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It’s no secret that we here at TTAG aren’t exactly fans of Red Jacket’s show. It’s actually such a non-secret that the Discovery press people have made their displeasure known to this writer. But being eternal optimists we had hope that the show would turn itself around and actually be interesting to gun people as well as the uninitiated masses. Unfortunately a press release ahead of tonight’s season premiere seems to have sunk that hope for another season, indicating in a groundhog-esque manner 4 more episodes of bad ideas, useless projects and downright dangerous practices.

(Silver Spring, Md.) – Will Hayden and his team of gunsmiths at Baton Rouge-based Red Jacket Firearms are back for an all-new season of Discovery Channel’s hit series SONS OF GUNS, returning Wednesday, February 29th at 9PM ET/PT. And at 10PM, after the season premiere, join Hayden and AMERICAN GUNS’ Rich Wyatt as they count down ten iconic American shootouts – from Wild West standoffs to mob hits to world war – in the one-hour special TOP 10 SHOOTOUTS. Firing historic weapons, they give rare insight into the guns – and their owners – that changed history.

In this season of SONS OF GUNS, gunsmith Vince Buckles is still missing from Red Jacket after several disputes finally forced him to leave the shop. But the orders keep pouring in, and Will and crew work night and day to keep up. But in true Red Jacket fashion, they also find some time to have a little fun when bike legend Jesse James and music legend Joe Perry drop by the shop. And Will gets back to the basics as he spends more hands-on time with his builds.

Coming up this season:

This Time it’s Personal

Season Premiere: Wednesday, February 29th at 9PM E/P

Officer David Liang of the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) wants to transform a Ferret armored scout vehicle into a crowd control/riot control vehicle and turns to Will Hayden and the Red Jacket crew for help. The team travels to New Orleans so Will can do a ride along with Officer Liang while the rest of the crew goes into the French Quarter to have some fun. They never expected that one of their own would witness a murder in the streets only 40 yards away. This project just got personal.

Officer Liang brings the Ferret to Red Jacket and they decide that Joe, who witnessed the crime, will lead the build. They install 16 grenade launchers, an adjustable flow water cannon and convert the gun mount that was made for a 240 Bravo into a 1919 mount. Meanwhile, the shop continues to bustle and Vince is still MIA. Will, angry, has no idea why he left. Everyone steps it up to help out in the shop, including Stephanie.

Sniper Rifle Silencer

Premiere: Wednesday, March 7th at 9PM E/P

Jon Weiler of Professional Marksmen Inc. commissions the Red Jacket crew to integrally suppress a .50 caliber sniper rifle. This is one of the largest caliber gun rounds – and gun – in the world. And they only have a week to do it. Will, Joe, and Kris work through the night to come up with a plan. Meanwhile, world record holding exhibition shooter Tom Knapp comes in to the shop to ask Will to build him a shoulder-fired weapon that he can use to shoot several clay targets with one shot. Will agrees and takes on the challenge. Drama arises when Kris nearly breaks the CNC machine, worth $250,000. And Will calls in a favor and brings in a new gun mechanic for a week to help get some of the big Red Jacket orders out the door while Vince is still missing from the shop. But all doesn’t go according to Will’s plan.

Kamikaze Cannon

Premiere: Wednesday, March 14th at 9PM E/P

Vahan Kelerchian from Armament Services International has a client willing to pay $50,000 to get his Japanese auto cannon repaired – but he needs Will’s help. Will tells him he is backed up and can’t do the job for months. Vahan leaves an unhappy customer. Joe, who recently lost his second job teaching, sees the situation unfold and decides to take on the job himself – and enlists the help of the other RJ guys. Everyone is nervous but they are willing to do it for Joe. Flem has a heart to heart with Vince asks if he can help out with Joe’s project – and Vince agrees. Will catches on to the project and monitors it from afar. But when the team sneaks out to reveal the weapon to Vahan, Will races to the scene to prevent the test fire, knowing it could seriously hurt someone. Joe finally confesses to Will why he took on the job, and that he is concerned for his family as he no longer has a paycheck, health insurance or pension from his teaching position. Will appoints Joe CFO of RJF and welcomes Joe aboard full time.

