GUN TESTS . . . . .

Ruger Rich · Jan 16, 2018

For the last couple of years I've received many requests to subscribe to "GUN TESTS". I'm drawing upon the collective experience here to pass on any positive or negative comments about this publication. Did you find it worthwhile? Was it a bust for you?

Alexx1401 · Jan 16, 2018

Ruger Rich said:
For the last couple of years I've received many requests to subscribe to "GUN TESTS". I'm drawing upon the collective experience here to pass on any positive or negative comments about this publication. Did you find it worthwhile? Was it a bust for you?

Bust for me but that was decades ago. Had no idea they were still with us so things may have changed. I tried them a couple or three times. The "idea" was great. No paid advertising so "honest" testing. Well it turned out to be nothing even close. They would buy one gun, test it, and if it worked pronounce the entire line as "buy". If the one they got had problems they would say the entire line of them was "don't buy". This is insane. The last one I read that was the end of me was the Mossy 500. They were doing a "test" of defense shotguns. Took an 870, a 500, and a 1300 IIRC. The bottom line was the 500 they got had feed issues so they said don't buy. Even back then there had to be 100's of thousands of these floating around with owners who loved them. Now as I said it's been at least 20 years, maybe more since I saw the thing. They may well have come up with a better way to do things now.

Kruel J · Jan 16, 2018

Never heard of it.

Alexx1401 · Jan 16, 2018

Kruejl said:
Never heard of it.

Just took a quick look and it is still put out. I had not seen one in so long I thought they had gone by the wayside. $24 a year. Taking a quick look it appears it's still the same idea. The idea sounds good, like Consumer Reports. It's just that to do it right would take a lot of money. They never could afford to spend the kind of capital it would take to make it really work.

41mag · Jan 16, 2018

the only paper based gun rag I read even now & then is "American Rifleman"

Can't seem to keep up with the video tests etc.

Koda · Jan 16, 2018

the best way to get an honest unbiased gun review is to ask on a forum like this one....

all other reviews are paid for sponsors...

Flopsweat · Jan 16, 2018

Koda said:
the best way to get an honest unbiased gun review is to ask on a forum like this one....

all other reviews are paid for sponsors...

That or buy the damn thing and try it yourself.

EPS · Jan 16, 2018

41mag said:
the only paper based gun rag I read even now & then is "American Rifleman"

Can't seem to keep up with the video tests etc.

Yep because I get it with my NRA MEMBER SHIP

EPS · Jan 16, 2018

Flopsweat said:
That or buy the damn thing and try it yourself.

You don't even have to buy the gun these days like he said sites like this can connect you with other people to try different guns or you can go to different shooting range and rent GUNS

Koda · Jan 16, 2018

41mag said:
Can't seem to keep up with the video tests etc.

yeah, youtube has become pretty saturated with gun tests and reviews... especially caliber comparisons. There is no end to the videos there. I dont see a need to pay for a subscription to a sponsored magazine....

albin25 · Jan 16, 2018

Now hold on a gol-dern minute here....
.... you say they're still printing magazines??

Ya RIIIIGHT

.... Next thing you're gonna try and tell me is they get mailed to your home. :s0140:

Flopsweat · Jan 17, 2018

EPS said:
You don't even have to buy the gun these days like he said sites like this can connect you with other people to try different guns or you can go to different shooting range and rent GUNS

Maybe they can tell me how much I'm going to enjoy it before I sell it. Then I never have to leave the house!

But seriously, yeah it does help me decide but I still don't usually know if it's a keeper until I've shot it a few times. And cleaned it.

HuckFin · Jan 27, 2018

I have been subscribing to gun test magazine since the middle 90's I trust their tests to be honest. A lot of times I don't like their side by side comparisons because as an example they may compare a 3" barrel of one manufacture to say a 6" barrel from another revolver manufacture but I don't plan on ending my subscription anytime soon

Ruger Rich · Jan 27, 2018

HuckFin said:
I have been subscribing to gun test magazine since the middle 90's I trust their tests to be honest. A lot of times I don't like their side by side comparisons because as an example they may compare a 3" barrel of one manufacture to say a 6" barrel from another revolver manufacture but I don't plan on ending my subscription anytime soon

Thank you for your feedback, this is what I was looking for

CountryGent · Jan 28, 2018

I remember reading this publication back in the day. I'm at least mildly surprised it is still around. I have to agree with @Alexx1401's assessment: good idea, but poorly executed. With the proliferation of gun-related media on the web, as well as the ability to interact with other shooters on boards like this, I don't know that it is all that relevant anymore anyway.