Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters MuleDeer...YouTubers and the industry?

I watch quite a bit of YouTube and there's a few guys I watch in various industries (farming, hunting, timbering, shooting, etc.) One thing I've noticed is the "influence" these channels have when a new product hits the market. Case in point, years back, it was the LogOx. It seemed like everyone was pushing this tool for cutting firewood.

With SHOT Show 2023 now over, I've paid attention to what's being pushed. If I've heard "360 BuckHammer" once, I've heard it a thousand times. It's become over the top for me to watch and I move on. These guys must be incentivized to say the name so many times within a single video. This particular YouTuber has published ~5 videos in 2 weeks on the "360 BuckHammer". With that said, how has the myriad of YouTube influencers changed the gun writing profession? In the old days, you picked up a Peterson published magazine to find out about new stuff. Now, it's a quick YouTube search and everyone is a paid sponsor or so it seems. Just curious your thoughts as your a seasoned veteran that people know by name and respect.

I don't know how many YouTubers are paid sponsors of certain products, but do know they get paid according to their number of views.

Also know former gun/hunting writers who have basically quit--or almost quit--writing for magazines. This is partly because the pay for articles isn't as good as it used to be, due to so many other forms of mass media also being part of the overall business. But some of those former writers weren't all that good at writing articles anyway--but are at "performing" in front of a video camera.

Some writers have also started side-gigs, like our website www.riflesandrecipes.com, which Eileen put together about 20 years ago to sell the books we were writing for various publishing companies. This eventually led to us starting our own publishing company--after several book publishers cheated us in various ways.

Essentially what's happened is the Internet and its thousands of extensions, such as YouTube, have allowed more of us to provide our products directly to customers--whether books, videos, or on-line "magazines" like our Rifle Loony News--instead of working for somebody else.

More power to ya', and best wishes for the coming new year.

Ya!

GWB

As JB stated, YouTube content producers put things out on what people might be looking/searching for - and paid per view. Some are sponsored or get product on loan or a reduced rate but many are not.

When you pick up a magazine, the content is already decided for you - whether you want it or not.

I like Ron Spomer's stuff, both in written form and video. Changing times for sure. Older folks like myself better adapt if we want to keep up.

Love a lot of the "unboxing" videos. Either a person with a Savage Axis II and one box of ammo telling us how accurate/inaccurate they are. OR some 15 year old kid unboxing a $500 muskie rod and $500 reel telling us it is the best.

I too, like Ron Spomer's videos but he isn't saying anything new either.

There's lots of stuff on YouTube and some of it is silly, but there is also a lot of useful information. I use gun related videos mostly for help in minor gunsmithing tasks. It's been really useful for that.

For example, installing a Grayguns trigger in a Sig P320 X5 Legion is not extremely difficult, but it took me almost two hours the first time I did it, and I couldn't have done it without watching several YouTube videos. Maybe someone who is more mechanically inclined than I am could have done it without the video, but I know a bunch of competitive shooters who have installed these triggers and they all used the videos.

See where the two you tube influencers got caught in a big way with wildlife violations? Their little empire just collapsed

https://nypost.com/2023/01/18/celeb-bowhunters-fined-133k-for-worst-ever-poaching-ring/amp/

He may not say anything new, but he may be saying it to people who are new to that anything.

When I taught math I never taught anything that had not been mathematically established for many years, but the students in my classes didn't know it yet.

Hank,

I'd never heard of those two but I recall recently watching a clown accidentally lighting his truck on fire doing a controlled burn - same guy.

Read the article. Wow! Straight up renegade. And now his clients are on the hook too.

John, I don't know who you were referring to, but I think Ron Spomer is a good example. I thought he was just an okay writer at Wolfe, whereas I really enjoy his videos, as he has a knack for them. I think he comes across better. I would think due to editing most people would write better than they can perform, but he is certainly an example of what you described.

Another thing you've mentioned in the past as a writer is being subject to non-disclosure agreements after you've seen the new wares but manufacturers are not ready to make the release yet. A few years ago I was interested in a Springfield Armory P35. I saw an early Springfield announcement, and then a few quiet months went by. Then one day within a few minutes of each other a whole army of YouTubers published videos on their take on the SA35, and their videos made clear they'd been shooting them for weeks or months. Clearly they had signed non-disclosure agreements in exchange for test guns, and I'm sure Springfield looked at subscriber numbers. Quality of content and amount of influence are not necessarily related.

Times change, but personally I miss the 1970's-early 2000's gun magazines I grew up on. Like daily newspapers and the 6:00 news, we'll never see their kind again.

Greg Perry

Hickock45 has 7 MILLION YouTube subscribers. Think of the magnitude of that. Paul Harrell, with a paltry 3/4 million, is by far my favorite YouTube gun guy. It sure is a new world in terms of information sharing.

Perhaps many of these YouTubers are also attempting to gain sponsorship by brown nosing. However it is the viewership and clean content that will attract the sponsor, no?

One of the best YouTubes was this old guy trying to quick draw his pistol.

He shot himself in the leg............and then posted it up so everyone could see what a fool he was.

Hey, whatever works for you.

I’m pretty certain that YouTube is hitting the magazine business pretty hard, and for good reason. Cable TV too. You definitely need to sift through the content to sort out the crap, but there’s tons of good stuff.

I, for one, would appreciate a list of what others find to be well made content about hunting/firearms/reloading worth watching on YouTube. What little media I watch is on YouTube and I have found a few good examples but much more that isn't and searching seems to be a huge time sink.

Thanks

Interesting take. I could read spomer when I still took mags. I can't stand his videos for some reason.

tcp;
Top of the morning to you, I hope the weekend behaved for you out east in the midwest and you're well.

With the admission that my good wife calls me a "data miner" so I enjoy rabbit holes, trivia and minutia, here's a few that I enjoy.

Ian McCollum is a firearms expert and author who has videos on just about every type of firearm in existence though many are military models. He is a very thorough researcher.

https://www.youtube.com/@ForgottenWeapons

This chap is a history prof in Hungary who also competes in black powder shooting. It's primarily black powder with a fair bit of content on European arms, but many US made black powder arms as well. Again very well researched and presented material.

https://www.youtube.com/@capandball

For mostly British or Commonwealth arms and a lot of very well researched history as well as how to run the arms themselves, Rob has content that I enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/@britishmuzzleloaders

This couple do deep dives into arms that Ian will take 15 to 25 minutes to discuss. If you like long form very detailed information, they're great.

https://www.youtube.com/@Candrsenal

Our 'Fire friend Cascade is part of this channel just south of me in WA. The main chap Gavin is detail oriented and a capable gunsmith and shooter by all appearances.

https://www.youtube.com/@Ultimatereloader

For mostly new handgun reviews, though he does review the odd carbine, Chris out in the Iowa flatlands is brutally honest.

https://www.youtube.com/@HonestOutlawReviews

There's a couple of the gunsmiths at Brownells which I enjoy watching, but they're not always in the videos.

https://www.youtube.com/@brownells

Honestly I don't watch a bunch of hunting content but these guys hunt in places I do sometimes or have in the past.

https://www.youtube.com/@journalofmountainhunting5177

Hope that gave you some stuff to take a look at if you're so inclined.

All the best.

Dwayne