I wish more Gun Writers where like Flores these day and would write more about Varmint and Small Games hunting than just trying to push something new from the Gun Companies in all their published articles . The Gun Magazines these day are just about advertising. As much as i like the 1911 , i'm tired of every other article in every major magazine being about nothing but the latest and greatest 1911 that will set you back 3 grand or more. I don't think they understand most subscribers could care less about a three thousand dollar custom pistol and are more interested in articles that relate to the average Joe . I would much rather read about some average guy sitting under a Hickory Tree with a old single barrel shotgun squirrel hunting than about some pecker head competing in a three gun competition or about the latest weapons some Swat Team in some big city just acquired, but maybe I'm just a odd ball when it comes to Gun and Hunting Magazines and that is why i canceled all my subscriptions to everything except for Varmint Hunter and American Rifleman.

If I were limited to one gun rag, it would be "Handloader". "Rifle" would be a close second. Both are very good, but HL just seems to have more stuff of interest to me these days.

I just started a subscription to "Guns", which cost me all of $10. I would never pay full price for it or any of the other mags out there. The Wolfe mags are definitely worth full price.

For the most part, Egon Spengler was right; print is dead.

The funny part is, with all the competition from the WWW mags, blogs, podcasts, and Youtube, the apparent response from most paper publishers is to get worse, not better. The most annoying part is when you open a magazine for which you've paid good money, and a lot of the good stuff is now on the Web.

You should join The Cast Bullet Association and read Ed Harris stories "The Back Creek Diary" and the "Tales From Outside the Beltway" even if you are not particularly interested in cast bullets.
Ed .32 caliber "Bunny Guns" are interesting.

They reprinting Frank Marshal Jr tales and they are available on CD.

There are lots of small game hunters around but we are "shouted down" by the "Red Mist" gang!

I fully agree but the guys who like those magazines are more likely to be out actually sitting under a tree watching for squirrels or doing something else outdoors rather than sitting home reading what some paid gun scribe tells them they need.

And if they don't actually need anything, why are they looking at gun rags anyway?

Past time setting on the Throne

I would also like magazines to run more hunting stories instead of thinly disguised advertisements, but in the late 1980's a publishing company in New York realized they could sell more ads if they mentioned their advertiser's products. Before then magazines ran on the odd theory that if they published articles readers liked, then manufacturers would want to advertise in the popular magazines.

In the 1990's some other publishers caught on to appealing mostly to advertisers, and now things have gotten to the point where advertisers EXPECT to get coverage in articles. Which is why we now have many magazines dominated by product articles.

There are a few magazines that still run hunting stories, but not very many.

John,

Which magazines still run hunting stories? I miss reading about the adventures instead of the products.

Sports Afield.

And Gray's Sporting Journal.

In reality "gun" magazines never ran all that many hunting stories. Magazines like OUTDOOR LIFE and FIELD & STREAM ran far more than GUNS & AMMO and GUNS.

I'm a big fan of Gray's Sporting Journal. But it doesn't seem to have many followers here. It's quite varied -- I think of it as "literature."

SPORTING CLASSICS also runs some. In fact a year or two ago they reprinted one of mine that first appeared in GRAY'S quite a while ago.

Even the "hunting stories" in older gun magazines often involved a product. I can remember one that appeared in GUNS & AMMO in the 1970's, where Elmer Keith hunted on a Texas game ranch, killing a blackbuck with a Wickliffe single-shot in .308 Winchester. He had to make a comment about how the .308 wasn't his idea of a big game round, so it obviously an assignment.

The Varmint Hunters Association has a lot of hunting type stories. Fur Fish and & Game has some good ones as well. Some months. Some will bore you to tears but they do have stories.

I honestly think a lot of gunwriting is better today than it was in the past.



Dave

Try Back Woodsman Magazine. They don't except advertisments from manufacturers and most of the articles are written by the subscribers. Lots of articles on old guns instead of the latest tactical stuff. The hunting articles are about the types of hunts that you or me would be doing like squirrel hunting. Not about expensive safaris in Africa. Lots of articles on knives and camping gear. All sorts of useful information on firearms and the outdoors.