Jesse James Gun

Premiere: Wednesday, March 21st at 9PM E/P

Jesse James surprises the crew at Red Jacket Firearms as he stops by the shop to have them build a custom WWII BAR machine gun for him. He wants to help with the build, and had been talking to Vince about the weapon. Jesse wants Vince to lead the build. Tension builds with Vince in the shop again.

SONS OF GUNS is produced for Discovery Channel by Jupiter Entertainment. Stephen Land is executive producer, with Patrick Leigh-Bell as co-executive producer. For Discovery Channel, Dolores Gavin is executive producer.

What boggles my mind the most is that they’re actually starting to revel in the fact that the stars of the show are so unsafe as to be a danger to their own lives. And I quote: “Will races to the scene to prevent the test fire, knowing it could seriously hurt someone.” This is definitely not the image of gun stores and FFLs that we want to present the public.

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83 COMMENTS

  1. I watched about half of season 1 before turning away for good. The two things that bothered to the point that I completely lost interest in the show were that Will is insufferably pompous; to the point of poisoning the whole well and they didn’t get technical enough with the build to satisfy my curiosity. Often a project would be issued as a challenge, then we cut to the “That’s not possible” scene, then cut to a few minutes of nondescript design/build then cut to test fire. It just wasn’t enough in depth gun smithing to interest me.

    • Does anybody actually think that their prototypes are any good? I’m not an expert and I don’t care anymore, but to me it all looks like some random pieces of poorly welded steel, strong enough just to survive a “test” performed by some numbskull with a death wish. Maybe some people call that entertainment, but it’s just going to reflect poorly on the gun community as a whole.

  2. A simple equation will explain my interpretation of this travesty-in-progress:

    Here we go…

    Let A = The Cast (Following established Archetypes)
    Let B = Production/Post-Production/Editing/Presentation
    Let Q = Questionable Practicality of Constructed Weapon Systems (Most, not all)
    Let R = Rating
    Let $ = Greed/Money
    Let S = Safety
    Let T = Responsibility
    Let Y = Combined Years of Experience

    [(S + T) x Y)] < [(A + B + Q)]
    Therefore:
    The Result of this critical imbalance shall denoted by (R)
    (R) is directly proportional to ($)

    ($) is highly influential to a 4-dimentional shift will cause
    a simultaneous increase and slight change in (B) and (Q),
    and therefore an increase in (R), which will cause an increase in ($).

    …rinse, repeat….

    The sum total of Safety and Responsible firearm practices is overlapping, reinforced and exponential.
    For this, we shall assume that one increases the factor of the other.
    Lack of Safety/Responsibility or combination of such factors at the higher levels is to be considered purposeful negligence.

    The End.

    ***I hope this make sense, I went over this briefly and I think there might be a problem still. Regardless, my only intent is to make people laugh and share my loathing for Red Jacket. I hope everyone here was entertained. Thanks for reading. ~ Grimlock99****

    PS: Money outweighs BRAIN!!!111!!!!!! I hate the show. I hope it is cancelled soon.

  3. Once again money takes over, where substance and intellect should reign. The show needs to get off the drama kick. Get rid of the whinny voiced daughter. She knows nothing other than what some script writer tells her to say. Will needs to grow up, and the shooting public needs to shut this, and American Guns down.

      • Yeah, everything is Aliens on there now. Actually aliens having influenced our history. I didn’t know we had first encounter but they talk about stuff that ten years ago would have had them thrown in the bin.

  4. The shooting public should be outraged over this stupid show. The problem is I see this same mentality on the range. These people believe that what they see on tv is real. This show needs to grow up. Unfortunately money takes precedence over reason and logic. If I were running the show, the first thing I would do is get rid of the daughter. I can’t stand that whinny sound she makes when she talks. Stop the drama, get to a real situation where the gun is star, not some punk with nose rings, and tats. And for god’s sake stop shooting glass jars, filled with pickles. The last thing anyone should be shooting at is glass.

    • I was having a chat with an online Canadian friend the other day, and at one point the subject of guns came up, and he stated, “I don’t understand Americans and their guns,” or words to that effect. When I asked him what he meant, the common thread in all three of his examples was Sons of Guns. As a non-gun-owning Canadian, his only exposure to “American gun culture” was this stupid soap opera, and so that’s what he based his entire opinion upon. I set him straight about the reality of the situation, but it led me to wonder how many other people, American or Canadian, are in his situation.

