Digital Precision Shooting Magazine

[Bob3700]

Maybe this has been posted before, here is a link to the digital archive of Precision Shooting Magazine.

Internet Archive: Digital Library of Free & Borrowable Texts, Movies, Music & Wayback Machine

archive.org

If you have never read any of the issues, it goes back a whole bunch of years when some really talented folks figured out a lot of what we know/do today to develop accurate rifles and ammunition. This archive is not totally complete as the magazine was published up until 2006. If you want some very informative reading, read the volumes in the late 80's. Articles by Merrill Martin and Gaza Negy along with a host of others really worked out the practices we use today.

I hope that the archivist can gather the issues now scanned yet and make the set complete. All those volumes on a DVD would be priceless information that should not be lost in time.

Bob

 

[Bob3700]

Maybe this has been posted before, here is a link to the digital archive of Precision Shooting Magazine.

Internet Archive: Digital Library of Free & Borrowable Texts, Movies, Music & Wayback Machine

archive.org

If you have never read any of the issues, it goes back a whole bunch of years when some really talented folks figured out a lot of what we know/do today to develop accurate rifles and ammunition. This archive is not totally complete as the magazine was published up until 2006. If you want some very informative reading, read the volumes in the late 80's. Articles by Merrill Martin and Gaza Negy along with a host of others really worked out the practices we use today.

I hope that the archivist can gather the issues now scanned yet and make the set complete. All those volumes on a DVD would be priceless information that should not be lost in time.

Bob

Anyone have a full series of PS from the beginning? I started in 1988.

 

[StuRedman]

Thanks for posting this. I am the one scanning and archiving the magazine. It is very much a work in progress with the end goal being to get the complete run of the magazine. Other users here have been very generous in loaning me issues. If anybody has any please let me know!

 

[Rick in Oregon]

Anyone have a full series of PS from the beginning? I started in 1988.

I had about 20 years worth, a huge pile of magazines. They were read and re-read, and after a while it got too much to store. I listed a "give away" here, got zero interest and it really made me sad to dump them in the recycle bin. Almost broke my heart, but it all just had to go....somewhere.

Precision Shooting, Small Caliber News, and The Varmint Hunter Magazine all gone now, and sorely missed. Still have all the SCM mags, along with all the VHM's.

 

[Kiwishooter]

I had about 20 years worth, a huge pile of magazines. They were read and re-read, and after a while it got too much to store. I listed a "give away" here, got zero interest and it really made me sad to dump them in the recycle bin. Almost broke my heart, but it all just had to go....somewhere.

Precision Shooting, Small Caliber News, and The Varmint Hunter Magazine all gone now, and sorely missed. Still have all the SCM mags, along with all the VHM's.

Rick it would be great to get SCN and VHM all scanned as well, another I'd like to see scanned would be Shooters News there were some very interesting articles in there also.

 

[Bob3700]

Shooter's News was an attempted spin off by John Gamutto who had left Precision Shooting Magazine.

I guess there was a difference of opinion between Gamutto and Brennen, so Gamutto left PS.

Next thing u know, Shooter's News appeared with Gamutto as the editor. It didn't last very long. I would imagine it was difficult to get the authors that contributed to PS to either write extra articles for Shooter's News or jump ship entirely. Getting the experienced experimenters or successful shooters to contribute articles was getting harder n more difficult to find, even for PS.

In the end, the last issues of PS left a lot to be desired. Gone were the really meaty articles that the magazine had been known for.

It has gotten to the point that I don't even subscribe to any of the current gun magazines.

 

[StuRedman]

Rick it would be great to get SCN and VHM all scanned as well, another I'd like to see scanned would be Shooters News there were some very interesting articles in there also.

The plan is to digitize Varmint Hunter after I finish Precision Shooting, which may take a couple years. One interesting observation in going through some of the older issues of PS is that "gun-friendly" California actually used to be somewhat of a hotspot for the shooting sports. Hard to fathom now. I do update the archive weekly, and there is no rhyme or reason to the order in which I scan the magazines, other than that is what somebody has loaned me at a given moment, and I work on my own issues in between. Again, big thanks to those who have contributed!

 

[WSnyder]

Thanks for posting this. I am the one scanning and archiving the magazine. It is very much a work in progress with the end goal being to get the complete run of the magazine. Other users here have been very generous in loaning me issues. If anybody has any please let me know!

I got rid of all my PS magazines long ago but I believe I have all of the Tactical Shooter issues. It didn't live long, maybe a year or two? The first couple of months were out of order or skipped a month. Something with a publishing screw up or such I remember Brennan explaining.

