Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Are forums and magazines dying?

I recently took a hiatus from social media. But it seems there is not a lot of activity on forums anymore. I haven’t bought or looked at a magazine in years. Just wondering what the experts think? Seems like unless you’re looking on Facebook or instagram etc there just isn’t much activity.

Read a good book !

Most magazines are nothing but long advertisements, and you can get them for free online anyways.

Forums are definitely not as popular as they were. However, I would say that forums, when they were at their peak, were not much more than Facebook is today. At my peak of forum consumption-- say, about 2005, there were many forums that seemed like they were just there for:

1) The aggrandizement of the moderators
2) Astronomical post counts.

In one instance, a turkey forum, every legitimate post on every thread was followed by a few dozen "Whoo-hoo!" responses, usually filled with a lot of emoji's and animated gifs. Most of those ding dongs migrated to My Space and then to Facebook.

Magazines? At my peak, I had over 2 dozen subscriptions. I gave up my last one a while back. Even the ones I wrote for became nothing but ads and fluff.

Forums like this one are still excellent sources of material. The other thing I regularly read are weblogs. I'm rather partial to the latter, because I've been publishing my own since 2004.

One thing that has attracted my attention is Pinterest. It's a little like leafing through a magazine in the doctor's office. However, if you see something you like, you can click on it and see what may be an interesting article. It also allows you to pin stuff you like to your own topic-centric boards for later retrieval and you can open those boards for subscription, so other people can see what you've found. The more you use it, the more Pinterest fine tunes itself so that you see more of what you like. You can also tell it to "Hide" the stuff you don't like.

A trick I've learned over the years is to Google something and then to turn to the images tab and browse pictures instead of text. It lets you search gobs of stuff much faster-- as they say "a picture is worth a thousand words." Pinterest is like that.

I've got a board on Pinterest for ideas for the addition we're going to build when KYHillChick and I retire to the farm. We use that board to share architectural ideas.

This post needs a like button.......

I take handloader and American rifleman.

I still get and read Handloader and Guns Magazine. Of course get American Rifleman too but don't read it much anymore.

Media is changing as the people who consume it change. I think fewer and fewer people will get their media from print as time goes on, and that the typical internet forums have seen their heyday, but more and more people are online every day, and they are going somewhere. It isn't necessarily to Facebook.

You just have to be on Facebook now to hear Ron Spomer explain why the .375 H&H doesn't work anymore.

Life NRA member so I get the Rifleman. Shooting Times is close to being cancelled but those are the only two. I seldom post much as most subjects have been hammered to death and most questions are signs of laziness in the inquirer as simple searches can come up with many threads with answers. I try not to reward laziness.

Forums are definitely dying off. Slower in the shooting world than for other topics but reddit and facebook groups have taken a lot of the market share. I like forums better because its much easier to find old posts but you have to go where the people are congregated. Used to be if I wanted to learn about a new hobby or major purchase (truck, boat, etc), the first thing I would do is find a forum. Now days that info is on facebook.

You don't think this is social media?

I tried a little Facebooking some years back, but soon realized it wasn't for me. Now that we know what a bunch of creeps run it and what they're really up to, I'm glad I did. Nothing they offer can't be accomplished by other means.

Forums just picked up repeating the same old crap where magazines left off...over and over.

I agree

Actually, magazines are doing fine in the U.S. Recent figures indicate there's even been an overall sales increase in recent years--which may actually be related to the drop-off in Internet use. It also involves book sales....

A professional association of book publishers conducts regular surveys to pinpoint market trends. One of the things they discovered in the past few years is that (contrary to the popular belief often read on, uh, forums) the sales of printed, paper books were increasing, while sales of e-books were declining. Responses to the survey indicated the reasons were pretty simple: Prices of e-books had increased so much they basically matched the prices of printed paper books, but perhaps more important, so many Americans make their living spending a large part of their day on computers that when they go home, they don't want to stare at yet another screen. Instead they prefer to "relax" with a paper book. (Less important reasons are that it's easier to share paper books--and for some of us, to make notes in the margins of the pages.)

This is evidently also part of the reason magazines are doing well. Yes, some have folded in the past decade or so, but others appear all the time. This is why overall magazine sales have gone up slightly in the past few years.

