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

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.
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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.