I’m on tour, so don’t really have time to blog about it, but man, Recoil Magazine is friggin’ stupid. I had never even heard of Recoil until I saw a copy in a B&N this week. My first thought was that it was Maxim with guns. Turns out that it is, which would still probably do pretty good, except then they had to go and zumbo themselves into oblivion.
They basically just gave their entire target audience the finger, and then apologized by saying that they were sorry we were offended they gave us the finger, but here it is again. They were reviewing the HK MP7, which is so uber tactical with teutonic awesomness that there is no way a mere civillian could ever own even a civillian version, because it is just that deadly.
Basically, if you are writing for a gun magazine, you shouldn’t talk about how a pansy submachine gun firing anemic sub .22 caliber projectile is just too deadly to be let into civillian hands, you are an idiot, and you should go back to writing critiques of Jersey Shore.
And then if you are the editor, you shouldn’t excuse this by trying to justify the idiotic sporting purposes clause as being somehow legitimate. The sporting purpose clause is universally hated by every gun person in America with a clue. The editor basically went onto Facebook, covered himself in stupid, and then committed ritual seppuku in front of all his potential customers. Because hey, you’ve got to keep those uber deadly teutonic .22 Hornet equivelents off the streets.
If I was one of Recoil’s investors, I would be pissed off, and I’d really want to know what dumbass made the decision to hire people who knew absolutely nothing about a particular culture to edit a magazine about that culture. That is sort of like hiring Michael Vick to be editor of Dog Fancy.
The idiots that came along and tried to defend Recoil (apparently they really like articles about Hair Products for Real Operators) on first amendment grounds demonstrate that they don’t understand the 1st or 2nd amendment, and if those readers are actually gun owners, they are the reason some states still have really crappy gun laws.
How bad did Recoil screw themselves? Well, knowing gun people and especially knowing gun people on the internet, and considering the razor thin margins in magazine publishing, I’d say Recoil is toast.
fire everyone and Hire Mad Mike and Oleg… they would still need to change the name of the rag to keep it viable.
Spot on, as usual. I was sucked into buying Recoil’s issues because of the really slick appearance it had. Guess what? Never again. Gun people are loyal, smart and quick to forget when they are undercut or wronged. Loved this post… right up there with the infamous “HK” one.
I laughed for a good couple of minutes at the signed magazine.
Did you actualy spend money to buy a copy to sign just for the pic?? Awesome!
I’m just not Teutonic enough to understand.
HK is wannabe living on hype from anime, video games, and Hollywood. I admit I wanna fire HK weapons, it’d be awesome and be one of the guns I cross out of “things I’ve shot” list.
But I wouldn’t rate it as Teutonic. Just Faux-T.
What’s more Teutonic than HK? Mauser.
I have a P30L and have really enjoyed it. I don’t think there’s anything about them that warrants the way the fanbois act. But it’s a good, comfortable, accurate gun. It was also the only gun I own that I could actually operate while my left hand was in a cast for 6 weeks. Nothing scores you bragging rights like placing top 10-20% in a match with one arm in a cast.
Granted, I’d have never paid full price for my P30L either. But $650 for a barely used one was not something I could pass up.
That’s damn pretty. And the fanboyism, I admit, i am one, but I’m not gonna launch myself at anyone who speaks ill of it. I also don’t like how I’d have to get a clone of an HK just to be able to ‘shoot’ one. I meant their rifles.
” Hair Products for Real Operators” and Larry’s pic sporting a haircut similar to mine made me lose it 🙂
-scraps blog post talking about my hair then- I sense something bad may happen. Particularly if I visit down there. 😡
I wrote H&K to let them know I was disappointed with their reps comments in RECOIL and I was no longer a fan nor would be a customer in the future (I have owned four H&K firearms in the past).
I was surprised to receive a reply from H&K. The essence of the email was that their Rep had been totally misquoted. I have seen how the media can go off the rails and given how RECOIL responded to the first wave of negative response I can see it happening. So ill keep an open mind but I still think RECOIL is toast and H&K needs to do more to address what their rep may have said.
That is sort of like hiring Michael Vick to be editor of Dog Fancy.
I almost lost it right there.
Quality stuff, sir. Aces for the Vick/Dog Fancy quip.
If you’re on Facebook Military Arms Channel and Dump Recoil Magazine are both keeping up with the latest on this massive fail along with what companies have publicly removed their support for Recoil.
https://www.facebook.com/militaryarms?ref=stream
https://www.facebook.com/DumpRecoilMagazine?ref=ts
Steelheart
This is the functional equivalent of stepping on their dicks, trying to fix it by shoving their duck in an industrial power outlet, and when that hasn’t provided relief, they’re now trying to scare up a blender. WTF?
Did they just pull an Obama or a Biden???
Can’t tell with all of the gun laws for the 57 states.
That was worth a post of it’s own…
They are already dead.
Magpull and two other big ad buyers have canceled.
Buh-bye!
It’s like a car magazine testing a SL 65 AMG and then telling it’s readers that honestly no one but professional drivers should be allowed to own one.
I read in another friends blog that that particular magazine is bank rolled by a liberal democrat who is a close friend of the Clinton’s….
How much for that autographed magazine? I want it.
Also, what do you think about doing Obama posters signed with that? I’d buy one.
Larry should either auction it off, or offer it as a high-end pledge reward for the upcoming MHIEH&RPG Kickstarter.