On a more personal note (also related to Phil's post), we have seen a steady rise not just in book sales on riflesandrecipes.com, but subscriptions to our on-line magazine, RIFLE LOONY NEWS--which is also offered in a printed, paper collection. One of our subscribers suggested a collection of the first five years, and we thought that was kinda nuts, since everybody who subscribes gets access to all the past issues. But when we asked other subscribers if they'd be interested in a paper copy, they were enthusiastic as well. So we printed the book, and many people not only order it but an on-line subscription at the same time.

Both the NRA magazines are real rags compared to what they were back in the day. Only reason I get them is 'cause I'm a Life Member, otherwise I wouldn't bother.

Ditto. American Rifleman gets a 30 second perusal for anything of interest but about 11 months out of 12 it goes straight from the mailbox into the recycling bin.

Since I am an avid reader, I'm always looking for a new author or source. I have to admit right up front, I much prefer printed paper in hand. Since my wings were recently clipped, I'm buying more than ever as I have time on my hands.
It seems that over the last couple of years, subscriptions to many magazines can be had for 6 or 8 bucks a year. Even at that, I find most magazines are not worth the time to flip through the first time. Many are nothing more than an informercial.
Seems most of the gun rags are trying to convince me someone has reinvented a black rifle shooting some spiffy new caliber reinventing 30-30 ballistics and is worth $2000.
Got a new American Rifleman yesterday and was both surprised, and delighted, to see a pic of a Savage 99.
Also believe that the editors are no longer giving the better writers enough room to spin their tale.
Recently bought both volumes of Barsness' Gungack, and offer that as evidence. Good stuff, and that's an understatement.

This is anti-social media. If you don't believe it, check out the recent sparring matches with Big Stick.

I'm on facebook, but the only things I post are political or humor. If you want to find out any more, I'm in the phone book. With a land line number. Call me. We'll talk. As to magazines, I get Rifle, American Hunter, Sports Afield, Car&Driver, Automobile, Grassroots Motorsports, and Top Gear. And swap with my buddy up the hill for ones I don't get. Love to turn a page. And I've never had an e-book. And won't.

I hope they are not dying. I have tried to sit and read magazine article on-line and just can't do it. I much prefer the magazine in paper form.

Definitely prefer printed paper.

1. It stays the same. Open book, read, easy-peasy. While e-book formats should be supported forever, look how music has changed - wax cylinders, vinyl platters, 8-track tapes, cassettes, CD's and now MP3 format. I know large corporations would never force their customers to upgrade their equipment, noooo.

2. The Apocalypse. Paper will last, you will have books to read and learn how to rebuild civilization long after batteries have died and wi-fi reception has faded out. And if worse comes to worst, you will always have something not only to read in the outhouse but to wipe yourself with when the reading is done. Which is why most of my books are commercial style paperbacks, no slick glossy pages for me...

The internet has allot more places for people to spend their time now than it used to.

Facebook has local hunting groups for certain areas where you can get localised responses. Allot of forum posters have left for other types of social media

-Jake

I really like having digital subscriptions to Rifle, Handloader, SH, RifleShooter, Shooting Times, and Guns&Ammo
Much cheaper than paying int’l postage and Canajun Sales tax.

In the past , I/ we were cautioned by military security briefers about the risks of FaceBook etc.
I haven’t seen anything to change my mind by way of improvement.

The ingress continues to escalate.

Handloader ,Rifle a few others off the rack occaisionally. Never been on Facebook or Twitter in my life and don't see it happening f'em . Mag Bob

I only get "Handloader", "Rifle", and "Sports Afield" are all I get anymore and some of the articles in them are not very interesting. Muledeer's stuff is always good but a couple of other writers don't seem to be putting as much effort into their work as they used to.

Oh yeah. Once that stuff starts I just move on. If I want to watch poo-flinging, I'll go to the zoo.

I think a lot of it goes back to the anonymity of the Internet. Stupid or nasty stuff can be said with little fear of reprisal. Someone coined the term "Internet tough guy" many years ago. There are several of these types here, and other boards as well.

There's a lot to this. Some folks have never had a proper educational beat down and it shows.

