I thought I’d do a quick recap of the year:
This website:
- 800k visits in the year
- 1.2 million pageviews
- Top article: 300 win mag vs 308
- One of the more useful articles that I keep updating is the one on building a custom 10/22
- Since starting this website, the content has been viewed 12.5 million times by 6.5 million people
YouTube:
- 1.6 million views in the year
- 93k watch hours
- Top video: Canadian Gun Ban Amendment
- This year, I started doing some YouTube shorts. They’re 1 minute takes that fit well on a phone screen
- Since starting my YouTube channel, my videos have got 14 million views
- 50% of my viewers are Americans, 25% are Canadian, and the remaining 25% are from all over the world including Australia, the UK, Thailand, France, Brazil, Germany, Philippines, Mexico, Italy, and more.
Other platforms:
I post albums of most of my review photos on my Facebook page.
I post some “in the moment” images on Instagram and am somewhat active there.
I post the odd video to alternative video sites like Bitchute, Juxxi (Full30), Rumble, and Utreon but there aren’t really big communities of gun people on any of those.
I dislike Twitter and never post there.
What have I been doing all year?
I’m still a co-host on Slam Fire Radio: doing weekly podcasts on a variety of Canadian gun topics.
Mapleseed has been taking up many of my weekends. It’s a training/event that covers the fundamentals of marksmanship and as a shoot boss in Alberta, I run many of them across the province along with a few other shoot bosses and instructors who I like spending time with.
I’ve also shot a few 3 gun matches though I’m unsure how we’re going to do that next year if the Liberal government enacts the G4 amendment in bill C21.
What’s coming in 2023?
Off YouTube and this site: more Mapleseed. I really believe that getting more people the fundamentals of marksmanship is a great way of getting more people to appreciate and sharing my love of the shooting sports.
In terms of reviews, I’ll be doing some more camping-focused content as I do more camping with the family. I’ll be doing more shotgun reviews because I haven’t done a lot of those recently and there seems to be a gap in honest reviews of those.
And of course, I still love budget-friendly gear. I’ll be reviewing the cheap & cheerful stuff: from budget bolt action hunting rifles to budget 22LR rifles.
What’s not coming in 2023:
Handgun reviews. Canada froze handgun purchases/transfers and restricted firearms are a pain in the ass to get into my studio if I don’t own them. I might do a feature on the Glock 48 that I own and haven’t reviewed but that’s about it. Modifications get demonetized on YouTube so I won’t go out of my way to do those unless I really like the mod.
Semi auto rifle reviews. Call me pessimistic but I think the Liberal party is going to ban these in the spring and the NDP and Bloc will go along with them.