TV Gun Shows. False?

8

'88Scrat

New member
So I was watching an episode of "American Guns" on Youtube and decided to Google the Wyatt's shop Gunsmoke. What came back in the search was kinda surprising.

There were multiple forums, such as Calguns and AR-15.com that just brutally tore into their store and reputation. They were described as thieves, liars, and cheats by several customers. One lady even brought them to court in a civil suit. Long story short there was almost no good comments about them as people or their store.

Interestingly, RedJacket Firearms from the "Sons of Guns" didn't fare much better in reviews. Will Hayden and his daughter Stephanie fared slightly better then Rich Wyatt and his family on "American Guns" but not much better. There was even question as to if RedJacket was operating within the limits of the law, apperantly Will and Stephanie lost their FFL license.

I was wondering if this attack on charecter is deserved or if its just people who are jealous of their fame. I hate to think that liars and cheats are those representing our hobby...
 
Look at the dates of the reviews you are reading. I know that the woman who sued Gunsmoke (American Guns) did so several years before they got their terrible television show.

The two in charge of Red Jacket lost their FFL because they lost guns, according to their log books. The FFL is now held by one of the gunsmiths at the shop.
 
When you have a large customer base most of what you will see posted about your company will be negative. Why you may ask? Because people that don't have a issue with your products or customer service normally don't post about it.

People that had a bad product or service are much more likely to post about it and vent.

I personally don't think a handful of people badmouthing a company is reflective of what is really the case.

You will find 10's of thousands of people badmouthing Wally World but yet millions shop there.
 
Like most such "reality shows" they rush to meet a deadline, and act like putting in an extra hour of labor to correct their own mistakes will bankrupt them.

Personally I would not leave any gun of mine with them.
That said several of the guys working for them are skilled and fairly knowledgeable craftsmen, and should be able to do better if they started up their own shops.
 
I don't know, why don't you ever see emotionally balanced people on Jerry Springer? :D

TV show = drama. A shop willing to provide drama instead of putting that time into pumping out good stuff may be suspect.

I know nothing of the real life shops involved, but just some of the projects they take on are so ridiculous I question their judgement and/or integrity. Did Tom Knapp really have in mind a muzzle-loading blunderbuss as his be all and end all shotgun? Or was he just being gracious to a crew of nincompoops?
 
Everything on TV is for entertainment purposes. And yes, correcting a small mistake is very costly. You would have to fly a field producer from New York or wherever, hire sound guy, rent vehicles, hotels, rent equipment, hire a production assistant, hire camera guys (two or more), feed everyone, water, Gatorade, folding tables, send footage back to NY for approval and pay the characters. Plus numerous other things like waiting for exact weather conditions to match existing footage. A few minutes of reality show can be a week or two of work.
 
It rarely matters what the show, lots of set up to provide phony drama. I was watching a show on recovering cannon from a wreck and the narrator was dramatizing the recovery of a 800lb cannon and how lethal the cable would be if it broke.

Well its absolutely true that if the cable was to break it could be lethal but from the looks of the cable it appeared to be at least one inch diameter, maybe slightly larger... What are the odds of such a thing breaking if used with reasonable care... Not much... Just trying to add drama where there wasn't any... Same with gun shows and almost any other show.
 
Did Tom Knapp really have in mind a muzzle-loading blunderbuss as his be all and end all shotgun? Or was he just being gracious to a crew of nincompoops?
Click to expand...
They sure didnt touch Tom Knapps exhibition shotguns.
Good gunsmiths dont necessarily make good TV. Dramatic events make good TV. Still I will miss seeing Paige and even Stefanie. Those old machine guns were awesome.
 
Gunsmoke is the worst, they really rip people off. Frankly if those are experienced , trained gunsmiths I'd be surprised. They seem to struggle doing some basic work. I watched for the amazement factor, rich almost always has to save the day, they always run into some major issue. I wouldnt let them work on a wrist rocket. Red jacket is marginally better. I have to believe top gunsmiths would be embarrassed on how these guys are portraying their skill.
 
Gunsmoke is the worst, they really rip people off. Frankly if those are experienced , trained gunsmiths I'd be surprised. They seem to struggle doing some basic work. I watched for the amazement factor, rich almost always has to save the day, they always run into some major issue. I wouldnt let them work on a wrist rocket. Red jacket is marginally better. I have to believe top gunsmiths would be embarrassed on how these guys are portraying their skill.
Click to expand...
The big guy on American guns sits down to run the lathe. No self repecting machinist would sit down to run a lathe. Thats why it takes him a day to cut a thread and ream a chamber
 
American guns pricing is nuts (by pre lunacy standards)
SofG somehow thinks everything they do there "has neva been dun befo"
Family Guns has a man child that will never earn the trust of his dad to run the company (btw most of their guns have been de milled)
Combat Pawn, the jersey shore of the gun shows.
 
Just an FYI, Sons of Guns and American guns are scripted and they use paid actors for a lot of their dealings. The guns they create and sell on the show are not representative of their actual business.

That being said, people tend to hate on whats popular and successful. I'm sure the store is better than the reviews but worse than the show.
 
Just an FYI on reality shows, if you can hear the person speak... It's scripted. To hear a person on camera, it requires that the character to be miked up well in advance of the footage. This means that anyone walking into the store, or any situation has been prepped by a field producer, sound guy, camera guys and signed legal releases before anything happens.

Most likely an acquaintance of someone involved in the show.
 
Just an FYI on reality shows, if you can hear the person speak... It's scripted.
Click to expand...
This.
Its not real life, it's drama for TV entertainment. Think about it for a moment. Reality TV is the circus freak show of the 21st century.:eek:
 
"Most likely an acquaintance of someone involved in the show."

No, but I work in non-scripted/reality television. I know how it works. I'm pretty sure one of the gun stores was actually propped up for the sake of the show itself.
 
They ask for people to be guests on the show, go to their websites and look. (The shows site not the stores website)

One guy blogged about his experience, they don't actually get to shoot at that target that goes boom, they video him shooting then they video the target blowing up. Fun stuff eh'?
 
I guess what caught my attention was not their actions while the cameras were rolling, I always kinda figured that was staged anyway, but how their reputations suffered when the cameras were turned off.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top