There's also the speed with which the internet lets us exchange information. If I have a question, I can post it here and within days or hours have a conversation with several knowledgable people who understand my problem, have dealt with several variations of it themselves, and are willing to share their original research (unpolluted by marketing language) on potential solutions.

In the old days, you had to snail mail a question to the editor and hope that they chose to print an answer your question several months later. Best case was that you could get the home address of a writer, write them a letter, and get a more detailed response in a month or so.


Okie John

While I much prefer paper to electronic, there are advantages to E-books such as not needing physical storage and to some extent cost. I like SciFi for recreational reading and even at an average of $3.50 a paperback for a used book my Kindle has averaged about $1.60 a book over the last two years which is a savings and 182 books I don't have to store.

Yeah, e-books are great for stuff where the copyright has expired. Not so much for new books.

The town crier just isn’t as popular as he used to be

I know that I am not alone when I say that I prefer paper books in certain circumstances. Probably the best place to enjoy new, used or ancient paper magazines is at a hunt camp. All you need to read a magazine is enough light to make out the letters. A lantern or flashlight works after the sun goes down. You don't need a laptop or a tablet, batteries, or some sort of satellite down-link to capture the Internets.

How carefree and relaxing is it to sit on a latrine, perusing a copy of Field and Stream (or whatever)? No techno-worries there. The only concern is if someone remembered to bring the toilet paper!

Five or six years ago I was moose hunting and came across what I thought was a special ops unit operating in the middle of the bush. There was a generator running, two laptops percolating and a satellite dish on top of an aluminum pole. I didn't ask any questions, but a twenty-something guy in hunter orange waved at me from behind his computer. I'm no Luddite, but I remembered thinking, "Couldn't you leave that stuff at home for a week?"

I suppose if you were having tech withdrawal, you could always drive into town for a fix.

Magazines work for me most of the time.

Traffic on most forums has certainly died down from what it was, say, 15 years ago.

YouTube is growing by leaps and bounds.

Took me a while to give up TV did it back in the mid 90's - girlfriend had to have tv so back on after 8 months . Shut it off again in 03' off for 2 years turned it back on for some reason - off in 2010 and wouldn't have it if the cable company paid me .
Turned the computer off 3ish years ago for several months - thinking of trying to end this addiction . Plenty of time to sit around on a computer when I'm too old to walk . Really sad at the time I waste reading the same old - same old stuff on this website . I could be fishing/hunting/shooting/camping/reloading/boating/motorcycling yet I sit here writing meaningless comments like this one .
Forums & magazines - should any of us healthy people care ? ...

Ya got me. I e-mail a couple times a week and visit two shooting/hunting and one pool/billiards forum. Never done or plan to do Face Book or Twitter or Instagram. etc. Don't do selfies, a bunch of texting and find I don't have a lot in common with those that do. I don't want to spend much time in the digital world. My smart phone don't seem so smart to me. I am also getting old and grouchy.

For books & magazines, all mine are read online now. I definitely prefers ebooks. And there is lots of free stuff out there if you like to read old classics. I don’t do any social media like Facebook, Twitter or any of the schitt. Fugg em.
And 24 Hour Campfire 🔥 is the Only forum I’m on.

My reason for hanging out on a couple shooting forums is because I live on a figurative island- I'm surrounded by a lot of good people but rarely am I able to talk about this stuff with anybody. If I wish to "talk guns/hunting" I have to either drive a good way, telephone, or resort to the Internet. Heck, the last decent local gun shop here in Annapolis closed a while back ending my chances to kibitz with like minded souls.

As for paper versus electrons, for reading give me the tactile joy of a real book any day. I never heard anybody say they looked forward to going home and curling up by the fire with a good Kindle. My favorite genres for leisure reading (to the tune of two or three books/week) is mystery fiction, thrillers, and spy novels. My source: the public library, but a few select authors I willingly buy as their new stuff comes out: James Lee Burke, John Sandford, Lee Child, Gerald Seymour, John LeCarre to name a few. For the rest I'm happy to let the County buy them and me borrow them. One thing I refuse to buy are paperbacks, but do so once a year for something to tuck into the game pouch of my Woolrich hunting coat. When I actually buy a book it is with the intent of keeping it and putting it on my shelf- paperbacks get tossed or given away so why spend good money on them?