    • I wish I could say that this show is good for gun owners, but it simply isn’t. I don’t even care so much about their utterly ridiculous projects or “prototypes”…. it’s the safety, or lack there of, that really bothers me. The general public is probably going to assume that all of us gun owners are just as irresponsible as the people on the show. It’s not going to be long before we see some serious negative fallout as a result of this garbage.

  5. The cincher that turned me off the show was one of Will’s southern wisdom lines to his employee – “Don’t mistake this for a friendly conversation.” WHOA! Right there I lost all respect for his attitude. He sounded just like every jackass, full-of-themselves, self-righteous boss I’ve had the misfortune of working under.

    • What cinched it for me was how he talked to people, AND then finding out Will and his godugly daughter don’t have, and aren’t allowed to have, a FFL. Then to find out it was the guy he was always talking sh!t to that actually had HIS name on the FFL so Red Jacket could continue to sell guns. What a freakin’ joke!!

  6. It’s kinda funny that the folks on this site who are the most concerned with what the sheeple think about us would diss a show that the sheeple actually like.

    They may not be our cup of tea, but shows like Sons of Guns, American Gun and Top Shot are doing more to popularize gun culture than all the gun magazines and blogs combined.

    • This is true, Ralph. But one cannot argue that these gun shows for most shooters and enthusiasts is about as fun as pounding sand.

    • Ralph, if I understand your comment about the “sheeple” correctly, maybe the reason they like these shows is that they confirm to the sheeple what they may think about gun owners. Which, if true, probably isn’t good for most of us, is it?

      • Leftshooter, I don’t think so. I have many friends back in New York City who have never handled firearms in their lives. When they call me now, I’m always asked about Sons of Guns and the other shows, and my old friends who never had any interest in guns now want me to teach them to shoot.

        I don’t think that my experience is unique. These shows, as puerile as they may seem to us, show guns in an extremely favorable light. The programs are nonviolent, family oriented and vicarious fun for the folks who have no 2A rights.

        American Guns and the rest are doing god’s work as far as I’m concerned.

        • This has been my experience as well. I’ve had a lot of people who were otherwise completely disinterested in firearms approach me as I’m known to be “one of those guys”, as a direct result of these shows.

          I’ve generally pointed people towards American Guns as there tends to be a greater focus on actual gunsmithing and “real” owners, but however they find it, any publicity is good publicity.

          The vast majority of people watching these shows are not gun snobs. However abhorrent the concept of crew served weapons for cops may be (and should be), this plays much differently in the eyes of the uninformed. Helping the cops do their job is a good thing, is their reasoning. Hence, gun owners, manufacturers, and enthusiasts are actually the good guys for a change, in direct contrast to the message the media has run up the flag pole for fifty years.

          Hearts and minds, people. I could give half a crap whatever Red Jacket, et al, bolt a rail to or arm with a 1919 so long as the million odd non-gun people suddenly watching this stuff end up regarding a machine gun as “something cool and useful” rather than the work of satan.

    • Yeah, I’m just torn about the ratio of “advancing the interest” vs “making us all look like inbred yahoos.” Top Shot, despite the drama, probably leans pretty far toward the “advancing the interest” side, while Sons of Guns is miles in the opposite direction. I’ve only watched about 3/4 of one episode of American Guns, because I found them pretty insufferable, so I can’t speak to that one.

      • The shows aren’t making “us” look like anything. They make guns look like something interesting and exciting.

        Suns of Guns is like a soap opera. And soap operas are watched by people of which gender? You know the answer. And the gender that’s been been most antigun is? Same answer.

        It’s a difference of perspective. The ladies who enjoyed “One Life to Live” didn’t think that the characters were a bunch of yahoos. Neither do the people who watch Suns of Guns. And American Gun is as all-American as apple pie.

        • Fair point on the gender stuff.

          Maybe I’ll give American Guns another shot; I was just extremely turned off by the first episode by two things: First, the whole helicopter thing, although I loved the rancher saying, “Did you come here to give a lecture on guns or are you gonna buy something?” I don’t know if that was scripted or not, I’d like to hope not. Second, when he ripped his machinist a new one because the initial run at the parts for the knuckle duster didn’t fit flawlessly, I thought that was a little obnoxious, although I have to wonder why the guy didn’t test fit them first before he handed them to his boss.

