Sons of Guns

[Taurus 66]

If you don't like the show then don't watch it.

But, But... if I don't watch the show, then how will I ever know if I like it or don't like it?

 

[Jungo2]

I just seen a few bits and parts of it. The one about the double M16s... Am I really the only one who thinks it would of been easier with say...a .50 or some other more commonly used mg. I mean belt fed rather than mag fed, no overly complicated water cooling crapola. Sure your barrel might be 82 degrees, but how long will it take you to reload both those as opposed to a belt fed?

I thought the liquid-cooled, dual M-16's was your typical solution looking for a problem. As this was supposedly a military client, it seems that 2, off-the-rack, FN M-249 SAW's would have served the stated purpose quite well.

 

[jim goose]

Things that go boom are always interesting. Thats why I watch the show. But I cannot stand the attitude of the shop owner and his daughter. They act like everyone who works for them is missing a chromosome or something. Terrible people.

At least in American chopper, the kid that actually does the work has some ability to mock his fat worthless boss. It was a two way street. This is just a workplace at its worst.

I hope the gunsmith gets his own show and the daughter ends up waiting tables at Denny's.

 

[Dulvarian]

There does seem to be a lot of solutions looking for problems. The other side of that coin is sometimes that's how we get real innovation.

You also don't know how much of it is cut for dramatic effect.

 

[DammitBoy]

Since you are a self-proclaimed 'forum junkie' I figure you could answer that?

I haven't gone to the forum you mentioned in pm's - you said it wouldn't be a good idea since he has a forum there that he runs and it's frowned upon to make negative comments about his show.

Probably limits the number of negative comments in that kind of atmosphere, wouldn't you say?

 

[Kingofthehill]

I'll take a stab at being a "Self Proclaimed 'forum junkie".

I loved the thread at Silencer Talk forum
http://www.silencertalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=56887

he gets a little defensive as people call him out on the truth that the Katana is an overpriced joke. And this was the thoughts on the rifle a year before the episode even aired.

Will started this thread and copy/pasted it on about 6 other forums i can find and they don't understand the Price : What you get ratio.

Guys , there's going to be a lot of media on this one , thought you might ought to hear it from me first . So , introducing , New From Red Jacket:

1st response! LOL

Seems obscenely over-priced and the tech and features are very 1987.

My favorite is an upper that I put together with a chrome lined Bushmaster Superlight barrel. Retail for the parts including a carbon fiber handguard is under $500... If anyone wants one, I charge an extra $750 to torque the barrel nut. Paypal is fine. Gotta cover my costs, that barrel wrench wasn't cheap!

 

[millertyme]

I thought the liquid-cooled, dual M-16's was your typical solution looking for a problem. As this was supposedly a military client, it seems that 2, off-the-rack, FN M-249 SAW's would have served the stated purpose quite well.

I had the same argument about the turret mounted M16 as well. Not to mention the ease of linking belts together. Everything about the purpose for which the guns were needed points to a belt-fed MG, not a suped-up MBR.

 

[smince]

I haven't gone to the forum you mentioned in pm's - you said it wouldn't be a good idea since he has a forum there that he runs and it's frowned upon to make negative comments about his show.

Probably limits the number of negative comments in that kind of atmosphere, wouldn't you say?

Actually, I didn't say that.

I merely said Will has a sub-forum there. I also said the forum doesn't deal with hunting or sporting guns and you probably wouldn't like it there. They don't put up with any foolishness

Let's get our stories straight, ok?

 

[Mohawk]

Couple facts for the haters.

SOG is the top rated Weds. nite TV show on any cable network.
SOG has more viewers per episode than Glen Beck
The advertising sold during SOG is rated AAA+. Which means Discovery is making money hand over fist with the advertising slots. You don't see any sham-wows or ronco dicers. It's all top grade advertisers.
SOG is not a show tailored for firearms afficianados. If it were, then you'd get episodes featuring the obscure variations of the Mauser action. 5 guys would be watching while they spank their monkey and the rest of the nation would be watching something else. It's a show about "let's build something loud and obnoxious and go blow **** up." If you've seen any of the top rated movies in the last couple years, lots of bullets and bombs sells millions of tickets. Red Jacket and crew are very good at doing this and seem to have a lot of fun in the process.
The show isn't a how to guide for firearms and it isn't a political disertation trying to educate the public. At least in my small town, everyone pulls up a chair and a bowl of popcorn and is entertained with cool **** for an hour or so. They could care less if it was a MG38 in one frame and turned into an MG42 in the next. These are the people that buy the 40,000 Dodge Ram that is being advertised during his time slot.

I frequent a few gun forums over the last 8 years and I can honestly say I've never seen 1 complaint about any of the guns he's built over the years. nobody ever knocks the quality of his builds. In fact all are proud owners of Red Jacket builds and show them often on sites and brag about their quality, fit and finish.

