[BARgunner]

Well, that's not something I wanted to hear. I've subscribed to AH and Guns for at least a couple of decades and like others, I enjoy the hard copy. It's easy for me to pick up the copy and go right to where I left off instead of searching through my iPad to find the subscription and then searching for the next article I want to read or re-read. I just renewed both for a couple of years so I'll have to see what the new format looks like and decide from there if I want to continue with the subscription or let it lapse.

 

[CraigC]

I want a refund. I'm tired of getting screwed by publishers because they decide to stop printing magazines. First two off road magazines (thanks Motortrend), then Primitive Archer, now this. I subscribed to printed material, not just more pages to look at on a computer screen.

 

[Bullet Bob]

I'll miss Dave Anderson's column and articles quite a bit, since I'm not chasing the digital dragon.

 

[Agarbers]

If you watch the podcast, they are not retiring to Bermuda with a stack of cash. They have been struggling to stay afloat for years. It was either go digital or close the doors permanently. People are loosing their jobs as it is. It used to be 40 people were on staff. The last few years it been 10 or less. Paper costs 400% more than it did a few years ago. Keep in mind publications with advertising can’t use USPS media rate so shipping has gone way up and is going up again for the Holidays.

It used to mean something to write for a print magazine but now advertisers want to reach more than print subscribers. If I write a gun review, it’s in a magazine for a month and then most go in the trash. If the review is online, it’s there until the website is taken down, which could be decades later. Which gets more views?
Where does it go from here? I have no idea. I’m still struggling to find my compass. When I got the news, it was devastating. I have thousands invested in books for researching specific guns. I have made trips to photograph guns that I want to write about. I have written articles that most likely will never get published.
I have been a writer for other publications since 1987. Most are gone. Some kept dropping the pay as times got tough until they finally said it was the end. I wrote for a website that required I find my own sponsors to get paid. One magazine gave me impossible deadlines that required an extreme amount of research into deer and turkey trending each year. If I counted all my hours, I was getting less than $5 an hour. When I was offered a position at FMG, it was a breath of fresh air and it kills me to think it might be ending.

 

[WVCOLT]

Used to subscribe to American Handgunner and Guns & Ammo. Now I only get my NRA magazine as Life Member.

Me as well. 👍👍

 

[mkk41]

From what Roy said, most likely not coming back, which is frustrating.

😞 Reckon I got a lot of re-reading material!

 

[COKid]

This is very sad news. I don't subscribe to either but I check my grocery store magazine rack and frequently buy issues that focus on guns I like.

My only subscription anymore is to True West and they've reduced the number of issues per year they send out. I really hope they don't follow suit. I really enjoy going through my "collection" and re-reading articles on a rainy day

 

[mkk41]

This is very sad news. I don't subscribe to either but I check my grocery store magazine rack and frequently buy issues that focus on guns I like.

I subscribed to GUNS, but usually found the special editions at my local market magazine rack. But a year or two ago they stopped carrying any guns/shooting material.
And I really think people in the USPS pipeline are throwing gun related periodicals, especially NRA mags in the dumpster! 🤨

 

[Ugly Hombre]

Well this is sad.. soon no one will remember the fun of picking up a good informative fun magazine at the market or book store or getting one in the mail.. Take a magazine on a plane ride a bus ride etc. To places and in ways that you could never take a compuker.. How much fun it was to get a "guns of the old west" and talk about it here on C.F. Sheeeit.

Just remember when they turn the compukers off- we will be back to the stone age in about a week..

Or in my case a week end.. lol

 

[mkk41]

Well this is sad.. soon no one will remember the fun of picking up a good informative fun magazine at the market or book store or getting one in the mail.. Take a magazine on a plane ride a bus ride etc.

Take/read a gun or shooting magazine on a bus or plane today and you'll end up in handcuffs!!!

 

[Ugly Hombre]

Yep, & one of the stupidest things in the compuker world going to a gun site and seeing "are you 18" wat a crop of you know what- Its a totally bonkers world these days- where I live I run into a lot of young GI's and I always tell them wacky stories if they want to hear them- about the fun in the military and good old days about that time in Taipei etc.. its astounding to them them lol they always say..

dang wish we were in back then!.. and get a wistful look about them ha ha!

Well we got our memories.. can't take that away,😄

 

[ooSilver]

I subscribed to GUNS, but usually found the special editions at my local market magazine rack. But a year or two ago they stopped carrying any guns/shooting material.
And I really think people in the USPS pipeline are throwing gun related periodicals, especially NRA mags in the dumpster! 🤨

The Rampant Colt magazine is now sent in a grey cover. Used to have a white envelope with the Colt logo. I had trouble receiving my copies and suspect the USPS workers either took them or threw them out. Sad state of attains. bill
.

