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So I received an email from producers of a new reality TV show looking for gunsmiths to participate. Apparently it's going to be a "gunsmithing competition" show. Since I disdain all things reality TV and most things TV this was an easy No!, but I've got to wonder how the heck would one set-up a competition show with gunsmiths? Who can polish an integral ribbed barrel the straightest? Seems like a difficult thing to compete in. Any ideas? | ||
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I received a direct call for the same competition. I asked the contact if they could answer just a few basic questions and never received any answers to those questions. I have a better Radio face anyway. | |||
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I know 5 people who have been on reality TV: The apprentice (1st season), The Doctors, Wife Swap, and Extreme Home makeover. Other than the guy on the apprentice who rode that fame to glory and fortune, everyone else said the same thing: never again, and they wish they hadn't. The fact that none of it is actually real is obvious, but they felt exploited, lied to, unheard, and misrepresented, all for the entertainment of others. I'd hate to see some legitimate gun builders caught in that web. I also knew a producer for big brother, and she was happy to leave for the same reasons above. She also told me something interesting about the IKEA in Burbank. Their #1 customer is the porn industry and after their shoots, return the assembled furniture to the store for no credit. That furniture is then sold As-is. | |||
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I got a couple of calls from the company that does Deadliest catch about 4 years ago. I was actually sort of semi interested in the idea, but I simply did not have enough space for something like that to be done and only being one man, I couldn't see how they could possibly make it interesting enough to last. I also don't have enough money that I could waste 4 months of the year with no income. Those shows pay very little for the first couple of years and even if it did become popular, I'd be broke before making it to that point. The only way I could see a show like that working would be to have a (cake decorating) type of show like Sons of Guns. While I hated it, a lot of my customers thought it was great. I saw one episode where they were installing a barrel on a bolt action rifle and the gunsmith went to the old, loud mouthed peckerhead and mentioned that he thought a depth mic might be necessary for the job. The old clown told him to use the tooling he had (a $40 Harbor Freight digital caliper) because he wasn't pouring $75 into a depth mic. I quit watching it after that. Other than that I don't know how you could make real gunsmithing interesting. You could put the top 5 stock makers together for a build off on TV and I would watch them inlet for about 5 minutes and switch the channel over to golf, championship chess or that creepy old German woman and her cute little sideshow that used to do the yoga show on PBS. You know what I mean? Something exciting? LOL When I was a kid. I had the stick. I had the rock. And I had the mud puddle. I am as adept with them today, as I was back then. Lets see today's kids say that about their IPods, IPads and XBoxes in 45 years! Rod Henrickson | |||
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Harbor Freight calipers are ten bucks here. I can see you on the Deadliest Catch, wrangling lobsta pots on the deck in a storm. I would watch that. But a gunsmithing show? It won't work; you have to have (create and direct) drama and humor, stupidity, and idiocy like they do on the Pawn Stars show. Nothing about it is "reality". It's all staged and directed. There is no humor in gnnsmithing. And drama use best avoided because it always means something bad. | |||
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A while ago I was also asked to consider participating with another company that had just shot a pilot for a similar style show on one of the outdoor channels. They were more interested in the Bling (i.e., hats and tee shirts) residual sales that can be had as a result of a successful show. One such show sold in excess of 3/4 of a million dollars worth per year. At dinner during this pitch I was told there has to be some type of drama in each issue that gets worked out and corrected by the "star" company as they are the experts. There is to be chomping of teach, yelling into the phone , hands thrown in the air. They, the stars, are groomed as the all knowing all seeing. I was asked to be the chump I lowered my fork and said "let me get this right you want be to look like an idiot and toss 3 decades of hard earned reputation to the wolves so you all can sell a f--k tee shirt?" I didn't stay for the desert tray to come around | |||
