Author Topic: Shotgun Sports magazine (Read 1474 times)

Questor · « **on:** February 12, 2008, 04:08:48 AM »

Considering the popularity of shotgunning it's hard to believe that the major shotgunning magazine in America has such low production values. It's also hard to find. My subscription just started and it seems like a good magazine. I'd expect that it would be more popular than it is.

Graybeard · « **Reply #1 on:** February 12, 2008, 05:34:23 AM »

It is grossly over priced as magazines go these days and you will shortly find out that it's not nearly as great as you thought it was. I admit tho it is better than the other major competitor in the shotgun magazine market place. But there is just not enough substance to it to justify such a high price for me.

Questor · « **Reply #2 on:** February 12, 2008, 05:45:51 AM »

You're probably right. I got a one year subscription just to try it out, but haven't sat down and read it yet. I just flipped through it a bit and opined that it's about as good as, say, guns and ammo.

Graybeard · « **Reply #3 on:** February 12, 2008, 07:02:32 AM »

Probably but then G&A costs about $10 a year and I think there are about 12 per year not six at $38 as I recall the price on Shotgun Sports running.

Questor · « **Reply #4 on:** February 12, 2008, 07:58:59 AM »

I paid $23 for it through Amazon.com, it's a much better deal than through some of their other vendors. That makes it $2 per issue, and I'll pay that.

rbwillnj · « **Reply #5 on:** February 12, 2008, 11:41:23 AM »

I did subscribe to Shotgun Sports for a year, but didn't renew. Although I'm more into Trap Shooting than a Sporting Clays, I have been subscribing to Sporting Clays Magazine and liked it well enough to renew. Better production values, and some pretty good articles. I subscribed to the ATA Trap and Field Magazine, but that's pretty much a waste of time unless you just have to know who won all the registered shoots. Maybe when my picture starts showing up on the cover I'll subscribe to it again.

I just sent in the post card to subscribe to another, I think new magazine, but I haven't received the first issue yet, and I can't remember the name.....but the ad looked interesting so I thought I would give it a try.

Graybeard · « **Reply #6 on:** February 12, 2008, 06:38:41 PM »

Quote from: Questor on February 12, 2008, 07:58:59 AM

I paid $23 for it through Amazon.com, it's a much better deal than through some of their other vendors. That makes it $2 per issue, and I'll pay that.

Are you sure about that price and number of issues Rudy? That would be a two year subscription at least as it's only six issues per year.

Questor · « **Reply #7 on:** February 13, 2008, 03:35:29 AM »

According to Amazon it is 12 issues, and the regular price is $42. This is supposed to be a one year sub. The magazine I just got says its the March edition, not March/April.

I think it's worth reading. I like the ads too. It's kind of a cross between a magazine and a folksy newsletter.

The other magazine I like is Shooting Sportsman, which is a beautifully illustrated magazine that shows ornate guns. I don't think it's worth subscribing though, it's too esoteric for my taste. It's also more about the guns rather than what you can do with the guns, and believe it or not I'm not very interested in guns themselves (but I like their applications.)

One thing I do remark on about the fancy guns in magazines like Shooting Sportsman is that I don't much care for them. I like to look at them but don't want any of them. I like the plainer field grade guns as long as the cosmetics are reasonably good.

Graybeard · « **Reply #8 on:** February 13, 2008, 04:33:03 AM »

OK I began to question if we were talking about the same magazine so I did a bit of looking and it seems we are NOT. Shooting Sportsman is the one I currently do subscribe to but will not again. Too much fluff about stuff I have no real interest in. I'm not sure I get one monthly but there are definitely more than six a year of it. It's a thick publication but is mostly dedicated to SxS shooters and folks with incomes of $250,000+ per year. I'm really neither.

I had the name confused with another better but much smaller magazine that comes out six times a year but I think they want $38 for those six issues. I like it better but that THAT much better. If I were a multibillionaire I'd definitely want Shooting Sportsman and I'd likely spend a few million a year buying from those ads in there but then I'm not even a millionair much less a multibillionaire so I really can't afford the guns in those ads.

The other rag the name of which escapes me now is primarily aimed at trap shooters with sporting clays being secondary a skeet shooters a very very distant third or maybe even fourth to hunters. If it was heavier on hunting and skeet I'd be tempted even at the high cost but I'm really not into trap these days and don't do much sporting clays shooting either.

Pardon my confusion over which rag we were talking about I actually am on my second but last subscription to the one you've bought.

rbwillnj · « **Reply #9 on:** February 14, 2008, 10:55:19 AM »

OK Questor, I'm confused. Is it Shotgun Sports that you like? If so, that was a good price. I paid $32 for a year. Never thought of looking on Amazon for magazine subscriptions. I'm still getting it, but I don't think I renewed. Not a lot of meat for $32 and they take up about 10 pages to sell their own over priced stuff.