Shooter's News appeared with Gamutto as the editor. It didn't last very long.

Yeah he turned out to be a bit of a con. Got quite a few people including myself to re-up/donate with his sob story about trying to keep it running. That might have been the goal but it didn't take him very long to grab the cash and run off with it

 

[Doug Beach]

The plan is to digitize Varmint Hunter after I finish Precision Shooting, which may take a couple years. One interesting observation in going through some of the older issues of PS is that "gun-friendly" California actually used to be somewhat of a hotspot for the shooting sports. Hard to fathom now. I do update the archive weekly, and there is no rhyme or reason to the order in which I scan the magazines, other than that is what somebody has loaned me at a given moment, and I work on my own issues in between. Again, big thanks to those who have contributed!

Still lots of competition of various sorts in CA. I’ve got a busy range 17 miles from me, and another 65 miles away. Can shoot out to 1k at both. The state is only blue on the edges….

 

[Doug Beach]

I would love to see a complete digital version of PS. I subscribed from 91 or 92 until the end. Other than one copy with my picture in it, they’re all long gone.

 

[Kiwishooter]

The plan is to digitize Varmint Hunter after I finish Precision Shooting, which may take a couple years. One interesting observation in going through some of the older issues of PS is that "gun-friendly" California actually used to be somewhat of a hotspot for the shooting sports. Hard to fathom now. I do update the archive weekly, and there is no rhyme or reason to the order in which I scan the magazines, other than that is what somebody has loaned me at a given moment, and I work on my own issues in between. Again, big thanks to those who have contributed!

Thanks Stu for taking on this project it is very much appreciated.
There are some collections of PS on Ebay at the moment, full years with the binder that was sold to hold each year.
Precision Shooting was the reason I got into Benchrest, reading about all those rifles and small groups made me want to participate. The old PS magazines are still very interesting reading.

There was Precision Shooting, Tactical Shooter and Accurate Rifle that Dave Brennan was the editor of.
Tactical Shooter and Accurate Rifle weren't around long
The first issue of Shooters News was February 1995 and it finished sometime after Y2K (I think)
I learnt about the Hensler measure in Shooters News.

 

[C.E.Smith043]

Tag

 

[Uthink Uknow]

I got rid of all my PS magazines long ago but I believe I have all of the Tactical Shooter issues. It didn't live long, maybe a year or two? The first couple of months were out of order or skipped a month. Something with a publishing screw up or such I remember Brennan explaining.

Yeah he turned out to be a bit of a con. Got quite a few people including myself to re-up/donate with his sob story about trying to keep it running. That might have been the goal but it didn't take him very long to grab the cash and run off with it

He, John Gamutto, turned out to be a bit of a con artist is right on point. He was getting excellent articles for his magazine until they found he wasn’t going to pay them as he said he would. He had several article on coated and coating bullets from Dick Wright and Kincaid whose first name escapes me. Kincaid was the fellow who marketed Danzak coating for bullets. When he lost the rebelling writers, he lost the magazines.
He was living in Marshallville, Ohio until he moved to Philadelphia, Pa.

 

[Richard Jones]

^^^ He paid me. But yeah, he was slick.

 

[dave@aDave]

Dick Wright wrote an article in Precision Shooting Magazine about traveling with Bart Sauter to a match down South.
Very entertaining story.

 

[StuRedman]

Dick Wright wrote an article in Precision Shooting Magazine about traveling with Bart Sauter to a match down South.
Very entertaining story.

Any idea which issue?

 

[FNSafari]

The sister publication Accurate Rifle was as good or better than PS

 

[WSnyder]

The sister publication Accurate Rifle was as good or better than PS

It was pretty good. AR became AR after Tactical Shooter kind of ran its course and Brennan switched up TS re-naming it Accurate Rifle and tweaking the content.

 

[21PHX]

Any idea which issue?

It would have been in one printed in 2001-2003 range. Bart brought Dick to the Shamrock in Dublin, Georgia at least once. Bart called Dick ‘my pet yankee’. Dick kinda liked it.

 

[StuRedman]

It was pretty good. AR became AR after Tactical Shooter kind of ran its course and Brennan switched up TS re-naming it Accurate Rifle and tweaking the content.

I will be scanning in TS/AR as part of this project too. I have most of the issues and will eventually get to them. Some years of PS had extra "Special Edition" issues published. I am going to try and track all of those down as well. All good reading, and the old advertisements are just as rich as the articles!