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 Yah know Tom. I have friends that say: "Oh yeah well, I'm a rancher, a rig-pig or pipeliner and I could work those pansy-asses-deck-loungers under the table any day of the week!" Well, I actually pay pretty close attention to what those crab fishermen do and go through and I think about it a bit. To be quite honest, I couldn't have done that job when I was 21 ! There is a reason new hands have such a high failure rates and good hands get paid $30,000 for 2 weeks work. It's because they have two weeks to do $30,000 worth of manual labor. Not drink coffee in the crew shack of the rig or spend all day mending 40 foots of fence. The only thing you would see me do on Deadliest Catch would be having a FAWKING HEART ATTACK after the first ten minutes. I'll stick with my warm shop where I can stand around all day, talk to customers, play with guns and drink coffee, with Mars Bars in it! LOL When I was a kid. I had the stick. I had the rock. And I had the mud puddle. I am as adept with them today, as I was back then. Lets see today's kids say that about their IPods, IPads and XBoxes in 45 years! Rod Henrickson | |||
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Oh Him hates that when that happens to him Darcy! You go into the bathroom every morning and walk up to the mirror and look this way, that way, up, down, the Bronson look, the Eastwood look and all the while wondering, is there a ( ( ( BUBBA ) ) ) in there somewhere that I just can't seem see? LMAO ROFF When I was a kid. I had the stick. I had the rock. And I had the mud puddle. I am as adept with them today, as I was back then. Lets see today's kids say that about their IPods, IPads and XBoxes in 45 years! Rod Henrickson | |||
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Rod I was really pissed when the said I had to have on a rubber chicken suit | |||
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Plus about a million. Unless it entailed a huge amount of cash up front I would be inclined to say no also. | |||
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 AAAHHhhh be a good sport Darcy and take one for the team. Buddy Ebsen tossed out his battered old fedora and wool coat and let them paint him with aluminum paint, wear a beer can and funnel for the Wizard of OZ ! lolWhen I was a kid. I had the stick. I had the rock. And I had the mud puddle. I am as adept with them today, as I was back then. Lets see today's kids say that about their IPods, IPads and XBoxes in 45 years! Rod Henrickson | |||
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SC, that was Jack Haley as the Tinman. I hope there is a special place in Hell for the producers of "Reality" shows. America is dumbing down enough without these shitbirds encouraging it! DRSS(We Band of Bubba's Div.) N.R.A (Life) T.S.R.A (Life) D.S.C. | |||
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Ah yes, but Jack Haley REPLACED, Buddy Ebsen who was originally cast for the Wizard of OZ. Ebsen had a severe reaction to the aluminum dust used to paint him silver. After almost killing Ebsen, they decided that making people breath aluminum dust might not be the best thing to do and they mixed the powder with cold cream so they could re-shoot and finish up the movie without killing the replacement actor, Haley. Only so many people will let you paint them silver and wear a beer can and a funnel. Some won't even wear a rubber chicken suit! When I was a kid. I had the stick. I had the rock. And I had the mud puddle. I am as adept with them today, as I was back then. Lets see today's kids say that about their IPods, IPads and XBoxes in 45 years! Rod Henrickson | |||
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My wife and kids love those reality shows. My youngest daughter and I prefer Mountain Monsters - fake as heck and you know it. I know a family that filmed their own TV series in Alaska. It was pretty good because they directed/wrote it and knew what they were doing. They were going to do a new one recently and they backed out because the production company was going to make it look like the other shows on TV. In terms of professional craftsman shows, the Forged in Fire series about knife making competition is pretty cool. "Evil is powerless if the good are unafraid" -- Ronald Reagan "Ignorance of The People gives strength to totalitarians." Want to make just about anything work better? Keep the government as far away from it as possible, then step back and behold the wonderment and goodness. | |||
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I did watch a series of shows on Netflix called Life Below Zero about people living off the land in Alaska. It was entertaining but you never know how much is real and how much is made up. | |||
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I have to confess that I really enjoyed watching/ looking at Phred on that Alaska gunsmith show. The rest of the show was bs though.  Doug Humbarger NRA Life member Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club 72'73. Yankee Station Try to look unimportant. Your enemy might be low on ammo. | |||
