These gun channels have millions and millions of subscribers among them and produce some of the best gun videos on the Internet.
While YouTube and other social media platforms have had big issues with gun content and its providers in the past, the largest video platform in the world has a lot of great gun-focused YouTube channels and YouTubers who have been steadily racking up views and subscribers.
These are some of the best gun channels on YouTube today that produce either high-quality information rich gun reviews and shooting tip videos, hilarious shooting vids or a mix of both.
They also help put a positive face on the firearms industry and the shooting sports through their YouTube videos. And, in these days of COVID restrictions and ammo shortages, their videos have also served as an outlet for many who can't get out and shoot as much as they want to.
Forgotten Weapons
If you want to know the ins and outs of a gun from the late 19th century and see how a real example works, chances are Ian McCollum at Forgotten Weapons has a video on it, if not an entire playlist complete with range test videos.
This is the place to go for expert analysis and historical information on a broad range of firearms, both military and civilian, from all over the world and throughout history, and a great place to learn how some famous but ultra-rare firearms actually work. McCollum is a full-time gun historian and we should all be grateful for the deep source of firearms knowledge he provides.
hickok45
The charm of this simply formatted channel is its honesty. It started off with the titular host shooting various guns at his idyllic backyard shooting range that runs up a berm with various targets, always including two liters of colored water and watermelons, at various distances, with his son serving as a videographer—and it really hasn't changed much.
That's the format for nearly all his long-form videos, which give viewers his honest, no-frills opinions and impressions of a wide variety of firearms as he demonstrates their loading and function on a range pretty much everyone wishes they had on their property.
If you have a favorite gun—from handguns to rifles to shotguns—that's still on your longterm wish list, chances are, hickok45 has done a video on it. This approach has garnered him a current audience of 5.75 million subscribers.
Garand Thumb
Every video starts the same way, with the host dropping a darkly humorous urging to subscribe to the YouTube channel such as, "If you've ever almost been killed at a public range, go ahead and hit that subscribe button."
The host, Mike Jones, is an active duty Airman in the U.S. Air Force who describes himself on his channel page as "an active duty military guy who enjoys firearms, fitness and humor." Humor is a big part of his videos, but the authority with which he speaks about tactical gear and firearms and how they're used in real world situations is what makes his gun content truly valuable. The YouTube channel currently has 950,000 subscribers.
Iraqveteran8888
Iraqveteran8888 is a veritable staple of YouTube gun content, and as the title implies, it is run by military vets. The channel was one of the earliest gun-focused YouTube Channels with its first video posted in February 2008.
In an interview with OutdoorHub.com, co-creator of the channel, Eric Blandford said, "I got back from Iraq in 2006 and found work to be in short supply. I wasn't unemployed, but I wasn't working full time either. I had a lot of spare time on my hands to do little things. I don't know what made me start, but I started making these videos and put them up on Youtube. One thing led to another."
The channel currently has over 2.5 million subscribers.
Jerry Miculek - Pro Shooter
The appeal of Jerry Miculek's channel is pretty obvious. He's one of, if not the, fastest competition shooters of his generation and is practically a living legend in the shooting world. He's also incredibly charming, nice, and damn funny when he wants to be.
The channel description goes like this: "Fast shooting? Check! SlowMo? Check! Comedy? Check! What more could you POSSIBLY want from a firearms channel?!
That's totally right, and you can easily get lost down the rabbit hole of watching Miculek perform shooting feats that are darn near supernatural.
DemolitionRanch
Demo Ranch is the kind of YouTube Channel you wish you'd come up with—you may even have to come up with it in your head, but Matt Carriker had the fortitude to create a gun channel he bills as "Not Your Average Gun Channel" that basically consists of him shooting a lot of guns at a wide variety of sometimes bizarre targets on his ranch.
Actually, it's DOCTOR Matt Carriker. Yep, that dude so many people watch giddily blast holes in body armor with a .50 BMG is a true blue veterinarian. I don't know about most people, but I come back for every new video just to see what Carriker is blasting this time, and it's really that simple.
Since the channel launched in January 2011, Demo Ranch has picked up an astonishing 9.16 million subscribers! As if that isn't enough, Carriker's other channel, Off the Ranch, has 3.9 million subscribers.
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