A yes would’ve meant I finally got to start my “youtuber career” because this would stop costing me money every month. they have SO much money; i’m not sure how this will effect us in the industry going forward. Integrity is worth more to me than anything; even though I usually make silly videos.
So according to the dude in Grey he went to SDI and thought he was going to be able to start a gun manufacturing company?? He also said he finished college and went right back to school because he wasn't prepared. So wouldn't that make the 4 year $200k tuition that you didn't even attempt to use the biggest scam??
I think that this sort of video is really healthy for the community. You guys didnt come without reason for your opinions. If we can't look inward and make sure we aren't pushing garbage, then what good do we serve. Over the years, I've separated from a few brands that stopped making sense along the way and I think thats important for everyone to do, even if the paychecks are big.
We don’t have a reputation for starting drama and I try to keep it that way; but sometimes we get repeatedly asked about a company and this one is better explained in our long video. the hope is that SDI uses some of its ridiculous money to fix its program…
@@DeskPopi used to teach as an online instructor there. You’re spot on. Having been an LE armorer and armorer in the manufacturing industry. This is a trade you need to learn and be taught by others in person on the job. Honestly try to get into a manufacturer as an assembly technician/armorer. You can’t replace real experience
I don’t want to divulge too much personal information, so I’ll just say, I went to a brick and mortar Gunsmithing school right out of high school. The curriculum was 80-85% hands on work. 15-20% bookwork and that’s honestly that’s being generous. We had over 5,000 firearms in our schools vault that we were able to have access too. The first year alone was basically disassembly and assembly of various firearms. Then you got into welding, heat treating, working with Mills, working with Lathes. Bluing, glass bedding, stock working from a solid piece of lumber. I could go on and on and on about the hands on work it takes to really learn the trade. Fast forward to now, I’ve seen the SDI sponsorships from many channels for years and have always wondered, how the hell can you get an online degree for a job that is almost entirely hands on?!? Never really cared to look into it. As I have no interest for it, then this video hits my suggestion feed. Thanks for shedding some light on the matter. Liked, subscribed, and hit the bell notification.
22k for an associates degree in "gunsmithing" in a virtual setting? Thats like serving me microwave mac n cheese and telling me its a home made Italian meal.
I'm confused on the gunsmithing in a virtual setting but they have an estimated travel cost when showing the 20k price lol. Travelling where? To the zoom class?
To be fair, with that breakdown of the $22k, more than half of it, over $13k, aren't things you'd be charged for online classes. Room and board, transportation, books. At the top it says "based on the info you've provided" so they clearly went for the highest possible bill, and not an online class. Still though $9.4K to learn a hands on skill online is a fucking scam.
I work for a major firearms manufacturer. They have world class gunsmiths. Not one attended SDI. I know people who graduated from SDI and it did nothing to improve their career in the firearms industry. It’s nice to see someone saying this rather than shilling.
Hey gotta pay the bills somehow honestly if you thought sdi was a good idea you kinda deserved it same with most other sponsors like optics planet and lucky gunner for example
SDI= online school scam. It is sad youtubers don't actually enroll themselves to see if it is even legit. This is like those gold investment companies they promote on conservative related content on youtube. They rip you off on the purchase price and sell price of gold if they even actually buy gold for you and "store" it for you. Oxford Gold Group just went bankrupt last month. Some fools actually invested over 100k with them thinking the company actually bought gold and stored it. Some even took out 401K money to invest with them. Millions of dollars gone. That wont be the last gold buying scam. Also, remember that "Establish Titles" land buying scam where you buy a square foot of royal property in England? Scams come and go lol.
Ive used SDI uning Tuition Assistance. Did it for about 18 months. My command found out and asked me to stop, sent me to training instead. I learned more in 3 weeks at training than 18 months at SDI
Dam, people actually believe SDI is real college.. Majors like Gender studies, art appreciation, decision sciences. You really thought every "college" was useful? It's not that college is a scam, you just got scammed by "college" using loophole to get your money
In recent years, I’ve realized that if it advertises on my every podcast and TH-cam channel I consume, it isn’t a good product. From Raycon to Better Help to SDI to whatever mattress, etc.
