Outdoor Life Mag. , even if you are not into hunting and fishing it has some very well written articles on survival. Check their web site for "survival"

Field and Stream has much the same info. A good read.

 

I don't know dare if I say it or not, but there's also Mother Earth News. I don't subscribe anymore, but it used to be a top rate, information packed magazine back in the day. Now it's all glossy color pictures, tailored to yuppies! Sometimes you can get it for $10/year. I've bit a couple times for that price, but realized I really didn't read it much... the information now is mostly watered down. BUT... you can buy the archives on CD, and that has all the old stuff. I got one last year around Christmas for $20.

Along those same lines are ones like Urban Farm and a Grit and Cappers. Note that Grit and Cappers are the EXACT same magazine, only with different titles.

I don't subscribe to any of them, and see little value in them, but sometimes subscriptions can be had for very cheap - I think they had a special on Urban Farm last year for $4.


As for the ones in your list...

I like Backwoodsman. Like you say, it's not a survivalist magazine per se, but it's useful. I like how none (or nearly none) of the writers are "professional writers", but are average Joe's writing on something they've done.

I just recently unsubscribed to Backwoods Home because of Dave Duffy and his comments on getting a flu shot (and calling anyone who disagreed with him names and telling them to unsubscribe from his magazine because there's no hope for them, so I unsubscribed out of principle - and that's all I'm going to say here - there's another thread for that - let's not ruin this thread, too!). But I like the magazine. Most of the articles are very informative. I absolutely LOVE Jackie Clay's articles and I will miss them.

I tried Back Home, and it was ok. I believe they have since gone out of business (?).

I do like Countryside. They print some lengthy letters each issue, and those are sometimes interesting. Many of the articles are useful and informative. Many of the articles could use more pictures, in my opinion. And it's all in black and white.

If you have chickens, the publisher of Countryside also publishes Backyard Poultry, which is pretty much exactly like Countryside, except about poultry.

 

I like backwoods home, but I don't buy it often because of the cover price $9 or $10. I have read many of Dave Duffy's blogs on the website and I don't see how he a a leftist or commie. He has very strong writing style and I could see him offending some people.

I also like countryside and backyard poultry. Modern pioneer also has lots of useful info.

 

Mother earth news.

 

The backwoodsman is a favorite with me too.

There is a magazine out there called Hobby Farms. Basically down the same order as Countryside(which I also enjoy), worth checking out.

The OLD Mother Earth News mags from years back are full of good stuff if a guy happens upon a collection at a garage sale or something. I had a subscription to the modern incarnation a few years back but all the eco-whackyism convinced me not to renew.

It isn't really a survival mag, but there is one out there called Farm Show that can be quite interesting if you are into do-it-yourself stuff. Basically a whole magazine devoted to projects and inventions put together in farm shops across the country. It is amazing what some of these guys can put together from spare parts.

I used to get SOF in the mailbox. I enjoyed reading it, but seemed every time I'd renew, the subscription dept would manage to screw me out of an issue or two. Finally gave up on 'em.

Fur fish and Game is an outdoor magazine worth reading. They don't seem to push all the high-dollar fancy stuff like some of the others, and they devote a lot of space to trapping as well.

Every couple of years or so, I like to get a subscription to Shotgun News just to look at all the toys and keep up on what seems to be popular in the gun world. They run articles now too, some of which are pretty informative.

 

I thought about adding OUTDOOR LIFE and FIELD AND STREAM to the list, guess should have. I like F&S better than ODL, but both are very good and I get both. F&S seems to have better (and more) survival stuff than ODL, but since Pub Clearing House has subs for them from $12 to $6 regularly (yes, six dollars for either one, so I get a sub to both) it isn't going to break the bank to order three or four $6 subs to each.

I USED to get Mother Earth News. I cancelled when they came out in support of communist politicos (in the last century). Now owned by GRIT/CAPPER. The CD collection should be worth it's wieght in gold if you ever need it. I used to get a sub every five years but was totally unimpressed with it for the last 15-20 years so I finally quit. A friend who got it every few years for awhile said he is giving up on it too.

Got Grit and/or Capper off and on when they have a sale I can't resist. CAPPER/GRIT are NOT the same mag however. Yes, they have most of the same stuff, but not completely. If you get one you have 90% of the other, but NOT the same (usually. Did get one issue that was the same for both). Just like the Republican and Demonrat Parties are not the same. Hmmmm....OK, bad example. Like O'Bummer and Hitler are not the same. Hmmmm...not a great example either, but Hilter lead the country OUT of a depression and O'Bummer lead his country INTO one! Otherwise the policies are very close.

