Ultimate Reloader - Badass or Bellend?

[beetroot]

Despite knowing better I bought into the UR click bait on the below video about pushing 308win to 300wm performance.
I thought perhaps they'd use an exotic powder, or some new projectile to squeeze maximum velocity out of the 308 case.

But all they did was load too much Varget into a 308 case, get some over pressure loads, and still fall 300fps short of 300wm performance.
Something everybody already knew.

I general don't watch the UR videos on YouTube, 95% of the time they are just 30minute long advertisements. There is the odd video that has some useful information but for the most part the videos are a waste of time. The YouTube feature of most replayed part of the video is vitally important here.

 

[Quicksilver338]

He has the knowledge, skill and resources to do some really cool things…but he got bit by the limelight and sponsorships. RIP

 

[redbullitt]

Started reading thread and was hoping those hybrid cases were in play. Bummer lol.

 

[FWoo45]

 

[NiteQwill]

He's useless (YouTuber) and not the greatest shooter (he's a local).

But I'm not gonna hate on his fabulous piece of property.

 

[Threadcutter308]

Well, he pimps some products that just plain don't work. I know, based on one of his videos, I bought one of them. Sent it back for a full refund.

So yeah, he lost all credibility with me.

 

[Bullfrog08]

Like any Youtuber......grain of salt. Useful, but continue researching. Id never take the view of just one person.

 

[FNG1001]

Well, he pimps some products that just plain don't work. I know, based on one of his videos, I bought one of them. Sent it back for a full refund.

So yeah, he lost all credibility with me.

What was it ?

 

[diggler1833]

I did enjoy watching some of his stuff years ago. Then he started trying to do it for a living. To give him credit; he is intelligent, and spent the money and time to get pretty good. And he occasionally does test a hypothesis that I've wondered about myself. I still watch those videos, but most of his stuff I skip otherwise.

Now though, all of his builds are "insane", and his results "incredible"...according to him on YouTube. I always get disinterested in a hurry when you turn into a self-sucking penis. I get it...he's using YouTube to promote his business, but the 'look at me and what I can do' heavily edited videos do smell a bit disingenuous.

Groups are cherry picked (and to an extent should probably be), but I want to see how his rifles do on the average. Show me more than just the single 5 shot group - like the entire string of fire from that day. I've had shitty factory rifles that will occasionally shoot half-MOA for a group.

 

[DarnYankeeUSMC]

A few days ago I saw that video as I was scrolling through YouTube. My brain said Not Possible and I kept going. A few minutes later my brain said But, maybe? Nope NOT Possible. I think I watched some guy from England eat a 28 inch 9 lb pizza in 28 minutes. Then my brain said Well, dude just did do the impossible. Maybe he did figure out a way to get that speed out of the 308? Nope. You have a few blown cases to know better. It's click bait. Then I watched some bowling. 300 scores are possible and so is eating 9 lbs of pizza. 300 performance from a 308 is not.
I gotta find a niche to make money on YouTube. That's probably not going to happen either. But, this guy gives me hope. Y'all clicked and made him some money all the while knowing it wasn't possible.

 

[beetroot]

A few days ago I saw that video as I was scrolling through YouTube. My brain said Not Possible and I kept going. A few minutes later my brain said But, maybe? Nope NOT Possible. I think I watched some guy from England eat a 28 inch 9 lb pizza in 28 minutes. Then my brain said Well, dude just did do the impossible. Maybe he did figure out a way to get that speed out of the 308? Nope. You have a few blown cases to know better. It's click bait. Then I watched some bowling. 300 scores are possible and so is eating 9 lbs of pizza. 300 performance from a 308 is not.
I gotta find a niche to make money on YouTube. That's probably not going to happen either. But, this guy gives me hope. Y'all clicked and made him some money all the while knowing it wasn't possible.

Yes and no, if you skip ahead to the most replayed section, then don’t finish the video that can hurt the algorith.
Watching 2 minutes out of a 30 minute video can actually be negative.

 

[DarnYankeeUSMC]

Yes and no, if you skip ahead to the most replayed section, then don’t finish the video that can hurt the algorith.
Watching 2 minutes out of a 30 minute video can actually be negative.

