Old Boggy Posted October 28 Report Share Posted October 28 I was in W.H.Smith`s this afternoon and happened to pick up the latest copy of Sporting Gun. It did seem decidedly thinner than when I used to regularly get a copy, so had a quick flip through to see if there was anything of interest worth buying it for. I decided against it and then looked at the price ............ £6.99. Do people still buy these magazines at that price. I just couldn`t justify spending that sort of money. I gave up getting Shooting Times many years ago when the likes of John Humphreys, Colin Willock, Fred.J.Taylor, Gough Thomas etc were no longer around as regular contributors. OB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TIGHTCHOKE Posted October 28 Report Share Posted October 28 I gave up reading Sporting Gun years ago when i realised they re hashed the content with new pictures. The Editor, Robin Scott didn't like being told that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vince Green Posted October 28 Report Share Posted October 28 The trouble is that more than half the advertisers from a few years back have gone now and those that are left don't see enough return on the cost of advertising to justify a big spread. So sales go down and it becomes a viscious spiral Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruno22rf Posted October 28 Report Share Posted October 28 Colin Willock, now there's a blast from the past, brilliant writer and real lover of country sports. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marsh man Posted October 28 Report Share Posted October 28 Evening Chris ... Yesterday I popped into Waitrose and happened to look at the ( posh ) sporting mags , the first one was the Field sports this was a cool £12.95 , I also looked at the The Field and the Gundog mag , I am pretty sure they were all roughly the same price , no wonder they are only monthly , MM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve_b_wales Posted October 28 Report Share Posted October 28 30 minutes ago, Old Boggy said: I was in W.H.Smith`s this afternoon and happened to pick up the latest copy of Sporting Gun. It did seem decidedly thinner than when I used to regularly get a copy, so had a quick flip through to see if there was anything of interest worth buying it for. I decided against it and then looked at the price ............ £6.99. Do people still buy these magazines at that price. I just couldn`t justify spending that sort of money. I gave up getting Shooting Times many years ago when the likes of John Humphreys, Colin Willock, Fred.J.Taylor, Gough Thomas etc were no longer around as regular contributors. OB I used to subscribe to Sporting Gun, Shooting Sports, GunMart and Rifle Shooter. Shooting Sports was the first to go, followed by Sporting Gun (too many adverts and I was not interested in the gun dog section. I only have Gunmart (much thinner now) and Rifle Shooter. The last few issues of Gunmart had 30+ pages of air rifles and accessories, which I wasn't happy about. If it keeps going that way, then cancellation will follow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigbob Posted October 28 Report Share Posted October 28 40 minutes ago, steve_b_wales said: I used to subscribe to Sporting Gun, Shooting Sports, GunMart and Rifle Shooter. Shooting Sports was the first to go, followed by Sporting Gun (too many adverts and I was not interested in the gun dog section. I only have Gunmart (much thinner now) and Rifle Shooter. The last few issues of Gunmart had 30+ pages of air rifles and accessories, which I wasn't happy about. If it keeps going that way, then cancellation will follow. Same here used to get the lot but they just repeat themselves every year , The last one was the countrymans weekly got it for years and years from when it first came out them they changed the format and went all shows i got banned off a site for moaning about the changes next thing it went under if only they had listened to the complaints .The best one was Earth dog Running dog it closed as well when David harcombe gave it up and dind pass it over to somebody But 2 xmas ago my son got me a box of 1950sand 60s Mags and they make better reading than any of todays Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aled Posted October 28 Report Share Posted October 28 (edited) Used to buy a lot more than i do nowadays! Always buy the Field, and Trout and Salmon, I usually get the Christmas Shooting Times, and that's it. Used to buy all sorts of field sport mags to read, but not any more. Edited October 29 by Aled Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Westley Posted October 28 Report Share Posted October 28 They must still be doing well out of them, the Editors and friends shoot at Water Priory every year ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hushpower Posted October 28 Report Share Posted October 28 Sporting gun was the tops but they put shiny gloss on the sheets so stopped buying. Do browse in supermarkets the ads section & vacancys. Use to buy good deals for 6 months at game fairs on mags but thats gone. The hey day for ST of which i had it weekly was when colin willock was on board and it was wagbi the good old days but things move on alas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
London Best Posted October 28 Report Share Posted October 28 I gave up reading Sporting Gun after the first time somebody let me read his! I used to enjoy Shooting Times back in the 1960’s. Colin Willock was a brilliant writer but a master of BS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miserableolgit Posted October 28 Report Share Posted October 28 I subbed to ST for years, no decades, with only one or two short breaks so the old contributors like Denys James Watkins-Pitchford, John Humphreys, Colin Willock Gough Thomas, Geoffrey Boothroyd, Archie Coates and to a lesser extent Arthur Oglesby etc are very familiar. The lofts in our houses groaned with back copies which I would invariably have to bin whenever we sold and moved - keeping back the specials and Christmas numbers but even they got cleared out from time to time. I occasionally left copies in my sympathetic GP's and dentist waiting rooms but that changed when I had to move practices after which I would pass on last weeks copies to our pigeon shooting postie. But I increasingly got fed up with the repeated and weaker content so finally cancelled it [as I had done Sporting Gun & Countryman's Weekly a long time before] and subbed to the online Scribehound instead. I still have some Christmas, Gamefair and other seasonal / special issues and a small pile of original 1940's editions but the days of huge piles of my old copies are gone - for now at least. I also subscribed to the full colour 'Gundog' magazine but eventually cancelled that too. So now it's just Scribehound, so far so good although like ST the fishing content does not interest me to any great extent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marsh man Posted October 28 Report Share Posted October 28 6 minutes ago, London Best said: I gave up reading Sporting Gun after the first time somebody let me read his! I used to enjoy Shooting Times back in the 1960’s. Colin Willock was a brilliant writer but a master of BS. I ordered mine from the paper shop when I first left school and started work at the sum of 1s/6d , the front cover was Black and White and some of the writers were Pat Cringle , Archie Coates , Alan Savory , Peter Moxon , John Humphries , then there was the chap who wrote about guns every week ( Boothroyd or Gough ? ) , I had bought a cheap Belgium gun and I sent him a letter asking about the proof marks , he kindly sent me a letter back with all the details . I also liked the section every week about the wildfowling clubs that were springing up in the 60s and this of course was W A G B I Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sitsinhedges Posted October 28 Report Share Posted October 28 You can find out all you want online now with youtube and forums for free. Why would you buy a magazine any more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
London Best Posted October 29 Report Share Posted October 29 10 hours ago, sitsinhedges said: You can find out all you want online now with youtube and forums for free. Why would you buy a magazine any more. Beat me to it (I was in bed) I was going to post ‘Pigeon Watch is the new ‘Shooting Times’. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
30-6 Posted October 29 Report Share Posted October 29 Agree with all mentioned above, but the mags are just like any other businesses in a hard commercial world. Stories repeated from years ago, same pictures used over and over. Rifle Shooter gone bi-monthly but same content as a one month mag , and price increase. One thing that does bug me is the continuous mention of what brand kit they are using, once would be enough but they repeat every other sentence. But saying that if someone loaned me a 4k pair of binoculars I'd plug it for them as well. I do like keeping up with new ammo / rifle announcements though. If they all folded, I guess we would be the first to moan though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.