5 Worst Places to Get Info on Guns

[High Exposure 5,671]

I thought this was spot-on, and humor aside, gives some good advice and something for all of us to think about. Vet your sources, make them prove it, and when asking advice "frame of reference" is paramount - especially when talking about firearms.

 

http://www.gunnuts.net/2014/05/09/the-5-worst-places-online-to-get-firearms-advice/

 

The great thing about living in the modern age of the gun internet is that there is a nearly never ending stream of great websites out there to get information about guns, self-defense, the shooting sports, you name it and it’s out there.

 

The downside to that is that there is a considerable amount of bad information out there as well. While it frequently allows smart, like minded people to find each other, the internet also allows terrible, terrible people to find each other and create awful echo chambers of nonsensical derp. These five are the worst.

 

5. Nutnfancy

In a way, Nutnfancy is sort of like the Taurus Judge or SERPA holster of online gun information. He’s well enough known that even casual users are aware of him, and serious shooters and users know that if someone says “well, Nutnfancy recommends…” that we don’t have to listen to anything they’re going to say after that. Famous for three hour long youtube videos about guns that no one should ever own, Nutnfancy is one of the OG purveyors of gunderp. Whenever I find out that Nutnfancy likes a gun I like, it makes me question my beliefs. If you’d ever like to give yourself alcohol poisoning, play the Nutnfancy drinking game. Find one of his 1 hour and 39 minute long videos (all of them) and then take a shot every time he says “sheepdog”, “without rule of law”, “second type of cool”, or if he flares his lips like he’s having a stroke.

 

4. Any brand specific forum (GlockTalk, KimberForum, XD Forum, etc)

The problem with brand specific forums is that they’re usually filled with fanboys of that brand. Being a fanboy makes it hard for people to be objective about stuff, which means that the advice they usually give isn’t going to be great. For example, I’m a Beretta fanboy. However, I’m self-aware (mostly) so that I don’t go around recommending full size 92FS as CCW guns for everyone. Most residents of fanboy forums lack that objectivity, and will tell you that whatever gun they have is “best” and has been “flawless since I bought it.”

 

3. Arfcom

There are subforums on Arfcom that aren’t total clownshows, and some of the regional subforums are actually pretty good. Too bad the average population of Arfcom are the sorts of people that undoubtedly know the taste of windows. The biggest problem of Arfcom of course is that it’s one of those places where your post count creates authority. “I’ve posted 100,000 times, I’m clearly an expert” is a pretty common mental malady over there. So you end up with keyboard commandos who don’t know the first thing about actually shooting a rifle for blood or money telling honest newbs how to set up their rifle so its a total sandwich of soup.

 

2. Reddit

Every now and then Reddit will pick up a post from here and it will drive some traffic to the site. I’ll invariably go read the comments on Reddit, and then I’m reminded that the average redditor is like the medieval doctor that would try to cast demons out of someone with the flu. In the times I’ve been on reddit, I’ve been told that you should use birdshot for your self-defense shotgun (wrong), that .45 ACP has more “knockdown power” than a 9mm (wrong), and that if you’re pulled over by a cop you should toss your firearm on the dashboard (dangerously, facepalmingly wrong). Reddit actually is a perfect example of the best and the worst that the internet has to offer. What it has evolved into however is an insular community that think via their collective derp they’re somehow smart. It has successfully proved that if you put a million monkeys online with computers, you won’t get Shakespeare, you’ll get plagiarized content.

 

1. 4chan

I didn’t know that 4chan had a guns section. I really didn’t. So yesterday, when spitballing this post in the office, someone mentioned that. I went there. The last living bit of my soul didn’t just die, it committed seppuku for the shame that it shares simply because those people own guns too. I don’t even know how to describe the 4chan gun section to you, other than I’ve never seen a better collection of totally FUBAR’d Mosin Nagants and airsoft infants trying to pass themselves off as operators. I just…don’t go there.

 

The real lesson in this post is really that you can’t know what you don’t know. Whenever you read something, whether it’s in a gun magazine printed out for you, or a blog, a forum, or even 4chan, question the source. Is this person knowledgeable? What are their qualifications? If you’re reading a post by a grandmaster USPSA shooter about pistol technique, they probably know what they’re talking about. If that same GM is then telling you about how to clear a room by yourself…maybe question that source. Don’t just accept something uncritically because it’s written by someone you like, either. Confirmation bias is deadly.

While you may disagree with the names entities on the list, the gist remains the same.

