What’s the Electronic NRA Magazine Like?

In 2025 the National Rifle Association announced some major changes. Last month NRA President Bachenberg addressed members’ concerns with changes to the magazines. The first electronic issues have arrived; so what’s the deal?

Prior to changes to NRA Publications transitioning to a new division, NRA Media, there were four magazines. Due to the price of printing and mailing, NRA leadership found it to be cost prohibitive to continue printing those magazines on a monthly basis. They announced in Oct. 2025 that they’d be cutting down to two magazines: “American Rifleman” and “American Hunter.” The magazines would be coming out quarterly in print and monthly in digital form. The first digital edition hit inboxes on January 22, 2026 and here’s a rundown.

While the NRA has made available many of their magazines online in one form or another over the years, this latest effort is the first concerted and above the fold push to go digital. If you hunt around, you can find PDF versions housed online with full copies of the Association’s magazines. Not always the easiest to find, but fairly wide open for the public to grab. Also, many of the articles you read in print magazines do end up syndicated online at the sister-sites for the respective publication.

Years ago I utilized an Apple app where I’d get my magazine digitally delivered in addition to the hard copy form. You’d log in with your NRA number and password. To be honest, I have no clue if that former version of reading the magazine still exists, I just know it used to and it worked fairly well.

What do you get today though? The email from “American Rifleman” that I received had some simple instructions. A spot for those on a desktop computer to click and a spot for those who wish to download the PDF version of the magazine to their device. There were also login instructions for those who wish to use either an Android or Apple app — neither of which were linked in the email.

We’ll start first with the PDF. If you’re a consumer of magazines that also offer up PDF versions and you download them, this is fairly standard fare. It’s a straight up copy of the magazine, but just in PDF form. You use your PDF reader however you want.

The PDF version is good for desktop computer reading or on some tablets. I’d stay away from trying to read the PDF version on a smaller mobile device, but that’s just me. I hate zooming into these documents on a phone. Can you though? Sure. Knock yourself out. Maybe try “liquid mode” if you have that option — my phone told me the file was too big for liquid mode.

This is standard and no frills. The only negative I could identify is that the URL links in the PDF version were not hot. That is, you can’t hover and then click on them. That’s an easy enough thing to enable on the back end when formatting the magazine and I’m sure a suggestion the Association will take into consideration.

The desktop version is actually really great. To be honest, I have no clue if this platform was built out just for this new iteration and delivery of NRA magazines or if they’ve had it in the past. But what I saw was a fairly well constructed online magazine.

If you want to flip through it in a conventional manner — “Page View” — not a problem. There’s the action of the faux magazine page flip and the whole nine yards. You can click to flip or run your mouse wheel. 

There’s one zoom magnification — it seemed to be enough for me on a standard desktop computer with a large 32” monitor. You can zoom by double clicking the page or by clicking the zoom button. I’ll say that more than one zoom setting might be a consideration for some of the more stately members. When zoomed in, to navigate the page, one must click and move it.

There’s a full screen mode that you can use in Page View as well as there’s the ability to view a single page or the default double in “Spread” mode. A handy search mode allows readers to search within the publication and then jump to that section if they wish.

All of the advertisements and links are hot, including email addresses shared within the pages. The table of contents is hot. If you want to jump right to an article, you just click on it — this is a nice feature.

There are also pop-up videos. For example, on page 54 of “American Rifleman” in the new iteration of the “Dope Bag,” now named the “Gun Locker,” there’s a video of the Kahr X9 unboxing and another of it being fired. The videos are not embedded but rather inoffensive pop-ups. This is a feature NRA President Bill Bachenberg teased during our Oct. 2025 interview.

There’s another view that’s offered and it’s called “Contents View.” This is a neat capability. If you’re in this mode, you click on whatever article you’d like to read and then it pops up similar to the way you’d consume an article on the internet. Very easy to read. You can also “flip” from article to article advancing through the full magazine that way.

When flipping through the magazine in the normal page view, you can also hit a button for “read articles.” Hitting that pops the article up in a web form as well.