Graybeard · « **Reply #10 on:** February 14, 2008, 11:37:27 AM »

Shotgun Sports is the one I "thought" he was talking about. I actually like it better than the other but it's just NOT worth the price you pay to get it.

Questor · « **Reply #11 on:** February 14, 2008, 11:51:30 AM »

The one I got at Amazon is "Shotgun Sports" magazine. I think it's worth a one year sub.

Graybeard · « **Reply #12 on:** February 14, 2008, 12:04:56 PM »

I'm confused again. I surrender. I have to hold the two in hand to remember which is which. The larger of the two is over twice the pages of the smaller comes out more often and costs less money but is aimed at the rich and super rich. The smaller of the two comes out less often as I recall six per year and costs more but to me is a better rag in spite of it all.

I just looked Shooting Sportsman is the thicker for the rich/super rich rag.

Unless something has changed since I last got it the other Shotgun Sports is maybe one third as many pages comes out six times a year and costs MORE not less than Shooting Sportsman but has more information and articles relevant to folks with incomes like most of us have.

If there is a third that I'm getting confused with those two names darned if I know what the name of it is. But CRS is alive and well around here and confusion is my normal state of mind.

rbwillnj · « **Reply #13 on:** February 14, 2008, 06:13:12 PM »

OK, we are beginning to sound like a couple of old guys...but I guess that's unavoidable. So anyway, Shotgun Sports is the only one I know that covers all the shotgun sports, but it is a skinny magazine with a lot of advertising and it costs more than most. It has an article on Trap maybe twice a year. But that said, if Amazon has it at a better price maybe I'll give it another try.

I think Shooting Sportsman might be the one I just sent in the post card for, but it was one of those get a free issue, cancel if you don't like it offers, so I'll see if I like it. I like pretty guns, even the ones I can't afford.

I still like Sporting Clays Magazine even though I only shoot sporting clays about once a month. Nice magazine, some good articles, good gun reviews.

Questor · « **Reply #14 on:** February 15, 2008, 04:20:18 AM »

Pay no attention to GB. He's obviously trying to get me so frustrated that I end up sending him each issue of Shotgun Sports that I get.

Graybeard · « **Reply #15 on:** February 15, 2008, 05:05:11 AM »

Shooting Sportsman is the one I get (remember I looked before that last post of mine but then I can walk into a room and forget why I did that)

you'll sure enough see a lot of beautiful SxS and O/U double guns in it that will make you wish you were a billionaire that's for sure.

Wal now Rudy I can't help it if I'm old and senile and can't remember the name of that rag from the time I see it in one room and walk into another. Some day you'll be old and feeble lak me.

One of these days I'll run across another ad for that one you're getting and try to refresh my memory of it but by the time I do I'll have long since forgotten we have this thread here.

rbwillnj · « **Reply #16 on:** February 26, 2008, 09:32:45 PM »

Well I got my first issue of Shooting Sportsman today, and I think I'll write cancel on the postcard and send it back. I though my Krieghoff was pricy, but the prices of the guns in that magazine make the price of my Krieghoff look like a Browning BPS in comparison. I don't think I'll be doing any dove hunts in Argentina in the near future either.

Graybeard · « **Reply #17 on:** February 26, 2008, 09:52:31 PM »

Told ya it was for the rich and super rich only.

Questor · « **Reply #18 on:** February 26, 2008, 10:07:00 PM »

I admire the guns shown in those magazines but really don't consider them functional guns. They're more like works of art. I wouldn't go wingshooting with a Rembrandt anymore than I'd go wingshooting with a high-end Fabri. Apparently enough of the people who own such guns don't like the idea of shooting those guns either because it's not at all unusual to find ads for guns 50 years old in 95% condition. Which means that they're basically new-in-box, but the condition of the box is used.

I'd really like to meet someone who has one of the fancy guns and actually shoots it and hunts with it. I bet he'd be fun to talk to.

About 10 years ago I thought I'd plan an Argentine wingshoot for my 50th birthday, but I decided against it because I don't want to just go someplace to shoot hundreds of birds for the sake of shooting hundreds of birds. The way they do it there seems too much like slaughter, so I refrain from it. I don't condemn anyone for wanting to do it, but it's just not for me.

rbwillnj · « **Reply #19 on:** February 27, 2008, 04:36:24 AM »

A Krieghoff can cost as much as a small car, but those guns cost as much as a small house. But, there are a lot of really really rich people out there and I bet there are plenty that shoot those really expensive guns. How else are they going to show them off. Now I'm not saying they climb any fences with them.

hillbill · « **Reply #20 on:** February 29, 2008, 03:46:30 PM »

i feel

hillbill · « **Reply #21 on:** February 29, 2008, 03:53:18 PM »

i feel sorry for those people really, to me a gun doesnt develop character till it has a few scuffs and scratches on it that i made.especially a shotgun for some reason. maybe cuz it is subjected to all the really rough work of provideing and protecting.trust the guns yu know!