I find it offensive for some to nit pick on his daughter. Those who do actually have never had any dealings with her or you'd never post the crap you do about her. I've been dealing with Stephanie for over 5 years on a professional and personal level. Stephanie is one of the most organized, capable, caring people one would ever meet. She is also very beautiful in person. Concerning inventory, logistics and finance, Steph is extremely professional and friendly at the same time. Those of us who deal with Red Jacket on a continuing basis will attest to the extreme competence of Steph.

When it was pointed out to Will that there are a lot of haters in the gun forums towards his show he replied, "Yeah, but every one of them has to watch every week, so for those people, I'm doing exactly what I'm supposed to and for the rest of the audience, I'm giving them exactly what they want." entertainment

 

[Vyacheslav]

I find it offensive for some to nit pick on his daughter. Those who do actually have never had any dealings with her or you'd never post the crap you do about her. I've been dealing with Stephanie for over 5 years on a professional and personal level. Stephanie is one of the most organized, capable, caring people one would ever meet. She is also very beautiful in person. Concerning inventory, logistics and finance, Steph is extremely professional and friendly at the same time. Those of us who deal with Red Jacket on a continuing basis will attest to the extreme competence of Steph.

some people seem to get really upset when they see a woman who knows alot about guns, especially when the woman probably knows more than them. combine that with the lack of over under duck guns and you get a perfect storm for angering fudds

 

[KodiakBeer]

I keep watching the show. I think the reality is that they are competent gun builders within their specialty - AK's.

Beyond that, it's silly and most of the designs are pointless - yeah, you're going to mount an M16 on top of your vehicle that operates via a $19 Game Boy controller and take it to Afghanistan... sure...

Has anybody noticed that not a single person on the show can shoot? At least once an episode they line up on their 10 yard "range" and shoot groups bigger than a truck tire all over a silhouette target? It doesn't seem to matter what they use; they shoot equally bad with modern or antique rifles, handguns, sub guns, whatever.

Then they tell us not to do what they do, because they're "experts"...?

 

[KimberUltra]

it just comes down to the fact that people find their lives worthless if they can't find something to complain about. Makes them feel superior to the rest of the world. Most of the big complainers are probably the ones who send their food back at a restaurant because the mashed potatoes are touching the steak.

 

[KodiakBeer]

some people seem to get really upset when they see a woman who knows alot about guns

Some people get upset when they see a woman who thinks she knows a lot about guns, but doesn't. On a recent episode she told somebody that their Universal carbine was "worthless". Well, a Universal is worth about $350, or more if it's an early one with more GI parts. $350 is not worthless.
On another episode she plainly admits she can't even shoot a handgun.

She may be a terrific office manager, but she's no gun expert.

 

[FourTeeFive]

It's a show about "let's build something loud and obnoxious and go blow <removed> up." If you've seen any of the top rated movies in the last couple years, lots of bullets and bombs sells millions of tickets. Red Jacket and crew are very good at doing this and seem to have a lot of fun in the process.

Well said Mohawk!

I wish someone would pay me silly money to do this type of TV show.

 

[stickhauler]

Some people get upset when they see a woman who thinks she knows a lot about guns, but doesn't. On a recent episode she told somebody that their Universal carbine was "worthless". Well, a Universal is worth about $350, or more if it's an early one with more GI parts. $350 is not worthless.

As a collector of USGI carbines, I'd offer about the same opinion on Universals. A carbine worth $350.00 would be the Hi Point so claimed to be a POS here when compared to a USGI carbine.

As I recall, that episode involved a guy claiming his "Universal" was a bring-home someone in his family had brought back from WW-II.

As for the forum where Will has his own sub-forum, I'd appreciate knowing what forum that's on, in my opinion, he seems like a pretty decent guy, running a business most here would give most anything to work at. Because, again in my opinion, if we had such wonderful gunsmiths here, they'd already have their own business creating firearms for hire.

 

[Vyacheslav]

that forum would be the saiga12 forum, its a great forum where if someone comes on there with an attitude like half the people in this thread they are run off pretty quick

btw kodiak, why do you think someone has to be a good shot to know a lot about guns? most of the time i see them testing guns to see if they work, not shooting groups

 

[Jeff White]

When it was pointed out to Will that there are a lot of haters in the gun forums towards his show he replied, "Yeah, but every one of them has to watch every week, so for those people, I'm doing exactly what I'm supposed to and for the rest of the audience, I'm giving them exactly what they want." entertainment

Two episodes was enough to tell me I didn't need to waste any more time with the show. Deleted it from the DVR schedule and haven't watched since, and don't intend to.

If Will thinks he's promoting safe firearm use and the gun culture by acting like a person who shouldn't be allowed to own a gun much less build them all in the name of ratings then he is either too starstruck to realize the damage he is doing to our cause or just clueless.