All their money spent on advertising, and none on the actual product. It reminds me of a plot point in the show Silicon Valley (a great comedy about the tech world), when their small software development company was growing the choice was made to basically get rid of all the actual developers and techs, and just have a massive marketing department, with all the operating revenue spent on advertising, with no actual product. Pretty spot on to the real world unfortunately.
I had a squad leader get upset with me because he came up all excited about SDI and his big pitch was at the end of your course you learn how to build your own AR-15 and I just replied with “why go and pay for a course when the end product is something you can learn to do yourself on TH-cam” he was completely shocked to the realization that he was getting ripped off.
No different to any university. I’ve done a double degree in Design and Media Communication and everything I’ve learnt I could’ve watched an hour long TH-cam video lmao.
As a veteran, as a former student at sdi, they are a diploma mill praying on veterans education benefits. You will not be a gunsmith by any means once you finish your their program. The software or servers that run Their online courses also freeze constant, fail to load and make it very difficult to get anything done. 100% would not recommend to my friends but would to my enemies so I could laugh at the screwing I already know to well they are about to get. Congress needs to discredit close and throw the culprits in jail.
Honestly at this point it is much faster to specify the extremely few educational programs of any type in the US which are not a worthless scam and sheep-shearing operation. US education is FUBAR, it was done on purpose by people who hate you, the stock has basically gone to zero unless you can get a couple very in-demand skills or go to an ivy
Congress hates vets AND firearms owners, and especially the firearms industry. Why wouldn't they want this scam to continue? It only hurts the people they already hate, so I'm sure they see it as a win.
@Joe45-91 I saw a video on one of those "self-defense insurance" companies (who I will not name). Basically they let a paying member go through a substantial amount of the legal process without helping him, and another company picked up his defense (maybe for publicity, idk). They weren't ready to spend the money on a real legal defense for someone actually facing real charges. I have not renewed my membership with them since. A lot of the (older) 2A institutions have evolved into money businesses that grift on 2A issues.
I had a pretty similar experience. I completed my degree. I think it would be a decent program (but not for the price) for a person that knows nothing about guns. I completed 90% of my classes and assignments without opening the textbooks (but I still had to cite them). With that said, I also have about a decade of experience as a hobby gunsmith. I did it for the free degree, and free gun (I used TA for it).
This is probably as good a place as any to talk about my experience with SDI. It was February of 2023, my first kid had just been born, and I had realized the clock was ticking on chances to better myself for both me and my kid's sake. I tried SDI, because I have always had a great interest in gunsmithing that I just never capitalized on. A year passes with sleepless nights and mind numbing coursework, and I felt I had learned nothing of practical use. I withdrew from the school and began building an AK from scratch instead, learning more in the process. I now get to bootstrap my career with an extra ~$11,000 + interest in tow with a warning for other enthusiasts. Don't use SDI if you know (and I mean this) anything about guns. You'll be better off using your money on machines, educational material, and tools. Also ring me up if you're looking for a hoosier apprentice lol
$20k worth of tools is better than a degree. At least you can sell the tools if you decide to go a different route down the road. I am a college graduate and I approve this message.
Guys if you want to get into gunsmithing, save your tuition, go buy a mini machining setup (2000-3000) and start studying. This is the foundation of firearm production, repair, modification. Also buy some BUSTED old guns and practice on them. Listen to every word Mark Novak has ever said, its all gold.
I inherited a bunch of problems in a collection. I did what Mark said and did the maintenance. I also worked at a machine shop during my summers from college. Eventually I was having people bring me problems because they saw me using things my grandfathers neglected. I'm now at the "You owe me for materials and beverages" stage of practicing.
