SHOOT! Magazine Editorial - Volume 6, Aug/Sept 2000

The SHOOT! Magazine staff and I are very pleased to announce our recent purchase of Trail's End magazine. I was actually astounded when Jim Chamberlain, aka Mule Mauler Martin, called me and made us the offer. It was very clear that he was concerned about his existing subscribers and advertisers. He wanted to make sure that they each would be taken care of and would continue to receive a quality magazine dedicated to rediscovering the Old West and Western-action shooting. I can't begin to tell you how proud it made me that he would consider passing the flag, so to speak, on to SHOOT! Magazine.

Jim expressed to me that he really needed a rest and wanted to be able to enjoy more mounted events instead of working so hard on the magazine. After 5 years of extraordinary effort in getting a great magazine out every other month, he was ready to make his life a little easier. Though contacted by other publishers, he considered SHOOT! Magazine first, as he did not want to sell the magazine to a large corporation, whose main concern was profit, rather than the sport and the shooters.

The purchase of Trail's End magazine was finalized the middle of June. The last issue of the magazine that will be published is the June/July 2000 issue. Jim's final editorial describes his reasons for leaving the publishing business, and we all wish Jim the best in his future endeavors. We are honoring all of Jim's paid subscribers. Therefore, if you are one, you will receive a copy of SHOOT! Magazine for the rest of your Trail's End subscription.

Our intention is to incorporate various aspects of Trail's End into SHOOT! Magazine, but not to actually continue publication of Trail's End. Jim's interest in providing his readers stories of the Old West and authentic and replica guns and gear, as well as articles on cowboy and Western-action shooting, are certainly in line with our own objectives.

We are planning an annual issue for mid-year 2001. This full color, oversized edition will be chock full of information that will be a must for all Western-action shooters. So, if any of you have any ideas on what you would like to see, please drop us a line. Of course, we always like to hear your ideas for articles and stories for future issues of SHOOT! Magazine, as well as what aspects of Trail's End magazine you think we should incorporate.

We could not be more excited about how fast the magazine has grown over the past year, not to mention the overwhelming response that we have received from our readers. This acquisition has created an even brighter future for SHOOT! Magazine, and we will continue to do everything that we can to make our publication the best Western-action shooting magazine out there!

Happy trails, and keep your powder dry,  Chucky

Please send your comments to editor@shootmagazine.com, or you can post your comments on the SHOOT! MAGAZINE BLOG or SHOOT! MAGAZINE FORUM.

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