 

[KodiakBeer]

btw kodiak, why do you think someone has to be a good shot to know a lot about guns?

To have a broad knowledge of guns, as they claim to have... yeah, I think you need to know how to shoot. In particular, I'm thinking of the episode where they have a contest between the workers at their little 7 or 10 yard range. The shooting was awful. And then the female admitted she couldn't shoot a handgun at all and shot a semi auto group with an MP5 (?) which was also awful, but better than the other awful groups by the others.

I don't think they're idiots. I think they're very good within their specialty - AK's, Saiga shotguns and silencers. Red Jacket has an excellent reputation within that field. I wouldn't hesitate to buy any of those products from Red Jacket.

I think they're allowing the producers of the show to lead them into the goofy stuff. Once the show has run its course, they may look back and regret it.

I'm going to keep watching the show. I enjoy it. But... I can't help but roll my eyes at some of the fiction and fantasy injected into it.

 

[JackTheRipper]

And then the female admitted she couldn't shoot a handgun at all and shot a semi auto group with an MP5 (?) which was also awful, but better than the other awful groups by the others

She didn't want to shoot the handgun because it was a joke, I believe she shot a shotgun to guarantee the win... If that is the same episode we are talking about...

+100 to Mohawk's post... That was put very well!

The only thing I've seen Will do that he shouldn't have done was shoot the blanks, but hollywood does it all the time in the presence of professionals, which Will is.

People need to seriously lighten up and relax.

I really really do find it hilarious how the people who hate the show the worst, can't stop watching it and then run here to the thread to tell us that Will and his crew didn't wear the right color shirt one day. (I'm exaggerating on that one)... But really and truly, some of yalls complaints are the biggest cry baby complaints I've ever seen...

I wish Sons of Guns hadn't ended, I really enjoyed it and while some episodes were definitely better than others, I do believe Season 2 will be better.

 

[Aw4g63]

This thread is fantastic. We have the haters hating the show & the show lovers hating the haters.

I watch the show every now & again off my DVR. Last night I caught a few minutes of the dual M16's and I thought that was the dumbest idea I've ever seen. I'd never depend on some (I'm assuming is) cheap sump pump to run two machine guns. I'm convinced that who ever paid to have those made is probably pretty limited on gun knowledge. It's like taping two Honda Civics together to go faster.


And when I saw the eotech mounted on top of that rig, lol.........I shut it off.

 

[DammitBoy]

If Will thinks he's promoting safe firearm use and the gun culture by acting like a person who shouldn't be allowed to own a gun much less build them all in the name of ratings then he is either too starstruck to realize the damage he is doing to our cause or just clueless.

+5 on your post.

For the record, I watched five episodes before deleting it from the DVR. The only decent show was the flamethrower/MOH winner show.


ps - a whole new market!!

 

[JackTheRipper]

I wanted to add something...

I do believe Red Jacket is as an honest gun shop that makes quality firearms, but this TV show is about being entertained. Like Mohawk said earlier, if it was only aimed at gun enthusiasts, it wouldn't ever make it on a channel like Discovery.

I almost view Sons of Guns as the modern Tool Time (yall remember the show Home Improvement? Where Tim the Tool Man Taylor would build crazy overpowered things?). Well SOG sometimes do unrealistic, over the top stuff that would normally never be done, but they do them for our entertainment purposes. What red-blooded American wouldn't like this concept?

I believe if the SOG haters lighten up and drink a beer or two before the show and just relax, they too might be entertained.

 

[Jeff White]

I almost view Sons of Guns as the modern Tool Time (yall remember the show Home Improvement? Where Tim the Tool Man Taylor would build crazy overpowered things?). Well SOG sometimes do unrealistic, over the top stuff that would normally never be done, but they do them for our entertainment purposes.

The difference is, no one is trying to ban or restrict access to power tools. Not yet anyway. Where is the disclaimer that the stupid and unsafe acts that are done on this show are for entertainment purposes and are not representative of the intelligent and responsible people who own firearms? I for one am not entertained.

I believe if the SOG haters lighten up and drink a beer or two before the show and just relax, they too might be entertained.

Sam Adams doesn't brew enough beer to get me drunk enough that the stupidity and unsafe acts would be entertaining to me, I would pass out before I reached that point, which is why I don't watch the show.

 

[ultradoc]

They do alot of unsafe acts but it's cool to see all the neat guns

 

[Zombie_Flesh]

Jealous

I am jealous of Will, both for his knowledge of firearms, as well as his access to such incredible toys. I will likely never get to shoot a rocket launcher or a truck mounted dual full auto M-16. I NEVER get to fire a gun at work without heading to the range at lunch.

I enjoy watching the show to see stuff I cannot afford. I would hope this show MIGHT help pave the road to re-opening the MG registry.