I have three eight foot long, floor to ceiling shelf systems- all filled to capacity with reference stuff, gun books, fly fishing books, military history, classics, and select fiction- and still there are little piles of books scattered about. Would all those words fit in a compact digital device? Yep, but having all those books fills me with unbounded pleasure.

I agree with what seems to be the majority here regarding magazines. I take a couple subscriptions but only organization newsletter/magazines such as the Cast Bullet Association, American Single Shot Association, and the American Rifleman of course. I swap stuff around occasionally and garner some of the slick gun rags but the content of them has become rather boring to me and seem to pander to a far different gun loony than what I am, so I never buy them. Handloader and Rifle are exceptions, but only when there are articles I really want to read.

I can only speak for myself....hunting/firearms magazines died a very long time ago....I got tired of reading about the difference between two identical cartridges.....

Forums however is a total different thing.....I can actually learn stuff here...and on rare occasion even contribute my experiences a bit.....

I do subscribe to the Great Lakes Angler....fishing magazine.....There's still a lot to be learned in that scenario.

I think this is appropriate for the thread. Books and magazines will be around for a long time, but they will have to share space with electronicals.

Facebook is where the action is.

I'm pretty much out of space for books (and everything else), so I usually only buy hardcopies of stuff I've already read and like. I also like to pick up the occasional vintage copy like the 1923 Ayesha I picked up a while back. Nice reprints of classic stuff can be had pretty cheaply too, and don't fall apart when read. Almost everything else I read is in e-editions. It's very convenient to be able to read a bit on my phone when stuck in waiting rooms and such. I did, however, pony up the extra three bucks last night for the hardcover version of the latest Longmire novel. That will be a good "specimen" copy of the series for the shelf. $15 for an e-book is a bit much for me.

Sometimes I'll ask a question even after doing a search or 10 just to see if someone has a new idea, a change of practice, or a new method that wasn't covered before. Plus, sometimes you get really lucky and some idiot will post something so stooooppppiiiiidddd that it's good for a laugh. The vast majority of threads I don't post on for the simple fact that whatever I would say has already been said at least 1/2 a dozen times, if I've read all the way through the thread. I didn't do that on this one, yet. Besides, if we didn't ask the same old questions, the board would get a whole lot less traffic, which would cause less q & a which would cause even less traffic which would cause even less q & a .....
Vicious circle and the the fire eventually dies.

Good point.

I don't think that everything has been talked to death. There are always new bullets and powders that come along to chat about.

There wasn't much to say about the 22 Hornet and K Hornet until Lil Gun and the 40 gr VMax came along. Some years passed and 300 MP popped up. Apparently there is a fairly new 6.5 cartridge that I see the odd post about. And what about that charming 17 Hornet? N'oublie pas the extreme powders. New scopes. New guns. New optics.
---

What I would like to see is a rethink of some older cartridges and rifles. Discussions on ways to upgrade them. I'll give you a 'for instance'.

For instance, I'd like to see a limited run of bolt action rifles in 225 Winchester, but with a 1 in 9 twist instead of 1 in 14, so it can launch bullets up to about 75/80 grains. And leave the pressure cap alone. 55 KPSI will make for a long lasting barrel. And before you say it, yes, we already have the 22-250, but that cartridge is so ordinary. And the case silhouette is fugly. The 225 has shapely lines.

Winchester can bill it as one in a series of "Fixing things we screwed up". And build it in the US.

While I'm pontificating, with CNC machining, bring back the Model 94...not the Japanese one. A domestic one. Levers are an American design and part of your history. Time to wave the flag. Bring the rifle back and drop the price down! And while they're working through a re-design, beef the action strength up a tad, but leave the lines alone. Keep the weight at 7 lb. Release three chamberings for the first couple of years - 30/30, 7x30 Waters and some other chambering. A secret one to keep the masses guessing until SHOT.

Winchester can bill it as another in the series of "Fixing things we screwed up". Built in the US.