Best advice I ever heard was "learn to be a machinist if you wanna be a gunsmith." It's often at the heart of everything a gunsmith does, it's literally how guns were/still are made. And if gunsmithing doesn't work out in your area or for you specifically, you still got machinist certs to fall back on.
I'd never heard of sdi and was shocked that there's an associates degree for gun smithing. I was like wtf lol, wouldn't you want to start as a machinist and get cnc experience. Having an engineering degree in mechanical, chemical or even classical physics. I received an engineering degree (not one that would apply to gun smithing) but still had to take many basic engineering classes. Dynamics, Fluid dynamics, material classes would benefit the most
@@goldenhide Exactly. Gunsmithing and especially gundealing requires alot of time and money to invest, and its not guaranteed to profit. In my first year with that 3k machining setup I only made 5k making compensators.
I remember about a year ago, some SDI instructors got into a tiff with Ivan and some other 2A 3d printing guys, basically regurgitating the same fudd talking points of "that would never work", "that would just explode", etc., even in the face of overwhelming documentation and video evidence. That right there told me everything I needed to know about SDI and the quality of their "educators".
Agree I have been thinking about signing up with them for a while. I wonder if there will be a response? I haven’t seen anyone in the comments or other tubers asking about SDI or mocking them.
Is sad to see Integrity leaving the “influencers” but at the same time we don’t get nearly as many sponsors or as high of offers when we drop stuff like this or just tell them “no” when we don’t like their product
@DeskPop Influencers have never had any integrity. Most millennials and generation DA are just flat out zombified sheep that blindly believe what the internet tells them.
LOL same here! Star Wars! I remember watching the animation about it on the news thinking how cool it was, not knowing at the time it wasn't anywhere near being developed.
People will knowingly sign up to waste their money on stuff like this and then act like they got scammed. This isn’t even a gun thing this is just basic school 101
I had a similar experience a few years back, when Brandon Herrera first started shilling for them. I looked into it, was concerned by the lack of information about the cost, googled the cost, and was horrified by the amount for an online course. If it was $100 or so, it might be worth it for the shortest course, but not $10-20k. I closed my half completed application and thought that was it. They called me less than an hour later asking me why I didn't finish the application. I politely said I couldn't afford to pay the tuition, and they hung up on me without another word
Reason I took SDI ads a few years ago: Buddy was an instructor and spoke highly of it. Reason I stopped taking sdi ads: He slowly began to see the education being offered was not worth it for the students. I think he might be on focus trips stream/video at some point.
I’m glad we will get more eyes on it from an instructors viewpoint too. The money they throw out right now is life changing to a small channel like us. So it’s really a moment of “do I just do the ads and get the check”
I did the sdi associates deal, and I absolutely agree with this video 100٪. I would love to know how many sdi graduates worked on Brandon Herreras ak 50 project. My bet is zero. I am a contractor gunsmith 3 and it was the military maintenance process that landed me this job, SDI wasn't even a thought in my employers head.
I graduated from SDI and regret ever going. Most of the curriculum was TH-cam videos I had already watched for free. The only jobs that I could get were VERY low paying.
I understand 100% what you guys are saying. It takes a large degree of integrity to walk away from those kinds of dollars. I'm 71 years old and I can honestly tell you the most important asset you have is your word. Many, many kudos to you two young gentlemen for having the balls to say no.
It's all we have here, I didn't fully realize that until my 30s, it's hard to understand the depth of that statement in today's society. I was almost killed and it changed my perspective on everything. There really is nothing here with value except your word!
I got hired as a cnc operator with limited metal working experience. Will work at lower wages for a couple of years and then can earn much more. Kinda like an apprenticeship. No college required. Just a good attitude. Now I can run a mill and a lathe, and just today modified an mlok part for a better fit. Otj training.