        • There are a lot of places in CO that are only accessable via helicopter or airplane, including some of the best and biggest hunting lodges and some of the houses the retired Delta and other airline pilots have moved to. To me the fact that he has a helicopter available shows me he is a smart businessman who is prepared to be able to go where the money and the guns are. The fact that he is willing to invest the money in flying to someplace before other FFLs can have time to drive there further convinces me of that.

          That’s only my $0.02 though.

    • I’m with you, RALPH. I thing there’s too much sweating over petty stuff , and people get to see people having FUN WITH GUNS, and it IS fun.

      Sure, Will is a grade A pain in the ass, and I keep waiting for one of the guys to deck him. Sometimes we can be guilty of protecting our image overzealously…

  7. I watched two episodes. One concerned a ludicrous multiple machine gun mount that was used to (attempt to) shoot down model airplanes from the back of a truck. The second had to do with some “security professionals” whose “client” needed a machine gun mounted in a run of the mill civilian helicopter.

    This show is total crap for 13 year old morons. No, make that TOTAL CRAP.

    • During the “Big Sandy” shoot in northwestern Arizona, a very long firing line of machine gun enthusiasts have the opportunity to try to shoot down a small model airplane.

  8. I stopped watching this show when episode after episode showed these local SWAT teams (made up of roid heads rejected by the military) wanting all this firepower. What the h3ll do they need a Thompson remake that shoots 1,000 RPM for when busting down the wrong door on the wrong house on the wrong block? I’m all for LEOs having access to the equipment they need to do their job, but many of these “jobs” on this show are simply over the top for suspect clientele.

  9. Well think about all they’ve done for humanity… They made a Gatling-style shotgun for God’s sake!

    I too tried to like this show. Made it through a few episodes but it’s just terrible.

    • I would have been impressed if they built a Gatling style shotgun. Removing the buttstocks and pistol grips from 3 shotguns and mounting them to a lazy Suzan does not a Gatling style gun make.

  10. I like Pawn Stars – I always learn a little something about something – too bad the Old Man seems to be going downhill fast (his lines always seem more-scripted). I am sure much of it is scripted, but the others seem to pull it off fairly well.

    Oh, we are talking about SoG’s… meh, I presume there is only so much “gunsmithing” you can show and make it interesting to the masses. The point IS TO ATTRACT as large of an audience that you can and hold them for as long as possible.

    Seems to be a lot of folks talking about a show that they don’t watch… just an observation.

  11. Setting aside the BS regarding firearms and weapon handling, what about the way they treat the help? Vince, the only guy that seems to know the difference between a volley gun and a volley ball is constantly asked to go above and beyond. In return, he is constantly overlooked and disrespected. Meanwhile, Kris The Retarded Monkey gets kudos and encouragement from Will while he repeatedly screws up projects. The other guys seem to be there just as filler in between the romantic interludes between the retard and the shrill skank.

    The only redeeming feature is the occasional cool gun they feature.

  12. Vince getss treated like doo doo despite being the go-to guy when stuff gets difficult. Kris the Moron walks on water despite the fact that he appears to be incapable of pouring pee out of a boot that has the instructions written on the heel

    • “incapable of pouring pee out of a boot that has the instructions written on the heel” Now that’s funny, I don’t care who you are!!

      • its even sadder when Will pays for rings wedding elvis etc. because his new son in law is not capable of supporting his daughter.Quite frankly if Will cared about his daughter how the hell did he let her marry a complet idiot

    • vince and joe are the go to guys.the show should be called nepatism of a douchbag.Douchbag Kris now acts like he is an owner and DouchbagWill allows it.

  13. The moment I realized the show was complete crap was when the girl was supposed to be shooting a desert eagle, but when it showed her shooting it the gun had magically turned from a big silver gun to a smaller black one. I’ll still watch if only to make fun of.

  14. When they say rush to the scene to prevent a dangerous incident. It is likely a poorly acted out exaggeration, like the tooth in the gun that was proven to be fabricated. Let them do the drama, Doctors hate medical shows, Cops don’t act like the actors in cop dramas, we will jut keep shooting for our entertainment.

