doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com New Index and Reader...................

Is there any word on the new Index and Readers that were supposed to come out? Thanks.

Received a card in the mail a few days ago that stated they expected it to ship at the "end of June."

Ken

I'm still trying to understand exactly what the Index and Reader is or does?

I finally bought one after years of seeing it advertised and when it arrived it seemed as though I paid a lot of money for what amounts to an additional copy of DGJ.

What am I missing?

It's just like any other index. You can look up a particular subject in right sidebar of the index, such as "Ithaca 4E", and the index will tell which issue and page number it was mentioned.

I find the inex very handy, for example if I wanted to find Oscar Gaddy's articles on Damascus Steel it lists the Volumes, issues and pages to look up. The same can be done to find a reference to an obscure gun maker, any place in any of the issues will be shown, if the are pictures it will be anotated. IMO this is a very useful research tool. The index is the column an the righ hand side of the pages.

If you can't figure it out, there is probably nothing we can do to convince you of the value of the index. Well, what the heck, I'll give it a try. Obviously you have never tried to look up some way back article by author or subject. The index makes that much easier than flipping through dozens of old issues. If you never need information from an old article, you don't need the Index and Reader. The good news is that hardly anyone ever sells a back issue for less than they paid for it. You may want to sell your index on the For Sale section of this site. You might actually lose a few bucks on it, because it is still available from DGJ. When they run out, the price will go up. The DGJ is not as good an investment as I thought since I have seen a few sets sell for less than $1000 lately. I guess it goes with the state of the market in general. I would like to see the index printed in soft cover instead of hard to make the price more reasonable. That way I could save ten or fifteen bucks every seven or eight years.

"Obviously you have never tried to look up some way back article by author or subject." In fact I have.

"The index makes that much easier than flipping through dozens of old issues". If easy is the goal, then an index, it's not an especially easy format to navigate. And I guess I am unusual in that I don't have that tough a time remembering about when an article appeared. And I actually enjoy flipping through old issues.

In the past month I have had to look up some articles that went back 15+ years ago. If you think I can remeber what volume, issue, and page number the various articles were on, you are GREATLY overestimating my brain power! It is very handy for folks like me.

But irrespective of the index, I liked the additional articles that were in the first readr. To me, it was worth the price just for all of those articles. If you do not want all of the additional writing, and can remeber things from 15+ years back, then it is a total waste of money. Personally, I thought the Reader articles were little more laid back and personal. Had kind of a "homey" feeling to me.

The morning after I learned there was a second Index and Reader in the making, I called them up and paid for mine in advance and can't wait to get it!

Bill, I believe DGJs by the bundle are all over the place pricewise. About two months ago, I saw your post that stated that you had seen a complete 17 vol. set go for $650. Immediately after, there was a complete set with the volume sleeves but no index reader advertised here BO. I didn't want to lowball the seller and miss any chance at all of getting them so I used your number and got them. $690 w/ shipping; all issues very crisp except for one '98 issue with some damage to the spine. I had about 11 issues of my own which I sold to a gentleman in Alberta who was going the a la carte route. Within two weeks of receiving my gilded rags, another member here put his up for $1k and found a buyer. As with guns, need to be in a cheap place at a flush time.

I have thought of photographing the separate indices and making my own index. Fairly easy with a digital and computer storage or printout but still a bit of work. Might be worth it if the second Index Reader doesn't materialize.

jack

I love the additional articles BUT would really love to see the combined index on CD-rom. Then you have value!