I was going to be one of the foolish people who would go waste money on SDI, but then I looked up the reviews of SDI online. I was fortunate enough to talk to a guy in the firearms industry that set me straight on what SDI is actually offering and what it actually TAKES to be in the firearms industry. It was a long chat and I'm glad I reached out to him to explain this. So, thanks toy you guys of Desk Pop for save my backside as well.
1978 before the internet. There were about dozen or so gunsmith schools. I didn’t want to be a plumber,electrician,mechanic. I wanted something different. Ending up at Colorado School of Trades, and it was and is still around. The way CST did this was to take repairs from the public as well as your own firearms. You could go during the day or part time at night. Many veterans were among the students. If you were lucky you could score a part time job at a gun shop, Foothills Shooting Range. They were a Class 3 dealer meaning fully automatic firearms and I was in heaven. Keeping this short I graduated and looked around and applied for jobs in the firearms industry. I was green and even though I had training I wasn’t able to score the gunsmith position. (Another story),learned a lot made friends and some still talk to me to this day. CST was like becoming a doctor of sorts teaching general all around gunsmith things. Many would specialize,I had a blast. Working at several different shops and even working at Smith & Wesson. Learning a long the way I didn’t know as much as I thought. Most if not all firearms companies need CNC people to run the machines. You need hands on training. Be very careful picking a school and don’t let people take advantage of your G.I.Bill and you. Good luck on your journey.
Just one example of the bigger problem. TH-cam is happy to sensor any content they don’t like, regardless of its legality. However, they are more than happy to post the most ridiculously obvious scam adds the world has ever seen! As long as they are making bank they don’t care how many viewers are getting ripped off.
TH-cam wasn't posting it it was all of OUR favorite gun tubers backing it for years idk why you have 85 likes but there must be 85 more retards down here in the comments 😂 I've never been pushed an ad for SDI outside of a BH AC or GT vid so it's not TH-cam or Google pushing it it's our content creators pushing it with no due diligence bubba ( I know there are scam ads on TH-cam but SDI was only pushed by our creators)
As a recent graduate of the Colorado School of Trades in this past year, I cannot even begin to lay out the extent and depth of knowledge i gained at CST. As others have mentioned, metal working, wood working, tig, different ammos, headspacing, lathe, mill, cerakote, hand tools, blueprints, precise measuring, and so, so, so much more. Every graduate builds a rifle from the ground up, custom fitting a barrel blank to their teceiver that they chambered onto an action that they trued up. They bed the action into a synthetic stock, fully shape and finish out a wooden stock that they bed as well, its incredible. From my time there, about half to two thirds of the students are LE/MIL. ALL of the instructors are incredibly knowledgeable. There are flaws, but they are certainly being worked on. They appear to be adapting in near real time to the industry, and even host armorers courses while youre there, that you can attend as a student.
I wish I had known about gunsmithing at CST before wasting my voc rehab & GI Bill on some useless "accredited" diploma mill paper. A few months after I finished grinding for my pointless certifications, I met a guy who had just graduated from CST.... for exactly what I wanted to do in the first place. No thanks to any of the VA voc rehab counselors & DAV advisors I spent months talking with; CST was never mentioned once. Since then I've never had the opportunity to use *any* of what I learned in real life, and the promised jobs were non-existent. So in the close to 20 years since I kick myself nearly every day for not looking into different schools a little more, and just settling for what they were pushing at the time. I constantly wonder what-if, because now it's too late to do anything else and I have to watch everyone else having fun doing what I wanted to do. F*** the VA and f*** the DAV.
@@anaxis I mean, you still could have done that stuff if you had started at ground level. With the way you worded it, it sounds like you (rightly) got bitter and kinda gave up after one setback. IMO it's still not too late if you're up for it and really want it. 20-40k isn't all that much to get in debt, you'll have a better paid job and can nullify it pretty quickly. Agree about everything else though, f the va & dav, they shill for stuff like SDI.
