Happy Birthday To Us!
By Roy Huntington, Publisher

When I was 40 years old (some time ago), I felt like I was in the prime of life. I could dig a trench, ride my bicycle 50 miles and stay up working on things at my workbench all that night. Then do it all again the next day. I had plenty of energy, and I even sort of knew what I was doing. This is kinda’ how I feel about American Handgunner today. At 40 we’re just hitting our stride — as was I at 40. I had finally reached that magical point where I felt like at least some people actually listened to me when I spoke. I had life experience.

Now, at that same age, here at Handgunner we have a certain, well … life experience, too. We’ve watched the industry grow, handgun and accessory makers blossom, consumer interest in personal protection rise, manufacturers making better quality handguns (thank you boomers for having money to buy them as you retire!), handgun/shooting sports expand, handgun hunting become more popular than ever. Frankly, the industry and customers are having a lot of fun. And so are we.

I keep a complete set of back issues of Handgunner on-hand. They’re handy for looking things up for readers (“Um, uh … ’er … do you remember that article about that .38 you ran about 30 years ago? Can I have a copy?”), but I mostly use them to just marvel at how far things have come. From those early days of the “9mm vs. .45” articles, to “cutting edge” technology (“Get over 25 lumens out of this new flashlight!”), we’ve matured and seasoned, but have never lost our ready-willingness to dig deep and get our hands dirty to bring our readers the “what-for” — as my grandfather used to say — about our clients and this industry we all love so much.

“Quick — hand me your copy of that blog you read the other day.”

While websites, electronic magic and social media all play a role in what we do today at Handgunner, we remain distinctly proud of the fact we continue to put out the finest printed handgun publication around — period. Social media is fine and digital editions swell, but “quick — hand me your copy of that blog you read the other day. What? You can’t? Where’s it at? Gone? Can’t find it? Here, let me give you a copy of American Handgunner from 1981 to enjoy. Read that article about the ‘9mm vs. the .45.’ I’ll bet you’ll learn something. Oh, give it back when you’re done. I like to keep ’em.”

Anniversary Issue Highlights

There’s also lots more going on in the same Sept/Oct 40th Anniversary Issue. Look for the Ruger American Pistol on the cover with a review by Mark Kakkuri, our online editor. Ever heard of Guncrafter Industries? They make some of the nicest 1911 series autos you’ll ever see. And they invented, then wrote the book on the .50 GI caliber in their own 1911 guns. They can also do it for GLOCKs. Check ’em out in the same issue as a teaser for what’s coming in the Nov/Dec issue, which includes something that completely raises the bar for the 1911. No, really.

Did you know Colt made one final Python? Yup. Of course they did. But I’ll bet you’ll be knocked out of your seat when we tell you when that last gun was made — and show you the exclusive photos and letter from Colt proving all this.

Don’t even think about missing this issue.

Feel free to drop me a note and chat about being featured in our pages. Find me at [email protected].