Even Varmint Hunter sucks these days. I really like to read about the fur hunters in the early issues. Now if you kill one coyote you get a featured article. The varmint hunter has sucked since Steve Timm left.

Articles I always liked were written by Seyfried, Pat Cameron (sp), Glenn D. Summers and Steve Timm. Barsness articles are ok if they are from the late 80's to mid 90's. Phil Shoemaker has a few good articles but I just can't read another "what rifle for brown bear" article.

Elk hunter and western hunter are ok but lately they have been slipping.

Dink

Small game hunting stories trumps any of the big game stories. I always like the stories in the older Field & Streams and Outdoor Life Magazines that covered the average hunter in small town America. I spend a many day as kid in the late 50's and early 60's sitting in the school library reading hunting magazines.

I like both, but yeah, it's unfortunate that not many hunters go after small game anymore, or write about it.

But there were far fewer deer, pigs and even elk 40-50 years ago, one reason more people hunted small game.

Ah, nostalgia. Study Hall meant getting into the adjacent library quickly, purloining (all assignments had to be completed before such frivolity) the latest copy of F&S or SA, slipping it into a book worthy, and self consciously walking back to the desk basking in anticipation.

This internet and forums like this one have replaced print media for the most part.

My wife and I don't subscribe to any magazines nor do we get a newspaper any longer! The newspaper building is for sale in a nearby city. No paperboy anymore.

Here on this internet I can read up to date information and even post myself on topics. We never did this before with magazines. TV news has replaced the newspapers.

Sure we still get the Rifleman and Am Hunter with the life memberships.

and it shows you dont actually read anything of any real value.....you have had the same day of experience over and over again for decades never learning anything new....otherwise you would realize there is no difference in reading an article digitally or in print.....but your to damn stupid to know that....

I started hunting as a youngster at my grandparents' places in Louisiana and Mississippi during the 1950's. If you were going to hunt then and there, you were pretty much restricted to small game. Deer and turkeys were almost nonexistant until the trapping and transplantation programs, mainly in the '60's. Now I think most southern youngsters start on deer, and few ever hunt squirrels or rabbits.

Since Jack O'Connor left......Gun writing has been a wasteland.

Luckily he wrote enough that his old stuff is enough to keep one going for a lifetime......and still relevant.

I was just at the store and all I saw was black gun rags. Everything tactical and more. I did see a magazine with antique firearms in the title, but was afraid to look inside. Probably had my cherished pre 64 model 70's and Ruger 77's in that one, alongside pictures of Davy Crocket... Not even a good hunting magazine there to be seen. WTF is this world coming to?? No wonder Jade Helm is on it's way. They must think we are all a bunch of ammo flinging black gun tyrannical bitches anymore.

Thanks for the laugh.

Seriously.



Travis

For the sake of everyone, there is no need for you to post on any topic

Jack O'Connor would say, "What the hell is a black gun?"

Which is what we all should be saying.

doubtful given the AR traces back to the 50's and O'Connor discussed autoloading rifles in some of his books, favorably for certain types of hunting IIRC.....

Some of the void left by the dearth of stories has been filled by the better outdoor shows and online videos. Steve Rinella's shows are good as are some of Shockey's. I also enjoy the Fieldsports Channel on Youtube.

Another source of course is books. For the price of a subscription to Shooting & Blasting, you can pick up a couple of good sporting books. Used book stores and flea markets often have sporting books at giveaway prices. Searching on Amazon for a favorite author can turn up a bunch as well.

I'd like to see more articles on upland game bird shooting.



I don't think that's really anything new. Advertising pays the bills in periodical journalism today just as it always has.




I'd a lot rather read about some high-zoot pistol than one more article discussing the merits of the Savage Axis or some other bargain-bin bolt action rifle that is likely to be bought by a very casual end user who doesn't shoot more than a box or two of ammo a year and has no inclination to hunt outside of the county he lives in.

I'm a shooting sports enthusiast. I like stuff that appeals to enthusiasts. I like reading about that stuff.

I like cars, too. I raced SCCA events for years, took a bit of a break, and am getting back in to competitive motorsport via autocross.

