Monday, March 02, 2015

**Updated**Gun World, Why Do You Do This?

UPDATE-SCROLL DOWN

Gun World has let loose with another special edition on concealed carry which is full of errors once again.  The monthly Gun World magazine is a respectable periodical penned by writers experienced in both written prose and in firearms (I was going to try to make-up a new word, firearmology, but came to my senses).  However, when they put these special editions out I can only assume that they are assembled by unpaid college journalism interns who know nothing about firearms and are hoping to get a job with the New York Times after graduation.

Now, to be fair, this edition is not as chocked full of mistakes as past editions but the ones that snuck by are pretty prominent.

The first major article in the special edition is about a firearms trainer.  The interview is OK, the information is sound although the trainer mostly talks about what kind of training you should get and fully vetting your trainer rather than imparting any tactical training tips.  All in all his points are valid and the article is well written.  However...
Is he carrying an inside the waistband holster outside of the waistband?  He also might want to cinch his belt in one more notch.

Following this article we are shown seven pages of Guns World's suggestions for "SEMICOMPACT REVOLVERS" deemed good enough for concealed carry.

For years I have suffered under the false impression that James Bond carried a Walter PPK Semi-Automatic pistol only to be corrected by Gun World and shown that it is actually a SEMICOMPACT REVOLVER.

And for the fourth year in a row Gun World recommends the Taurus DT40 despite the fact that Taurus never manufactured this pistol.
Taurus introduced this pistol at the 2011 SHOT SHOW but never put it into production.  It soon disappeared from their website and was not included in their 2012 catalogue but in the mind of Gun World this plucky little pistol soldiers onward.   Psst...Gun World...it doesn't exist.

In the revolver category they recommend the Ruger Redhawk in .44 Magnum.  A bit large for concealed carry but
Even worse, to illustrate the Ruger Redhawks they chose an image of a Taurus revolver.

I could go on further, such as the fact that they list every flavor of the Charter Arms .38 snub-nosed revolver (the pink one, the lavender one, the gold one, the red one, etc.) even though they are all the same bloody revolver just anodized a different color.  But what's the point?

Attention Gun World, for a thousand bucks I will proof read your special editions before they go to print and save you some grief.

To the rest of the world, please don't go out and buy their Concealed Carry edition.  I bought it so that you don't have to.  And with my participle dangling I bid your Adieu.  

UPDATE--BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!

On my first pass through the magazine I missed a few things:
The Dual Tone version of the CZ 85 was discontinued in 2008.


The caption states that the "Freedom Arms mini-gun...is better than no gun at all".  But if you're determined to have one of these then "no gun at all" might be what you wind up with since Freedom Arms dropped them from their line-up a long time ago.


No doubt that the Colt Defender is a good choice for self defense.  Gun World certainly believes that it is because they list it on page 75 and page 76.

And there's that Freedom Arms mini 22 LR again!

The opening photo in their holster section seemed a little strange as the holster was not identifiable to the maker or manufacturer.

Then I tool a look down in the right hand corner and found that
apparently Gun World did not have an appropriate holster image in their files so they bought one from an online photo source.

Similarly, when I saw this revolver heading their "Full-sized Revolver" section I wondered if it were a Colt Python and realized that no manufacturer markings were on the frame and barrel only to find that
this image had also come from THINKSTOCK.COM.

Really Gun World!  This is amateur hour on your behalf!

5 comments:

lee n. field said...

The, uhh, "Ruger Floridian" .44 they picture -- that isn't even a current model Taurus. What's pictured has an old style cylinder latch. There's a couple other details I spot that point to this being a an older Taurus (by at least a decade).

Anonymous said...

Thanks for taking one for the team.

Average Joe's Handgun Reviews said...

Lee, they've clearly been making the same mistakes for years for years and never bothering to update or clean out their images. Every publication has a mistake or two but they aren't even trying.

Janine, just doing' my job.

Gray C. Stahlman, MD said...

Pitiful
Joe, you are our hero for consumer protection!

Unknown said...
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