[Matt VDW]

I've just read a gun review that has such glaring errors that it's hard to believe the author ever even handled the pistol. (I'm talking about factual errors, not just errors of judgement or grammar.) Would it be improper for me to post details?

Perhaps some public criticism would help the editors of this gun rag clean up their act.

 

[Ken Sham]

Feel free to post the details. Constructive criticism is always welcome, as long as personal attacks are left out.

 

[Matt VDW]

OK, here goes:

In the August 2001 issue of Gun World magazine, there's an article on the STI ( http://www.stiguns.com/ ) Ranger compact .45 pistol. This is a 1911-style pistol with a steel frame and slide. Yet the article repeatedly and explicitly states that it has a polymer frame!

How can anyone handle a steel-framed pistol and think that it's made out of plastic? That's an incredibly huge blunder.

Then a picture caption claims that the Ranger has Heinie sights when it obviously doesn't (they're either Novaks or Novak look-alikes). Sheesh!

I'll dig up that article and post some quotes.

 

[Scooter]

"Can't judge a book by it's cover" applies here too.

 

[Matt VDW]

From the table of contents: "THE RANGER - STI'S POLYMER-FRAME <!!!> COMPACT 1911"

In the captions and the article itself, the word "polymer" is used to refer to the Ranger at least three times. There's also a caption that reads, "The stippling moulded into the Ranger's front strap helped to control it in rapid fire despite the pistol's light weight." But the picture plainly shows scalloping, not stippling.

The Heinie blunder occurs twice, too, so it's clearly not a typo.

I wonder if the author (D.K. Pridgen) received a pre-production prototype in plastic and the photographer (Joseph Correa) received a steel Ranger from the actual production run. How else could the review be so inaccurate? But even if that were the case, the editor (Jan Libourel) should have caught the mix-up before the issue went to press.

Mr. Pridgen, if you're out there, I'd like to hear your side of this story.

 

[Dane Burns]

FWIW Keith Pridgen is a very good shot, fair tactician and works hard at both. Past that he is a down to earth guy you'd enjoy having dinner with.

I suspect as we saw in the last article under discussion on this forum, that the editor lended a free hand to the changes in the submitted text.

Or as one gun writer freely admitted, the "quotes" he was credited with, weren't his.

Another reason this forum is here.

 

[Matt VDW]

In fairness to Gun World, the rest of the issue isn't bad. I do find it noteworthy that there's a pimped-out (gold and pseudo-pearl) Taurus .38 on the front cover and a full page ad for the very same Taurus "Special Edition" series on the back cover. :wink:

 

[Guest]

I think we should ask Jan Libourel, I too am very surprised at the article.

Jan is a very good editor and he is also a very detail oriented person. He and I shared a mutual acquaintance and interest in rare breed dogs specifically the Japanese Tosas and I spoke with him on these type of issues and I know he indicated he believed in accuracy at one of the rare breed shows.
It was unfortunate when his dog died and I lost touch with them when I moved over to the Filas as I do not show anymore...

Rambling sorry, anyhow I am looking for his email to ask him about this post.

 

[TaxPhd]

David,

Very off topic, but I am very interested in Filas. Have read everything I could find (which isn't much). Can you point out some good web sites, or other sources of info? How about your personal experiences with the dogs? E-mail response is fine.

 

[Shay]

I don’t know much about editing but Keith Pridgen is a straight up guy. I had the pleasure of spending a couple of days shooting with him and I would feel comfortable to have him as a partner. I have read more then a few reviews written by him and some on guns I happen to own myself. His reviews where always dead on. Mistakes and misprints happen to all of us.

Makes us all feel a little smart when we catch a mistake in one of the gunzines :smile:

Lets hope Keith joins this forum and we can all enjoy some of his posts.

Regards,
Shay

 

[Shay]

BTW, if I remember correctly Heinie posted that his Slant pro sight originated when he was asked by STI to design a compact, carry gun sight. if you look at the STI compacts you can see the similarity of the sights to what we know as the Heinie Slant pro's.

Shay

 

[abnranger]

I had submitted those points to Mr Libourel; since he is the editor and a minor amount of research would show the errors in the article. To date I have had no response from Jan.

The Complete Book of the 1911 also has serveral such errors; again editted by gun professional Dave Arnold this time.
Pg 40 Wilson Protector, funny it looks like a Auto Ordnance or a S-A Gi model 1911, same page-Wilson K245 funny I thought it was KZ . Pg 42 Caspian offering complete 1911, news to Gary Smith. Mentioning Enterprise, they are pretty much out of the 1911 business.

I am certain that are many other examples but these are just two.

Ah yes but I am overly critical.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: abnranger on 2001-12-20 10:30 ]</font>