When I pick up a car magazine, I don't want to read about some rolling, self-propelled transportation appliance like a Hyundai Sonata. I want to read about stuff I might actually desire to own -Corvettes, Porsches, Mustangs -and even cars that I don't have to own to enjoy reading about, like the latest Ferarri, or new tech in Formula 1, and such-like.



Joe Average thinks a $3,000.00 pistol is expensive because he really doesn't shoot a lot. If he shot with any degree of volume beyond very casual use, he'd know that the real cost of a shooting sports hobby for those who are more than casual shooters isn't the cost of the hardware, but the cost of the metal being sent downrange through it.

I don't want to read about what Joe Average thinks is cool. I want to read about what some other enthusiast thinks is cool -things like the new Ceasar Guerini shotgun designed to go a million rounds; things like IDPA pistols; like what the top Highpower shooters are running at Camp Perry this year, and so on. I'd like to read about experiences, too, and not just things -the kind of experiences Joe Average doesn't see value in or doesn't care about. I'd like to read about what makes the Kim Rhodes and G.David Tubbs of the world tick; about "destination hunting" in places I haven't been to but aspire to visit, someday. I want my imagination stirred, my curiosity piqued, and I want to be entertained by literate storytelling.




That would be like picking up Car and Driver and, instead of finding articles on the Porsche Cayman, or the new Mazda MX-5, and interviews with motorsports luminaries, and so on, one instead finds articles on what it's like to drive a Hyundai Sonata to the supermarket, or schlep the kids to school in one, or do other mundane chores in a car that's as exciting to drive as a toaster oven is to look at. As a car enthusiast, I want to read about "gear head stuff" and I fundamentally don't give a crap whether Joe Average can relate to the Mazda MX-5, or is interested in tips for faster autocross times from the SCCA National Champion.... Joe Average might drive a car, but that doesn't make him an auto enthusiast any more than owning a gun automatically translates in to being a true shooting sports enthusiast.


I'd rather read about how some top-level competition shooter reached that level of excellence than about some pecker-head sitting under a hickory tree with an old single-barrel tree rat whacker.



Maybe you are "just an odd ball."



Steve Walburn is probably agonizing right now over the notion that you'll likely not be subscribing to Gray's Sporting Journal anytime soon.

Well, your memory is not quite pricise.

O'Connor discussed walnut stocked autoloading rifles with four and five shot capacity magazines.

Black rifles? He knew them not and probably would have disdained to write about such crap.

He lived the great and, sadly, ephemeral era of the true American hunter.

Now the sport is infested with ugly plastic guns and mall ninjas and loudmouthed immature slob hunters whose idea of hunting is to make videos of game shot at ridiculously long range to post and brag about on Youtube.

The point....in case it be missed.....is that the problem is not the magazines--it's the culture that spawns the magazines.

"The point" is on top of your little head.

One of the problems in hunting/shooting publishing that hasn't brought up (and I didn't think of until now) is the way those magazines fragmented into what are known as "vertical" (specialized) magazines over the past 30 years.

When a lot of us were growing up (including me) there simply weren't many hunting/shooting magazines. We had what were called the Big Three (FIELD & STREAM, OUTDOOR LIFE and SPORTS AFIELD), which were hunting/shooting/fishing/camping/boating magazines, and a handful of semi-specialized magazines like GUNS & AMMO, GUNS and SHOOTING TIMES.

Today there are hundreds of magazines that might fit into one of those slots. Even gun magazines have fragmented into specialized slots, whether for black rifles, handguns, shotguns, long-range rifles, etc. There are even dozens of specialized hunting magazines, whether for upland birds, waterfowl, elk, whitetails, dangerous game, etc. etc.

Go into a convenience store and look at the magazine rack and there might be a dozen of these hundreds of magazines, dominated by black guns, with maybe 2-3 specialized hunting magazines, along with FIELD & STREAM and OUTDOOR LIFE. (At least that's what's been on the shelf of most convenience and grocery stores in my part of Montana lately.)

No, you're not going to find an upland bird article in any of those, or a squirrel or rabbit-hunting article, or something on pre-'64 Model 70's or still-hunting for whitetails.

Taken a look at FIELD & STREAM or OUTDOOR LIFE lately? They're even skinnier than most other hunting and shooting magazines, because they're still clinging to the idea that one magazine can be everything to hunters and anglers--and the vertical magazines have stolen many of their readers over the past two decades.