    Plus if it was really for us gun nuts it would be boring gun reviews, training tips, gelatin test, and laughing at the other non-gun nut gun show ass hats

  15. One of the things that puts me off about the show is that while RJ is promoted as an innovative company able to take on the most difficult of jobs and they do, I don’t see the elegance, artistry, vision of design or engineering feat that would make a gun owner go wow. As an example I’ll point to the Gatling gun shotgun episode. It ended up being some shotguns that spun around and around. 15k or whatever it was for that? Maybe its me but I see this show using the model of American Chopper and the like show were you are supposed to be dazzled by their ingenuity but I’m just not.

    • You realize how many millions of new faces arrived in the motorcycle world as a result of Chopper, right? The trickle-down effect has resulted in hundreds of new businesses serving that demand, and an overall improved image of what was once the outlaw biker chopper fan.

      ‘course, the bike snobs and hard core chopper fans hate everything about that overall effect, because the work isn’t as innovative as what Johnnie Broken Knuckle is cranking out over a WWII era metal press in his garage somewhere.

      Gee, where have I heard that sort of thing before?

      Purists may well hate the idea of fresh new faces jumping around in the little pond they were previously a big fish in. However, the bigger the pond is, the longer it lasts, and I for one will happily swallow the engineered drama and stupid builds for the millions of new faces pumping life and money into any sport I care about.

      Now if only we could get a few reality shows that would get the average soccer mom out of her 5,000 lb box and into a sports car with a manual transmission, I’d be a happy guy. A happy, armed guy who pays less for motorcycle parts that he used to.

      • I honestly never really thought of it that way. I shall dial back my rhetoric directly. Thanks for the insight.

      • I realize that the show might bring in thousands of new gun owners and Im all for that, but can we not ask for something more or better.

        Still it just seems meh, and like someone else pointed out some of the neat custom work that I would like to see gets edited out. I would like to see more elegance and less rushed work.

        Its the same thing in American Guns. You guys saw that episode were one customer walks in and he wants to fire weapons from his car. I thought that it would be cool to see how they would do that. Disassemble a weapon, build or modified a custom firing mechanism, maybe have it come out of some secret compartment. NOPE! At the end it was just a fireams placed upside down and while it could be fired by the press of a buttom it just seemed mundane and not very inventive. Maybe I expected too much from AG and SoGs.

  16. I set my DVR to record the series, watch 2 shows and couldn’t delete the rest fast enough. Wow, that’s some crap!

  17. I used to think the show was mildly amusing. But since I found out that Will and his daughter are employees and not owners due to some ATF issues they had, I have had a hard time stomaching it. Once you know the back story you can see how much of it is made for TV drama. Vince was actually one of the owners and when he left he had to be bought out. And the teacher dude Will made CFO is an owner also and Will in reality works for him. Yeah it is all made up. I don’t buy for a minute that will has to rush in and save anyone. Did it make for good TV though? Ratings will tell.

    • Yea like you I found out the truth about the show and was very dissapointed. I knew things were a little strange when the show was focusing on Steph’s new lapdog Imean boyfriend DouchbagKris. Every episode was like a pop-up
      video with the DB saying something stupid and c

  18. I’ve got two questions: 1) why does the New Orleans PD need an M1919 on a crowd control vehicle? That is just setting up for a stupid scared cop to open up on a crowd of American citizens with a belt fed machine gun. 2) why the he’ll would any American willingly assist in this?

    The ownership of the company is why the senior producers were so freaked out. Will is just a puppet. They were worried an owner was about to screw them.

    • I had the same thought. NOPD is notorious for corruption and burtality, as the events that followed Katrina proved. Giving them (or any local PD) a belt-fed machine gun is asking for trouble. You just need one idiot officer to respond to a post Mardi Gras “riot” and squeeze the wrong trigger to kill a couple of dozen people. Why not put the water cannon where the regular cannon was and ditch the robotic control system?

      If you HAD to put gun on it. Why not mount a bolt action precision rifle in the firing port. Then you could manuver a trained sniper into a line of fire and give him a stable platform to shoot from. Still letal, less likely to massacre a city street.