Either way, I bet it’d be the most valuable that magazine ever gets.
Seriously, who is defending them? I doubt they will have any sponsors by the end of the week.
Even H&K is tossing them under the bus: http://pistol-training.com/archives/7259
“Because you suck and we hate you”? That was the motto of the last church I attended.
This hit. the. fan on http://www.thefiringline.net a couple days ago. My post had a link to your referenced HK commentary.
.com- not .net ;D
full link to the thread Ken is referring to:
http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=500643
🙂
What? We trogolodites can’t be expected to remember an insult for more than a week or two.
The grudge I’m still cherishing against S&W from well over a decade ago? Doesn’t really exist. All is forgotten, if not forgiven. (OK, I lie. They suck, and I hate them.)
I know a guy who still won’t buy Ruger- and Bill’s been dead for a while now.
I work for the largest magazine distributor in the US, so I see a lot of new magazines come and go. Shooters aren’t Recoil’s target audience. They are trying to pick up some of the Maxim/GQ reading crowd. Maxim sells well, so these guys figure, “Hey, we can copy their format, but put GUNS in too!” Basically they are posers. And a bit of trivia for you. Maxim is named for the Maxim MG. According to the editors they were in a pub just before the launch trying to come up with a name. The bartender or waiter asked what the magazine wanted to do. “Slaughter the competition” was their reply. The guy then suggested that the Maxim had been designed to do just that.
That signed magazine could prolly be worth quite a bit on ebay! 🙂
That picture made me laugh so much that my head hurts. And at least two of their sponsors (probably many more, but I follow two specifically on facebook) have already released condemnation statements, and removed ad funding from the magazine. So, here’s a drink to the sinking ship that is Recoil!
I’m going to write a post about Viking history and then mock everyone of Scandinavian descent and as an apology, I’ll also mock Norwegians. Seems a legit business strategy to me.
Bryan Black of ITS (http://www.itstactical.com/) was happy to see their ETA Trauma Kit displayed on the cover, but was less pleased to read the review of the MP7 and has announced to cancel further advertisings in Recoil Magazine. And I can only agree with them and other investors/advertisers doing the same. And Larry, thanks for the laugh. Combined with my cold I got caught in a coughing fit that felt like my lungs came out of my chest. But very well worth it 😉
I am not a shooter. I support the 2nd amendment to enjoy herd immunity and to annoy buttinskis. But I read history for fun. I gather that the HK MP7 is like the FN P90 in that it was designed to be a ‘personal defense weapon’ for rear echelon troops. I have watched this since the oddball design of the P90 made it the go-to gun for action directors who want to arm Evil Henchmen with vaguely SF looking weapons. Maybe my fellow MHI fans can answer this for me;
In what way does it make sense to introduce another calibre of ammunition to your supply problems?
Just asking.
Editor Down! Posted on TFL
It is with deep sorrow that I announce I am stepping down as editor of Recoil, effective immediately.
It is very difficult for me to walk away from something I helped create, something that I loved doing, and something I firmly believed would appeal to a fresh new generation of gun enthusiasts, but I accept that the comments in my story in the current issue have made my position as editor of Recoil untenable.
With that said, Recoil is bigger than any one person, and if my departure will allow Recoil to continue to grow and engage gun enthusiasts, then stepping down as editor is clearly the right thing for me to do.
I accept I made mistakes, and I apologize unreservedly for calling Recoil’s support for Second Amendment rights into question.
While I understand the passions aroused over this incident, the deeply hurtful words from some of my fellow gun enthusiasts have been painful to endure. I hope now we can all move on.
Finally, I would like to thank all those who have supported me over the past few days. These are the people who know me to be at heart a passionate gun enthusiast whose dream was to make something bold and new in firearms media.
Jerry Tsai
Saw the same thing on their Facebook page- its funny just how many people are saying “We support you! By stepping down you’re showing that you want what’s best for the magazine!” (Like he was given a choice…) Also how many folks are saying “It’s his First Amendment right to say whatever he wants! All you gun nuts are hypocrites!” In reality, that’s a straw man: no one is saying he doesn’t have the right to say whatever he wants. But if you’re the editor of a gun magazine it would be wise to know a thing or two about the Second Amendment and the culture that supports it. The editor of Time magazine could go on record as saying they think everyone in American should be issued a clone of Abomination, but they would be foolish to then act surprised when their readership declined…
. . . or would it?!
Ask those tossing about the hypocrite tagline on which side of the protest line they stood during the chick-fil-a hullabaloo.
@T.Everett It totally wouldn’t.
I enjoyed the comments! I must say that HK customer service is awful. I have an HK45c and love it… Except for the funny rattle on the right slide release.
I know this is about recoil’s big cock-up here, but I remember the first time I heard about the MP7. I was on Cracked, looking at a list of mall ninja guns (here: http://www.cracked.com/funny-2939-top-10-mall-ninja-guns/) when I found out about the MP7’s ammunition, and I just thought: “Hell no. When I’m old enough to get a gun, I am not using this.”
Ah, the MP7, and its 4.6mm cartridge, exemplifying the “tactical” 21st Century way to solve problems on the battlefield: by spraying and praying and sprinkling tungsten rice-grains on the target.
What ever happened to the company that brought us the MP5 and the HK91?
You with be happy to know that the editor of said article has stepped down.
http://soldiersystems.net/2012/09/13/jerry-tsai-steps-down-as-editor-of-recoil-magazine/