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Volume 39, March/April 2006
Issue  Shooters
are usually very particular, and being human, each has their own
opinion as to guns, gun leather, clothes, shooting style, shooting
disciplines they prefer, and even articles they like to see in SHOOT!
Magazine. We are constantly conducting surveys on our web-site and
at some shoots to see what people are interested in. Along with
surveys, I receive quite a few emails and letters. I look at all of
the emails and letters as well as most of the survey comments and
reply to them, though due to schedule and business commitments it
may take a few weeks or more before I can respond. We also have a Forum
on
CAS
CITY
which I monitor on a weekly basis. I appreciate all of your input
and you can be assured that your comments are carefully considered
by both my staff and me.
I have heard the statement made in the past that
"you can’t keep everyone happy all of the time." I
have come to the conclusion that you can’t keep some people happy
any of the time! There are numerous considerations when deciding
what articles to print and how many of them. As I mentioned in last
issue’s editorial, I try to ensure that we always have at least 60
percent editorial content. Now, within that 60 percent what do you
put in and how many of the same type of article go in? SHOOT!
Magazine is dedicated to the Western-action shooting sports and will
continue to remain so, though on occasion we may stray a little for
one article in a particular issue or in the product review section,
it will always remain true to its roots. This is the baseline for
determining what goes into the magazine. It is not a gun magazine
but a shooting magazine. Thus, it will always cover Western-action
shooting events and never modern shooting events unless there is
some separate special edition such as the Junior Shooters special
edition coming out later this year. Some people, those that are
primarily pure gun enthusiasts, would rather not see any coverage of
shooting matches in the magazine. Others, those that are primarily
in CAS for the dress up and camaraderie, would probably like to see
more articles on shoots and clothing than guns. Well folks, we will
continue to cover those, as well as other appropriate topics.
Due to the large number of Western-action shooting
events that occur around the world we can not publish all of them or
even most of them. The guidelines I have set are that we try to
cover four to six shooting matches each issue, put others on our
web-site, and then unfortunately, there are some that never make it
off the cutting table. Sometimes the decision is based on if we
covered that shoot the previous year, how much space is available in
the magazine, or how long the article has been waiting for
publication, or the types of photos that have been submitted, or
even how the article is written, or if I think the shoot was
adequately covered in other publications. There are a variety of
reasons why an article may or may not appear in the magazine.
Numerous gun articles will continue. I take great
pride in making sure that we cover all gun manufacturers possible,
regardless if they are advertising or not. We have also printed more
articles on firearms from each of the primary replica gun importers
such as Cimarron, Navy Arms, and
Taylor
's &
Co.
than domestic manufacturers. One of the reasons is that each of
these importers has a much larger selection of period correct
firearms. We have also written about original antiques and though
usually incorporated into articles about current replicas, we also
published articles exclusively about specific antique firearms. This
is an area I definitely hope we can improve upon. I like to have
three to five gun or gun related articles per issue.
The magazine is supposed to provide variety, and I
believe it does. Hopefully, there is something for everyone. Though
shooting events and guns are certainly the meat of our publication,
I believe the rest of the categories are just as important. In fact,
I think we need to expand with more articles on Western history and
possibly some other areas. I have received positive and negative
feedback on practically every category of articles, but much, much
more positive than negative.
We will continue to produce the best Western-action
shooting magazine there is, covering all organizations and all
related products while at the same time evaluating and considering
all of your input. I appreciate your emails and letters so please
keep them coming. Please keep reading it, buying it, and telling
others to buy it instead of passing it around or putting it back on
the shelves so we can continue to provide it to you. Stop by our
booth at one of the shoots or give me a call and let me know what
you like and don’t like. I hope you all enjoy a fantastic year of
shooting fun.
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