I've always stunned myself with how poor I perform in some aspects of life but then can instantaneously tell a company or person is fibbing with great accuracy.
right? It's a talent. I have been on YT since day one as I am yet to find out that someone I "like" turned out to be sth very distasteful. With how prolific certain proclivities are, this can't be a matter of chance xD
I am attending Modern Gun School, now to be fair it is basically the same thing but. The whole tuition is like $2,500 and that’s including all the tools they send you. Difference is it is a trade school. It is accredited as well and takes the GI Bill. I like it pretty good though, it seems to build a decent foundation. Nothing super advanced but they send you projects to finish and send back for grades.
I finished the MGS Advanced course. Was worth the money in my opinion. Made me do projects I wouldnt normally do. Good experience and the project feedback was good.
Good video, fellas. There’s reasons I’ve never taken a penny from them. I did get a beer koozy from them at NRA show one year, sooooooo I’m not totally clean. 😂
I didn’t even think that “SDI” was that serious of an institution. Thought it was just a hobby course. I also skip ads anyway because I’m there for content not paywalls or advertisements.
I requested info from sdi 3 years ago. Then decided it wasn't worth it and didn't pursue. They have called 3 or 4 times a month. 3 or 4 emails a week and weekly texts ever since. I have asked them to stop repeatedly in person, text and emails but I had an email and text this morning.
@@DeskPop you guys have earned my respect, I’ve been telling all my guys about how sdi produces mostly temu ass gunsmiths and now a lot of people have came out about which is going to be a good thing for service members and normal folks.
There is no substitute for hands on learning. As you stated - a milling machine and lathe are not something you can learn remotely. You cannot separate them from the curriculum. I spent two years obtaining an associates degree from an NRA accredited program in North Carolina. It got me a job in the industry. It made me cringe hearing people support and promote the SDI program. Go to a real school. There are four in the country last I checked. PA, AZ, CO, and NC.
I graduated this year from the program at Trinidad State in Colorado. I definitely got more out of it than SDI offers. Machine shop classes, welding, all the way to making traditional wood stocks.
@@Rob-bn9ib yep! We learned how to blueprint a gun from scratch. How to make tools. How to refinish guns correctly. If you wanted to learn color case hardening - they would take the time to teach you. Whatever part of gunsmithing you wanted to specialize in. Another point the video leaves out - there are areas of expertise. Some guys end up just doing general repair, some of them make ludicrous money doing very intricate metal engraving, or making high-end safari rifles.
To be fair GarandThumb used to be and most other guntubers are currently working under contract with Leviathan Group. It is a marketing company that negotiates all of the sponsorship contracts on behalf of the channels. GT announced fairly recently that he was going to leave Leviathan Group and do sponsorships strictly in house and only with sponsors they had vetted. So while he did agree to the contract with Leviathan, he likely did not have final say in what specific sponsors he had to do spots for
@@jossege thats incorrect; we are signed with Leviathan group. I personally Vett all the sponsors we take on and have said no countless times (this video in particular did not make them happy) Leviathan represents your channel for financial negotiations; you still get to say yes or no to the job.
He HAD his ad campaigning subsided by and therefore under the control of leviathan group - whom he recently severed ties with - and I imagine this whole thing is part of the reason why. Not defending him necessarily, just adding context
Hey, you guys really stuck you neck out there going against a big sponsor whilst being a smaller channel. I fully respect that and admire your bravery and honesty. So many smaller channels would take any sponsorship to get off the ground but you did the right thing. Nice job guys.
My little brother went to school to be a machinist, cost him a total of $2500; pulls in almost $110k/yr. Can do more than most gun smiths who claim to have 20 years experience.
Threats of government restrictions and today’s consumer society kind of made that a very niche low demand vocation. Guns are cheap now I’d imagine the vast majority are either sent back to the factory or pawned off on an unsuspecting soul to continue that process until it’s forgotten about or someone tinkers with it themselves.
