YOUTUBE - SOME GUN VIDEO'S ARE ACTUALLY SO BAD THEY SHOULD BE AN EMBARRASSMENT!

[chief38]

Just a lazy day today - due to the rain. I watched a few gun video's on Youtube today (for entertainment) that were so so bad, I don't really know how the guy who made them actually had the guts to upload them! He was doing a trigger job on his carry gun and kept dropping the guns parts & tools under his desk after they sprang. He was misusing tools, slathering Lucas gun grease on parts Sig specifically tells you to keep dry, and just looked like a total buffoon. He was so proud that his Sig P365 trigger was about 3+ pounds afterwards. While everyone loves a good smooth trigger, a 3+ lb. pull on a striker fired gun with no manual safety is a bit scary to me. I HOPE AND PRAY no one really tries to emulate his actions and do what he did.

I watched another video on revolvers and as soon as I watched the guy pry off the Side Plate on his M60, I shut it off. I know most here know what's right, wrong or passable, but some of the new guys can really put themselves as well as their guns in harms way by watching some Youtube content. I couldn't decide wether it was comical, pathetic, sad or just stupid. Probably all of them.

Youtube ........ caution, this can be harmful to your health!

 

[6GUNSONLY]

It takes no particular expertise to post a video to Youtube or any other media other than the minor technical know-how to actually post the video. Doesn't mean you know anything about anything other than that, as you have observed. Yeah, a little scary at times...

 

[DwayneV]

I can't stand to watch someone doing gun work with a carpenter's claw hammer.

 

[Protocall_Design]

I can't stand to watch someone doing gun work with a carpenter's claw hammer.

Me too! At least they should use a gunsmith claw hammer, and a proper pry bar for the sideplate.

 

[jmiles1960]

I agree. There is some dangerous and down right, bad practice advice out there on YouTube when it comes to gunsmithing. I read the reviews / comments to see how the masses react to video. On the other hand, some talented folks have posted some timeless and useful knowledge shares and techniques.

 

[Krogen]

Youtube AND Wikipedia. Take both with a grain (a pound?) of salt. Both can have content generated by pure numbskulls. At least Wikipedia can be reviewed and edited by many. With Youtube, all you get is a comments section.

 

[Bald1]

The best are the tacticool guys. Dressed in SWAT type uniform. Perfectly quaffed hair. Impeccably trimmed beard. Just spitting out nonsense and cliches. One dummy actually said a S&W model 13 is not a good home defense gun, because it did not gave adjustable sights. LMAO you can't make this stuff up.

 

[Rlg#17]

Boobtube? 90% of its content is just bravo sierra… Anyone can watch a video and say, I are now a gunsmith!

Boobtube, ruining good firearms since inception!

Just a complete waste of time except for the occasional music video!

Regards, Rick

 

[ladder13]

YOUTUBE has helped me out on household, automobile issues, and yes, even gun related stuff. I will continue using it.

 

[Engineer1911]

The "Gunsmith" videos are 'problematic', but the "Reloading" videos will get you injured.

 

[rct269]

Yeah, but consider all the time you save when you see some mental midget pry the sideplate off with a screwdriver. There's nothing more to do but shut it off------and maybe go play with your children's Mommy.

Ralph Tremaine

 

[margethatcher]

Just yesterday I watched one where the colt detective special was built on a "large frame". I'm ashamed to say I almost seek ding dong's opinions to understand the current mindset.

 

[Moo Moo]

YOUTUBE has helped me out on household, automobile issues, and yes, even gun related stuff. I will continue using it.

I agree. I've learnt plenty of good stuff on YouTube, not just about firearms. I'm hopeless at DIY so YouTube has helped get me out of a few jams. You just need to watch a few different videos on the same subject to confirm you are getting the right information. YouTube is no different to books and magazines. Sometimes they can be quite wrong too. But at least you have an editor checking the facts - however wrong information can still filter through to the finished product.

 

[llowry61]

I have had some good experiences with you tube when repairing things.

I think the key is to watch several videos and read the comments. I am in no way shape or form a TV repairman, but there was a video on you tube that went through replacing a color wheel on my old Samsung 55-inch tv. I ordered the part which was 70.00 bucks and it worked fine.

I actually think it is useful, but someone who has 0 knowledge of basic repair / handyman skills could get themselves into trouble.

Like it has been said, "a man's gotta know his limitations"

 

[Duckford]

The tops was when some moron was teaching people "how to slick up a revolver". He took a perfectly good S&W revolver and proceeded to just run some 600 grit sandpaper against everything that wasn't the surface of the gun, every internal surface.

Meaning the mouth breather managed to scratch up and roughen up every part of the gun and make it worse. Not only was he making a perfectly good gun worse, but he was encouraging other people to follow his mistakes. Enraging.

Gun assembly videos are sometimes incredibly valuable, especially trying to do it on a different model. Youtube has been very helpful to help me on endless small tasks. It certainly has its uses.

But, yes, most "experts" are just idiots. And if it is just for entertainment and views, fine. But people spreading harmful, destructive, and demonstrably wrong information as education should be taken out and beaten with a ball peen hammer.

Then again, bad advice and myths have plagued us long before the internet. Been watching 4x4 videos, and love how many gullible idiots there are out there that insist on pulling vehicles out, with the tow vehicle driving backwards. Of course, the myth is "reverse gear is lower 1st gear" even though you can show countless people the actual specifications of their particular vehicle and prove to them it is the opposite, and pulling backwards is always the wrong way to do things.

Luckily, I see more real advice on the subject actually trying to correct these problems, rather than spread the idiocy. So, in so many subjects, the net effect of Youtube is a positive.

Guns are one of the fields where I fully believe the net effect is break even or possibly net negative.

 

[S&WIowegan]

Prying sideplates off

Back in the 1990s when I was fairly new at using revolvers, I was bringing my gun business to a local "gunsmith" who had a pretty good reputation. Then one day I brought a revolver(Smith of course) in for trigger adjustment. As I watched, he removed the screws and PRIED! the sideplate off. I tried to stop but he just laughed and did it anyway.

That was the last time he EVER worked any of my revolvers!

 

[Telecaster]

"In the future, everyone will be on Youtube for fifteen minutes."

 

[pantannojack]

I 'GonG" the ones with long introductions.

 

[chief38]

YOUTUBE has helped me out on household, automobile issues, and yes, even gun related stuff. I will continue using it.

Oh - don't get me wrong, there are some good ones out there. One just needs to discern which are which - just like everything else I suppose.

 

[DWalt]

Bad videos on YT are not limited to gunsmithing. I did a medium difficulty job on my pickup truck today that I had never performed before. Turned out there were four different how-to videos on that topic. Two of them were really how-not-to videos, while the other two were OK. I watched all of them and figured out the best way to do the job from one of them. It is also helpful to read the comments on the videos. One of the comments was very helpful to me in clarifying one issue I had doubts about how to do.