Hire some writers to produce the same type of stories you see in the car mags. What's new at Winchester? We got our hands on secret pix of the new Model 94, tested in Canada. The rifle would be wrapped up or partially obscured, so we cannot see exactly what it looks like, the lines or calibre. What a tease! It can be a new feature - What Are They Working On?




What's this? Caught on camera! Winchester employees were recently spotted in Ontario, Canada, where they go to test rifles and new designs, far away from prying eyes. I guess they should have gone farther away!

Forums might not be as popular as they were when "new" and "novel," but Campfire seems to be hanging on and I hope it does for a long, long time. I like most of the people here even if we seldom put down a handshake. I have Facebook and Twitter, and just can't bring myself to play that game. I've unfriended a number of people just because I didn't need their clutter.

I'd like to add to John Barsness' commentary with some observations of my own.
I've worked for specialty publications, either trade or advocacy, after a start as a freelance ski writer for Powder magazine back in the early 1990s.
Right now I'm an opinion columnist for a new-model weekly paper in Montana, as well as a masthead writer for RANGE, which is a regional cowboy magazine that is pretty slanted toward the working West, not the romantic "New West."
The paper, the Flathead Beacon, is doing okay because of its local focus and longer stories. People like that, grab their copies, and the advertisers are still willing to pay to reach those people. So we are in the black there.
The magazine? RANGE, out of Carson City. We're surviving, mainly because it is "local" and definitely not what you can expect from Assoicated Press. We don't have a single writer who could be termed a regular "reporter." The closest example died and I got his job, Tim Findley, who wrote for Rolling Stone for years but got tired of commie Jann Wenner. The next closest example is Vin Suprinowycz (sp) who was the opinion guy for the Vegas Review Journal, a rea gun guy and libertarian hard case. But all the other writers are either ranchers or do other kinds of "producer" stuff for their day jobs. So RANGE offers a unique product and we have enough subscribers that appreciate that, even though our advertising is weak BECAUSE we do stuff nobody else will touch.
As for Kindle, John is right, that was my very first impression. I tried a Kindle using a borrowed I pad and hated it instantly.
By the same token, I could never stand a magazine on the Internet. Not for the stuff I really like, like guns or trains or skiing. Not for really in-depth subjects or good photojournalism. I want to curl up with it and a cup of battery juice and enjoy it.

Bottom line is there will always be a market for good, specialized, in depth writing. Trade magazines are still doing a good business, niche publications are winnowing down, but there are some quality survivors, thank God. And John is doing a good job of adapting to the "new Model" of journalism -- but I think it helps that he's got passion as well as brains when it comes to his subject matter.

Have you ever read a good cook book? Cook something up and invite a few friends, you wouldn't believe how this old recipe works wonders on breaking ice and making new friends. they will leave their phones alone for aleast afew moments.

I couldn't agree more about the 225 Winchester. I've loosely been keeping an eye out for one.

+1 on the 225. My old M70 is a tack driver with 50gr TNT and Vmax. Even better with 63gr Sierras. But it throws 64gr Power Points into 4" groups. A new fast twist version would be fun.

The 225 would would occupy the area between the 223 and the 22-250. Give it a 1 in 9 twist barrel and a decent trigger. With modern bullets and powders, it would be a great cartridge. A lot depends on how it it loaded, but it would launch 60 gr. bullets about 200 fps faster than a 223. Maybe 100 or so fps slower than the 22-250, but at lower pressure - 56KPSI. With the trend toward homogeneous bullets, you could push a 62 gr. Barnes TSX around 3400 fps. I haven't tried them in mine yet, but will get around to it. There are more "in between" 224 bullets today than there were in the 1960s. 60+ grain bullets, made using the technology they found at the Roswell crash site.

Or heck, you could do something that might land you in 'the home'. Use traditional cup and core bullets like a 60 gr. VMax or 65 gr. Sierra GameKing.

The 225 could start a new dual purpose rifle war. That's good for paper and electronic magazine sales. Remember what they used to say about the 243? Is it a varmint or a deer cartridge?

As an NRA member I get the American Rifleman and as others stated it is not the greatest magazine. The only subscription I have is to Backwoodsman Magazine. They don't rely on advertisers and the articles are written by the subscribers. They have all sorts of outdoor and gun stuff. I would recommend this one.
I like this forum and visit a few others like Castboolits forum. I will have nothing to do with facebook.

