What do you want out of life?

[Patrick Sweeney]

Since I (and some others on this forum) write for a living, lets turn the previous question around:  What would you like to see in a magazine?  What makes you pull it off the shelf and buy it?  (And forget photos of scantily-clad bimbos of either sex, it won't happen.)

And what instantly turns you off?

Maybe Duane, Michael and I can nudge Editors around with the knowledge we can gain from this.

[jhgtyre]

My personal wish list is:

a) Reviews of new products without weasel words.  If the gun (or whatever) sucks then please tell us.  I am tired of reading between the lines.  I know this makes it tough on the advertising department but high standards should be maintained.  If the company fixes the problem you can always re-review.

Articles about Practical Shooting.  The occasional piece on who won what major is nice but I would really like to see more articles that deal with both the basics of shooting well and the mental aspects of the game.

c) Size does matter.  My buying impulse fades when I pick up a gun magazine and it's only a few articles, a bunch of ads, and the whole thing is less than 90 pages long.

d) Keep the articles continuous.  No one likes flipping to the back to finish an article and then flipping back to the front to find the next piece.

Thanks for the opportunity to put in my 2 cents worth.

-jhgtyre

[Flexmoney]

Price tags.

I hate to invest my time into reading a review and then not get the sticker price.

[Peter K]

1. Competition shooting (not only IPSC, other shooting sports are also interesting like Bullseye, long range rifle ...).

2. Biography of the pros (who is the man behind the gun?)!

3. Match reports  

4. Reloading (not only for beginners)

5. Exact explanations ("how does this trigger work?&quot.

6. And please:

No longer "9 mm vs. .45ACP"! THIS IS BORING when you have to read it the 5th time!

Or: Print this forum!

[Shooter Grrl]

I'd like to see all the articles/writers/editors/advertisers remember that Grrls participate in these sports too :-)  

[actionshooter]

The one that really fries my butt is when an author belittles another sport. I have seen a pro IDPA take shots at IPSC and vise-versa. Can't we all just get along?

Also I like to read about who won at the major matches but how about a monthly column w/ advice from the pros? Any and all sports. It just seems that when you see an article on a sport its just about a match,who won,what the weather was like,blah,blah.

[Bill Schwab]

I'm with Peter K & actionshooter.

[Bill]

I find many of the articles in gunzines seem to be geared toward the beginning shooter. I think the only one I subscribe to now is AH.

I would like more in depth articles about competition shooting of all types. What is the reader base and what do they want? I won't pay the big bucks you have to pay now for a mag only to have one article I want to read. I am often disappointed when I buy a mag for an article only to find it is very shallow and doesn't tell me anything new.

Bill Nesbitt

[EricW]

I stopped reading all gun rags except Front Sight and Sporting Clays just because I kept reading all the same crap all the time.  I know that gear ads pay the bills, but to make the magazines totally new gear orientated is a real turn off.  

Ditto on readability.  Don't split articles so often.

Double ditto on calling a spade a spade.  Stop kissing vendor's asses.  If its crap, call it so.  If they pull their ads and keep building crap, well, good riddance.

Subjects I would like to see:  

1) Real Ballistics.  Not the phony baloney crap the gun people have concocted to make what ever their pet load is the "best in the world," but ballistics as dictated by physics.  Maybe an interview with an ammo company resident ballistician.  

2) Human interest articles - How about 5000 words about how Brian and Robbie's friendship and partership propelled them up the ladder?  WHO is that mystery man Jerry Barnhart.  I'm not talking about a superficial biography.  Sit down and pick their brains and tell us who they are, what makes them tick, what are they getting out of all this.

3) How and Why things got they way they are.  Interview the people who actually designed the new whizbang gun or whatever gadget?  What's interesting to me isn't the the little lever on the side, but how it came to be there in the first place.  Talk about the six prototypes it took to come up with the final design.  There's a lot of history that's being lost here.  This is a big opportunity.  

Articles I NEVER want to see again:

1) 9 vs. 45 or vs 40 or any other goddamn caliber.  Enough of this bullshit already!!

2)  The article about cleaning where I find out if I run a soiled patch down my bore I will damage my barrel irreparably.  Yeah, right.  I just got done running a METAL bullet with an interference fit down the same barrel with the same gunk at Mach 3.  Will somebody please delete this fairy tale off the gun rag hard drive?  I'm begging you here...

3) How the new magic gun solves all the problems of the old magic gun and will make you a better shooter.  

Eric

[Storm]

I'll echo a lot of what everybody else said.

I'd prefer a magazine about competive shooting with the emphasis on "competition" & "shooting". There are too many "gun" magazines. Shooting is not about the gun.

Have articles that cover:

1. The techniques of shooting. These can be physical techniques, mental aspects of competition, training routines, whatever. Concentrate on intermediate to advanced shooters with an occasional beginner article.

2. Cover multiple shooting sports with no bias. I'm tired of the "IDPA is more practical than IPSC" type of stuff. Although I currently only shoot IPSC and IDPA, I'd be interested in other sports like bullseye, hi-power, sporting clays & etc. A lot of the competitive aspects carry over from one sport to another.

