The demise of Airgunner (and Airgun Shooter) magazines

[ccdjg]

For those of you who do not know already, the powers-that-be have decided to terminate publication of the Air Gunner magazine after the July issue. This after almost 40 years of continuous publication. The more recent Airgun Shooter magazine has also been dropped. This leaves Airgun World , as the only remaining British airgun magazine, with a monopoly on the genre. For us collectors, the saddest thing is that John Atkins will no longer be available to entertain and inform us from his vast knowledge and experience of all things airgun, always presented in his unique way.

What is the general opinion about the demise of the magazine? is it a symptom of a decline in our hobby, or is it something to be expected from advancing information technology?

It would interesting to know what the collecting fraternity on this forum think, as opposed to those who favor the other forums.

[POLO]

Hi

For me the saddest loss was 'Shooting Sports' magazine which encompassed Rifles, Guns and Airguns edited by Peter Moore. Also many years before 'Target Sports'.
Obviously not enough copies being sold will result in publication being withdrawn.

Ian

[Unframed Dave]

These decisions are driven by sales revenue. All the talking has been done.

Dave

[Muskett]

It is the story of magazines in general. This decline has being going on for decades now.
Most of the information can be had from other media outlets, and at no real cost. Subscriptions to down load magazines is pretty cheap and you can get them all.

When it comes to Shooting Magazines it is a pretty crowded market with a lot of overlapping articles. Read them for a few years and they do get very repetitive. Sure Shooting Sports is a big topic, but do they need quite so many magazines? A good few of the articles are all a bit light weight, and not saying much, nor adding anything that can't be found better on YTube or on a forum such as this.

I hope Airgun World succeeds. It could get a bit bigger and get a bit more detail into its content. I do think it is still important that there is a dedicated Air Rifle Magazine on the shelves if only to catch the eye of those who could be potential new members to the sports.

[Abasmajor]

With magazines costing around £6 per copy these days it’s probably not surprising that some turn to cheaper mediums to indulge their interests.
Given the requirement for air gun magazines to cover all the various disciplines and interests within the sport, the depth of cover must also necessarily be limited given the copy restrictions. Personally I buy these magazines purely for the collector and technical features and as there seems to be a higher coverage to hunting these days, the cost is hard to justify.
Of course it goes without saying that we shall miss the John Atkins content which has provided us with a tremendous library of information and detailed information over the years.
The only thing we might hope for is that after a well earned rest he may have more time to possibly publish a book or two based on the wealth of knowledge and experience he undoubtedly possesses.

Brian

[Garvin]

A vintage airgun world without John Atkins producing his beautifully illustrated articles every month is far poorer than it has been for decades. I have offered him a slot in the gallery' pages whenever he wants it, regularly or occasionally, but I suppose that depends on whatever else he's got cooking.

If more people were willing to sign up to give the gallery US$1 a month (Paypal is denominated in dollars) in donations, I would happily make Mr Atkins an offer he couldn't refuse.

[Geezer]

It’s a shame, but, as others have said, that is where print has been going for many years.

As for John Atkins, he would be well-advised to post on Substack or have a Patreon-supported account on YouTube.

[ali d]

When you have been buying the magazines for years they do get repetitive, the 80s magazines had plenty of content as opposed to advertising and they have got better in recent years . I get bought one on birthdays and Christmas but everything you need to find is on line nowadays. I would not subscribe on a monthly basis so there is probably your answer.

[Garvin]

As for John Atkins, he would be well-advised to post on Substack or have a Patreon-supported account on YouTube.

He's retired and old school when it comes to the internet. So let's make it easy for him...

[micky2]

I think this as been on the cards for sometime. to have 2 magazines on the same subject is not a viable thing these days. the sad part as John told me. is that they never gave him the chance to say goodbye to all of the collectors who have followed his excellent articles over the years. for me it is not the right way to treat someone who has given such good service for almost 40 years. if it was not for him l would not have had the enjoyment l have had looking out for the guns he has featured.

[harvey_s]

One of my favourites - Practical Sportsbikes went last month too... Sad times.

[Troubledshooter]

John Atkins has other interests, apart from airguns, so this will give him more time to concentrate on them.
I only bought Airgunner for John's 'Collectors Corner' articles, but as there were many articles on other than Webley guns, I stopped buying it some years ago.
I have quite a few of John's Webley articles on file which prove to be an invaluable refence source.

[angrybear]

Hi

For me the saddest loss was 'Shooting Sports' magazine which encompassed Rifles, Guns and Airguns edited by Peter Moore.

Ian

Quite agree, I was a subscriber to Shooting sports, the best of all the shooting magazines.

Airgun shooter was good when it started, but then had a big reshuffle, the first issue after that was rubbish so I stopped buying it.

I never understood how Air Gunner & AGW could exist side by side because they were almost clones, but AGW seemed aimed at a slightly higher class than Air Gunner.

[rapidresponse1]

i stopped buying the mags to much advertising not enough to read about our sport,and the price of them now is mad

[AC99]

I subscribed to the magazine for years but became exasperated at the number of articles which did not interest me and swapped instead to the cheaper digital version where the very few articles of interest could be downloaded and printed off. Digital subscribers also had access to the archived earlier editions going back for years. I am not too surprised at its demise although quite sad to see another mag biting the dust but for me the majority of articles were of little or no interest and many were quite repetitive.