Forums are dying out because they aren't "phone friendly".
Younger people don't use them as much and there are fewer hunters and shooters now.
I don't foresee things getting better for these types of sites.

Forums are dying because young people who are interested in shooting and hunting check them out and watch a bunch of old curmudgeons talk trash about the new stuff (ie Creedmoors, Big heavy scopes, etc). Well the new kids just want to like what they like, so they quit logging on to the forum after they get tired of getting bashed.

facebook has a ton of gunnery based stuff. when they stopped the open selling of firearms it assisted the forums who still allow such an interchange.

this is one of the really good forums, actually the only hook & bullet site i frequent. when i'm interested in mtn feists and related, i go to facebook.

This is a solid point. Love or leave it, Facebook offers hyper-focused groups so one can join a group specifically for that content. For instance, I belong to a 6mm Creedmoor group - one needn't wade the ad nauseam "this chambering vs. that chambering" posts to find it (content) and no ridiculous banter on how silly the chambering choice because the .243 has been getting it done for XX decades.

Or the old farts just talk trash about anything that comes up. Some must think huffing and puffing on the internet will raise their T levels.

Know exactly how you feel, been a book rat for decades.

No. I get paper versions of Handloader, Rifle, and American Rifleman. Reference books I buy in paper form, I don't want to depend on the internet for data especially for handloading. Books I read for pleasure are mostly electronic because my eyes currently make them much easier to read.

I have not read a magazine in years. For the most part a disappointment. Been to Facebook and Instagram, not impressed.

What he said^^^^

Well I am very pleased to read the info Mule Deer put out on page one of this post. I was given a Kindle 6 or 7 years ago and I tried it, gave it a good try to be honest. But, it's not a book. My wife and I travel outside to the lower 48 every winter to visit the kids and grandkids. We take books with us, the current book and the next one or two inline to be read. Funny thing is when we come back we always end up mailing one or two boxes of new books back.
Tried the Facebook thing 8 or 10 years ago, had 3 friends, one is my sister-in-law, one was a fellow charter Captain, and someone else. I figured out Facebook real quick, not for me. You can call, text, e-mail me, but that's about it.
Well I also don't like black rifles and semi-autos unless their 22 LR's. It's lumber and nice bluing for me. Love levers, and bolts, pump guns aren't far behind. So I like books kind of falls in with my guns.
Not bashing AK's or AR's, but I like machined steel and the printed word.

I am only a regular on four forums although I visit more than that when searching for information on something. Three of them sure don't seem to be shrinking and the one that is was small to begin with.

I use the internet for four things. Communication with my son, researching how to do something, buying something I cannot get locally, and going to about four forums on a regular basis for entertainment, information, and news. The forums I am on are generally hunting, firearms, knives, or general outdoors stuff.

My subscriptions are down to Rifle Looney and a magazine named Muzzleloader.

I read a lot of books and most are purchased used unless it is Craig Johnson's latest book. I can find John Grisham and Tony or Anne Hillerman along with a few others at a local thrift store for a couple of bucks.

Magazine sales vs decades ago are in decline no doubt but internet forums such as this one are on life support and dying.

Facebook has thousands of closed groups that hone in on one topic and kick jackasses off almost to fast at times.

The creators of these FB pages took what they liked about some forums and created their own spot and implemented some things within their own government to keep those groups running the way they see fit

I'm on several closed FB pages and I see those growing year to year.

Not to mention picture and video uploading without requiring a second party server

Forums are indeed dying

Ted,

Actually, as I pointed out in one of my previous posts in this thread, over magazine sales have actually gone up in the past decade. But the circulation of SOME magazines is down--for the same reason you just stated about Internet forums: Both magazine publishing and "social media" have become more specialized, narrowing in on a certain audience.

But overall reading "material," whether printed on paper or cyberspace, keeps increasing.

I still get several magazines.

Like justahunter said....I like to read from paper better then a screen.

Oh and one other thing: the Gen Z’ers and most of the millennials don’t do Facebook. All Instagram and Snapchat, with Insta being the primary social media option.

