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  1. #11
    Legacy Member imarangemaster's Avatar
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    I am a life member of SASS (Single Action Shooting Society), having joined in 1994. In about 1996, I started doing articles for them, evaluations of current production CAS guns. In 1998, I became a staff writer for The Cowboy Chronicle , with an article in every issue (first every two months, then every month after they went monthly.

    Since I had an FFL, everyone started sending me guns (loaners, not gifts) to evaluate for the chronicle. Ruger, Colt, Winchester, Uberti Armi San marco, Pedretti, Pietta, Pedersoli, etc. Jeff Hoffman at Black Hills supplied me with ammo. It was fun, but I had to dance a delicate dance. I did manage to be honest in the evaluations, without being obnoxious. Every once in awhile I had to say "Junk" (PRODUCTION Rossi Pump 45 Colt rifles. I did an initial favorable on a pre-production sample, but revistited it an panned it when they went into production). Tex, my editor, wanted honesty, but with respect. In the mid-2000s, however, corporate attitude changed. With new financial management for SASS, which was growing into the fasting growing shooting sport, Advertising from manufactures was BIG money. I got pressure from some quarters (not Tex) to "only say kind things, or say nothing at all..." I said screw that, and switched to historical articles and evaluations on antique weapons.

    Out of the several hundred weapons I evaluated, the only free weapons I got were a couple pistols direct from Uberti, about a year before Beretta bought them out. They were hurting financially and requested (through the Chronicle) some rush press on their new Model No3 Russianicon and No. Schofield. I was happy to oblige, and I was sent several samples with N/C on the invoice for cost. They were excellent weapons, and I wrote such. Fast forward one year, and Beretta bought out Uberti. I was done with the weapons, and tried to contact Uberti/Beretta about the return. They said they had no record, so DO NOT send them back. Fast forward another 6 years (7 years after delivery, and 6 1/2 years after the articles that sold thousands, and 6 years after I tried to return them), and I get a call from Beretta demanding payment at current full retail prices, or they will sue. A quick letter from my attorney told them to go "F" themselves, and they backed off. (To this day, I will not buy a Beretta firearm)

    I knew other firearms writers that were honest, but there were others that were wh***s for the manufacturers and I am sure were getting kick-backs and freebees.
    Last edited by imarangemaster; 05-30-2016 at 05:30 PM.

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    Legacy Member lemaymiami's Avatar
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    I used to enjoy writing the occasional article (not gun related at all) for fishing magazines since the articles aided my bookings and sales (I'm a full time fishing guide and a royalty contract tyer for a large fly fishing company).... and the topics were things I'd learned the hard way... In recent years none of the magazines I've written for (those few still being published...) can even afford the very minor cost of an article to an author that's not one of their employees already... In my opinion what's occurring now isn't as much "in-house advertising" to aid a particular advertiser as one writer or other simply generating an article directly from the advertising materials that they're being sent in quantity from the manufacturer.... Wish it weren't so. The very least they could do is generate the article but mention the various reports of problems that anyone with a moment's research could learn about...

    It seems to work since I see more than a few on other internet sites that take either the manufacturer's claims (or the articles supporting those claims) at face value....

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  7. #13
    Legacy Member imarangemaster's Avatar
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    I shake my head at articles written by employees of gun publications. The reviews are ALWAYS good, because the gun manufacturer is usually a big dollar advertiser in the publication. I bought a Kahr CW45 .45 ACP for a carry pistol, based on glowing reviews in the magazines. In truth, it was a "Jam-O-Matic" that fed FMJ usually and JHP almost never! Not my idea of a carry pistol. I sold it and bought a CZ83 .380 to replace the one I foolishly sold years before.