Basic deduction:
If they could get the performance from a 308 there would be no 300.
Not even going to waste 30 seconds to enrich this dude.
I just sold my 300 and it was an amazing rifle. It replaced the 7 rem mag that was fantastic. Both were improvements over the several 308's I have that I needed more from that was not possible.
I have a drawer full of 308 bullets from 150 grain to 208 that I tried to get more performance from. I found out that it was a waste of time and just got the correct rifle for the job.
Can I take down a wall with a trim hammer? Sure but it is a lot easier if you use a sledge hammer.

 

[FNG1001]

I agree. His older stuff was pretty informative, and for the past couple years its trended towards paid advertisements with every result being "amazing" and/or "incredible". Most recently I've noticed F Class John's videos giving out that vibe aswell. I still watch both, but rarely finish a video or just skip parts.

I've enjoyed Mark and Sam After Work, and Tom River for their down to Earth way.

 

[Clob McStrunk]

As others have already said, I used to be more into his stuff when he was machining/building/tinkering, but over the past year or two it's all become fluff.

The NRL episode where his buddy entered the comp with 2138lbs of bullshit hanging off him was hilarious though.

 

[Kadams1563]

I enjoy watching him and feel I learn stuff. At the very least he has all the fancy toys we all would like to have. Has all the relevant presses and fancy dies to play with.

He might get paid through sponsorships now but so would all of us if we had that opportunity. Lol

I also am in shock with where he gets to shoot and how in the hell he was able to purchase that. YouTube money must be amazing.

 

[Rich4]

My suspicion is he bought the property with engineering money and pivoted to YouTube, his real early videos were terrible sound in the middle was excellent but lately it’s too clinical to be real
I still watch though, beats love island or whatever other crap is on normal tv these days.

 

[rijndael]

he pimps some products that just plain don't work.

Well, he's compensated/paid to pimp them. In one of his latest Cerakote videos, at the bottom of the description, it says:

He has to include this because of FTC rules on "Material Connections".

It's the same thing with his UltraDyne promotions.

 

[Clob McStrunk]

Internet sleuthing points towards Microsoft $ at some point in his career

 

[rijndael]

Internet sleuthing points towards Microsoft $ at some point in his career

It's on his LinkedIn profile. Almost 14 years worth.

 

[Steel+Killer]

I look at his stuff no different than a company promoting or introducing a product. If it's a new product or a product I don't already know anything about I have no problem watching his or any other youtubers videos. I go into it knowing that it is not unbiased, but I can still learn some stuff about whatever product I am interested in.

As far as a 308 pushing 300WM performance. Well, I have both so for me I will stick with my 300 WM. I also look at anything like that as "everything else being equal" whatever I could do to soup up the 308 I could probably also do to the 300WM and always make it outperform the 308. Case capacity is case capacity not getting around that.

 

[Threadcutter308]

Well, he's compensated/paid to pimp them. In one of his latest Cerakote videos, at the bottom of the description, it says:

View attachment 8388096

He has to include this because of FTC rules on "Material Connections".

It's the same thing with his UltraDyne promotions.

In some cases, he's paid to pimp products that don't work. Thought that was pretty clearly stated above.

Not sure what your point is.

And, quite frankly, I don't care what the reason(s) is/are. Junk is still junk and whether you're paid or not to pimp them makes no difference to me.

 

[rijndael]

In some cases, he's paid to pimp products that don't work. Thought that was pretty clearly stated above.

Not sure what your point is.

Oh, I thought my point was clear. It was: You don't have to guess if he's a paid 'influencer'. He has told you he is, you just need to read the disclosure on his videos. It's unlikely he's only going to push flawless products, he's more than likely going to push what he's paid to push.

 

[37L1]

 

[Threadcutter308]

Oh, I thought my point was clear. It was: You don't have to guess if he's a paid 'influencer'. He has told you he is, you just need to read the disclosure on his videos. It's unlikely he's only going to push flawless products, he's more than likely going to push what he's paid to push.

I've never had to guess. Pimping junk is pimping junk and it's unethical.