SOLDIER OF FORTUNE (SOF) at one time was actually VERY good! It is a shadow of what it was 30, or even 20 years ago. I read it off the racks sometimes and it is not worth getting now.

FUR-FISH-GAME is a mag I get but can't really get worked up over. Mostly reader written with a line of staff writers, it covers trapping, hunting, fishing how-to, but nothing really indepth. I get it for that once a year article that pays for the sub.

 

Hardings magazine (FFG) is the modern incarnation of Hunter Trader Trader, which once gave away rifles for long subs and used to contain mostly letters of tips, and advice from the readers. While no longer the poor mans guide to the fur trade it will usually have current prices, and some articles about trapping.
I was exposed to back issues from the 20's while young, and wish I still had them. The current mag isn't what it used to be, but what is?

I used to sub Field and Stream just for Pat McManus tales, but he retired and the adverts aren't worth it to me.

Just me, but I never could stand OConner.

 

Sorry Minitruck83, F-F-G is not the modern incarnation (at least not directly) or the same mag with a different name as HUNTER-TRADER-TRAPPER. While it is true that H-T-T was started by Harding, he got tired of it and sold out (I want to say around the turn of the century - 1900 or so, may have been in the 1910s era) when he wanted to do something else (railroads?). Several years later he got tired of what he was doing and wanted to start publishing again and tried to buy H-T-T back but they wouldn't sell. So Harding started a new magazine, FUR-FISH-GAME in Sept of 1925. I'm not sure when H-T-T went under, but it was at least 1941 and possibly later.

Another story along these lines is FOREST AND STREAM became FIELD AND STREAM. Didn't happen! Forest and Stream was started by at least 1880 (and possibly older than that, 1860s?) and lasted well into the 1920s (and possibly longer, 1930s?) while FIELD AND STREAM got started in 1895 and is still around. The BIG THREE - Outdoor Life (biggest - 1897), Field and Stream (2nd 1895) and Sports Afield (3rd 1887) all got their starts around the same time but were not the same either. Now of course ODL and F&S are owned by the same corp. GUN & AMMO, SHOOTING TIMES, SHOTGUN NEWS, etc, are all owned by another corp. to but started out separately too.

 

I don't recall much difference between the formats, the folks who bought HTT continued on with essentially the mag unchanged, and Harding built FFG on his old plan. iirc they were mostly letters to the editor.

Course my memory isn't too reliable anymore.

 

Dunno if it'll have any interest to you or not, but in expanding from print into the Kindle eBook format, I'll have the first in a projected series of survival-themed product reviews up, hopefully, by this Sunday.

These, if sales support the idea, will be Blue Books (Red Book series gun reviews already begun) covering a range of subjects that'll cover some crossover guns in a survival context (NOT strictly "Buy A .22") as well as other items handy for various survival scenarios.

These will be in expanded magazine article format, but without glossy studio photography or ads.

The Blue Book series will be titled Survivalist Papers, the first will be "Hatchet Job".
Covers 12 hatchets & hawks of varying price & function levels, with roughly a hundred color photos showing features of each.

Check it out on Amazon if it sounds like something that may appeal.
Probably (still finishing it up) about 15,000 words, the average mag article today runs 2000-3000 words.

You'll have to buy it, I'm not doing it as a hobby.
More than free, less than a complete print mag would cost.
Denis

 

All of the prepper magazines I had read have essentially been advertisements for **** with a handful of pages that are actual articles (usually with a big ass advertisement in the middle of each page, just incase you missed all the other pages trying to sell you ****).

I understand magazines are going to have adds.

Thats ok.

But if almost the entire magazine is adds, then why am I paying like $12 for it?

There is not one magazine for prepping I have bought a second issue of.

 

The idea behind the project I'm doing is kinda a buffet approach: You look at what's available, title-wise, and pick & choose what individual subject you want to go with. Don't have to pay $12 to get one short article, you can pay three or four bucks (depending on length) to get just that one loooong "article".

No ads, no advertiser influence.
It's all subject matter, no filler.
Denis

 

Backpacker Magazine.

The magazine is skewed heavily towards people who spend a lot of money on hiking equipment, but the reviews and articles are reasonably honest and accurate.

