American Rifleman wonders WTF (courtesy wikipedia.org)

In the post marking the fact that TTAG crested 2m unique viewers per month, I claimed that we had more readers than the American Rifleman. Turns out I was crunching old data. Inflicting upon readers the kind of run-on sentence that makes third grde English teacher pull their hair out, adage.com provides box-fresh circulation data on the NRA’s house mag. “American Rifleman, one of the magazines that members of the National Rifle Association can receive as part of their membership, posted a 29.3% boost in circulation in the second half of last year, compared with the second half of 2012, according to new numbers released Thursday by the Alliance for Audited Media, which tracks magazine circulation. That leap, to an average circulation of 2.2 million from 1.7 million, was enough to propel American Rifleman into America’s top 25 magazines by circulation, according to the circulation group.” Congrats to AR! Needless to say, this website considers their success a new target for our on-line efforts. We’ll keep you posted. So to speak.

35 COMMENTS

  1. Gotta say that I read both but in all honesty I enjoy ttag more, and also got a few of my friends hooked as well. Keep up the good work.

    • AR is mailed to *all* NRA member who choose that mag for their subscription. That doesn’t mean the actually read it. Or return to it every day. Or just press F5 to refresh the screen for more More MORE TTAG!

      What do you mean there’s hasn’t been a new posting for 6 mins?!?!?

      • Every hour during the weekdays. Every two hours on the weekends. Or more. But I bet you knew that.

  2. I dumped NRA 20 Plus years ago. Got tired of their attitude that Only They were in charge of the 2ndA (and earning a million a year ay my expense)

    • So please enlighten us to how you helped defeat the gun grabber laws earlier this year and compare and contrast your effectiveness to what part the NRA achieved in the back rooms of Congress during that same period with the help of my paltry $50 which would hardly buy a brick of 22LR at the first of last year.

      The NRA’s millionaire beet the NY billionaire…sounds pretty effective to me.

        • If it weren’t so damn cold outside, I would have one with you. I have some nice 15+ year old La Gloria Cubanas double corona maduros aging nicely, among other things.

          Of course, Robert quit so more for everyone else

      • Got that nailed. I have been a member of the NRA since 1968, when the left passed the Gun Control Act. The Neal Knox-led Cincinnati “rebellion” at the NRA annual meeting (in 1971) turned the organization from it’s prior hunting/target shooting advocacy to a strong 2nd Amendment force. We have been fighting that battle for 40+ years, and I get a bit tired of someone saying “the NRA pissed me off in 1996 by yadda yadda”, and not doing anything on their own to fix what bothers them.

        Hey, form your own hotshot gun groups and lobby Congress, or get a hundred thousand of your friends to become Life members (or 5-yr members) of the NRA, vote in your slate of Board members, and take over the organization! Then you can show all of us old farts how it by-God should be done!

        Of course, it is a lot easier to complain from the sidelines.

  3. I like you guys better than AR too. If only you could charge money and make me feel guilty for not giving more.

  4. The only two places I can get honest firearm reviews are TTAG and Nutnfancy. The only one I enjoy is TTAG. Quit reading gun rags several years ago (okay, occationaly I read AR since it comes with the NRA membership.)

    • It’s hard too be dishonest when you crazy enough too talk for that long about that many tiny details.

  5. I like the honest reviews.
    The opinions of the staff and readers.
    The huge amount and variety of information that flows.
    Things like, “what’s your favorite gun song”.

    The amount of information that gets shared here is pretty neat.

    Keep up the great work, guys and gals.

  6. Well now, there goes your progressive cover… Printing retractions and kudos, what is this site all about anyway, the truth?

    Keep up the good work.

      • They’re making a come back. I go to this place http://www.sportclips.com/ so I don’t have to wait for the girls to complete a 3hr hair do before I can get a simple buzz and clean like the local places. On the flip side, since they don’t make margin like girls’ 3hr activities, they charge a little more for basic cuts. A little more cost for a faster service…

  7. No one ever mentions any gun rights group other than the NRA. Thank God for them especially if you live the Peoples Republic of Illinois like I do.

  8. Keep up the good work Robert…nothing wrong with the numbers your working with…now if we could only get you to speak on CNN!!! 😉

  9. Depending on your choice there are several publications to choose from for an NRA member. Put them all together and TTAG comes in waaaay back! Not a bad showing at all!

    JOIN THE NRA!

    …and read TTAG!

  10. For such a comment, I’m gonna burn all my ttag album’s!

    Oh wait, that was somebody else and somebody else.

    Do any of you guys play guitar.

    • Not according to my wife. But there goes that practice and time to practice thing. Plus a Fender Stratocaster through a Fender 25 Frontman set on 2 really doesn’t work well either.

  11. As everyone here obviously has access to a computer, I’d like to recommend that all NRA members, new and old, change their subscriptions to the digital version. Saves printing and mailing costs, and never a mangled copy. You will also have access to 3-4 years of back-issues.

  12. The NRA’s American Rifleman magazine has replaced Maxim in the Alliance for Audited Media’s Top 25.

    According to Ad Age, Maxim’s paid circulation fell from 2.5 million to 2 million last year. At the same time. American Rifleman’s readership jumped from 1.7 million to 2.2. This puts American Rifleman among the top 25 magazines in circulation.

    American Rifleman’s increased circulation is also indicative of the NRA’s growing popularity among Americans.

    The NRA’s Andrew Arulanandam explained: “Last year we had a 25 percent growth in membership. People who sign up for membership get their choice of one of three official journals for the NRA. American Rifleman is one of the most popular journals that we have.”

    It is telling to note that, while gun control proponents continue to claim Americans want more gun control in 2014, rank-and-file Americans are walking past a magazine like Maxim in order to pick up a magazine that covers bolt-action rifles, AR-15s, and shotguns.

  13. It is probably less than that. That is the number of people that receive the magazine. There are probably quite a few like me that just toss that POS in the recycling bin as soon as it comes in. It is probably close to 80% ads if you don’t count the sucking off of advertisers that they call reviews.

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