SPORTS AFIELD (in the early 1950's the largest of the Big Three) is now a specialized big game magazine, mostly for trophy and traveling hunters. Each issue is thicker than any month's issues of BOTH F&S and OL, because the owner changed it into a specialty magazine, rather than try to be everything to everybody. And it runs a lot of articles on classic rifles, as well as hunting stories.

The complaint that "gun magazines" no longer run certain stories is true. That's because most magazines are specialized now. Unlike the GUNS & AMMO of the 1960's, they don't run a variety of gun and hunting stories. Instead they run strictly gun stories, and if their readers are into defensive handguns or black rifles, that's what they mostly run.

If you want to read upland bird or rabbit-hunting articles, or articles about classic rifles or side-by-side shotguns, or tales about deer or elk hunting, there are complete magazines specializing in those things. You just won't find them on the rack of a supermarket that is also trying to stock something for everybody.

Instead you have to look in specialized bookstores with hundreds of different magazines on a rack 200 feet long, or on the Internet where you can subscribe to magazines specializing in almost anything you want.

Contrary to what old-reliable Savage 99 states, the magazine business is doing pretty well these days. The Internet has complemented it, not destroyed it, and specialization has brought to life magazines on almost every subject hunting and shooting enthusiasts might want. As a result there are MORE articles on many subjects than ever before, published both on the Internet and paper.

One interesting thing is that while its much cheaper to publish articles on the Internet, rather than print them on paper and ship the magazines to people or stores, Internet "articles" are usually much shorter, even shorter than today's shortened magazine articles. Probably this is because the average Internet reader, like Savage 99, has a much shorter attention span.

It's the superficiality of a lot of articles that disappoints me, whatever the topic.

I dunno what magazines or websites you read, but some do run more in-depth articles.

But I would also suggest that the big problem doesn't lie in the articles, but most readers. People don't read as much as they used to, and when they do, they refuse to read anything longer than a page. Supposedly this is mostly younger people, who walk around with a smart phone in front of their face all day long, but Savage 99 is a perfect example of the phenomenon in the older generation as well. Instead of actually reading a 3000-4000 word article, people tend to read five 600-800 word "articles" which are actually paragraphs. And they somehow prefer that to reading a longer article with more detail.

Or the prefer a pile of 1-3 sentence 24hourcampfire posts, which are usually as in-depth and well-researched as a smart-phone text.

When i go to the magazine rack today the magazine i usually buy and walk away with, is Handloaders.

i usually walk away with an arm load but i buy most my magazines when out of town from teh 200 foot rack MD mentioned in his post.....plenty of in depth stuff on about any subject if you actually take more than 5 minutes looking at a grocery store as MD points out.....its out there if you care to actually look....if you want it thrust into your face your kinda phugged

The discussion of magazines reminds me of the articles JB wrote for, I believe Field and Stream.. One I remember and still have is about how he met his wife.. The articles are in a file somewhere in the loading room.. Every so often I dig though that stuff on a rainy day or winter storm, and reread them.. Good stuff.. One of the other articles that was a special one was an article about Thanksgiving Day.. Folks were spending the holiday at a friends cabin.. Some were loafing, and others out for a last try for deer and elk.. Luckily when I am interested in the good old days, I can dig out my old articles, or dig though stacks of magazines in the storage room.. Some fine work there.

Now I occasionally buy Handloader and Rifle, along with Doublegun Journal, and Gundog.. I only get Bugle, Am. Hunter, and just renewed Fur-Fish-Game..

As others mentioned, Varmint Hunter used to be my favorite I bought the first one I ever saw, the second issue..I took it for several years, then the average Job articles were replaced with staff articles and I dropped it.. I do remember when I first got the mag. I thought this is great!!! I soon realized this would be the end of much of the free varmint hunting I had enjoyed for 30 years.. Unfortunately, I was correct.

I suppose my efforts of late to find more have been superficial.

i keep the vast majority of mine too.....-40 out wind howling.....stack of old magazines is a fun way to kill an afternoon....plus my interests do change somewhat so nice to go back and read articles i glanced over before cause i had minimal interest in the gun at that time....

