Sons of Guns

Sons of Guns
Starring	Will Hayden Stephanie Hayden Vince Buckles Kristopher Ford Joe Meaux Charlie Watson
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	16 aired
Production
Production location	Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Running time	30 min. (with commercials)
Production company	Jupiter Entertainment
Original release
Network	Discovery Channel
Release	January 26, 2011 – present

Sons of Guns is a reality television series that airs on the Discovery Channel. The series centers on owners Will Hayden and his daughter Stephanie who manufacture and sell custom weapons at Red Jacket Firearms LLC. Red Jacket Firearms, located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was opened in 1999. New season 2 episodes are being broadcast at 9 PM E/P on Wednesdays (as of 07/14/2011). According to the ending credits of the show, the music played through the title sequence is "Shelter Me" performed by Tab Benoit.

As on the Discovery Channel series MythBusters, this show practices a degree of self-censorship and safety-consciousness. Each episode begins with a staff member (usually Will) warning viewers not to try anything demonstrated on the show at home. In addition, during scenes of catastrophic failure, the crew breaks the fourth wall to remind the audience not to try anything at home. The program also makes a noted point to avoid showing specific detail of how weapon modifications or fabrications are performed.

The staff of Red Jacket also made an appearance in Season 2, Episode 2 of American Chopper: Senior vs. Junior, asking Paul Jr. Designs to help them with a dragon themed machine gun design.

Red Jacket staff

• Will Hayden: Founder, United States Marine Corps Veteran
• Stephanie Hayden: Office Manager
• Vincent "Vince" Buckles: Head Gunsmith / Shop Manager
• Kris Ford: Shop Apprentice / Builder
• Joseph "Joe" Meaux: Gunsmith / Technical Expert / Business Manager / Webmaster
• Charlie Watson: Forensic Firearms Expert / Consultant / Marketing Manager
• Glenn "Flem" Fleming: Shop Welder / Gunsmith
• Christopher Michael "Mikey" Wallace: Shop Mechanic / Sanitation

Recurring clients

• Marco: SWAT Consultant / Security Contractor
• Glenn: Antiques Collector / History Enthusiast

Reception

Episode premiers were watched by an average of 1.79 million people, making the show the third ranked Wednesday night, non-sports, cable network series.

Episodes

Season one (2011)

Note - In Season one, episode run lengths are 30 minutes.

