A lot of us liked the old American Survival Guide from years ago but it closed up shop awhile back.  Well I was in Walmart today browsing through the magazine rack and saw a new ASG magazine.  Skimmed through it and then bought it.  

I'm pleasantly impressed.  There were some decent articles and some decent writers.  Lots more than just "which gun is better" articles.  

I very rarely buy magazines which is probably why this is news to me but I'll probably check out the next one when it comes out.

http://engagedmediamags.com/outdoors/magazine-specials/american-survival-guide

I take it you never read the original Shooter's Guide/ Survival Guide... they went yuppie, I read the new incarnation and it is more Hipster...

I can't remember that one.  

I seem to recall buying the old ASG last around the early 2000s if I remember correctly.  I always enjoyed it and there was usually some good articles, many of which had nothing to do with guns.  

I can't remember when ASG stopped publishing but seem to remember that it was around 2004-2005?  Not certain on that.  I know there was an online version for awhile but I never got into it.

I literally haven't bought a magazine of any type in several years....maybe more like 4-5 years.  I had stopped looking at the magazine rack because there was so much crap and much of the info in magazines is available on the internet.  

I'll buy another of the new ASG magazines when the next one comes out but I enjoyed this one and still have a few articles to read.  There was quite a few articles compared to most other magazines so seemed to be worth the price.

Early 80s, it was by people that believed in being prepared, not trying to sell gimmicks to hipsters. When I saw an article on TEOTWASWKI I never wasted the money again

The original ASG was originally Shooters, then Shooter's Survival Guide, then Survival Guide, then American Survival guide starting around 84'ish IIRC.

I visited their offices while doing a show in Long Beach in 96, we were advertisers there and Jim Benson showed me around.

On the wall near the front was about 30 magazines that group published- MOST of the other magazines were mainstream, then their was little ASG also. Like a single black ball in a bag of golf balls. I knew then it was a matter of time.

It changed hands and the format changed. It went from guns on the cover and survival to "How to survive Cheetah attacks" on the covers (2000'ish to close). The effects were IMMEDIATE.

They rode well off of Y2K rush sometimes having 100 pages in print with 3/4 of which were ads. The sales people forgot about when it was us and two or three other full page or two page advertisers and focused on the "new" money aka the "Y2K supplies" type retards that OF COURSE took off with people's money and left ASG hanging with big dollars in unpaid ads.

They changed names one last time in early 2001 and finally closed up in mid 2001. Oddly enough, had they stayed open till 9/11 they would have seen a surge again for a few months, then the current "prepper" phase which started being seen 2005-2006'ish.

The NEW magazine is shit, plain and simple. The people running it are absolute idiots. When EVERY SINGLE interaction with a company is botched by them, that's the only conclusion you can come to.

They COULD turn it around- find Jim Benson, if he's dead steal his DNA and clone him, then let him have FREE REIN running the magazine. Then fire the entire retarded Beckett media staff and start fresh with people that are like minded, understand the market and /or have an IQ higher than 6.

And someone needs to tell the dumbasses to stop mailing it BLIND. Really? Who doesn't want something with "SURVIVAL" with gas masks and rifles arriving at their post office with their name on it regularly. Course that is after they comp an Advertiser with ROMANTIC HOMES magazine instead of the correct magazine they paid to have their ad in.

Like I said, ABSOLUTELY NO UNDERSTANDING OF THE MARKET.

I used to like some of the other mags from the 80's too.
Still got stacks of them.
The new one, like alot of newer mags are just sales platforms. A way to make money from advertisers, and shill there products.
You wont find an unbiased gear report in a magazine these days

Is this the one that is like $9.99? I'd buy one at $6 bucks maybe but 10 bucks is a box of Federal 9mm aluminum or ZQ1 308 !!!

I consider THE BACKWOODSMAN magazine the best magazine out there for survival ideas. Low cost, low tech and minimal obnoxious advertisements.

Jim Benson now writes for me at Be Ready!
Our next issue will be out May 26th

Its good but I sometimes laugh at 2 or 3 page article about how to make a throwing stick.

Or how to go after Bigfoot....