Depending on how you like to take in content, there are options that will probably suit your needs.

I opened up the desktop version on both my tablet and my phone. It functioned flawlessly. As a matter of fact, running it in Contents View made the magazine very readable. So those of you who like to take content in on their phone or tablet for that matter, the desktop version works great in Contents View. The desktop version defaulted to one page view when viewed on a mobile device. To turn the page, you swiped.

The app was a little lacking and not up to date. I downloaded it on my Android phone after searching “NRA Magazines.” Lo and behold, the name of the app was NRA Magazines. I used the login info provided in the email I received from the NRA and it worked.

On my phone, none of the 2026 magazines were in the app. The platform for the app is very standard to what I remember the old app being like. Think fancy PDF version. So the readability is maybe not the best on a phone. It does appear that you can download issues from the cloud onto your device which is helpful if you don’t have internet, but you can get the PDF just the same.

When I downloaded the NRA Magazines app on my Android tablet, I logged in without issue. As with the phone app, the tablet app did not have any of the 2026 magazines loaded.

Is there another app I should be looking for? No idea. All I know is the apps that are available in the Google Play store work, but are not up to date. If they put the same features into the app that’s in the desktop web version, they’ll have a real winner in my opinion. But as for now I cannot recommend the app that’s available on the Google Play store. Apple? No idea.

Using the desktop version on your mobile devices I think is the way to go. Contents View makes the material easy to read and you won’t be zooming in and out.

Overall, I’d say the desktop version is the winner here. PDFs are great if you want to archive them or don’t mind zooming in and out. The interactive nature of the desktop mode really can’t be beat at this time. The app needs both a fresh coat of paint — if it's the one that I’m using versus another one that I don’t know about — and it needs to have its titles updated with the current issues.

For those of you who are still not onboard with the electronic version of the magazines, the NRA has heard you. In a Jan. 18 open letter from the chairman of the NRA Media Committee, the matter of opting in for all print issues was said to have been discussed. NRA Director Amanda Suffecool posted the letter she wrote on social media after the latest NRA Board of Directors meeting.

“One piece of feedback stood out clearly: many members who prefer monthly print magazines are willing to personally cover the additional cost in order to continue receiving them,” NRA Media Committee Chairman Suffecool wrote. “That option had not been fully considered during the initial budget reductions—but it is now front and center.”

Suffecool explained that they’re looking into the viability of enabling members that wish to have all issues delivered as hard copies to be able to pay a premium to receive them.

“There are many moving pieces, and we want to get this right,” Suffecool admitted. “Please know this: your feedback matters, and it directly influenced the direction we are now pursuing. Our goal is to balance fiscal responsibility with respect for member preferences, ensuring the NRA remains strong, sustainable, and responsive to those it serves.”

There are a number of print-on-demand printing/publishing houses and services out there that might suit the NRA’s needs for this. That’s something they could look into. There are options.

When I was queried by a director — when discussing unrelated matters — about whether or not electronic or online magazines are consumed or even liked, I simply did not have an answer. I could speak for myself, but that’s about it.

Personally, some of the online magazines I’ve experienced are not built out good enough and are clunky. I’d usually just download them as a PDF to consume them. I haven’t gotten that vibe from this platform, but it’s also still brand new.

What I could answer to is that I heard around the grapevine that at least one other traditional hard copy magazine was seeking to broaden their reach. Many magazines — like newspapers — have companion online versions and/or syndication of their content; I did hear that at least one publication is looking to expand their capabilities (and why wouldn’t they?) by introducing some online content. Was that due to printing and shipping costs? No idea. But I did hear some are looking towards the great digital westward expansion.

That’s a small rundown on what the new electronic version of the NRA magazines are like. This will be a period of adjustment for many readers, myself included. I managed to read my “American Rifleman” without any bumps or bruises. What about you? Do you have a subscription to “American Rifleman” or “American Hunter”? Sound off in the comments what you think about the new platform.