 

No ads and no BS (they actually went and tried it for themselves! Who does THAT?!) was why I liked the INDEPENDENT AMERICAN Mag (mentioned above in my first post). The shortest one I remember (I had a sub and bought the CD after they folded) was 120 pages and it often was twice that or more. It might have had one page of adverts for stuff (I remember an ad for one book about hunting with hounds, something like that), but most issues (as I recall) were ad free. Of course with all the free BS (and worth what you pay for it) and other stuff out there, no one wanted to pay for actually GOOD info.

I pick up BACKPACKER at the library and the reviews are accurate like AceScanner said. Also like Ace said, it is for people who have money to burn, sort of like Rawles' blog. If you aren't a millionaire, don't bother reading what Rawles has to say as you can't afford it and 99% of it is wrong and will get you killed in real life anyway.

 

The Survivalist Papers, Hatchet Job, Kindle eBook, going through Beta process on Amazon right now.

Should be available for sale at $2.99 by this evening at the latest.

This survival series is your chance to get no-ad/no BS info in long mag article form on a simple pay-per-view basis.

13 hatchets, hawks, and wreckers, 107 hi-res color photos.
Denis

 

I liked this one. Ready for more Denis.

 

I bought a bunch of new mags as a package deal and they had an April 2014 SOF in it. HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE magazine! There is a reason I quit buying it back in 2002 and haven't bought one since! I used to look them over every so often and they had gone down hill so much I haven't bought one in over ten years and this one was incredibly, horribly bad! How bad? I actually kept flipping to the cover to make sure it really WAS a SOF and not a bad parody. Seriously. If Boulder Brown wasn't flogging his book every couple pages I never would have believed SOF had gone this bad. Totally worthless, no gun info, no survival info, no full auto info, no knife info, no nothing! I better keep it in good shape as a collector's item because they won't be around long!

Got the current SURVIVALIST mag and have to say they finally got it right! The last couple were pretty sad, after the completely useless Amish issue I was tempted to cancel, but this one was actually useful and had good info in it! Now if they can only keep it up!

 

Yeah I've been a reader of SOF since I was 10, and it sucks big time these days. The Backwoodsman is the only one with really relevant info these days. Most of the junk put out by the gun rag companies seem to be marketed to idiot geardos and even look like it on the cover. One magazine I saw had some guy in a plate carrier, and two chicks each carrying a different cool guy weapon and saying something like "We'll teach you to survive" yada-yada...flipped through it...a couple knife reviews, something about learning to be a "sniper"(this really made me laugh) and some other useless drivel. People that read this tripe don't have a chance.

 

Sure sounds like SURVIVAL EDGE or one of the other Harris Publ. (they all start blending together after awhile) with the guy and two girls on the cover.

The on line mag is PREPARE Magazine. They have a print version out too that is supposed to have lots more info in it than the internet version. Have not seen the print version so I have no idea what it is like.

Ordered another "box o' magazines" that is suppose to have OFF GRID mag in it. I have nto seen this mag either and am looking forward to seeing one.

 

YOU GUYS ARE RUINING EVERYTHING. Next thing you know you'll be saying Soldier Of Fortune is BS and Bear Grylls is full of his own urine.

Sorry, I couldn't help myself.

 

Wait, didn't I already say SOF is BS and Bear Gryllis is full of his own urine? Oh, wait that was on a different thread. Sorry.

OK, got the Oct 2014 SOF and it was total BS. The ONLY interesting story was how while we HAVE A GOD GIVEN RIGHT TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS AND CARRY, it might upset the sheeple and criminal classes if we DEMAND AND USE OUR RIGHTS!! He talks about "a morbidly obese man" who was carrying. Like fat people are not allowed to carry or defend themselves and just because we have RIGHTS we should be too chicken shi'it to use or demand them!The rest of the magazine was trash. NO full auto, no knifes, ONE totally fawning BS pistol review you could read in any gun rag.

Bear Grillis is full of his own urine and his machete he pushes in junk! Yes, it REALLY IS JUNK! ONE rivit to hold the blade! Broke the rivit cutting weeds.

 

Unfortunately SOF these days really is crap. I picked up an old issue I have in the collection from late 2001(post 9/11) and the articles it had were amazing. A Rob Krott interview with Aukai Collins(look that dude up, get his book if you can find it) about one of the hijackers he knew, an expose on Al Gore and the Chicom Buddhist monk campaign money funnel, and a great review on the Springfield Operator(which I'm lucky enough to own a TRP Operator from the custom shop these days, because of that article back then) and first hand accounts of what was going down in Tora Bora at the time. Martin Brass is running things there now, and its just monthly filler junk. Seeing John Farnham and that other fat lug that "reviews" equipment is silly. Peter Kokalis was cutting edge, this crap... no. I quit reading it about a year ago. Forward Observer Magazine(self-published) is much better.

