doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com SDH and Shooting Sportsman

I have subscribed to SSM since the first issue and would read it cover to cover for many years. For the last couple years I have not even opened the mailer when it arrives. I have another couple years on my subscription but will drop it when that time is up.

Same with DGJ. When you stop opening the magazine when it arrives it's time to drop your subscription.

Dennis

The only constant in life is change! Been building model airplanes for nearly 70 years. Loved the magazines as well. Now the dmd drones have taken over the mags and due to stupidity of the newcomers and their drones if my model weighs more than 8.8 oz I have to register with the FAA to legally fly. Now I fly a micro heli in the living room. And dropped the mags.

Had to check my files to see what I wrote for SSM: 22 articles from 1999-2006, which figures out close to an article in every other issue. I think I was more or less their blue collar gun specialist: 2 part article on Ithaca SKB's, one on Miroku doubles, 4 on the inexpensive American doubles (Hunter Fulton, Lefever Nitro, Win 24 etc). Plus an article on Faustis when they first started showing up in the States under their own name, one on the Browning Cynergy when it was new, etc. Not sure whether they'd run many articles like that today.

But I know and have hunted with a few of their regular writers: Tom Huggler, Tom Davis, Doug Tate. Good guys all. I still get the magazine, probably skip about as much as I read. But, as noted above, change is inevitable. A lot of us remember when the Big Three were all worth reading. Corey Ford, Ed Zern, Gene Hill, Ted Trueblood, Jack O'Connor . . . lots of good stuff. But, when you stop to think about it, there are way more "niche" magazines of potential interest to us than there were back in the heyday of The Big Three: In addition to SSM, Double Gun Journal, Gun Dog, Pointing Dog Journal, Retriever Journal, Sporting Classics. And a lot more meat about guns and bird hunting in the Ruffed Grouse Society and Pheasants Forever mags than used to be the case. If you're into shotguns/bird hunting/dogs, you've got more content in a single issue of many of the above mags than you would have had in all of the Big Three put together. It's almost an embarrassment of riches . . . which is why, I think, it can be easy to get burned out on the mags after awhile. Not to mention this and other BB's that deal with the same subjects. It's like being able to shop all the doublegun dealers' websites with a click of your computer instead of having to wait for Gun List to come in the mail.

Given that these aren't great times for print publications period, we're probably darned lucky we have so much available--both in print and on the Net.

Roster is the worst. I won't even look at his column. And they should knock off the fashion spreads.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the glossy upland lifestyle magazine, Covey Rise. Comments?

This is what counts as success to the management of the magazine. Full page ads mean big dollars. But that revenue is not redistributed to the writers or staff. Much of the newer staff doesn't hunt or even own guns. The entire scene has changed and there is no loyalty to anyone, especially the readers.
That's taking care of business, but not my business. It's as if the editorial dept merged with the advertising dept. Those full page ads are now considered part of the content.

Uber Gay. Just my opinion. Can�t stand the bourbon, wine and steak articles, the gun articles are weak and the stories about the pay to play hunting are silly. I think the last one I flipped through had an article/essay with pics showing the �new� generation of hunters....bearded, fully sleeved, neck tats, pipe smoking, flat cap wearing snowflake metrosexuals carrying double guns ruff grouse hunting. I was belly laughing.

There is not a single hobby based magazine that I have been interested in that has not degraded over the years. I haven't subscribed to any US based mag in decades now. For a while the only subs I had were Brit things and now those are just down to the motorcycle mags and one bike mag. They still have a sense of humor. Everything here seems to have become slick, slim, advert loaded, and worst of all - repetitive to the point of absurd.

Not much lost to tell the truth. And it's all better faster free on the web.

The only hobby-mag I can think of off the top of my head would be Car & Driver. Still a lot of cheeky irreverence in their pages, and not too much bowing to the industry gods. Motor Trend has always seemed like an industry rag, and Road & Track lost its way a long time ago. Mags like Automobile, AutoWeek, etc., have had their moments but the focus on the industry rather than the cars has never excited me.

Isn't Uber Gay a driving service in SF & Manhattan?

OWD