Precision Shooter magazine

[MarTay6]

I just purchased a boxload of Precision Shooter magazine back issues from a member here- killer deal- a medium USPS flat rate priority box full- for $20.... boy, the post office lost money on this flat rate box!! It was totally packed full.
I'm only now starting to look through my box of treasures- but I can say- Wow... it's sure too bad this magazine is no longer being published... a gold mine for those interested in precision/target shooting. Which would be me. The only reason I missed out on the magazine is because I got out of shooting in the mid-'70's, and only got back into it this last year.
Sure am glad I got these! And sure do wish it was still in print- I'd have a subscription so fast.....
I know, digital media is taking over for print mags.
I still love my magazines! ;D
Wes

 

[madderg]

It was a great magazine, i still re-read them all the time. I too wish something like that was around again.

 

[mgx1138]

Yes. Excellent magazine (mostly). Sorry they are gone. It would surely seem that there is a market for a high-end magazine catering to the Precision Firearms... both piston and rifle. I know nothing about that business, but you'd think someone could make a go of it?

 

[4xforfun]

Yep....it was a favorite of mine....BUT...they seemed to have lost their way over the years. There used to be lots of accuracy articles on BR/LRBR custom guns and the smiths. Seems like toward the end it was geared towards less accuracy stuff and more to where are they buried now kind of things..the life and times of so-n-so. This, in a time where factory accuracy was booming....both the rifles and ammo. Lots of new factory target/varmint/LR hunting rifles were being offered to the public. It seems to me that, even considering the other gun rags writing their articles, it was a ripe environment for PS's brand of testing/writing.

Just my .02,

Tod

 

[Michael Courtney]

As someone who wrote a few PS articles near the end, I tend to agree. There were too many memory lane articles and not enough articles with testing and technical detail needed to improve shooting.

Part of the problem is that the testing involved in a good technical article is expensive, and the writers only got paid $200-$400. Now, if you're getting only $200-$400 to write an article, are you going to write an article that you can complete with internet research and personal experiences, or are you going to write an article that requires spending $800 on reloading components, new reloading tools, and require 2-3 trips to the range.

I think we average around $2400 investment and 3-4 shooting sessions for our articles for popular consumption (both Precision Shooting and more recent work).

 

[sscoyote]

I also wrote a bit for that mag over the years, and thought editor Dave Brennan was quite the interesting personality. At least he didn't over-edit much, something that's all too common in most of the 'rags.

Sure do miss it!

 

[CatShooter]

Yep....it was a favorite of mine....BUT...they seemed to have lost their way over the years. There used to be lots of accuracy articles on BR/LRBR custom guns and the smiths. Seems like toward the end it was geared towards less accuracy stuff and more to where are they buried now kind of things..the life and times of so-n-so. This, in a time where factory accuracy was booming....both the rifles and ammo. Lots of new factory target/varmint/LR hunting rifles were being offered to the public. It seems to me that, even considering the other gun rags writing their articles, it was a ripe environment for PS's brand of testing/writing.

Just my .02,

Tod

I live near Dave Brennan, and would run into him at a local gun store from time to time - towards the end, he was very bitter. He was the "Editor", but he lacked much knowledge and really needed a technical editor to proof the articles.

Stuff was printed that was embarrassing. He tried to publish another magazine on Tactical rifles (another growing interest group), and it was awful - then he converted to a Long Range Shooting magazine for a few issues, and it died.

Towards the end, it was like he couldn't sell life boats on the Titanic.

Sometimes, people just run their course.

 

[Michael Courtney]

Dave Brennan was one of the finest editors I've ever worked with.

 

[82boy]

Precision shooting magazine was great, but I agree in its last years it suffered. The Benchrest Primer is a great book, I just whish they would make volume 2 to cover where it left off till the end. I know it is not Precision shooting but the NBRSA has a magazine out called Precision Rifleman, we can hope that in time it will get to be what PS was. You can read the magazine on line if you go to the NBRSA website, and go to members only tab, and go to the Precision rifleman online tab. http://nbrsa.org/

 

[xs hedspace]

Yes, Dave did little if any editing. I wrote three articles for PS and one for Accurate Rifle, but there were some technical goofs that Dave let go by, like MacPherson calling old 45-70 cases stamped SH as upside down High Speed. Nooo, Solid Head was the proper designation---45-70 is not a high speed cartridge. I was really sorry to see it go down the tubes. He did reject my idea for a build article of a 45-100 double rifle on a 12 ga Merkel action. He was afraid some idiot would use grandpa's damascus action, and I have come to see there are many idiots out there. $300/ article won't cover ammo costs for testing, for sure.

 

[butchlambert]

I have every magazine from 1992 till the demise and all the Tactical Shooter mag. How many articles can you write monthly for years about precision shooting?

 

[newgun]

To each his own. But the stories that were not about precision shooting I found to be refreshing. I really liked some of that American history. It gave me a look at people and their lives that I otherwise most likely would not have gotten. I see nothing like it out their. The other gun mags are the same stuff like one big promotion what b.s. every month Craig Boddington smiling net to some dead animal WOW.
I liked P.S.

 

[djtjr]

I hate to see any shooting mag go out but in the last few years it was tough to read. It was virtually nothing about precision anymore and more about getting a bit of accuracy out of an old rare gun that was never going to shoot great anyway and would be hard for any reader to find let alone shoot unless they were into obscure collictables. Try varmint hunter I think that's the best there for the purposes of most on this site.

 

[jscandale]

After a 10 year hiatus from my subscription to that rag, I decided to subscribe on last time to see if it got any better. 3 months into my subscription, they went belly up. I wonder it I'll ever get a prorated refund...... :-\

JS

 

[smoooth]

I agree with the Varmint Hunter Magazine suggestion, they have some very good articles dealing with accuracy, scopes, actions, reloading, etc. As with anything, some issues are better than others but overall far better than PS ever was. I had subscriptions to both and still have one.

Maybe some of the writers on here, and former PS writers, should submit articles to Varmint Hunter to steer some of the precision shooting crowd that direction. Quite honestly, a guy could copy and paste a years worth of articles from various threads on here (allowable use?). You may need waders to sort through the BS in some, but there is plenty of good solid info in most.

 

[fdshuster]

Some of the writers from "Precision Shooting" are writing for "Varmint Hunter".