And backwoods home and backwoods man are the only two mags I will buy. Everything else is glossy high tech fluff. They all have the same generic articles on the same generic topics.

I think they are pretty dumb myself, but my wife reads them and usually every month decides something else is worth doing to be prepared so I'll keep bringing them home I guess.

Great job! Jim is an awesome guy. Run with some of his ideas, he was THE brains behind the most successful survival magazine ever.

Please tell him Robert Henry said hello!

About time, I keep looking for it

Does it have good pictures? That is pretty much all I look at in a magazine. Words are confusing.

Kidding.

I'll check out an issue to see if it catches my interest.

I don't really read magazines anymore, but I remember reading my dad's copies of American Survival in the 80s when I was a teen. I guess it made more of an impression than I realized

I used to get Backwoodsman.  I still have the article about making black powder (or maybe brown powder) out of dirt in a chicken coop.  

Which issue was that? Sounds like a great science project for skewl.

Are back issues available (print or online)?
Where?

Thanks

Back issues of Be Ready! are available online

Issue #1 sold out immediately and became a collector's item but
some remain for #2 and #3. We finished #4 and it will be out May 26th
and we have about 1/3rd of #5 completed.......

Do you have a link for where to find them?

Google is not helping much.

Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile

Now that is a trip!

I still have ASG back issues from when you first began writing. I always picture you wearing surplus EG camo.


Now I feel old.

Same here

WOW
my bad for forgetting the link.......

Be Ready! Back Issues can be found here!!


Issue #2


Issue #3
(I really liked this cover)

Ah the glory years! Those were good times!

I really enjoyed writing for ASG and GunWorld

It's only been 17 years..........so we can't be THAT old.......

Damn, I starting reading it over 20 years ago, I miss it, they were realistic, not preppy yuppie

Might have to give Be Ready another look then. Used to be a subscriber to ASG back in the 90's. When they suddenly started publishing articles on survival smoothies and packing your own feces out when hiking to minimize enviromental impact I knew something was up. IIRC their was an editorial article shortly before closing doors that the original publisher ( a conservative )had passed away and his surviving spouse ( a liberal who hated the magazine ) was deliberatly trying to sabotage the magazine. She didn't care about making or losing money, just wanted to see it fail. Then some of the original staff got together I guess and got the rights and tried it as a online only subscription magazine. I like a hard copy in hand for referencing so the online thing didn't appeal. Been wondering if the new ASG was related ( even a similar title font ).

Damn more like 30 years ago

You know........people on the interweb keep saying that and
yet we keep breaking sales records....weird.
Don't know what to tell you other than print and internet both
have something to offer.

Glad it interests you.
No subscriptions right now, perhaps that will change in the future.

Look for us on the newsstand May 26th

I too read the American Survival Guide, Shooter's Survival Guide/ Survival Guide.
They seem to go away after Y2K bombed.
The name changed, but if these magazine where wrote for yuppie!  
They missed and hit me instead.(blue collar) all the way.
This New American Survival Guide, I have looked it over on the news
stand a few times.
I have bought two. Both had article I wanted to read more about,
but not standing in the store.
And as Tacoma721 said $10.00 is a box of ammo.
The strange thing is the old ASG was close to a box of ammo too!
I won’t  say I would not buy another one. But if I do, there will need to
be something I have not read about before.
If you like this magazine their subscription rates are not bad
1year (12 issues) $29.95 or $2.50 an issues
So there making their money on the adds. Like most magazines do.
($2.50 is mostly postage)
I will be the one standing at the magazine rack checking this mag, as
well as the other outdoor/survival mags out!!! Just to see if they came up
with anything new. Or something old, done a new way.


PITA45

PS I still have all most of the back issue of American Survival Guide, Shooter's Survival Guide/ Survival Guide I bought them new! Yes I'm that old!!!

I thought I was the only one who had saved all of my issues
My collection started in 1988 and went til the end
Scanned them into PDF last year as part of the divorce move and gave the paper issues to guys on forums who asked for them.