    Years ago, in the late 70s or 80s, Rossi began producing a copy of the 1892 Winchester lever gun. It was a great little weapon, and was a popular saddle gun for Vaqueros and Gauchos in South Americaicon, because it was a fraction of the price of a real Winchester. They began selling them in the US, and they were a success. In the early 1990s, Cowboy Action Shooting arrived, and the little Rossi Model 65 (later renamed Model 92) was a mainstay. They ramped up production, and even introduced it in .45 Colt and 44 Magnum for the CAS shooters (It was .38/357 and .44-40, originally). They were very responsive to CAS shooters and introduced a half octagonal 24" rifle, which was a smash hit. I had several through the years, including the rifle and gave them good reviews.

    Then trouble happened. It the late 1990s, or early 2000s, they introduced a copy of the Colt Lightening pump rifle for CAS. Through Boyd Davis, president of EMF, I was given a prototype to test. It was an amazing rifle, and unlike the original Colt version (which was ALWAYS problematic at best). it was flawless. I wrote a glowing review for the Cowboy Chronicle. Unfortunately, I had to pass it back for another author to review. (wish I could have kept it!)

    The fast forward a year or two when they went into production, and were finally available to shooters. Disaster! They had made internal changes to save money during production, and the production rifles were garbage. Failures to feed, failures to eject, failures to fire, parts breaking (because they switched from milled parts in the prototype to MIM and stamped and welded metal in the production), and terrible accuracy because they went to stamped sights. It was awful! It was common to see one at the unloading table jammed solid so it had to be partially disassembled to clear it.

    My article made me look like a fool and a liar! I actually got hate mail! It was the unspoken "elephant in the room" of the gun Industry and Cowboy action Shooting. Because Rossi was a big advertiser ($$$$$$$) I could not do another review. I side passed the blockade by going on the CAS public forums (SASS Wire and CAS City), read by most of the shooters, and doing a negative review there. At least that stopped the hate mail.

    There is an old Bedouin saying: "A man that tells the truth, must have a fast horse and one foot in the stirrup!)
    Last edited by imarangemaster; 06-13-2016 at 03:14 PM.

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  9. #14
    Legacy Member imarangemaster's Avatar
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    Additional. It got so bad, Rossi dropped the lifetime warrantee policy they used to have on their rifles. After awhile, they dropped it from their line-up and suspended all warrantee work on their pumps.

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    Contributing Member Doco overboard's Avatar
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    NRA sales ads

    You gentleman are without a doubt more astute in the ways of popular advertising and the mechanics of most firearms than I am. But with that said I will let you know about an article I read in a NRA publication that almost made me puke when I read it. A local manufacturer of high end Ar type products sponsored a junket with some out of towners and put them up in a local high end conference facility near me. It is a popular destination and a big thing for get togethers for local people to use the facility during winter and spring months to use the pool gym grounds etc. My wife having second thoughts at the chaperoned event decided to check with a pre teen daughter in the evening because of motherly instinct with which everything was fine. A short while later is when the call came that a middle eastern man thought it would be OK to take pictures of pre-teen girls at the indoor pool with his fancy cell phone. So that is when me and my boys had to load up and go to town. During the foray is when I discovered what the h**l was going on there and broke up the party and the rest is water under the bridge. The point is, I also learned why and who they were there for. The manufacturer. So the next thing I know, about a year later this article appears in the rifleman about how great the products are (from same manufacturer) and the burgeoning business overseas and the beautiful country located facility and all that BS but the man who wrote the article should have been there when it really counted. The problem is, the product is good but both parties in this discussion could care less how their business is conducted as long as they stay busy and make a buck. If your gonna blow off about how good your stuff is and get someone to push it for you lets remember who your building it for dont you use me or my people for a test bed. Every body knows cast receivers have sometimes been problematic. I understand the want to have a facsimile product to preserve original examples and wish no-one any ill will but talk is cheap and whiskey costs money.Whats worse is maybe our boys will have to go up against said product one day that the writer in my case was/is pushing. Now I'll butt out, and pardon me for interrupting a well versed and thoughtful conversation with my 2 cents and rant about the colorful we'll get it right advertising.

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