Handloader is the one I've considered getting a subscription for. My G&A finally ran out. So glad. I used to love it when I was a teen. As John said, I guess my interests and the specialization of the magazine diverged at some point in the last 5 years. I'm not even sure why my subscription kept going so long.

I often prefer reading books and magazines to electronic media. Unless I'm hopping planes all day to get back east. Then my Kindle is the ticket.

It seems to me that from the samples I've seen here and there, the gun and hunting writing has improved on average since I was a kid. There were certainly fewer options then. It has been more of a challenge to find the niche into which I fit, though. G&A, Shooting Times, American Rifleman used to hit the spot. I don't know which would now.

I don't buy magazines anymore.

I stopped when the costs started to head toward $10 each.

In an era where many, if not most, products are giving us more for lower costs.....magazines are giving us less for higher prices.

I DO have a collection of Field and Stream, Outdoor Life and Sports Afield from the 1940s through the 1960s.

Now those are a lot of fun.

The articles are great, and the advertising is nostalgic, amusing and a source of pleasure rather than pain.

prices on everything has gone up if you havent noticed.....your paying bout the same as you always have.....inflation is a b!tch or do you think magazines are some how magically exempt?

I only read magazines with articles by John B. in them. The rest have become a waste of money. I subscribed to most of them since 1966 but no more. As JOC once said, Francis Sell shot the same crow in numerous gun magazines.

One of my favorite reads is about John B wife getting turned around while Grouse Hunting by herself. I believe she penned the article herself.

That was a good story! She tripped over a log, and injured herself trying to protect her custom-stocked Beretta 20-gauge over-under.

Come to think of it, there's an Internet magazine that often publishes hunting stories, called RIFLE LOONY NEWS, and it isn't anywhere near $10 a copy.

I believe you said you purchased her a GPS after happened .

You don't know shyt about Joe average. Joe average don't give a damn about 3000.00 pistols because he'd never buy one. A thousand dollar gun is an expensive piece to Joe average. Fur, Fish and Game is the magazine for the practical outdoorsman. IOW, Joe average.

problem is most members of this forum ARE NOT Joe Average.....most members here are gun nuts that shoot alot more than Joe Average.....most here are far more specialized and knowledgeable than the average gun owner/hunter.....so claiming you want something for the Average Joe you would likely be happy with the basic stuff that is currently out there and if your not take the time to search out the specialist magazines for the topics that do interest you.....

bea175,

Yep, I did!

I must be an exception somehow. If the article is about a subject of interest, I don't care if it runs 20 pages....I'll read it.But I read pretty fast,and have no problem with attention spans so long as the article is on a subject that interests me.

SA gets bought by me more than anything else because I like the hunting stories,and editorial content. I can't get excited about anything too technical or deep in the weeds, and the black gun stuff interests me not at all.The hunting has always interested me more than the gun gack.

The short paragraph stuff is a complete turn off and of little interest.

Wish I'd said that.

Three issues into my cut-rate "Guns" subscription, and I'm already missing the $10.

The on-line edition of GUNS (which is the same as the print version) is free. No wonder you're missing your 10 bucks!

The majority of my online activity is on my iPad, which has thus far remained out of the smallest room in the house. My magazines, on the other hand, reside there more or less permanently after the first quick scan.

WHAT???

Bunch O' Bunnies

What a bunch of Crabby Joes and Negative Neds!



"I stopped buying magazines when they were .35 a copy. Today, they’re all advertising. Or too specialized. And no good old fashioned hunting stories. No last page humör."

I think it’s a simple matter of genetic mutation. The magazine board rooms know what sells and they deliver it.

You’re spending too much time looking for a good magazine to read.

Go take a walk! Seriously.
---

From 1971

Neil young only told half the story there.

When he bought the ranch, the old man asked him how a young fellow like him could afford a nice ranch like that. Young replied, "Just lucky, I guess".

He's getting crotchety in his old age too. He used to be fun.

When I was young I thought I would never be a grumpy Old Man.I guess cause I probably thought I would never get old.Now I know that Old and grumpy go together like PB&J!!!

Kirk, you amaze me!

My comments above are still whats in command in the 'article' topic.