 

[secondofangle2]

4. BELINDA

 

[Redmanss]

Am I the only one who had to look up what “bellend” is?

That’s a new one to me.

 

[Jrb572]

Am I the only one who had to look up what “bellend” is?

That’s a new one to me.

me To. Had no clue what it was.

I can not stand the Ultimate Reloader guy. He’s a fucking tool and you can tell he’s paid to talk about crap. I personally will not watch his videos even if I see something I want to know about because to me you can tell he’s paid to talk it up even if it’s a huge piece of shit.

 

[OkieMike]

You gotta remember... It's the Internet.

I watched a few of his videos before I caught on to the fact that they were basically infomercials... But admittedly I'm not super prone to 100% immersing myself in videos the entire time they're playing.

The big giveaway was how he never referred to his lathe as "the lathe." It was always the... "Precision Matthews GT 1440 blah, blah, blah..."

Dude, we get it. They gave you a lathe (or deeply discounted it) if you agreed to placing their product with every other breath.

His videos are acceptable if you go into it knowing that he is paid/given products to review and/or endorse... He gets to live the life he wants to live and earn a living doing what he likes. I won't stomp on him about his integrity. He's the one who has to look at himself in the mirror every morning.

And the content is guns/reloading related... So I'd rather watch him shill than watch most of the other useless crap on YouTube.

If I'm looking for an honest, no BS review of something shooting/reloading related, I come here anyway. The folks here are brutally honest.

Mike

 

[918v]

Can’t wait for the ”my die won’t size” threads in the reloading section.

 

[Dave62677]

Not watching Gavin the salesman anymore.

 

[91Eunozs]

Like any Youtuber......grain of salt. Useful, but continue researching. Id never take the view of just one person.

this, for me anyway.

I learned a lot watching his videos when I first started getting serious about reloading. I literally didn’t know what I didn’t know, and he has a knack for explaining things in a clear and simple manner. And yeah, his popularity led to companies pushing stuff for him to test, and making money from a hobby suddenly becomes a business. Money getting thrown at you can be intoxicating.

 

[secondofangle2]

Nobody throws money at me, so I just drink beer

 

[beetroot]

I could get passed the fact he is being given products to review if he were actually giving an objective view, but most reviews sound like he is just reading off the spec sheet.

I enjoy the videos where they actually test something/give useful information, such as the 308 velocity short vs long barrel, or the 143gr eldx vs 140gr eldm ballistic gel tests.

I guess most YouTubers fall into the trap of playing to their audience, once you have a loyal fan base you keep giving them want they want. Even if it is a 37min video of 308 vs 3006 vs 300prc where everyone already knows what the difference is.

 

[iceng]

Used to like fclass john... been turned off him in the last few months. Just not the types of things i enjoy watching. No issue, seems like a chill dude.

Still love bolt action reloading. He doesnt post much, but he is clear, provides data, and is open about hia affiliations. Always good informative content.

Not watched ultimate shill for ages.. like 2 or 3 years ? He charges to review products, and is a giant infomercial. And that was years ago. Hate to imagine what its like now.
Im sure in real life hes probably a cool dude to hang out with. Id expect him to be one of those guys who can rattle off velo, BC, etc.. but as a business man behind a camera ? Not my bag, baby.

 

[chevy_man]

The big giveaway was how he never referred to his lathe as "the lathe." It was always the... "Precision Matthews GT 1440 blah, blah, blah..."

I think that has more to do with him being on the spectrum. Watch his movements and listen to the speech patterns. He's high functioning but definitely has some autistic tendencies.

 

[fpgt72]

So many of then are nothing but shills, and boy do they really hate to be called out on that.