@SuperIcarusman This is the way, you are 1000% right about the machinist path. Every shop is starving for capable curious people and you can learn most beginner info on TH-cam, Reddit etc. Enough to get you in the door and through many obstacles. And like you said way more and way cooler stuff than just guns
Not necessarily a scam, but definitely not a smart investment nearly ever lol. The one the one that always gets me is those stupid overpriced wallets like ridge lol
@@tjbullis1491 How much for a Ridge wallet? My cheapo tri-fold has seen better days... WHOA $150 for a piece of milled aluminum & a small strap attached? GTFOH! 😠
The thing about Nord is that a VPN is useful in specific situations, but not in the situations they use to promote it. A VPN will obscure (not hide) your physical location. It will help you get around content filters on your local network. It won't do a darn thing to protect your privacy.
@@Studio23Media Nord deliberately misrepresents in its ads what a VPN does. They claim it protects you from hackers, data thieves, etc., when a VPN does nothing of the sort.
@@ShellShock794agree. But hes making the absolute jack off the sponsors. Another channel mentioned GT and said he will get 20,000-30,000 grand from companies to have a quick ad on his video. "Mantis dry fire systems are cool" they give him 20 grand. Anyone who says they wouldnt take that deal is either independently wealthy, have no family, or an absolute fkin retard.
@@ShellShock794 To be fair GarandThumb used to be and most other guntubers are currently working under contract with Leviathan Group. It is a marketing company that negotiates all of the sponsorship contracts on behalf of the channels. GT announced fairly recently that he was going to leave Leviathan Group and do sponsorships strictly in house and only with sponsors they had vetted. So while he did agree to the contract with Leviathan, he likely did not have final say in what specific sponsors he had to do spots for
I've seen a couple of your videos here and there. However, this is the video that made me subscribe. I've been fucked over a lot, specially as an active duty service member. I joined to be an armorer as it has been a life long dream to work on firearms. You could ask people who are the closest to me how much of my time online is researching firearms and perfecting the builds I plan on making once I am of age. I moved to America and joined the military because of this dream I had. However the military screwed me over my armorer contract. So I decided then once I left my military career I would pursue an associates degree in SDI. Thanks to you guys, I won't now. I cannot express how thankful I am for you releasing this video and maintaining your integrity. Thanks to you I'm going to search new avenues of approach for my dream, and thanks to you, I save the benefits for which I need badly to keep pursuing my dream. God bless you, gentlemen
@@frankcastle584 Welcome to the channel, if you’ve seen our stuff you know we like to have fun, but we really value presenting you all with as unbiased takes as we can. Colorado school of trades would probably love to have you; if you’re extremely serious about your career (or any career) Moving to a new place for a bit is well worth it, especially to get trained by some of the best!
"However the military screwed me over my armorer contract." Never EVER, EVER, EVER trust your recruiter. (This is for anyone young enough to consider signing up) I am NOT saying you don't serve. Go in with your eyes wide open, knowing that your first or second choice may not be immediate. Once in, become a sponge. Wherever you get posted, take a course. Over a 6 year contract, you could hit as many as 2 courses a year if lucky (that's 10 additional positive marks on your record for while you are in, and 10 different things you know when you get out - Your first year will be challenging enough, survive!). What you become is based on YOU, not what that man handing you the paper to sign says.
I was an unfortunate "victim" of SDI. I took the information at face value and tried my damnest to get as much actual handson expierience after it. Did it prey on my GI bill? Yeah 100%. But at the time of recently getting out of the military it help solidify that i really enjoy taking dremels to various pieces of metal thatll make a fudd shed tears
To who? People need to stop blaming other people for their own gullibility. I get it though. You trust his words and he told you about something, but if he handed you a gun instead it wasn't loaded you better check that thing (what I mean is you should always look more in depth into what it is you're getting yourself into instead of just going into it with open arms and an open wallet)
Nothing grand thumb promotes is quality. AAC is trash ammo, the dry fire bullshit is a gimmick and as the video focuses on, SDI is not a useful tool. His videos are good but his promotions mean nothing.