Despite there being so many guys who've said on forums that they saved all their issues, I've never had more than one guy say he'd loan me any of their copies to scan and fill the holes in the PDFs
Still lots of holes and gaps, especially in years before 1986 or so.
Steves Pages and Bucknball had a few scanned copies from 84-88 or so
I understand a lot of guys don't want to trust an irreplaceable item to a stranger on the net so I keep checking the magazine section at the  annual library book sale.
Sooner or later someones gonna toss out their deceased dads collection, I'm guessing

Sorry your right about loaning things out. But your also right about getting TOSSED!!!
I know for a fact that when I'm gone the wife will toss a lot of things that I think are importon!!
The best I can hope is she gets $010 on the dollar!!!



PITA45

Gone as in dead gone or divorced gone
If its dead gone, make sure you leave those items to someone in your will who will appreciate having them
if its divorced gone, fight for anything you can use in the division of marital assets. It's still your property as much as it is yours until the parties agree as to who gets what.

Yeah it is unfortunate about folks not being willing to loan stuff out but hey, I understand where they're coming from

I haven't gotten a copy yet, but I see that American Survival Guide is available in digital formats on Zinio and Apple Newsstand.

Robert

I still read it (have a subscription)

but I still have my old back issues and read them too (and any other prepping/gun magazine)

I really like "modern pioneer" and the wife does too

I have all the old issues...and SOF surive....

If I'm in the states, I'll buy both from you guys. (Always good to have an electronic copy)
If I'm deployed, just the electronic copy will do.  Thanks for offering both,

I really think Be Ready is about the best there is.  

I would like to see them, or someone, execute more in depth how tos or a series of articles relating to how tos like solar, food preparation and storage like smoking and salting, etc.

What would you like to see about solar?  I'm working on a build for Issue #7 that will show how anyone can build a very capable field telephone switchboard that can tie together a large home and outbuildings, a neighborhood, or even serve as a capable telephony system for a small office.  The idea is for it to be entirely self-contained and be capable of being powered by a 12vdc power source.  A side build that may be in that issue or #8 will be the cellular data backhaul that will fit in a very small (think paperback sized) pelican case and be entirely solar powered.

As far as solar, what did you have in mind?  It is difficult and very expensive to build a system to power a home, but it is far easier to piece together a system for powering a large campsite/bugout cabin.

What do you want to know about living solar, we have a 9.4KW system. Yes I was one of the last 55% gov rebates. For a house it is much different that an off grid. I was lucky to spend and afternoon with Joel Davidson 30+ years ago. He was the grand daddy of the solar movement.  I can power 5 tons of AC on my system. For now it is no electric bill.
My home was to be solar from the door. Extra insulation, and the HVAC are more efficient, two 21 SEER units. Survival is not about SHTF, it is about a standard of living for the next few decades

How often are issues of Be Ready released?

Twice a year.  In May and in August.

That sounds great1  Can't wait to read it.  

As far as a solar power bank went, I'd like to see an in depth or a series that discusses the basics; panels, battery banks, how to figure out power needs, and then maybe build off of that.  

I know that for our bug in/out situation, we would like to see a basic system to run a very small chest freezer and maybe a few other things.   I read these articles and Internet blogs regarding some skills that I have no personal knowledge of, and I'm always left with questions.   Maybe consider doing an article with a Pro and a Joe, where as the pro can do the set up, and you have someone wanting to learn, asking questions that maybe the pro thinks are so obvious, that those questions don't get addressed.

I found the latest issue of Be Ready today at a Barnes & Noble.

I have not sat down to read any of the articles, but I did scan a couple of them and am very happy with the issue.

I have had a very exhausting, stressful week, that is why I am not attempting to read anything tonight.

I will be letting friends and co-workers know the new issue is out there.

Road trip, actually next weekend to the big mall.

I sit in front of a computer all day for work.  I don't want to have to do it to browse through a magazine.  Yah yah, Kindle blah blah, but I still prefer pages I can flip.
My Luddite ass still gets paper bills instead of electronic, too.  It'll stay that way until I don't have the option anymore.

Pads are great when you get old, no reading glasses

The Spring 2015 issue of Be Ready! is now available
if you can't find it locally, such as at Walmart or a bookstore or newsstand
you can purchase it online

Be Ready! magazine available online here