The 'magazines with articles today are dead.

We get to read here free on the internet and even write ourselves. It's more interesting, fun and free!
's

I get Handloader and Rifle. They're good, but mostly technical in nature. Most of the other gun magazines are pretty uninteresting to me. I do like to read well written hunting stories but I think the market for them is pretty small. Writing a good story of any type is difficult, and I don't think there are a lot of gun/hunting writers that focus on that kind of writing these days. That's not surprising based on the market.

I go to Barnes & Noble and scan several of the outdoor magazines, if there is an article of interest I will buy that copy no more high priced subscriptions for me. The NRA mags, Rifleman and Hunter are filled with too much political stuff and advertizing, little of interest to me in either. Wouldn't pay for either but being a life member I will get them for the duration of my life.

I used to take most of the gun rags, down to handloader.

Recently I fell for a couple of the $8 subsciption offers from G&A and Shooting Times.

$16 down the crapper, again. Might be one article of interest in a typical issue. The last G&A went in the trash in about five minutes. After scanning an American Hunter in the barbershop, I switched over from the Rifleman. Here's hoping!

The ones I miss the most are Small Caliber News, Varmint Hunter and Precision shooting. I get Recoil but its all fluff. American rifleman never bad mouths any gun they test. The print publications are going the way of the dodo bird. Its a shame.

I fell for the $8.00 a year, for Shooting times, about 1/3 of what it used to be, Ill not renew. Still get Rifleman, and buy a copy of Handloader now and then! back in the day I scrips to 6-8 diffrent Hunting/shooting mags.

I miss Varmint Hunter.................especially the Cartoons.

One of my favorite writes Jon Sundra made a major faux pas in the latest issue of Rifle Shooter. It was a review of the Fierce Edge. He claimed that the Fierce rifles had Pacnor barrels when its pretty much gospel from the company and everybody else that they use McGowen barrels. Rifle Shooter has been moving back from being an all black rifle publication but it has miles to go to get back to where it was.

I strongly believe that the parts of magazines that I like aren't GQ pretty boy and pretty girl writers jetting across the world to hunt some strange unicorn looking beast that was taken by a trip by military helicopter. I also don't like articles that are so keen and specialized that they spend 1300 words talking about the platitudes of some wonderful magic rifle that is fed magic beans that put alls the beans in one magic hole.

The best writers use humor and a regular formula that sets up the scene. They know the literary elements of Freytag's pyramid in which they build up a setting and they have a purpose or goal that isn't extremely clear till the article is done or its is very clean and the writer proves their class like a prosecutor.

I used to love Michael Petrov's articles on old gunsmiths in Precision Shooting. I know that this continues with Steven D. Hughes in Sports Afield. SDH is making ground on the foundation laid by Michael Petrov but I like the stories about guns that give information and like the Red Violin give a perspective to the artistry, mastery and the straight up beauty that came with the old masters.

I also like Muledeer's articles. I from reading his stories over the years appreciate his style and his favorite rifles. I like how he has developed character pictures of his friends and his best friend, Eileen. John Barsness is probably the only guy who I feel can describe and explain modern LR technology for the masses and yet get into the nostalgia of the past. It isn't about the size of the deer or which 3rd world craphole he travels to but its his philosophy and his keen intellect that draws me to put a magazine with his articles into my shopping basket. I think that Successful Hunter when he was editing it might have been the best magazine done.

Sports Afield was very good when Diana Rupp first took over. Its still good today but it was better when it had fewer articles that were longer and more well developed. I think that folks wanting to buy real estate should just go find a hunting lease magazine. SA could do that.

There used to be a magazine that was called Hunting Adventures that was done in Canada that was really good. It was a big sucker that had all kinds of articles. I don't know if the publishers were trying to create a magazine that would allow them to write off there entire trophy room and trust fund at the same time but it was very good. It disappeared about 15 years ago.

I really like Muzzleloader magazine. It has more history and gets really detailed in explaining the connecting between master gunsmiths and artisans and their art. It gives a historical perspective about the connections to the past and how they will go into the future.

I am old enough to remember reading JOC and Elmer Keith as a young boy. Both writers were great at developing the story. It is amazing that the majority of young people and even people my own age are connected to Recoil magazine and Snipershide but don't know either or the difference between a model 700 and model 70.