And it really is a kick in the nads because I grew up looking forward to the first week of the month when the new issue was coming out. I've got Kokalis' book, which is excellent, and Rob Krott's book which is a neat read as well. They could really make a magazine if they hired Robert Young Pelton, Aukai Collins(if he's out of prison down south), Jeff Randall, Jim Fuller as Weapons editor, and some budding new blood from my generation. But that ain't gonna happen. Maybe it calls for a new magazine.

 

Picked up a copy of RECOIL Mag that so many people find so exciting. Looked them over at the rack and was not impressed, now I have one to read cover to cover. Still not impressed. Bills itself as GQ for gun owners and it is. A couple grand for a straight razor (no I am not making that up) and an article on how to shave with one just isn't my thing, but if you like it go for it. I also got the sister publication OFF GRID but haven't read it yet.

 

You hit the nail on the head about RECOIL. It's geared towards the tacticool/wanna-be/armchair commando crowd. I can't stand those types, in my experience they tend to get people around them hurt. Off-Grid is similar junk.

 

OK, more mag (rag) reviews.

OFFGRID (one word) - sister to RECOIL Mag, and I was not impressed with it. OK, most of it was ads made to look like articles (shovels, gym/duffle/backpack/carry on bags, etc) and that may or may not be useful to beginners and a good over view to more experienced readers. A couple of good/useful articles, but most was basic in the extreme, like wear boots in an emergency, not gym shoes or dress shoes, stuff like that. A beginner MIGHT get something out of it, but between the two page photos at the beginning of every article (with possibly a paragraph of print, and yeah, nearly every rag does that now so it is not just OFFGRID) there just isn't that much info and too much of it too basic to be of use to anyone who has put five minutes of thought into it.

SAR (Small Arms Review) One I got for years, but it got too pricey for me at the time to renew last time. Only two articles that I thought were worth reading here, and lots of BS and fluff in the one I picked up. Either I changed or they changed, and looking at old issues, it wasn't me that turned. Might be worth getting a sub to for the index and access to all past issues.

Got told to get so I'll talk about the Shotgun News survival rag next time!

 

NET MAGS:


Anything else out there I'm missing?

"From Scratch", you can get past issues free off the net
More of a homesteading mag than a prep mag

 

Shotgun News BE READY (InterMedia Outdoors Pub. - also put out/owned by them: Guns & Ammo, Rifle Shooter, Handguns, Shooting Times, Shotgun News, etc). OK, the first go over seemed to be much more fluff than meat. The few articles I read were long on talk and short on info, but they might have got to a point if I read longer than a couple pages of each. Two articles you might like (have not actually read either other than a glance through yet, but both looked at least acceptable from the glance I took) are CONTEMPT OF COP, AND HOW TO AVOID IT and PROCESSING YOUR OWN MEAT.

CONTEMPT OF... listed Boston T. Party's book YOU & THE POLICE which is EXCELLENT and a MUST READ for anyone who might deal with them. Remember, the police are NOT your friend! They are there to make money for the state and if you read much you will see that dealing with them is dangerous to your health at the best of times. Sure there are good ones, but they are far, far out numbered by the ones that are not.

Have not heard of FROM SCRATCH, I'll have to look it up.

Any other mags out there?

 

Remember, the police are NOT your friend! They are there to make money for the state and if you read much you will see that dealing with them is dangerous to your health at the best of times. Sure there are good ones, but they are far, far out numbered by the ones that are not.

As an LEO, can tell you that t he reverse is actually true as far a bad apples
We don't get to keep the "revenue" from fines, so that's not the motivation to us you say it is

 

Saw MODERN FRONTIERSMAN (Harris) on the rack and it looked GREAT! The articles listed on the front cover were exactly what you would want. Then I picked it up to read it at the rack...typical Harris junk. The articles were short, extremely basic and more flash in the pan than anything useful. Sure there probably/possibly was a few useful tid-bits there, but they were too few and far between for me to find or keep reading to find. I wasn't going to spend $10 + tax to buy it to see if there were one or two semi-useful articles that may or may not turn out to be worth reading that I missed the first go through.