TTAG is largely a literary endeavor — as witnessed by the fact that the WordPress backend constantly rates our “readability” as “needs improvement.” Despite our ongoing commitment to literate, audio-free content for our [mostly] cubicle-dwelling readers, in the coming months, America’s most popular firearms website (us) will be spooling-up our video output.

This very month, Jeremy S. is moving to Austin to take up the media mantle. We look forward to working with our T&E Editor to increase our video content production for our readers’ delectation. If nothing else, he’ll make sure our audio levels aren’t all over the place.

Meanwhile, The Firearms Blog’s TFB TV channel is cranking out mucho content. I hope we see more from TFB TV’s James Reeves. Since Colion Noir joined the NRA and went all big budget Hollywood, there’s a gap for simple, funny video content. And here it is. Enjoy!

53 COMMENTS

    • Missed some…

      30-06 is Sylvester Stallone

      454 Casull is Steven Segal

      6.5 Creedmore is Harrison Ford

      458 Win Mag is Daniel Craig

    • 303 Brit would be like Winston Churchill, because it’s British, and only old guys have any clue what it is?

      I got nothing. I like Churchill and 303 Brit. I’m 30.

      Let the hate begin, I deserve it.

      • .303 British is Winston Churchill — the Brits ran to it when the SHTF, only to dump it as soon as the war was over.

        Still a great round and a towering giant of a Leader with a capital L. It speaks volumes about our former President that he removed his bust from the Oval Office.

        • Somehow I knew I’d get “called” on the fact they didn’t officially dump .303 until the 1950s. Humor is lost on the exacting.

        • .303 is definitely Winston Churchill because they went on to the end. they fought in France, they fought on the seas and oceans, they fought with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, they defended their island, whatever the cost may be. They fought on the beaches, they fought on the landing grounds, they fought in the fields and in the streets, they fought in the hills; they never surrendered.

          Seems to me that whole country went to sh!t when they dumped Churchill and the .303.

  1. If WordPress is rating “readibility” as needing improvement, then the rest of their audience must be dumb, I reckon. If the standard reader has too tough a time understanding TTAG, how do they manage smart phones? “Upon further review…” maybe WordPress is the barometer of just how bad public education really is.

    • I was once a technical writer for Microsoft. Even on highly technical documents, the target readability level was eight grade. Probably lower now, given the level of illiteracy demonstrated by recent college grads.

      • Back in the ’80s, 8th grade was the maximum reading level for regulations, instructions and manuals. With inflation, would that make the ’80’s reading standard graduate level today?

      • I wouldn’t read too much into that, especially when it comes to instructions, manuals, and general information delivery.

        If you want to deliver a clear message — other than “look at my yuge vocabulary and learned diction” — simple language is almost always better.

        That said, I wouldn’t be surprised if the average level of reading comprehension has declined significantly. Schools have prioritized ideology and feels over skills for quite a while now.

  2. Calibers =/= Chamberings and/or Cartridges.

    Also painfully slow & awkward intro meant I lost interest before they even got started (sorry)

  3. Just don’t let your text content slide. I prefer to read than watch, I’m sure others agree. At least two others.

    • Reading is fundamental.

      I rarely watch videos, and I find it disheartening to see so many sites further playing in to the dumbing down of the culture by moving away from articles to dumbshit videos.

    • +1 I read while watching television (because TV is so boring anymore that I can’t stand it without multi-tasking), or listening to music. Either case I have to stop what I’m doing to watch a video. Not that the better ones aren’t worth muting the TV…

    • If a person were talking as fast as an auctioneer, they might be able to do 180 to 200 words per minute.

      If it isn’t highly mathematical material, I can read 1500 to 2000 words per minute.

      Videos literally waste my time. Unless they can show pictures that are worth thousands of words, they’re a time suck I can’t afford.

      • This is why I like printed content on most things. For example, a video review might sound like a great idea, visual aids and all- but there is rarely anything in a video that can’t be explained just as well with words and photos. Usually it ends up clearer in the latter. People like making videos because they build their own brand. I get it, but I’m just not that interested.

      • Same here. I hate being limited to someone else’s pace in a video. If you’re actually shooting something or blowing things up, or maybe demonstrating a visual concept, then video is a great thing. Otherwise, no.

        Could also be a generation thing, though. My teenage kids are both very strong readers (though not as fast as me), but they spend vast amounts of time watching videos on every subject under the sun.

    • This is actually why I prefer TTAG to TFB. That and TFB had a few blatantly stupid articles I just couldn’t forgive. Granted, TTAG has had a few doozys in its day too… But nothing as bad as some of the ones I’ve seen on there.

  4. Ugh. It’s stuff like this that keeps me from going in for TFB’s video content too often. I can only handle so much cringe.

    • Except shoot heavy-for-caliber bullets. There is that…

      Personally, I think it’s kind of funny how everyone’s raving about the capabilities of a new cartridge that at its best just barely matches .30-30 terminal ballistics. (Wait…wasn’t .30-30 obsolete and inadequate just a few years ago?)

  5. Why did I watch that? There’s time that I’ll never get back. My IQ may have gone down a little too.

    • C is for caliber? I think he said that a lot.

      If it’s what I think you’re thinking, it sounded like one of those “bleeping but not really” bleeps to censor it.

  6. Its pretty hard to read anything you write on here with the adds down the side of the page. It would be one thing if they were gun adds not nasty sh*t…

  7. Another vote for the written word. Video must be short in order to get my attention; anything that runs longer than 3-4 minutes just wastes my time…not worth it. I much prefer the written information over any video

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