of guns I could never afford or one-offs that an author built using his various connections in the industry.

I keep up on new guns by going to the gun store and reading posts on here.

American Rifleman used to be a pretty good magazine. Back in the 1960s.
Now it, like most of the others, has too much advertising. Even the articles are essentially ads.

I haven't read a single firearms related magazine in a decade or more.

I can do all the "keeping up" I want by peeking into a scant few online forums periodically, and by watching a few YouTube videos every now and again.

No magazines other than America's First Freedom. There are a number of firearms forums with more current information. A review from one of the members here is worth far more than a paid review.

Physical magazines are obsolete.

Agreed on physical magazines.

In my case, there’s only a few manufacturers I care about (and they are all what you would describe as “plastic fantastic”) - H&K, Steyr, Walther, Sako, Tikka.

It’s not hard to keep up with news on those 5, in fact it’s downright easy, with this forum and the internet.

quote:

Originally posted by Nismo:
Physical magazines are obsolete.

Not yet, go to a book store and see how many different magazines are for sale, if they were obsolete they wouldn’t still be printing them. There’s still too many people alive who prefer paper over digital. Now give it a couple more decades and we will see how it pans out.

Gotta be tough for the gun writers. On the handgun front, Nothing really innovative to write about since the Glock 17 came out like 30+ years ago.

Compare this to what the technology writers have had to write about in the last 30 years.

 
I receive only IDPA's Tactical Journal, and that's only because IDPA does not offer an option for a cheaper membership fee by passing on the magazine. USPSA does offer that option. IDPA's "journal" takes about 15 minutes to complete, mostly I just read the vendor ads.
 

My household receives 3 different NRA mags each month since I, my wife, and son all are NRA members. I pretty much just glance at the cover; if anything catches my eye, I'll take a look. Otherwise, I tend to throw them away, I don't "read" them at all. Given this, I don't really keep up with most of the latest stuff.

I subscribed for years to American Handgunner, and the Precision Shooting family of magazines,

NRA life, so I get AR automatically, and rarely read it,

got rid of American Handgunner when I got bored with the 1,369,753th 1911 article,

Precision Shooting went tits up, and took the Accurate Rifle with them (great informative articles)


I think you could take Guns and Ammo, shooting times and a handful of other mags, swap the covers and not know it,

IMHO a lot of magazines are shills for the manufacturers. Most are just trying to sell you the new hotness. Because lets be honest, most folks don't shoot their firearms enough to where them out and ganddads old deer rifle and revolver can still take game (two legged or 4 legged variety) There are couple like handloader, S.W.A.T. and Small Arms Review where you can pick up newer technics and good historical info, but they are rather few.

I just watch The Gun Collective on youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzXwh5itFHg

They post a video every monday with news in the firearms industry.

I grew up reading the mags..I really enjoyed some of the authors...Massad Ayoob, Leroy Thompson, Duane Thomas....but since maybe 2003 or 2004 I get better info...if not writing....here

quote:

Originally posted by mrvmax:

quote:

Originally posted by Nismo:
Physical magazines are obsolete.

Not yet, go to a book store and see how many different magazines are for sale, if they were obsolete they wouldn’t still be printing them. There’s still too many people alive who prefer paper over digital. Now give it a couple more decades and we will see how it pans out.

Having a big inventory isn't the standard for whether they are obsolete. Shelves stripped bare by demand is success but dumping a pile of unsold magazines in the trash at the end of the month is failure. A better measure is the # sold vs # received.

quote:

Originally posted by Nismo:
Physical magazines are obsolete.

Maybe, but they still work darn well.

A paper magazine, I can toss into my pack and not worry much about damage. It'll get wrinkled or torn, and might get wet if I use it as a coaster, or might get sand in it if I decide to read at the beach. I can use it, abuse it, and leave it behind if I don't want to bring it home. Heck, I can give it away when I'm finished with it! And it only costs me a couple of bucks. A paper mag, I can take into the "throne room" if I want... and leave it there.

I love technology, and the idea of having a dozen magazines or books right at my fingertips on a tablet is a neat thing. But a tablet is more expensive, more fragile, and requires charging.

I too used to buy a lot of gun mags off the shelf. Did not have but a few subscriptions over the years, but bought many.

Now, besides the Rifleman, I buy some once in a while.

The NRA publishes Shooting Illustrated, which is all guns and gear reviews, all the time. It’s available as a mobile app on the Apple App Store. Get the SI news feed, not the on-line magazine. You will get gun and gear reviews practically every day, for free.