[RecessedFilter 222]

I hope I don't offend the forum sponsors on here because I think highly of all of them, even giving my business to quite a few of them, but I would have to say that gun shops would be my #1 worst place to get any knowledge of guns. And that excludes the forum sponsors I deal with. Yeah yeah yeah, I know, it sounds like an oxymoron but I have been to so many gun shops that have had IMO under qualified employees. Or at least employees that just down right give terrible advice or info. I'm not sure what it takes to work in gun shops but some of them seem like they are given a "go get em tiger" attitude and sent out to the floor or what. 

 

A prime example was when I was looking at the rifle shelf behind the counter of a store and there was a husband and wife next to me dealing with the shop employee. The woman had never shot before, was out with her husband trying to buy a first pistol (she wanted something full-size), and the employee was suggesting a BODYGUARD. So this woman…who had never shot before…was being persuaded by her husband and more so the shop employee for a .380 pocket pistol?! The worst idea ever. I normally wouldn't do this but I politely butted into the conversation and the woman was really into me. Well what I was saying, although I think she had a little thing for me because I was more knowledgeable than the 2 dingbats she was initially talking to. Long story short, I had her try a couple pistols I thought would maybe be better for her and she ended up choosing an M&P. I told her it fits me well but everyone is different yet give it a shot. You could see how comfortable she was with it when she handled it and her hands just wrapped around it perfectly. She ended up thanking me and started on the paperwork right there. She ended up buying me a box of 9mm HP's as a thank you. What a woman! Her husband did not deserve her, I'll tell you that!

[junkmanted 54]

I feel gun shops are a bad place also.

I was in a shop and a lady was asking about a shot gun but she didnt have a FID card, The guy behind the counter told her to just go out of state and buy one and bring it home.

I had to control my self not to scream at the salesman . I pulled the lady aside and let her know what she needed to do.

One other time I was told I could not buy HP ammo , only cops can.

I also was told I couldn't have a saiga and my Garand couldn't have a bayonet lug.

All at different shops

[diamondd817 828]

Gun shops for sure. The most common BS I hear at gun shops is "we live in NJ, no reason to buy anything except a full size handgun".

[junkmanted 54]

i remembered another one ! I was hold I couldnt own 30 carbine ammo because it was banned : 0

[HBecwithFn7 296]

I feel gun shops are a bad place also.

I was in a shop and a lady was asking about a shot gun but she didnt have a FID card, The guy behind the counter told her to just go out of state and buy one and bring it home.

I had to control my self not to scream at the salesman . I pulled the lady aside and let her know what she needed to do.

One other time I was told I could not buy HP ammo , only cops can.

I also was told I couldn't have a saiga and my Garand couldn't have a bayonet lug.

All at different shops

 

As with any retail shop, the advice given often reflects what the shop needs to sell at that point... and/or, perhaps, the level of training offered new employees.

[Wojo 98]

Add Chuck Hawks to that list.

 

ARFCOM used to be good around 2001-2004. THEN it went bad, real bad. I was around the 11,000th member. IIRC, me and PK90 got the ban hammer a few weeks apart. Heaven forbid you post something non-PC or truthful. Their moderators sit at home in Nazi Brown Shirt's...without pants.

[BlueLineFish 615]

Just gotta find the right shop....but a lot of shops do give out bad advice.

[Shawnmoore81 623]

Dicks has to be #1

[jm1827 284]

Dicks has to be #1

Winner!

[average joe 5]

+1 on Dicks,  the only thing they got right was the name.

[illy 1]

Dicks has to be #1

 

Let me tell you about Dick's...

 

Went in for a Mav 88, asked the kid behind the counter for the 20 ga. He's totally lost so I point it out.

 

The shotgun is next to a 10/22, so he says, handling both "Oh yeah, you can tell it's the 20 not the 12 because the barrel is bigger".

 

 

 

 

 

[Sixtytwo327 14]

#6 is njgunforums.com

 

Our answer to everything: Glock 19.

 

"I'm looking for a gun for–"  "GLOCK 19!"

[RecessedFilter 222]

#6 is njgunforums.com

 

Our answer to everything: Glock 19.

 

"I'm looking for a gun for–"  "GLOCK 19!"

 

Hahahah Glock fanatics answer for everything!

