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What gun magazines would you guys recommend for reading?

rifle ,handloader and hunter by wolf publishing If you don't mind reading them on the computer there is good deal for all three of them.

358win

I often enjoy Sporting Classics but have gone sour on Sports Afield under Diana Rupp.

I agree with the Wolf publishing suggestion. I bought an online subscription last year and just renewed it. Good articles from some established gunwriters.

I take them all

Rifle and Handloader are tops. No use for the G&A crowd. SA and such are guns light and will be the first to run away from anything.

I like Sports Afield because, strangely enough, they actually have really good hunting stories.

I get all the Wolf publications, plus The Varmint Hunter(many excellent technical articles) and Guns.

The rest of the magazines I find to be mostly a waste of time and money.

Steve

anymore what i buy are Rifle, Handloader, Sports Afield(unlike an above poster i think its the best US hunting mag), Sporting Classics, Guns, Double Gun Journal and Shotgun News(usually just the glossy covered one each month)....also buy some of the military and law enforcement themed ones on occasion and any ones from outside the US i can get my hands on when i see them on B&N and Hastings newsstands, have a subscription to African Hunting Gazette....

Basically none.

I still get American Hunter 'cause it comes with my NRA membership which is an insurance requirement for gun club membership else I'd toss it. I also still read Varmint Hunter.

The mass-media gun rags have no substance anymore. The articles are either sales pitches or hunting stories without enough gun info. At the same time, my firearms interest/knowledge has evolved past what mass media provides. That's just how it is.

check out the glossy issue of Shotgun News every month, granted its mainly military style weapons but it normally has articles on building them as well as articles on the history of the firearms and other small arms used in various conflicts for the last 200 years....plenty of substance....tons of ads to but the content is very good if your interested in those kinds of things....might also want to check out Double Gun Journal if your interested in old single shot and double barreled rifles.....newsstands in Barnes and Nobel and Hastings often have African Hunting Gazette and Wild Deer and Hunting Adventures out of New Zealand that ought to have the types of stories you approve of....

T_O_M,

"...hunting stories without enough gun info."

That's an interesting observation, as I've heard a lot of readers complain that too many so-called hunting articles these days are actually thinly-disguised gun articles.

I really enjoy Sporting Classics

Eastman's Hunting Journal, American Hunter, Petersen's Hunting, and American Waterfowler are the ones that I subscribe to. I used to enjoy Outdoor Life and Sports Afield, today they are a little too full of ads and stupid crap that appeals to urban "outdoorsmen" - only a shadow of what they once were. My favorite magazine of all time was the Trapper and Predator Caller, another one that is only a shadow of what it once was, albeit for different reasons. I have every copy of that one from 1982-1992. Incredible amount of information contained in that pile of paper.

not sure you have seen a Sports Afield from the last several years Nate.....granted if yah want to read bout US hunting it aint the best but its excellent if like me you want to read about hunts in Africa, Europe and Asia....have no interest reading bout hunting whitetail, mulies and elk....rather just do it....much rather read bout what i cant do....its not the yuppie magazine it tried to be for awhile..

I subscribed to Handloader, Rifle and Successful Hunter ... all Wolfe Publishing magazines and all from Issue Number One. Yep, I was a longtime subscriber and reader.

And I also wrote for Wolfe Publishing for quite a few years. Interestingly, it was always as on freelance basis. For some reason, asking me to be a Contributing Editor was not something that was to be. So, after a full seven years of publishing often and being ignored, I went elsewhere and was hired on staff immediately.

But I continued subscribing to and reading all of the Wolfe mags.

When somebody at Wolfe started jerking my buddy, Johnny Barsness, around, I took a new look at my subscriptions. And when Johnny left Wolfe, I discontinued all of my Wolfe subscriptions. Hey, it was my little protest ... you do not screw with my buddy.

Interestingly, I found that I did not miss the Wolfe Publications magazines at all. I did miss Phil Shoemaker, but the rest was fit for firestarter or the bottom of a parrot cage (huge poops ).

Amazingly, and this totally shocked my biz sense, I received nary a letter or comment from Wolfe. A forty-year subscriber quits ... wouldn't that be worth a "Please Come Back" letter? Apparently not.

Johnny jumped to Guns, which I had always assumed was just another junky little magazine. To my total surprise, Guns has turned into one heck of a fine magazine. My buddy, Holt Bodinson, was there and Johnny, too.

Johnny went back to Wolfe, but I did not follow. Actually, by that time I discovered that I was no longer learning anything from the Wolfe magazines. It isn't that I know it all, that's for sure, but maybe the writers at Wolfe don't know a hell of a lot more than I do ... or maybe they do not write it in a style that is interesting enough to draw me in.

For sure, the Stan Whizname articles tend to seriously piss me off. Superb photos, but his writing just bores me to absolute tears.

Guns is another matter. It is a very interesting gun magazine; Johnny and Holt are there and I find that I'm liking John Taffin quite a lot.

The John Taffin thing was an enormous surprise to me ... he alone is worth the cost of a Guns subscription. My one regret is that John and I never met when I was actively writing. And you'd think that in almost twenty-five years and hundreds of articles, our paths would have crossed somewhere. I guess John Taffin will always remain a "Friend that I never had the honour of meeting." And that is a shame.

So, to the OP, I'd suggest Guns.

Blessings,

Steve

i like Phil's stuff when it appears same with the rare occasions Ganyanna's(think thats how its spelled) stuff shows up, would love to see both of them write more....also do like Mike V.'s(also writes for Guns) and Brian P.'s articles....but im with you on Stan T's stuff....

You can't make everyone happy at once. I'm not sure what I want would sell anymore.

Tom

PS: Didn't mean my comments as a shot at you. Just as Ross Seyfried stood above the other writers of his day, you stand above those today. (I don't kiss ass, if I didn't believe this, I would have said nothing at all.)

I like Rifle and Handloader, but I am letting my subscriptions lapse. I find that I do not need much more stuff, and the magazines advertising does work. Makes me want. The articles in these two ar e top notch. Jack

T_O_M,

No offense taken, and glad you like my stuff.

Believe me, there's a lot I don't like in many of today's mainstream gun and hunting magazines. The biggest problem is the number of articles obviously written to please advertisers. In fact I know of one magazine publishing company that "guarantees" editorial coverage of the products any advertiser makes. It's right there in the ad contract. The trend toward advertising-driven content started in the late 1980's, and has taken over far more of the business.

When I started writing for hunting, gun and fishing magazines in the 1970's most of them tried to attract more readers with informative and/or entertaining articles, then sell advertising based on how many readers they attracted. Today the advertising tail often wags the editorial dog.

i dont mind it so much if its a decent article and not an obvious info-mercial......Brian Pierce has had some of these articles on new rifles that were worth the time to read and didnt sound like an info-mercial most of the time....