I prefer some of the better magazines ,in these I find the advertising useful. I suppose it depends on your age but I far prefer magazines and books( 61 years old) This digital stuff is not healthy to look at all the time. I just don't care to see tactical stuff in our more traditional publications.

I certainly like the forums better for more in-depth answers and being able to bookmark some threads for future reference. They were really helpful when I was searching data for my 30R and 450-400NE. Also very good at pointing a person in the direction of stores I'd never heard of before to get various items, ideas and ways of doing stuff. I like that they usually have a cross section of opinions from across N. America and even some input from Europe and Australia and other places. Ya, you have to sort thru the krap to get the good stuff, but, it is there. FB and the like are for the folk who are on their phones all day and you seldom see a full answer to a question. Lots of hints at stuff, but, not fleshed out. But, it is a source of info in its own way. I do prefer the forums overall. One nice thing is you can look at some once a month and read back thru the threads and pick out what is interesting reasonably quickly, better than FB by a long shot.
I haven't had a magazine subscription in a few years, I got tired of a lot of the same old that covered the stuff I was interested in, and the amount of stuff I was not interested in. But, I do enjoy reading some of the stuff people refer to occasionally on FB.

Depends on how far back you go. In the 1960s and before when the NRA had c 100,000 members, the main reason for joining were to get an 03 Springfield from the DCM. Most of the Rifleman print was about some dude who won a shooting contest in Woodchuck Springs VA. The Second Amendment material was concentrated in the Column " What The Law Makers Are Doing" and had pieces about Senator Thomas Dodd and Rep. Victor L. ANFUSO, D NY ( Was he a Communist? His spokesmen said no. Then why did he hate America so much?) The Armed Citizen feature was there but by far the main draw of the magazine was the mail order advertisements, form Klein's, Ye Olde Hunter and the like.

I was a magazine junkie for years, long before there were forums. Then I followed many forums, many of which are now defunct. I don't see a lot of young people posting (say under 30) because of their addiction to social media (different than this one). I have been in the gun game for 49 years. I started reloading when I was fourteen and no my father did not reload so I learned some things the hard way. I can't believe I used a Herters shellholder box lid for a powder funnel! When I think of the trips I have taken in my life that were gun related, rifle teams,deer hunts, elk hunts, dove hunts,hog hunts, varmint hunts I can easily say that my life has been very good to me. Don't forget the hotrod era, my 67 GTO, 70 Roadrunner, 71 and 73 Cuda's, were just some I owned and built motors for. I raced flat track for a couple of years, did the road race around the capital parking lots in Austin, rode my Harley back and forth to the east coast many times, hanging with certain MC clubs. This all is un reachable to most young people today. They are not taught how to build motors or just about anything else. Many are afraid of guns. A lot of things I did back in the 70's a kid doing the same today would go to jail for. I see it as America is in decline, if we cannot stimulate the new generations to do things then we are lost.

Monday I worked for 2.5 hours moving 300 boxes of books donated to Friends Of The Library.

I never use a Library. My wife is the treasurer of a volunteer organization and she volunteers me.

In 1980 I was subscribed to 40 magazines and read every word. The best part was letters to the editor. The internet replaced letters to the editor.

I no longer subscribe to any magazines in the mail. I get a few on line.

TV is fading out. The future seems to be youtube, where conservatives and gun owners are treated like dirt. They made Alex Jones infowars disappear on youtube, facebook, and patrion.

Today I get only one magazine.....Great Lakes Angler......it's a gift from a fishing buddy.....to which I gave him Fur Fish and feathers as a thank you.....his kids love it.

Magazines killed themselves off with the unteenth printing of comparing the .243 with the 6mm Rem.....and also comparing the .308 with the .30-06....all I ever got was articles of hunts well beyond my affordability and things I could have written myself.....skrooem!!!

Then I found forums.....wow what a difference......I had well past 20,000 posts on AR until I was banned from the political forum. It irritated me to be banned FOR SPEAKING THE TRUTH and then I found the campfire.....a breath of fresh air!!!

However, this too is getting old.....Mule Deer adds a good touch to the fire as he points out things of relevance and has lots of experience to add and is articulate enough that even I can relate. I now find U-Tube to offer a wide variety of subjects of value and am spending more and more time there.....

