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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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
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.
Thank you, that's a good list, and I appreciate your brief synopsis of why you like those presenters. Perhaps we should start a separate thread with the better reviewers and presenters.
Ian (aka Gun Jesus) and the fellow at HonestOutlawReviews are good presenters with honest information. You can tell several reviewers are just hyping whatever they're given, and others, while they may be honest, are so technically incompetent that their videos are almost unwatchable.
Here on out are just some personal rants folks are free to skip over -
No, I don't want to just watch you shoot over and over and over. You might be enjoying yourself but I find it boring and it tells me nothing about the firearm you're reviewing, just that you may or may not be a decent shot. If you want to give your subjective impressions of recoil, or how the pistol balances, or compare the muzzle flip of two different firearms shot by the same individual, that can be useful info.
Don't fire five shots offhand at a target ten yards away and call it an "accuracy test", at least use a rest of some kind. On the other hand, don't waste several minutes making us watch you slowly fire a five shot group off the bench in real time. Speed up the video and then show us the results.
If you do a "how to" video, edit your damn videos! I was watching something yesterday about how to replace a part and they guy had his hand in front of his work most of the time so you couldn't see what he was doing. He presented the area to be worked on in front of the camera and said, "I hope you can see this". Geez Louise! Did you watch your freaking video before posting it to even see if we can see it?! See "technically incompetent" above.
"Hi, I'm (wind noise). Today we're gonna be testing (wind noise wind noise wind noise). One warning - make sure to (wind noise wind noise)."
"Today I'm gonna tell you all about (insert firearm model here). It's AWESOME! Oh man, it's f*ckin' AWESOME. Well, that's my review. Be sure to like and subscribe to my other in depth reviews!"
Thank you for the suggestions. I have watched Ian McCollum and enjoyed his work. Another you may enjoy that is gunsmithing related is Mark Novak who does Anvil Firearms on YouTube
For sure Mark Novak is another one I'll watch if I have the time. He's obviously an extremely competent gunsmith. I want to say they were connected to C&Rsenal somehow too perhaps? It's similar approach to the in-depth information.
If anyone is interested in how military long arms stack up in long range shooting capability, Henry and Josh at 9Hole Reviews put some very well done demonstrations on. I'll note however that Henry seems to have otherworldly eyesight and is a proficient rifleman as well, but it's still interesting to see the differences.
If you haven't checked out this guys stuff, you should, he's very talented. His background is in software development with a degree in mechanical engineering, he's becoming one of the most talented gunsmiths of our generation. He may look a bit nerdy for the over 60 crowd but he knows his stuff!
Like Honest Outlaw Chris from Iowa I trust him and Tfb TV and fmg pubs folks. Yes I think some folks reviews are for sale but Chris honest outlaw just raked a .357 desert eagle over the coals and will tell you if a $1200 gun is crap and then show why it's crap.
If you haven't checked out this guys stuff, you should, he's very talented. His background is in software development with a degree in mechanical engineering, he's becoming one of the most talented gunsmiths of our generation. He may look a bit nerdy for the over 60 crowd but he knows his stuff!
I don't watch too much youtube stuff but Gavin is one that seems to have relevant tests/reviews.
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
I really enjoy TGS Outdoors, mostly about shotguns, and most of them priced well out of my reach, but they also feature driven hunts, clays shooting, and my favorite the Holt’s auctions.
I've taken a handful of video on wild game prep and posted them on youtube. The links are in Rifle Loony News regularly, and in our web site's blog posts. Last one i posted was on the Five Easy Pieces: otherwise known as quartering big game animals. That link is in a July 15, 2022 post; an upland game care video link is in the October 26, 2022 post. But click on any of them and you'll get to see them all.
Now once you get there, look just below the title of the video, there's a grayish circle on the left margin. It's supposed to be my bio photo.... If you click on that gray circle, the rest of the videos will show up. We did field dressing big game, and the Five Easy Pieces, and a series of short videos on upland game birds. Aging them, how to tell when they're aged enough, the easiest time to pluck them, how to take them apart. Lots of good info on upland bird game care.
Next project is to take video of big game quarters getting taken down to steaks, roasts, etc. I have several quarters in the freezer right now waiting for the knife.
If you have any interest in watching hunting videos- The Hunting Public is the one to watch. I think they’ve been making more money in the last year or two, but in their first year or two they were sleeping under tarps, driving old beat up cars, and it was just a group of young guys that loved to hunt. They don’t shlep many products, in fact OnX Maps might be their only sponsor. Highly reccomend them!
Oh and they aren’t hunting private land where the deer are managed, most (as in 95%+) of their hunting is on public land.
If you know how to play the game YouTube can be big money. Once you build a big enough audience sponsors will practically kick down your door trying to give you free stuff to "test". Manufacturers will pay good money to get their products out there in front of the public's eyes. I know of a couple "homestead" channels that have gotten tractors to use on their channel.
I know a few of the Guntubers and they certainly vary. Gavin is definitely a very competent guy. One of these days, I need to make it over to where he is and see if we can get a proper optics testing set up there. He seems to want to do it and that is what I do for a living.
I will say that Youtube has been really going after gun and 2A related channels, so their days are likely numbered. I have a very small channel focusing on optics, but I mostly use it as a feeder to get people to realize I have a website. I do make sure all my videos are copied to Rumble. When Youtube is done with a bigger channels, they will go after smaller ones like mine.
Interesting video. I'd like to see the rest of it if that exists. I've butchered a few deer but mostly take them to a professional meat cutter. Thanks for sharing!
I didn't read your text at the bottom before posting. I now see the other videos!