 

[inspcalahan]

Used to subscribe to American Handgunner and Guns & Ammo. Now I only get my NRA magazine as Life Member.

Of the two offerings, I'd rather lose the NRA magazines. We get all four versions due to four Life Members in the house at one time. They are all four basically the same with about three articles in each that are specific to the focus. I get the why, it just makes for a quick scan through each for the "meat".

American Handgunner and Guns have been the premier firearms related magazines for decades.

 

[inspcalahan]

Like others have said, I spend a lot of time at work looking at screens. I find myself tiring faster of even using my laptop at home to surf gun forums and such. I ALWAYS enjoy holding a good magazine or book in hand, whether it be on the deck with a bourbon or on the crapper.

Being a book lover since childhood, I've amassed a pretty good library and now wonder, is it worth anything to anyone else but me? The thought of taking out all the shelves, scrapping the pages and installing a big flat screen in their place is appalling. Don't get me wrong, I've also got the 80" flat screen to enjoy the movies with and the handy little Mac laptop for all things internet (can't stand much more than texting on my phone). There is something for the brain though, in holding a book, reading it, thinking on it and understanding, plus the pure enjoyment.

I've tried reading articles and other formats on the Guns, American Handgunner and other websites. Sure, it's there, just scrolling on down but the enjoyment is far lower and I predict I'll spend much less time online with them, more likely just drifting away to spend time doing other pursuits.


And for anyone wondering about their subscription fees, they legally have to refund any "unused" funds, as subscriptions are legally to be held in an escrow until they time out. Now, they just have to find a way for the many thousands of subscribers. I'm in no rush there and honestly, I would've paid a good bit more for a subscription, just to keep the print copies rolling.

 

[22_Matt]

I had just renewed my subscription for three years to get the "best deal" as stated on the form that was mail just a couple of months ago. Does one have to subscribe to view the digital version?
If this was already decided on earlier this year, then shame on them for still sending out renewal letters and forms if the end was coming anyway. I still had several issues coming before my subscription was due to renew. It's not the $36 or whatever small amount, but the feeling of being deceived that there was a renewal of product that in fact had already been decided to be discontinued. I understand the reasons given in the video, it's the world we live in today, but there should have been some sort of notification to the subscribers. A letter (there were no problem sending out renewal letters) or printed statement in the magazine, on the cover or as the first page, stating "This is your last issue" with an explanation. As an over 20-year subscriber, I should not have to find this out on the Colt Forum, that it was announced on a pod cast that I don't even watch. I do get e-mails from them, but they are only highlighted articles from the last issue. there was no e-mail stating that the magazine has ceased publication.

 

[MarkInTx]

Take/read a gun or shooting magazine on a bus or plane today and you'll end up in handcuffs!!!

A good friend was called for jury duty. He took his copy of Guns & Ammo to read while waiting in the jury pool.
His number was called in the first run. He didn't make it past the first cut and was dismissed.

 

[mkk41]

A good friend was called for jury duty. He took his copy of Guns & Ammo to read while waiting in the jury pool.
His number was called in the first run. He didn't make it past the first cut and was dismissed.

I was dismissed because of my hangman's noose tattoo!

 

[Bullet Bob]

"Being a book lover since childhood, I've amassed a pretty good library and now wonder, is it worth anything to anyone else but me?"

Good question. I've sold a couple of specialty firearm books this year that brought good money. I have a couple of others like the Don Wilkerson 2nd generation SAA's I should sell, but I have difficulty letting go of all sorts of things. I recently gave away about 80 pounds of gun magazines from the decades worth I have, didn't really make a dent in those piles. My poor son will have to rent a rollaway dumpster.

 

[m13link]

I have subscribed to both for many years. I like to sit in a chair and read. I have no interest in reading digital books or magazines on a computer. Hopefully I will get a refund on my subscription.

 

[dsk]

Back in the 1980s and 1990s I amassed a huge pile of gun rags that I read daily. When I married I threw them all out, and eventually regretted it. I managed to find copies of a few of my favorite issues on eBay, but that was it. Three Xerox boxes full of gun rags, all gone...

I amassed a lot of my gun knowledge in those days from the likes of Mas Ayoob, Jan Libourel, Mike Venturino, Chuck Taylor and Chuck Karwan. I even learned a thing or two about oddball guns from Robert T. Shimek. And those gorgeous centerfold pics in AH from Ichiro Nagata compelled me to sin at the gun store many times.

Sadly it is indeed the end of an era. I stopped buying gun rags a long time ago because they got thinner and were more full of advertisements than actual articles. I guess I'm part of the problem, but to be honest I lost interest in them when all the great gunwriters of old retired or passed away.