Episode #	Title	Airdate
101 (1)	"CIVIL WAR CANNON / SHOTGUN SILENCER"	January 26, 2011
After seeing a silenced shotgun in a popular movie, a man comes into the shop and challenges Will to build it. A cannon collector brings in his $250,000 Civil War Confederate cannon, but Will wants it inspected before he and his team shoot it. With the initial design of a shotgun silencer a failure, Will is forced to try again. During the firing of the cannon, Will gives shop apprentice Kris a "six-pack bonus" and lets him fire the first shot the cannon has seen in over 100 years.
102 (2)	"MASTER KEY"	January 26, 2011
Will briefly talks about his employees. A local SWAT consultant, Marco, asks Will to design a gun which will cut down on the time needed between breaching a door and switching to a primary firearm. Will sets out accomplishing this with a combination shotgun-assault rifle. The team is worried about meeting deadlines with a malfunctioning mill. Will buys, to daughter Stephanie's displeasure and economic concern, a grenade launcher. Will attends a live fire test of his product, with excellent results.
103 (3)	"FLAMETHROWER"	February 2, 2011
After an encounter with a fellow veteran Marine in a war museum, Will agrees to restore the fellow Marine's World War II flamethrower to working condition. It becomes clear to the shop that Will has a mysterious fear of using the weapon, however. Customers of the shop's store include a man looking to modify a purchased AK-47 to accept 30 round magazines, and a man who wanted to resell a fake M1 carbine. A husband comes in with his wife and works with Will to pick out a home defense weapon. After a friendly competition to determine who would use the flamethrower, the shop tests it out with a surprising conclusion.
104 (4)	"BROWNING MACHINE GUN / STEPHANIE'S BIG BET"	February 2, 2011
Will spends an enormous amount of money to buy an M2 Browning ("Ma Deuce") machine gun kit, but it becomes clear he cannot put it together on his own. Stephanie works hard to sell enough guns through the store to compensate for Will's purchase, with the shop betting whether she can accomplish this feat. Stephanie lowers the price of a store weapon in exchange for a night fishing trip. The test firing of the Ma Deuce does not go without a few hiccups.
105 (5)	"COFFEE GRINDER / KATANA"	February 9, 2011
Firearms instructor Tiger McKee commissions Red Jacket with building five copies of his prototype "Shootrite Katana" lightweight assault rifle. Shop gunsmith Vincent is assigned the job of assembly. Glen, Will's friend, finds a rare "coffee grinder" Civil War–era rifle, but its authenticity is questionable. Kris, the shop apprentice, makes a mistake in painting the Katanas. Finally, after a late night of final assembly by Vincent, the gun gets tested by Tiger with great results.
106 (6)	"AK-47 SILENCER"	February 9, 2011
Will has a swivel gun delivered and has a mount manufactured by another shop. After demonstrating an external silencer for a client (Joe), the client asks Will to produce an integral AK-47 silencer. Will puts the final result through its paces, and the client is pleased with the results. After modifying the swivel gun's mount to suit his preferences, the team gives it a test fire on a lake.
107 (7)	"THE BAZOOKA/KRIS' BIRTHDAY"	February 16, 2011
Will briefly forgets about shop apprentice Kris' birthday, and has to decide on a gift to give him. Glenn, Will's friend, comes into the shop and asks Will to make reproduction World War II bazookas to be used in reenactments. Although Kris makes a minor mistake, fabrication goes smoothly. However, there is a problem with the accuracy of the rockets and gunsmith Joe is tasked with fixing it. The target on which the bazooka is tested is shocking to some, but testing goes smoothly and an immediate demand for the final product surfaces.
108 (8)	"TOMMY GUN/MACHETE"	February 16, 2011
Shop employee Charlie works Will to build and sell a "Red Jacket" collectible samurai sword and machete combination blade. The local sheriff asks Will to modify a Thompson ("Tommy") sub-machine gun for use with his SWAT team. The shop sets to work on the sub-machine gun work which suffers from multiple initial firing troubles. Charlie's efforts at sword making become a complete failure, forcing Will to take control. Will demonstrates the final Tommy gun result for the sheriff and a pair of his deputies, leaving the clients happy.
109 (9)	"MOVIE GUN/LEOPARD GUN"	February 23, 2011
A movie producer visits the store and wants Will to convert a regular sub-machine gun into a gun that will only fire blanks. Although the money is good, time is short for the job. A counterfeit Red Jacket gun comes back in to the store for warranty service. Stephanie asks the guys to surprise her dad with a double-barreled shotgun converted into a "leopard gun". Charlie is set to do the job, but it becomes clear he needs help. Will, Stephanie, and Kris visit the movie set to demo the blank-firing gun, but the result of the trip is more than one surprise, including a visit with actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan.
110 (10)	"REMOTE CONTROLLED MACHINE GUN"	February 23, 2011
Red Jacket is tasked by an antique gun shop to restore and test a 19th century pistol. DB, a security contracting firm agent, asks Will to build a remote-control machine gun which can be mounted to a vehicle. Will consults with Louisiana State University for the stabilization system, but an argument arises over the remote control for using the gun. Meanwhile, a strange man comes into the store. The remote-controlled machine gun is put through its paces.
111 (11)	"ATV GUN/HELP WANTED AT RED JACKET"	March 2, 2011
A combat disabled Marine comes to Will and asks him to build a gun system which would allow him to hunt from an ATV with a shotgun using his single functional arm. Stephanie and Will work on finding some additional help in the shop, but Kris has a problem with one of the applicants. Will becomes angry with Vince when Vince believes their ATV-shotgun mounting system is flawed. A promising applicant (Glenn Flemming, AKA "Flemm") comes into the shop while the ATV gun is tested in the field by the client and the price is a surprise.
112 (12)	"MACHINE GUN MANIA/THE NEW GUY"	March 2, 2011
A police officer comes into the shop with a M1919 Browning machine gun and asks Will to convert it into a shoulder-fired weapon for a competition—in a few days. The crew sets about replacing and adding parts to make the 1919 shoulder mounted and lighter. The aftermarket parts they install have multiple issues requiring Vince to work through the night to meet the client's deadline. The demo becomes, according to Will, "a hoot". Flemm gets hired on with Red Jacket.
113 (13)	"THE ROCKET LAUNCHER"	March 9, 2011
Security contractor Marco returns to Red Jacket and requests Will to design a non-lethal weapons system to deter sea-based pirate attacks. Based on a Katyusha rocket launcher design, Joe takes the lead designing the rockets and launching system. A customer comes into the shop with a 1910 Maxim machine gun, but the costs of repair are immense. Kris shows his brother around the shop. Testing of the rocket array goes off with a bang.
114 (14)	"ALLIGATOR KILL STICK"	March 16, 2011
A friend of Vince asks him to build a weapon which can kill an alligator humanely without damaging the valuable hide. Will tries to ease the workload on the shop by hiring mechanic Christopher/"Mikey" as well as asking Vince and Kris to help out on the phones. Flemm assists Charlie with testing some vintage weapons. Vince and Will go out to the field to test the alligator kill stick.
115 (15)	"DOUBLE M16"	March 23, 2011
An active duty navy gunner asks Will to tie two M16's together for better fire support ability. However, Will tasks Joe with designing a water cooling system when the gas tube/barrel turns bright red under sustained fire, causing premature primer detonation. Stephanie and a customer test out some shotguns. Kris gets in trouble when he abandons the front store to give a "booty tour" of the shop.
116 (16)	"FLASHLIGHT GUN"	March 30, 2011
Will is inspired by Charlie's cool folding pellet gun to get the Red Jacket team to create a combination flashlight and survival kit that unfolds to become a semi-automatic M11 SBR rifle. Then, new guy Flem is tested when Will tasks him to build an MG 42 machine gun—aka "Hitler's Buzzsaw"—from a parts kit. As the build gets underway, Charlie's excitement causes him to prematurely advertise the product, much to Will and Stephanie's dismay; meanwhile, Vince is not too thrilled at having to build "MacGyver's Lunchbox".

Season two (July 2011–)

Note - Beginning with Season two, episode run lengths are 60 minutes.

Episode #	Title	Airdate
201 (17)	"ANNIVERSARY BASH"	July 13, 2011
With the 10 year anniversary of Red Jacket approaching, Will looks back on how far Red Jacket has come. To celebrate, Will decides to build a 3-in-1 M16 machine gun "triamese" while Stephanie organizes a surprise party. An unexpected object falls out of an antique gun repair,which turns out to be a tooth. Will's surprise party goes off with a bang.
202 (18)	"AK/SNIPER RIFLE"	July 20, 2011
Will decides to build a gun with the accuracy of a rifle and the semi-automatic dependability of an AK-47. An expert archer asks Will to make a bow gun and exploding arrows. A customer has Red Jacket bring a WWII Arisaka rifle back to firing condition. The popularity of "Sons of Guns" takes its toll on Stephanie.
203 (19)	"AMERICAN CHOPPER GUN"	July 27, 2011
204 (20)	"THE MEAT CHOPPER"	August 10, 2011

External links

• Sons of Guns Press Release
• Red Jacket Firearms