Yes.....magazines in my eyes are dead and forums are not keeping up with my interest level.....I find myself spending less and less time here but I doubt that this will disappear.....it still has value if one knows how to separate fact from fiction......and many times I don't!

No way, magazines are not dying. Not personally with myself. As a juvenile, I looked forward to my subscriptions and still do. As for online articles just the same, I need communications in my world I have subscriptions that go back to the 80"s and thumb through these still. Rereading old articles and stories.
Without gun writers and authors, the world will be boring. I could live without FB, "which is, frankly, turning into a gossip rag". No offense to anyone.

My 2 cents.

I only have one magazine subscription anymore, Firearms News. And even most of that is product promotion advertising articles, but most issues have articulates on historical firearms.

I like reading forums but only visit a few where people are mostly civil and i rarely write much.

I get sporting classics...sports afield, and Rifle. I used to get FS and OL but their gun guys don't ever get feature articles anymore. Its a shame because DEP of FS is really a damn fine writer...if they would just let him write. Instead he gets to put basically blog snips into print...so i canceled. I used to get rifle shooter too...but it went tactical..which i have zero interest in so i candled that too. If i wanted to read that crap id get soldier of fortune

Odd thing is that the last OL magazine i got which was marked as the last one coming had a fantastic article about realistic expectations when hunting. Best article they have put into print in YEARS. I may re-up. Im undecided.

This is a good forum...not too heavily moderated which is nice. The only other one i post on is accurate reloading. I still actively read and buy books too. I got off FB over a year ago and have been a much happier person.

About the only magazines I get now are Rifle, Handloader, Rifleshooter, Guns and the Rifleman. There are some shooters groups on facebook. a couple of which are coupled with online forums. Some are product specific like the .35 Whelen group, .280 Rem. group and I think there is one dedicated to the 30-06. A nice one is strictly for Ruger #1 rifles with allowance for the #3. The Whelen and #1 groups seem to be having the most action but are rather slow.
On magazines I have kept just about every gun rag I've ever owned in nice big piles. Most will end up at a recyclers. Just running through the last ten years of shooting times proves to be they along with Guns and Ammo were a total waste of money. One the American Rifleman, I have a few from 1936/7, all of 1938, 1939 is missing, and every one from 1940 to date. Just MHO but probably from 1949 to maybe 1966 is when they were the most interesting. The ads on the the early ones until 1968, give or take were also interesting. As far as reading a magazine article on my computer, not if I can help it.
Paul B.

One thing is dying on forums are hunt reports. It used to be enjoyable to read somebody's adventure. African Hunting Forum does this but many people get full on hate if they post about their hunts. Technology is changing. I went sheep hunting with an older feller this fall and he had good old stuff and I had new space age light stuff. 15 miles in I was still full steam ahead and his stuff was pretty well beaten up. I think it would be useful for gun guys to talk about lemons. WE ALL GET THEM FROM TIME to TIME. But not a lot of people want to be honest about taking the cross-eyed sister to the dance and instead say they have the prom queen.

Sincerely,
Thomas

I probably have over 300 books on my phone. Mule Deer's are the last real books that I can remember purchasing. Ebooks work well for me because I am on the move constantly.

24 hr campfire made it all obsolete..every thing you need to know is here just ask...

I still get Rifleman from NRA, life member! The other magazines I get are Handloader, Rifle and Fur Fish & Game. I've been getting F,F&G since 1966, and still enjoy it more than most!

Use to get several mags til they turned into nothing but ads. Theres some good forums out there and some good information if you are willing to wade thru all the keyboard commandos and the ever present incurable victims of SPS.

"True West" magazine. Not an ad zombie.

24 hr cf has J.B and this is why I tune in here.
It is quite extraordinary to have his feedback and I usually pick a rag if he has something in it.
Lucky us

I will agree, having the luxury of JB on this forum is kinda like a Super Hero hanging out with you and your buds. It is very cool to receive feedback.

I have had some good info. passed in the open and also by IM from John. class act!

Scratch that...I’m done with accurate reloading. This is the only forum I use