3. Interviews with experts. These could be interviews with shooters like Rob, Jerry, BE, Langdon, etc. They could be interviews with competition gunsmiths. Cover both biographical info and technical topics.

4. When you cover products (guns, grips, holsters, etc.), concentrate on the competitive and technical aspects of the product. How does it work & why is it different from other products?

What we don't need:

1. My caliber is better than yours.

2. My shooting sport is better than yours.

3. My gun is better than yours.

4. This new gun will solve all your shooting problems.

[3quartertime]

hi pat,,,

i'm probably too late to get in on this one but,,,

there is one mag that i absolutly love!!!  

maximumpc!!!

if there were an ipsc style mag like that one it would be a must have for all the junkies.

they advertise as minimum bs,,,but they review like they don't care if anyone advertises in there mag or not!!!  thats what we need for an ipsc mag.

no bs,,,just the facts   hard core reviews,,,

it would sell big i think,,,i know i can't wait for the maximumpc issues to come out.

[sfinney]

More comparison reviews, ala Consumer's Digest type stuff.... ie. put a verision of the top 5 or 6 holsters out there and disect them, pros and cons,  or compare the leading 5 IPSC limited guns, quality, accuracy, durability, etc. Call a spade a spade.

Less showcase articles designed to sell the product (I have a Kimber and love it, but if I have to read ONE more article about the new "upstart" Kimber's latest XXX gun...)

[dave pasos]

Well spoken EricW!!    But interview other top shooters other than BE and Rob!     Theres others that worked hard at this sport too!  New faces and new shooters!      thanks

[grassy knoll]

- the international scene, interest in shooting is worldwide,

- the list of stuff that works and doesn't work, a new guy can spend a lot of time and money figuring out something BE and TGO figured out in 1988.

[BigDave]

IMLO, about the only gun rag that is really worth the time is Front Sight.  I used to subscribe to American Handgunner, but I can barely stand to pick one up, except to read the reports on the USPSA Nat's, Bianchi Cup or Steel Challange.

What I'd like to see...

1)  Coverage of as many of the competition disciplines as possible.

2)  Interviews with the manufactuers, gunsmiths, Pro's.

3)  Real product reviews.  No PC, 'don't want to step on Co. A's toes to prove B is better'.  Tell us like it really is.  Lots of times, we are spending $1000 or more on a rifle, pistol or even maybe a shotgun.  We need to know.

4)  Real reloading data

5)  A willingness to published articles from the audience (like Front Sight)

6) Advertisements are OK and are necessary to fund the publishing and pay salaries.  However, I think addresses, tel #'s and website listing should be mandatory.

7) A real classified section.  Not this "Buy gov't land in Zimbabwae for $.02/acre!!!" bullshit.

8) A $35/year subscription price

9)  None of the "tactical" or "manstopper" b.s. articles that appear in any of the other gun rags.  If I want to know that stuff, I'll buy those.  I want to read about competition disciplines.

10) Give-a-way's  (Free shit rocks)

...thats all I want.

[Shooter Grrl]

You know what's really sad?  We've all just described GunGames :-(((((

[davecutts]

I want some of this stuff too, however, I want quality writing.  Now before anyone points out that I often butcher the English language (I already know) I still recognize poor writing, and it is painful to read.  Gun writers may not hold PhD’s in English form Yale (they're gun people not liberal's.  Please don't send this to William F. Buckley Jr.), but editors should edit for f&^k sake not rubber stamp.   As much as I enjoy reading front sight, and used to enjoy Gungames, I am often left shaking my head.  What did they say?  What did it mean?  Do these people know how to use a coma?  Come on the American audience may read at a ninth grade level, this however does not mean we should condone the continued downward spiral of written communication in this country.  We are talking about national publications that represent our community.  I think we (our magazine editors) should put out the best china to represent us.  Pick up a copy of National Review and bask in proper use of the language.  It flows it makes sense, yeah there might be a big word or thirty that have me pulling out my dictionary, but I like learning and it is worth it.  If William F. Buckley Jr. read like Dave Arnold (in my opinion one of the worst offenders) the conservative movement, and our gun rights, would have died a quick and quit death many moons ago

I hope some of you get my points.

PS My wife is a high school teacher who reads my magazines and makes fun.

[sfinney]

---

Quote: from Shooter Grrl on 3:45 pm on Feb. 27, 2002

You know what's really sad?  We've all just described GunGames :-(((((

---

One big differnece: I'd want the mag to show up EVERY month, with no breaks in service. I subcribed 3 different times to Gungames and never once receive more than half a years issues before they'd fold again

[j1b]

I sent a note to Handgunner on this specific subject.

I would love to see more competition articles. More In Depth articles. More articles about the people. These sports don't have to be just about Rob, Jerry and Todd. There are great shooters out there doing great things - but noone knows. And I'm not just talking about action shooting - rifle, shotgun, bullseye, IPSC, IDPA, Cowboy -

And here's why I would really like this. I think it would grow our sport(s) exponentially. There would be more personalities, more knowledge about whats going on. Companies would be more willing to support shooters because their odds of getting in the mags increase. Plus I think people like knowing what happened at a match.

