Tag Archives: Red Jacket

The King Is Back, on Sons of Guns

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The King is back! Elvis had his pistol featured on Sons of Guns this last week. For some reason, they could not discuss who the gun was once owned by. But they hinted about it enough. The scoop:

Red Jacket is put to the test when a 70-year-old, $150K, full auto 40mm Bofors cannon, with over 500 parts, breaks down 4 days prior to its sale. Also, the crew resurrects an 1855 Volcanic Pistol. Then, a rockin’.38 Special’s secret markings reveal its royal lineage.

That Bofors was a magnificent beast. Every Navy division should have one. Or two.

I would not be a blogger if I did not mention the custom Orange County Chopper that Will and the Red Jacket boys  (and Stephanie) are raffling off to benefit the troops:

CUSTOM OCC CHOPPER GIVEAWAY AT RED JACKET, SONS OF GUNS

Want a preview on the upcoming show? Can do:

Red Jacket Firearms redefines armored cars when they conceal fully automatic M-16s and Claymore mines in an armored Porsche for a client that needs protection as well as the ability to fight back. Meanwhile, Steph goes rogue and builds a custom AR behind Will’s back. And Jesse James returns to Red Jacket with his engraved BAR parts. The team assembles his gun and together they take it to the range where Jesse fires the custom-built weapon.

An armored Porsche, on Sons of Guns? Count me in. And Jesse James? Mm, okay.

Kris and Steph Get Married, Vince Stays Gone

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So yer Sons of Guns rundown: just like the title sez. Kris and the Steph-meister went and got all legal on us. And the Vince-ster is still done and gone. And even though he called Flem on this week’s show, I doubt Vincent Buckles is coming back. He has his own company now, after all, called Mesa Kinetic Research.

The details of this week’s show:

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.

Sons of Guns: Will Hayden, Kris Ford, Joe, Charlie

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.

Here is a photo for all you romantics out there. Kris and Steph. In Vegas. Gettin’ legal:

Kris Ford and Stehpanie Hayden of Sons of Guns get married at the Little White Chapel in Las Vegas, Nevada, from Facebook.

Gotta love a dude who gets married in a t-shirt while his bride is all geared up in finery.

Guns and More Guns

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Steph Hayden, Kris Ford

I am on leave this week from the Navy, minding my own business, over-blogging. Even though I am officially on leave, I can’t flee the area because I have supervisory watch duties that might call me back to base.

As I write this, the television blares the Discovery show Sons of Guns. The usual story: some client brings in a challenging weapon, in this case the Maxim. No, not Maxim Magazine, but the historical Maxim Machine Gun.

Although I suppose the Maxim Machine Gun uses a Maxim Magazine? Hmmmm. On second thought, it is belt-fed. Nevah-mind.

Some elegant monstrosity, huh:

The Maxim Machine Gun, that does not use the Maxim Magazine

A girl comes on, from the blog Girl’s Guide to Guns. Wait, I stop typing. That name sounds familiar! I have a friend who used to blog and she knows (or knew) the ladies over at Girl’s Guide to Guns. I zip over to their website. The site is run by Natalie Foster and Katie Shackelford. Okay. And Jenn Strand also blogs there.

Natalie Foster, from Girl’s Guide to Guns, and Stephanie Hayden of Sons of Guns

So I email my friend, who I would have linked to, but her blog is dead. As in, she has not blogged in almost 7 weeks! And I write her that her blog buddies are on television. I wonder which of the girls from that blog she knows. (Knows is a relative term in the blogoshphere.) No response yet.

The episode continues. Vincent Buckles, Kris Ford, Flem, and the guys finish up the Maxim and mount it to a plane propeller. And then Vince and Steph modify a Glock with special Israeli charging handles to help a customer with multiple sclerosis.

Stephanie Hayden and Kris Ford from Sons of Guns

And later, towards the end of the show we finally learn what Red Jacket means. It is the English translation for Will Hayden’s Choctaw name, Osguma.

I know folks advised me to watch American Guns in my first Sons of Guns post. The former show is about Gunsmoke Guns in Wheat Ridge, Colorado. And I have. I like Rich Wyatt and his wife Renee. And the kids are amusing too, Paige Wyatt and her brother Kurt. As readers mentioned, they are highly professional. More so than Will and the boys. But I like the down-home vibe on Sons of Guns. I can’t help it. I’m a ‘burb-turned-city boy and that backwoods guitar twang, alligator thang gets me every time. The Earth can shake, the sky come down. . .

Kurt, Renee, Paige, and Rich Wyatt

Sons of Guns, the Best TV Show on Weapons

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Guess who’s back? If you are thinking Santa Claus, you are right, although only partially. Think similar body type, with a love for guns. Will Hayden? You got it! He is a prior Marine who works as a master armorer in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Will Hayden, Sons of Guns, Prior Marine, Master Armorer

Back for a third season, Discovery Channel’s “Sons of Guns,” seems ready to explode. The first episode finds:

Will and the Red Jacket crew restore a 20 mm Oerlikon cannon and twin 40 mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns aboard the World War II destroyer USS Kidd (DD-661) for an explosive Fourth of July air show. Meanwhile, Steph designs a line of ladies Saiga 5.45 rifles — with fashionable custom paint jobs — much to Will’s chagrin.

There exists simmering tension between Will and his 25 year-old daughter Stephanie‘s new boyfriend, Kris. Will had given Kris Ford the ultimatum, either work at Red Jacket and don’t date Stephanie. Or find another job. We find out in the first episode that he is still working at Red Jacket and dating Stephanie. Perhaps I misunderstood how the last season ended? Or is Kris craftier than he appears?

Stephanie Hayden, Sons of Guns, Discovery Channel 

If you have never watched the show, check it out. Be prepared to hum the theme song, Shelter Me by Buddy Miller, though. It is catchy. (Hmmm, the Yahoo link says: The song is “Shelter me” by Tab Benoit, written by Julie and Buddy Miller, performed by Tab Benoit.)

The crack staff at Navy Times asked Will as to his favorite gun movies. Here is his list:

Last of the Mohicans: “Beautiful work with a musket, a long rifle and a war club.”

Predator: “For a purely fun gun movie, it’s just badass.”

Red Dawn: Remains to be seen if the remake will be any good, but the original is timeless gun-lovin’ glory.

True Grit: “There’s a new one? Sorry, any movie called ‘True Grit’ has got John Wayne in it.”

All Quiet on the Western Front:“I’m looking at a Springfield and an early Enfield here in my office right now.”

Full Metal Jacket and Platoon:“Every war or gun collection has to have those two.”

What no Dirty Harry? Still, good choices. . .