There are so very few that I watch anymore. If I am looking for something new I will look, but knowing that the company gave the item to them for free and they will say good things about it no matter what they say about it not effecting their review. Really how stupid do you think I am. Then find a forum on the specific item and do some looking there. That is where you find real people (for the most part) that own the thing (asking for a picture will also make some people very mad, what you won't post up a photo of your tractor)

 

[olive drab]

Definitely not worth watching any more. I like his benches with the track system and wish he would make a home depot, minimal tool version for the new reloader with step by step instructions, or other how to for new guys vs shilling products that cost a fortune and are not necessary. That's asking too much as he wouldnt make any money off of that. I liked f class john to help setup reloading on the progressive vs using the old single stage I got 20 years ago

 

[rustyinbend]

Coulda' been terrific, but chose to become an "Infomercial Host" instead. I guess we've all gotta make a buck somehow ... eh? That said, every now and then, a good review, tip, or trick sneaks through the carnival-barking, so it's "situationally" worth a look.

 

[olive drab]

The reviews have no credibility as every product he reviews is amazing. There is no deviation from that. I would love for him to call something garbage, or sub par, or not great, but that cuts off the funnel as some of the manufacturer's link or embed his review on their sales site as endorsement from a guru. Then someone looking for help gets convinced to drop $700 on a benchtop primer because he thinks it will make his ammo more consistent.

 

[Kadams1563]

The reviews have no credibility as every product he reviews is amazing. There is no deviation from that. I would love for him to call something garbage, or sub par, or not great, but that cuts off the funnel as some of the manufacturer's link or embed his review on their sales site as endorsement from a guru.

What does he review that’s not great?

Besides the ram prime crap lol.

 

[rustyinbend]

I've always thought that Bolt Action Reloading on YouTube was an awesome show that's taught me a lot, and I never felt like I was being "sold to". He's backed off recently and publishes only every couple of months, which is a shame.

 

[OkieMike]

I've always thought that Bolt Action Reloading on YouTube was an awesome show that's taught me a lot, and I never felt like I was being "sold to". He's backed off recently and publishes only every couple of months, which is a shame.

Agree.

I also watched quite a bit of Johnny's Reloading Bench... Didn't always agree with his methods but he was entertaining and didn't take himself too seriously.

And if he didn't like a product he would say so and tell you why.

Mike

 

[OkieMike]

I think that has more to do with him being on the spectrum. Watch his movements and listen to the speech patterns. He's high functioning but definitely has some autistic tendencies.

Never noticed but I guess it's possible.

Both of my stepsons are "on the spectrum." The doctors told my wife that the oldest would never speak, drive, finish school, or have a job... The kid is a chef now and runs a kitchen.

Mike

 

[rustyinbend]

I'm not a doctor, I don't even play one on shooting forums, so I'll refrain from any diagnosis.

 

[chevy_man]

Never noticed but I guess it's possible.

Both of my stepsons are "on the spectrum." The doctors told my wife that the oldest would never speak, drive, finish school, or have a job... The kid is a chef now and runs a kitchen.

Mike

My oldest was diagnosed as borderline. I see similar patterns in the speech and body language.


I have had to remind him more than once that any diagnosis are explanations but not excuses. He can't live his life blaming it for any shortcomings and he just has to work harder.

 

[MO Fugga]

Agree.

I also watched quite a bit of Johnny's Reloading Bench... Didn't always agree with his methods but he was entertaining and didn't take himself too seriously.

And if he didn't like a product he would say so and tell you why.

Mike

I haven't found anyone who knows more about 300 Blackout, or has anywhere near as much relevant content on it.

 

[OkieMike]

I'm not a doctor, I don't even play one on shooting forums, so I'll refrain from any diagnosis.

Hell, after 2020 I figure we can all guess with the best of 'em.

Mike

 

[kthomas]

I never understood how people could watch UR.

It's clear he only mentions things about a product that the company wants him to mention. It's as if he's reading directly off of the companies inhouse marketing materials when he's doing his "reviews".

But hey, he's making money off of this hobby and I'm not, so maybe I'm the dumb one...

 

[iceng]

Make money from a hobby... its a job. His job is being a salesman.

 

[diggler1833]

Agree.

I also watched quite a bit of Johnny's Reloading Bench... Didn't always agree with his methods but he was entertaining and didn't take himself too seriously.

And if he didn't like a product he would say so and tell you why.

Mike

And when ol' Johnny would F something up, he'd leave it in and explain what he did. That's some integrity there in the modern era of simple video editing. Too bad he got burned out...I used to put him on for background noise as I was charging cases.