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PaperclipPerfector  5mo ago (text post)   2999 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for June 29, 2025

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Can anyone summarize and/or link to a summary of the supposed conflict over/between Gun Jesus (the Forgotten Weapons guy with the long hair and goatee) and whatshisface from InRange? I know whatshisface has a strong SJW-bent that puts off a lot of people, but Gun Jesus presumably kept the Brutality Match under the InRange corporate umbrella by choice (I'm guessing he and the others could have rebranded the format and registered their own LLC, had they wanted to) and the only reason I can think of to dislike Gun Jesus (other than the controversy over him planning to publish than cancelling the publication of a translation of a memoir by a foreign resistance fighter in the 2014 Russian invasion of Ukraine, which seems like a separate thing) is guilt-by-even-reduced-association with whatshisface, which would be a bit unhinged.

I don't know if you're particularly interested in the "foreign resistance fighter memoir" thing, but I did actually read that book. In my opinion, it was a moderately interesting memoir with very little in the way of actual political opinions at all, aside from an opposition to Russian expansionism. I don't see any reason at all to "cancel" it besides ridiculous hysteria about "nazis".

Which of course completely reversed overnight when Russia did actually invade Ukraine full-scale, at which point Azov battalion suddenly becomes glorious heroes, regardless of how much Nazi imagery and terminology they use, and the Canadian Parliament gives an award to an actual Ukrainian Waffen SS member for fighting against Russia in WWII.

ThisIsSin covered it pretty well, the only thing I would add is GunJesus tries very hard (and succeeds!) at not taking sides in the culture war and keeps his videos and other endevours open to all. In this day and age, thats a very admirable thing and one of the main reasons he is universally respected.

Karl, on the other hand, at least by going off social media posts, rather vocally and militantly left wing, and not in a family friendly way either. (Drinking cum out of skulls is, uh, certainly a choice).

GunJesus tries very hard (and succeeds!) at not taking sides in the culture war and keeps his videos and other endevours open to all. In this day and age, thats a very admirable thing and one of the main reasons he is universally respected.

It's great. Paul Harrell (RIP) flirted with a sign-off phrase along the lines of "the difference between citizens and subjects is that citizens are armed and subjects aren't" and I'm glad it was temporary.

Drinking cum out of skulls is, uh, certainly a choice

uh, did he actually do this, or is this a meme a la "Vance masturbated with his couch?" I looked at his channel, yesterday, and the SJ content was "Why Juneteenth Deserves To Be A Holiday" and "Why Is 'Guns Are For Everyone' Controversial?"

did he actually do this

There's a FB video of it somewhere, amongst all of the other Satanist content (not derrogatory, he is apparently a practicing Satanist). Lacking a FB account, i cant actually log in to find the specific one. But he posted it himself.

Now i personally dont give a fuck what he does, but for branding purposes he's sort of pigeonholed himself into a very specific niche that a) most gun owners and gun curious people probably dont align with, and b) would definitely affect the squeaky clean image Gun Jesus cultivates.

specific niche

This weekend, I stumbled into a crossover post 1) between my favorite world-war-punk logistics MMO and 2) Steel Panzer. That wasn’t the weird part. Apparently the mod author had commissioned unit art from a Twitter artist with the following bio:

I may be drawing furries, femboys, NSFW, and guns. I realize some of you may not be comfortable with one of these.

I suspect—but I can never be sure—that the guns are supposed to be the dealbreaker. Twitter is a foreign country.

I don't have a FB account, either, and I don't regret not joining more social media sites/apps.

(Drinking cum out of skulls is, uh, certainly a choice).

This guy is a reverse duke nukem.

lol, whatshisface

Anyway, that's pretty much it; if there was a serious conflict I think it would have been a more immediate split. Actually, the arc of the channel is like that as well- born of match footage, they made a competition gun that nobody was really considering at the time [and single-handedly ended the AR-15 Bad Because Muh Vietnam meme], and then drifted apart.

I think that the ultimate problem with Karl is that he honestly doesn't really do very much on his own (I believe he thinks he's quite a bit smarter/more switched-on than he actually is) and is prone to flying off the handle at times; his channel took a very noticeable drop in quality after the split and hasn't recovered (there was promise, but since none of it delivered after the split I think that's a pretty clear sign the brains of the operation left). The totally-not-sponsored-sponsored-content (half the time it's the KE Arms show) sections are more technically interesting, which I think is an issue.

Karl's views match those that traditionalist gun owners (i.e. Fudds) tend to express- because progressivism is [morally speaking] just traditionalism with the valence switched (which you'd think he'd be able to figure out considering he's a Satanist, but again... what he wants to be and what he is are two different things). Ian is, far as I can tell, clearly not like that- while he can run into too-big-for-britches problems (depending on who you believe) that's relatively normal for those in his position- not like he has time to do that anyway.

lol, whatshisface

I would have guessed "Kevin," so I got the first letter right!

they made a competition gun that nobody was really considering at the time [and single-handedly ended the AR-15 Bad Because Muh Vietnam meme]

What does this mean? I know they did a "mud test" of both the M16 and AK, but not any other relevant thing.

but not any other relevant thing

The mud test is just one of the "sacred cows" that that channel was designed to challenge- that being "AKs aren't as good as you think they are, and M16s are far better than anyone thinks they are".

That's what their 'WWSD' rifle was designed to showcase, and the myths it was designed to smash: AR-15s are the best rifle system developed to date and don't need some stupid piston to "increase reliability and fix its fundamental flaw" [actually it makes the gun less reliable and heavier], pencil barrels don't shift zero any more when hot, plastic is just fine for parts that used to be made of aluminum provided they're manufactured with that material in mind, guns don't need to weigh 11 pounds to be good, and Chinese optics really are Just As Good.

After that paradigm shift they... just petered out, and became more of a social club to support Brutality matches (which I will note have changed the competitive shooting landscape significantly). And then 2020 happened and Karl went full conservative Progressive at that point- it wasn't really apparent (IMO) until then.

'WWSD' rifle

Oh! Yeah, that were cool.

Brutality matches (which I will note have changed the competitive shooting landscape significantly).

How, other than dropping shotguns?

How, other than dropping shotguns?

More physical challenges. Practical shooting prior to this type of match (IPSC/USPSA, 3-gun/UML) demand more choreographed physical movements- you basically dance through the stages. Step here, shoot here, reload here, most accurate within the fastest time to last shot fired wins. At its worst, it's a memory game; at its best, it's exhibitionism shooting. This is why the use of shotguns is compatible with 3-gun, since those matches are more reloading contests than anything else (using a shotgun that you don't have to do that with puts you in Open division, where you're competing with people wearing 15,000 dollars of equipment).

Brutality matches are a lot more "perform this physical challenge over these obstacles, then shoot the gun", "run 400 yards then shoot a spinning target 300 yards away so many times it goes all the way over" (3-gun has some of that but not a lot), "throw this kettlebell and wherever it lands, shoot, then do that again until you get to the end". It turns out that it's quite difficult to shoot after significant physical exertion- that's why biathlon and (to a lesser extent) pentathlon are as challenging as they are.

Oh! Yeah, that were cool.

The project, and what it did to the rest of Guntube, form the genesis of my understanding of rifles in general. While 9HoleReviews and Ivan (the gun-printing one, either on his own or as part of Fuddblasters) are far more intelligent than IRTV is now, I wouldn't have the requisite level of understanding without them.

But has the physicality (or LARPiness) of brutality matches been adopted by legacy competitions?

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