      • I’m under the impression that most of the post-Katrina abuses were at the hands of National Guard troops and FEMA operatives, and that most of the cops went home to protect their families.

        NOT that they’re lacking in the corruption department, mind you….

  19. Technical, serious, no action, detailed job, has no potential in voyeurTV unless you massacre it-like alligator hunters or billy the exterminator-and must be from louisiana.

    “Drama arises when Kris nearly breaks the CNC machine, worth $250,000.”

    fired.

  20. Remember that show, Tales of the Gun from the late 90’s? back then it was the only show on TV ever, that showed guns in a positive light that I was aware of and it still started with an almost apologetic disclaimer at the beginning.
    Today guns are all over TV. Guns are now cool, interesting and wholesome family fun and Sons of Guns in partly responsible.
    So I’ll forgive Will’s annoying, homespun wisdom and silly commentary and the fact the whole Vincent Buckles drama is a scripted fraud…You can’t understand why Vincent walked out, Will? Could it be because he owned the company but got treated like a peon on camera every week? Ya think?

  21. You guys sound so much like Barbra Boxer its not funny. If the mainstream media starts showing guns in a good light you might have a small point. Stop the divide and split on gun owners. We need to all stick together or all fall together.

    • How is criticizing something the likes of Jerry Springer anything like Barbara Boxer? It’s great the show brings in new shooters to the sport, but the scripted drama is pretty silly.

      • I agree all gun owners need to stick together. Red Jacket has been around a long time, and Will is still the owner. Just because they have to hire people with FFL’s doesn’t mean they don’t own the shop. Do the CEO’s of Walgreens have license to fill prescriptions, do the heads of hospitals have license to perform surgery, do the heads of construction companies have demolition, electrical, and plumbing licenses. In most occasions they do not.

  22. I used to be interested in the show. My wife started watching it with me last season.. She is a soap opera fan and watches those daily. Her quote directly was” Wow, a soap opera for men, with stupid people” Seriously, I agree with her now. Come on, how many times are you going to shoot at a buliding an watch it blow up??? The explosions are taking the place of crapy plots and acting. One more thing, lets hope those 2 newly weds NEVER make babies. Also, American guns…even worse. A nerd that owns a gun shop. If it wasnt for his wife’s giant fake cannons and buck teeth, the show would be over..!!

  23. This show is such a joke! American guns puts them to shame will isn’t even the one in charge according to the web check it out. They like that bull crap intro about the rest of us being dumb and Jesse James now another looser on show

  24. I am really losing my patience with american television altogether. I have a 9 year old son who, thanks to shows like this piece of trash, believe that you can shoot a car or a junk helicopter or even an outhouse (according to American Guns) and it will explode in a huge demonstration of firepower.
    I feel this program would better serve the “soap opera” crowd with a show more centered aeound the sluttish daughter and now son in law idiot of the show, perhaps her bitch slapping that moronic smile off his face as the opening minutes.
    I have seen claims of as high as 57 million viewers weekly. If this is what the viewing public needs today to feed thier cravings for “reality”, I can only say I am so very, very happy that I have lost that craving and hope it never returns.

  25. its amazing that Will claims his life revolves around making his daughter happy but how bad is it that he is supporting her and her lapdog Imean new husband. Is Kris human or just a big USED TAMPON. I bet the latter

  26. So how did the Discovery press people make their displeasure known to you? Please email me with the information if you don’t mind.

  27. Vincent made that company, without Vince working around the clock 24/7, and putting his licences or the line!
    then lover boy who always has that dumb a$$ grin on his face,you know Kris is playing wills and Daughter,he will take the both of them to the
    so Vince see whats going down ,he knows he is out!
    kris is a dead giveaway(why the grin?)

  28. Vincent made that company, without Vince working around the clock 24/7, and putting his licences or the line!
    then lover boy who always has that dumb a$$ grin on his face,you know Kris is playing wills and Daughter,he will take the both of them to the cleaners
    so Vince see whats going down ,he knows he is out!
    kris is a dead giveaway(why the grin) criminal record?

  29. i really dislike vince he’s an asshole. the way he acts is real bitch like and he needs to be properly addressed aggressively. maybe that’ll shake his ass up so he’ll stop behaving like a !@#$%^

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