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I wonder how the old clown is enjoying prison? Dave In 100 years who of us will care? An armed society is a polite society! Just because they say you are paranoid doesn't mean they are not out to get you. | |||
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I watch Life Below Zero too and I can tell you that the Hailstones are pretty much as real as you can get as far as northern families go. I have a few Inuck and Upic customers and they are, well they live in another era with a few modern contrivances. We see them as a bit nuts, but they are all like that so I guess they are normal for the area and the way of life. They are pretty conscious and sticklers for the law in front of the camera as you won't ever see Chip shooting. But in real life things may not really work that way. Well, they don't. Maybe. Just sayin. LOL One of my Upic customers pulled up in front of my shop one day and I heard him arguing with my neighbors before he came in. After he came in he asked me: "Is that guy next door a freind of yours?" I said: "Who? Milian and Kenneday the two black fellas?" "No" He said "the skinny, whitey fawker bitching about where I park!" "Oh no" I said "I can't say that he is." "Good" He said. "Next time I come I'm leaving my old lady at the hotel because she gets mad at me when I kill cocksuckers!" I made him promise that if he killed him, to take it down the street a bit because I didn't need the RCMP on my ass about it. Sue Atkins, Glenn Villeneuve and Andy Bassich are also real, although keeping them out of society is pretty much for our good, not theirs. I don't think they are quite firing on all thrusters. When I was a kid. I had the stick. I had the rock. And I had the mud puddle. I am as adept with them today, as I was back then. Lets see today's kids say that about their IPods, IPads and XBoxes in 45 years! Rod Henrickson | |||
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Yeah, no doubt he had that coming. But it's amazing how the buzzards come circling in as soon as these clowns get a bit of fame and money. No doubt the embarrassment and and lack of financial remuneration would have kept his evil doings closed up for life if it hadn't have been for the TV show. You want to have all of your ducks in a row before you decide to be a big-shot. I also read that Richard Wyatt had to fire his attorney to advance his sentencing date a few months. No doubt, that's going to be another one that is not going to end all that well for someone! You can mess with the BATF quite a bit and it generally only costs you some money and your license. But when you mess with the tax man, they don't seen to have the same sense of humor. Al Capone could augment on that, if he were alive to talk about it. When I was a kid. I had the stick. I had the rock. And I had the mud puddle. I am as adept with them today, as I was back then. Lets see today's kids say that about their IPods, IPads and XBoxes in 45 years! Rod Henrickson | |||
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If You were to be the "Chump" I would sure like to know who They found to be the "Expert" | |||
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What irritates me the most is when people tell me about some reality TV show they've been watching because it has something in common with what I do. There's a group of ladies at church that always want to talk to me about some Alaska reality show because they know I lived there, or the handful of times I've been asked about a gun that was built on Sons of Guns. I agree with the thoughts of many here. True gunsmithing is not that interesting to watch on TV. Maybe with a fast forward button to see the process of building a rifle in a matter of minutes, but the masses aren't interested in watching a stock carved from a blank or a barrel fitted. | |||
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At the speeds most gunsmiths work it would be like watching grass grow in January. ________________________________________________ Maker of The Frankenstud Sling Keeper Proudly made in the USA Acepting all forms of payment | |||
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Why not t's easy: Clueless rich dumbass who hasn't worked a day in his life wants you to build a .17-300 Wby wildcat for an upcoming Marco Polo hunt on a Ruger 10/22 his grand pappy gave him and he wants it to look like a Red Ryder, but you have a 6 week deadline. And he wants to debut it at the Oil Man Mailbox Money Convention. Your crew has a deer in the head lights look when you tell them. Nothing goes on til week five when you have a list of things on a whiteboard that need to be done. Your right hand man quits because he's tired of burning the midnight oil on all of these unrealistic deadlines. With 5 days to go Dave Manson sends you the wrong reamer- everybody freaks out "We ain't gonna make the deadline!!!!!" You get the correct reamer overnighted........ On unveil day minus 4 shop idiot number one can't figure out why it doesn't fit together---damn cerakote added a few thousandths........Oh man we ain't gonna make it. Shop idiot number two solders on the sights backwards....but you don't have time, so you "engineer" grind & shape it into something workable....dumabsses all say "WOW man. Looks cool!!!" With 3 days to go, shop jackass is playing and drops the stock, splitting it.....so you find a new blank.... The guys work overnight to duplicate and shape it..... You look into the camera- I'm so proud of these guys..... Rich & cueless is at the airport- you send shop dumbass to pick him up while you checker it... He arrives just as you finish.....He is stunned.........he cries......it's perfect......blah blah blah...I didn't know how it'd turn out, but I just knew D'arcy could do it....... There are two types of people in the world: those that get things done and those who make excuses. There are no others. | |||
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...but then a look of sheer terror falls on the customer's face as he realizes he forgot to tell D'Arcy he was left-handed... Screen fades to black as D'Arcy pours a double G&T | |||
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speerchucker30x378 You're lucky, they don't sell Mars Bars here in the lower 48 anymore. Steve......... NRA Patron Life Member GOA Life Member North American Hunting Club Life Member USAF Veteran | |||
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NOOOOO! Clueless insists he mentioned that he is left handed! | |||
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NOOOOO! Clueless insists he mentioned that he is left handed![/QUOTE] You would NEVER make a screen producer. As he fades back, you forgot to mention, that he pulls off his DISHEVELED CHICKEN SUIT and pours a G&T !When I was a kid. I had the stick. I had the rock. And I had the mud puddle. I am as adept with them today, as I was back then. Lets see today's kids say that about their IPods, IPads and XBoxes in 45 years! Rod Henrickson | |||
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I'm thinking a Bubba Gunsmithing Show might be pretty intertaining. They make me laugh quite often. Welding on barrels and wood putty bedding; I'd watch some of that. Especially if they test fired them afterward. God Bless, Louis | |||
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Forged In Fire is a well put together TV program. Not reality TV......more of a timed and judged competition Take that style of production then add in gunsmithing parameters and I'd watch it. Most smiths aren't used to working "on a clock" or having their work judged and critiqued. ________________________________________________ Maker of The Frankenstud Sling Keeper Proudly made in the USA Acepting all forms of payment | |||
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Yeah, give four gunmakers a cup of ball bearings, an old leaf spring and oak log and tell em to get busy making a custom rifle in less than three hours using some one else's tools and a forge. And we're going to have our resident experts test it test it out with a vengeance. | |||
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Oddly enough. When it comes down to the hammer-off between the 2 last guys. I haven't seen anything even remotely matching the quality of the work done by the local knife makers here in Alberta. Alberta is not exactly a hub for custom knife makers. I also know that it doesn't take these guys around here 5 days to hammer out the high quality stuff that they do. I'm by know means a knife maker. But with my years as a gunmaker, it's not hard to apply my 35 years experience with fit, finish and what a line or a curve should look like to a knife. Are they saving the best for last? Or do the better knife makers in the USA simply not want to get involved with a prime time gong show? When I was a kid. I had the stick. I had the rock. And I had the mud puddle. I am as adept with them today, as I was back then. Lets see today's kids say that about their IPods, IPads and XBoxes in 45 years! Rod Henrickson | |||
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This fellow could pull it off: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MODF4dZbJE His name is Mark Novak and he is a gunsmith near Charleston, SC. I've shot one program with him and he is quite entertaining. | |||