I hate that the magazines have decided to not support the sports so much. It is demoralizing to us. Some think that new shooters struggle because they are so far behind the good shooters. I think thats crap. I think that's a result of something we've done. I SUCK at golf - but by God I play and I enjoy every second of it.

But its a house of cards right now. No magazine will take the risk of switching because right now covers of guns are selling magazines and a cover of Rob - right or wrong - doesn't. I think he'd tell you that. If someone would have the balls to build a magazine that did bring personality to the game then I think it would work - but the current structure doesn't make that feasible. GunGames was a great mag - except they forgot one little element called customer service. I would argue that the first gungames magazine with that huge article on Rob was really good. It was a great look at TGO, what his life was like, what he held important, what made him successful and what his weaknesses were. In that article he mentions Jethro - and what Jethro could mean to the sport. Unfortunatly Jethro took the same road I did - he saw that noone was going to be able to pay him what he needed in order to make a living - so he went out and got a real job. It sucks. Certainly Jethro would be one of the leading shooters out there if there were the support. It wouldn't be the same three.

And the people that say personalities aren't the key to a sport really bother me. The people that say readers don't want to know about shooters they want to know about guns bother me. In NASCAR what's more important - the car or the driver? What really gets the attention?? The DRIVER - it just so happens his sponsors have their name plastered all over his uniform. What about Golf? You think Golf magazines are a big business because there's an article on Nike Golf Balls??? Or is it because there's an article on Tiger and oh by the way . . . he uses Nike Golf Balls.

I know I'm venting here - but jeez oh peat how is it that the shooting industry is so set in its ways that we think we know business better than companies doing a hell of a lot more business???

This just staggers me - I guess I'd better stop - cause I could go on and on and on - like the Freakin' energizer bunny!

Thanks for the post!

JB

Pat - I mean no offense to your industry or to you. This is a point of frustration for me - I most certainly do not mean to step on your or anyone else's toes. I should be more dimplomatic - but sometimes I just ain't!

(Edited by j1b at 1:50 pm on Feb. 28, 2002)

[TravisT]

(Edited by TravisT at 7:23 pm on June 11, 2002)

[sfinney]

Pictures and articles of guns, sells guns, which gets the magazine paid by the advertisers, who happen to sell guns. Kinda like Road & Track.

To bad the gun mags take the Road & Track approach, rather than the Gungames route of featuring people.

Oh well

[j1b]

TravisT

You are the prime example of why I am so frustrated with this sport.

You have exceptional talent, you are a great personality, you have all anyone could want as it relates to a representative of a company - yet you'll never make the money shooting that you should. Rob, Todd, Jerry and Doug are the last of them - after that the well is dry. And Todd had to work his *ss off to get what he has (I mean this in terms of convincing companies to invest money in him). To read Handgunner one wouldn't even know who Travis Tomasie is - and that's not right! Let's name a few who were great and didn't have the backing to keep doing it

Matty Mclearn - worlds and nationals in the same year - he barely shoots anymore.

Jethro - countless major wins and second twice at the US nationals - that I know of he doesn't shoot.

Jo Jo Vidanes - I think he still shoots - but talk about talent! That guy is unbelievable!

Jamie Craig - unbelievably fast!

Tawn Argeris - again - he still shoots but he is consistently in the hunt - yet isn't getting enough support from the industry.

We don't think we have the personalities and ability to make this sport exciting, fun and entertaining - I mean all the above mentioned could win any match on any given day if they just had the opportunity. Then you have Max - an excellent shooter - who is proof that when someone does invest they get results.

And I agree with you - the first edition of GunGames was absolutely the best magazine I've seen. It did exactly what I thought a gun magazine should.

This really is a sore subject with me. I don't know how to remedy it - but I swear I'd be back in the saddle or at least TRYING to get in it if we'd simply get some companies and press to support us.

Anyone hiring?

JB

[EricW]

Dave P,

Thanks for the kind words.  Brian and Robbie's names just came to mind first, but you are right there are dozens of great stories about great people out there.  

Thanks for pointing that out, Jack.

Eric

[bgary]

J1B

I'll second your comments about Travis.  We up in the Great NorthWet are unspeakably proud of "our guy", and can't figure out why the rest of the world hasn't figured out what a PR *gold mine* they'd have if they signed him up.

(Hi, T!)

Bruce

[Patrick Sweeney]

"Danger Will Robinson, Danger!"  Thread drift going on.  I agree about the top shooters, but what I want to know is, what will make you reach into your pocket and pull out the cash to buy a magazine that is in the shelf, rather than read it and put it back?

And I'm not counting (cover your eyes, Shooter Grrl) naked women.  We don't need that kind of (pardon the pun) exposure.

(Edited by Patrick Sweeney at 8:22 am on Mar. 1, 2002)