Guns Of The Old West Magazine

[Travlin]

In case any of you are interested or subscribers, as I hadn't gotten my spring issue yet I made a phone call and was told that the publishers or doing no more of any of their several magazines including Guns Of The Old West. Further investigation on the web showed me that the company was sold but not mentioned to whom. I have three issues coming to me and I will be checking as to whether this is mail fraud. I have been getting this rag since 2005 so it will be missed.Maybe the new owners will get back at it .

[ditchparrot]

Highly unlikely that it'll be coming back. It's incredibly difficult to make a profit -- or break even -- in print media here in 2024. We'll see a bunch of print publications of all genres go by the wayside in the next few years. Those who are under 50 may see all of them go in their lifetime.

I work in digital media, but when I read for my own enjoyment, I still prefer the words to be in ink on paper. The current situation saddens me, but it's reality and it's only going to continue to evolve in the direction it's going.

[BrokenolMarine]

I keep getting offers for subscriptions to all my old print favorites for as little as ten to fifteen dollars a year. I have been an American Handgunner subscriber since the first issue. I keep at least three or four years ahead on that one. Guns, Guns and Ammo, Shooting Times, Shooting Illustrated... All year to year. The non-shooting mags I used to subscribe to have fallen by the wayside. The content quality became more and more slanted and biased. Even Miss T noticed.

We just let those lapse and now get cards and emails on a regular basis begging us to renew.

[daytime dave]

It sounds like an interesting magazine. Too bad if it's gone.

[markiver54]

American Handgunner is the only one I subscribe to.

[dave77]

Highly unlikely that it'll be coming back. It's incredibly difficult to make a profit -- or break even -- in print media here in 2024. We'll see a bunch of print publications of all genres go by the wayside in the next few years. Those who are under 50 may see all of them go in their lifetime.

I work in digital media, but when I read for my own enjoyment, I still prefer the words to be in ink on paper. The current situation saddens me, but it's reality and it's only going to continue to evolve in the direction it's going.

I'm seeing that in our local newspaper too. Used to be published 6 days a week and they've gone down to 3 days a week over the last few years, also has become considerably smaller. They've even gotten rid of paperboy deliveries, I guess it's cheaper to have it delivered by USPS.

I don't know their circulation numbers, our town is growing but there seems to be a lot less advertising in it. I keep getting it for local news, they do offer a digital version for half the price but I do like reading a printed newspaper.

[ditchparrot]

I'm seeing that in our local newspaper too. Used to be published 6 days a week and they've gone down to 3 days a week over the last few years, also has become considerably smaller. They've even gotten rid of paperboy deliveries, I guess it's cheaper to have it delivered by USPS.

I don't know their circulation numbers, our town is growing but there seems to be a lot less advertising in it. I keep getting it for local news, they do offer a digital version for half the price but I do like reading a printed newspaper.

Yep, I spent the first 18 years of my career on the newspaper side and got out just about the time that the decline really began in earnest. I still have some friends in that biz -- conditions are difficult and getting worse all the time.

[ditchparrot]

American Handgunner is the only one I subscribe to.

I'm not a subscriber, but enjoy the Wheelgun Wednesday newsletter every week.

Other than American Rifleman (which, of course, comes with NRA membership), the only magazine I get is Gun Digest. I got a stupid-good deal on that -- like $8 for the year or something like that.

[fortyshooter]

Well dang it! I liked that magazine and sad to see it go. Went thru this before when many of my high performance car magazines went out of print.
I have a ton of the old car mags back to the 60's and the issues of the Guns of the Old West that I purchased over the years.

I have lived thru the best of years and all I see ahead is misery!

[BrokenolMarine]

I had saved every issue of American Handgunner, from the very first. I had all my NRA mags saved from back in the 70s to 2020, plus all the others from over the years. Bored, I'd go back and find articles on guns I own, or had owned, or get a kick out of the things we used to do.

When we made the move from VA to OK, I had to let go... A friend, with lots of space, took all those boxes of shooting magazines. The small town local library took some of the others, a decade or two of NatGeo, the dump got the rest. We had too much stuff to move, and two uhauls were hard pressed to move it. I miss having the hard copies to thumb through.