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The last one of the knife shows I watched the competitors had experience of 17 years I think professional to an amateur part time kid. The first to get thrown out was the seventeen year professional who they all had complemented on his prowess at forging. He was not able to get a good grind and ended up without enough material left to finish the project. I suspect that working with equipment that these people are not familiar with and a strict time limit under the conditions of being recorded and also having the judges panel siting on their throne commenting on the work might have an effect. This mess is show biz and it is pretty much like all other "reality tv". It's designed for entertainment and not much more. I have seen the torture test destroy a fine looking knife by hitting the "rack of leg bones" canted. The tests are nonsense designed for drama. I'm not sure that the judging panel actually knows what a knife should be. I know a professional knife maker. He makes collectable folding knives and he heat treats in a heat treat oven. He knows his stuff and is anal retentive about his work and his equipment. It ain't easy making a living doing this work and few people have the patience and knowledge to perform at a high level. It would be sad to see gunmaking going to this level of showbiz fluff. It would be interesting seeing some of our fine gun makers doing their thing making a fine firearm but that takes time and I'm not so sure they would like to work under the microscope. In this day and time people want instant gratification and entertainment. I guess I am just an old fuddy-duddy that has more respect for the work than the entertainment. I hate to see an honorable trade demeaned by Hollywood hoopla. Joe | |||
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I saw an episode of How It's Made featuring Holland & Holland crafting their wares. Glorious bit of TV!!! NRA Life Member Gun Control - A theory espoused by some monumentally stupid people; who claim to believe, against all logic and common sense, that a violent predator who ignores the laws prohibiting them from robbing, raping, kidnapping, torturing and killing their fellow human beings will obey a law telling them that they cannot own a gun. | |||
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In a way I was educated as a kid. At maybe 8 years old I was in a radio show audience . The audience was like bunch of trained monkeys If they wanted to have applause they held up a sign "Applaud " and everyone started clapping ! Phoney is a polite description ! And that word would accurately tell you of the whole industry. Years later I asked someone in the business if they still held up the sign . 'Yes of course ' he answered ! | |||
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Unfortunately, Joe,,, the trade(s) have already been corrupted/demeaned. | |||
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That's the type of gunsmithing show I would enjoy watching or being a part of. I don't think it hits the masses as well as the "reality TV" style though with all of the drama thrown in. I've noticed the history channel and discovery channel are moving away from shows that are in depth behind the scenes types, to the drama filled fake reality style. It's a shame.
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It's a bit tough to condense 1000+ hours of work into 45 minutes of TV. Here's a couple of fully documented builds I've done...this is what real gunsmithing, not reality tv gunsmithing looks like. 10 Bore 1844 Purdey Style Double Rifle Playlist They are out of order but you can click through the playlist and it will keep you busy for more than a few hours. There are 22 videos in this build. 2 Bore SxS Rifle Build Playlist There are 41 videos in this build. I've been contacted twice by different production companies wanting me to be part of a reality tv show. Both times I sent them to my youtube channel and told them to watch it and get back to me if they were still interested in real gunsmihting. I never heard back from either one...I suspect they watched 10 minutes of me and decided I was less entertaining than watching paint dry. The number of people who would be interested in watching real gunsmihting is a very small market share. | |||
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Bubba Gumpsmith this fella already has it done https://www.youtube.com/channe...-IB2uyo6y9NbW-oD0fTw opinions vary band of bubbas and STC hunting Club Information on Ammoguide about the416AR, 458AR, 470AR, 500AR What is an AR round? Case Drawings 416-458-470AR and 500AR. 476AR, http://www.weaponsmith.com | |||
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One thing about that Royal Nonsuch kid Jeff. Despite all of the crazy stuff he has tried. He hasn't blown himself up and he still has all of his fingers (presumably toes), both lookers (presumably two hearers) and despite millions of internet viewers, his Mom still hasn't figured out what the hell he's been doing! This inevitably leads me to believe, that Royal Nonsuch, is actually ALL FAKE and the kid is really a Harvard graduate, rocket scientist and is working at NASA and he's been doing all of this to tempt others into blowing themselves up for his own morbid entertainment! LMAO ROFF When I was a kid. I had the stick. I had the rock. And I had the mud puddle. I am as adept with them today, as I was back then. Lets see today's kids say that about their IPods, IPads and XBoxes in 45 years! Rod Henrickson | |||
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