[SuRrEaLNJ 294]

agree with the shops thing, someone i know who shall remain nameless like my xdm compact, went to get one for themselves, but wanted to try a bigger one. i didnt go with them and they came back with an xdm 3.8 compact and a comment it seemed a little short for the 4.5 inch barrel... guy behind the barrel sold em it as a full size, i dont know which was more worthy of the face palm that day

 

i thoroughly like taking the wife to go gun shopping and keeping quiet  to gauge how dumb people are.

[Oakridgefirearms 224]

You guys gotta stop going to those other shops....LOL

[Recon Racoon 49]

Not all of /k/ is bad. Yeah, 99%  of the 4chan subforum are just...weird,some are decent folks. Most of the time they just act a fool to keep in line with the whole idea of 4chan being 'a horrible place'. 

 

And I agree with some gun shops being bad places for information. I'm pretty dead set against going back to the closest gun store to me because of their lack of knowledge. But I just might have to suck it up and go to see if they have a local source of stuff I need.

[DeerSlayer 241]

Dicks has to be #1

Holy hell we need a "like" button!!!!

Dicks was my first thought upon reading the title.

 

[Newtonian 453]

Nut'n'Fancy doesn't give bad advice in my opinion, but his videos are way too long. Not sure why anyone would need an hour and a half to review a "survival spoon." 

 

OTOH Yankee Marshall is just an arrogant jerk, and does give bad advice. He lashes out at anyone who criticizes him, even if the comment is civil. In one of his videos, he advocated driving around with a gun in an easily accessible car holster (so far so good), but when stopped by a cop to throw the firearm under a seat or into the glove compartment. 

 

I described my last traffic stop, in Kingston, NY at 4 am, where the cop was rapping on my window before I could even retrieve my wallet. I wonder what the headline would have read the next day if the officer had seen me "reaching for a gun."

 

Another disagreement with the article cited by the OP is a brand-related forum. I've had nothing but good experiences in those forums. 

[NYMetsFan86 9]

I seem to remember someone on this forum went to Dick's and asked to buy a youth shotgun but was told it could only be sold to ...well....youth

[HBecwithFn7 296]

Nut'n'Fancy doesn't give bad advice in my opinion, but his videos are way too long. Not sure why anyone would need an hour and a half to review a "survival spoon." 

 

OTOH Yankee Marshall is just an arrogant jerk, and does give bad advice. He lashes out at anyone who criticizes him, even if the comment is civil. In one of his videos, he advocated driving around with a gun in an easily accessible car holster (so far so good), but when stopped by a cop to throw the firearm under a seat or into the glove compartment.

I think "Hickock45" is one of the better YouTubers out there (if not the best).  I learn a lot from his content.

 

 

 

 

[302w 83]

FPSrussia.

 

I remember I walked into Bullethole looking to buy a crate of 54r. I asked if they had crates and how much it would be. So they proceeded to wrestle open the tins and count how much was in there then multiply that by how much they sold the regular packs for. Mind you, I repeatedly said no thank you and it was 880 rounds total, the big number on the outside.

 

They didn't listen, and 10 minutes later told me it would be $350 or something. This was when crates were going for $130. I'm not knocking them because they make a hell of a lot more selling the packs individually, but the math took about 10 seconds..

[DeerSlayer 241]

I find FPS Russia entertaining, but agree probably not the best place for serious info. He only reviews guns we can't have in NJ half the time anyway.

 

[paulnj088 9]

i have to say NJSP. site   they have the worst info 

[Walt of Destiny 412]

i have to say NJSP. site they have the worst info

Law enforcement in general. I've never seen any system where the enforcers are the most ignorant of what they enforce. Oh wait, DOT may be worse. And the DMV. The DCA as well. Let's not even bring up the courts. Shit, I guess it is the norm. Sorry.

[Walt of Destiny 412]

And let me add hyper-terrified, over-complying, reading-into-laws-what's-not-there, beaten down, dysfunctional NJ gun owners.

[Duppie 73]

And let me add hyper-terrified, over-complying, reading-into-laws-what's-not-there, beaten down, dysfunctional NJ gun owners.

  +1   This........

[amish869 6]

I thought I was the only one who hated Nutnfancy, and his flappy lips. 

[SuRrEaLNJ 294]

I like skimming nutinfancy. I take everything he says with a grain of salt and ignore the other half entirely. I wouldn't say he's not good information, just that you need to be objective on what you take.

 

Fops Russia is supposed to be serious?

 

Brand forums are great when u need info on a specific something. Just don't expect to go on gun x forum and ask anything about something not gun x

[silverado427 10,783]

I'm sorry but this shit is funny...