I really like how Phil Shoemaker writes. I think that I have heard that he is becoming a Hunting Guide Emeritus where he still will guide a hunt or two but that Tia is taking over the day to day hassle of going to the shows, arranging travel and doing all the ground work that outfitters do. That gives me hope that he will write more. I would like him to tell about how he search for his J.o. Conner rifle. Or talk about how the functionality of a rifle is more important than the accuracy. Maybe stories about how the Indian is more important than the arrow. There are a lot of different things that he could write about. I remember an Ibex hunt that he took a couple of years ago that was great. He did the entire build up and built up the story nicely. He puts humor in his writing like ornaments on a christmas tree. He hasn't written much lately but the fact that he wrote an elk hunting story where he and his buddy just went out hunting was interesting to me.

I really don't like the BRO hunting stories done by the alpha crossfit folks with 7 digit bank accounts and 6 digit hunting auction tags. I know a guy who spent 5 grand on having professional photographers to take pictures of his Desert Sheep hunt. I like adventure but I like more of the saved up for two years to go on a sheep hunt and explore and develop all of the ups and downs of a hunt. They may not be the best writers but the stories are good. One of my close friends does some good stories and he will be better and make his way into magazine more in the future. Blake Rothschild is on a good path and is developing the photography skills necessary to do well.

RE: Ed Harris - does anyone know of his whereabouts? We were both member of the Fairfax Road and Gun Club 35 years ago ans shot together several times. His writing was good and enjoyable.

When I was 10 years old in 1961 I was a cub scout and got BOY'S LIFE for free that had gun ads.
I liked those, so my mother got me subscription to FIELD AND STREAM.
My father took me along to go dove hunting in Topenish. As a 10 year old, I only had a BB gun, but I was well read.

I think Ed Harris is long retired and probably doesn't write for any of the paper gun magazines now, but when he was on the AMERICAN RIFLEMAN staff, his articles were among the best; lots of practical, technical information and data. Same for his GUN DIGEST articles. His expertise and main interest was in the area of cast bullets. He was certainly among the top in his field.

I still have the IMR powder identification chart from Harris in the 1990s.
That is a lot of different computers for me to keep the info.

If Jack O'Connor had known the accuracy potential of modern AR's he probably would have been more interested. He might not have bought one, but he would have been interested.

Hand Loader is the only thing on the rack that gets a second look. I will pick it up if there's a feature addressing something I have in the safe.

Sports Afield, Grays and Sporting Classic has become my favorite. The rest seem to push the guns that pay the bills which I can understand so by this all get a great rating which wavers their credibility.

I have taken to collecting collections of American Rifleman, dating back to the 40's. Great depth on technical articles and hunting tales. For instance, one of Elmer Keith's partners in the 333OKH, Charlie O'Neill, took 3 successive issues to tell the tale of wringing out the round in Africa.
Editors apparently don't allow authors the room to develop a good story in todays magazines.
So much of what is written today seems to be a repeated, but abbreviated version of earlier stuff, one way or the other. There is no substitute for getting out there and hunting/ shooting. It's pretty clear who's writing from honest experience.
Barsness, Boddington, Heavey, Petzel and Shoemaker are on my short list of reliably solid reading, worth the time, and the money, every time.

In the summer of 1984 I was building my house way out in the sticks.
Two guys would come over to help. The nearest neighbor, an unemployed architect that had worked at CCI, came over with 30 pounds of old American Rifleman magazines.
My wife was expecting construction to get done every day, but sometimes we mostly read those magazines, or shot at any crow that flew near the house.

Back then the articles were fairly technical.
Gun rags on the rack at the grocery store today are nowhere near as good as those old American Rifleman were.

I’m sure being able to find information online has hurt magazine sales. Google any rifle review, most anything written about it will come up.

It'so sad Bob who started this thread is no longer with us having passed away last fall. Bob was surley one of the good guys.

I get most of the gun magazines, but am not renewing many and subscriptions come up. The ones I will renew are Handloader, Rifle, Guns and, American Handgunner. As for the others, if is see an interesting article i an issue on the magazine racks, I'll by that issue.