@@abracing199so glad people are recognizing this. For a long time he just takes sponsors by the highest bidder. I pretty much ignore any of his sponsorship promotions. His videos are good but I’ve stopped watching for that reason.
@@grand1957 I think there's a reason he just kind of blast through his sponsors without dwelling on them. He speaks about them for as long as he's legally required to do so to get paid and then he drops it. Usually trying to make bits and skits out of the discussion. He doesn't owe anyone an apology, and you shouldn't stop watching his content because advertisements. Are all of you people so brain rotten that you have to buy every single advertisement you see in the world?
Currently have this playing in the background as I do class work for SDI. I've been on the fence about swapping schools for a couple months now. I think this video finally convinced me.
I’m a retired guy and I was thinking about getting into gunsmithing. I was researching SDI and your video was the first video that I watched, thanking you for not letting waste my time and MONEY.
Is that what he's shoveling into his mouth while trying to talk at the same time? F^$k^&g moron. My first partial video here will be my last video here.
Ironically enough, a worker at a local Rural King previously enlightened me to the worthless nature of taking the SDI course. Good to see more people revealing the truth.
Big props for this video. In a time of increasing concern over fiscal stability, you went at one of the biggest sponsors of many, many influencers. You could have taken a payday, but instead you stuck to your morals. o7 gentleman!
thank you so much. ive been saving to go to SDI and i will now be researching other options. genuinely appreciate what youve done here. youve saved me years of time and money and im very thankful.
@@423D This is why we made the video; the insane amount of people saying they’re cool with the service because it’s just taking their GI bill don’t understand that tons of people are saving their own money to spend on this college in the hope it’ll launch their career…
Greetings from Czech Republic. My younger brother went to REAL gunsmithing highschool here in CZ, in Uherský Brod. Where they teach you to use machinery, how the systems work, etc. If you compare all he was taught with SDI, SDI is basically what they learnt the first month (out of all 4 years btw, for free.). I know this because i was tutoring him on few subjects. It's shameful the people of SDI charge so much for something that you could basically learn from youtube tutorial
@@foreststalkerbrothers here you could get a couple of certificates for most of the stuff you need to learn and / or just work at a shop and learn on the job. It could be done so much cheaper and easier sometimes even free...
Eey, the world is small... I also been there for a year as a requalification student. I got books and some knowledge however I still think I would need a lot more experience to really call myself a weaponsmith.
The tuition cost of SDI is similar to the full cost of my master’s degree in mechanical engineering. That’s wild. It’s definitely worth it going the engineering route with a real college or doing some sort of apprenticeship in machining and working your way up. I’m an engineering hiring manager (not in the gun industry) and I would be very skeptical if I saw a resume with one of these scammy for-profit schools.
Wrapping up my time with SDI. Happy to essentially be given a rifle kit to build, and the associates it comes with, but glad its about to be over. I do not know any more about guns than when I first started the school. I have a second job that is part time at a gunshop and have the pleasure of working with a real gunsmith. He has taught me more in just a 10 min convo than the few years its taken me to go thru the school.
So true. I work for one of the major tech companies. Making far more than I ever thought I would. I went to school online (via a real university sure) but my degree ran me nothing as a veteran. Had I paid out of pocket it was MAYBE a couple grand a semester. I’m in a niche compliance field. My degree has nothing to do with it. Basically someone gave me a shot for a compliance role and it spiraled into me working in FAANG. I’m telling my kids to pay as little as possible for school. School brand doesn’t matter at all anymore it’s just a piece of paper that they use to gatekeep.
College is just expensive information they send you to find on the internet anyway. The only real thing they "teach" you at any school is how to look for information.
SDI graduate here. You get a muzzle loader to assemble and either an AR-15, LR-308/AR-10, or a pistol caliber carbine (in place of the 1911 when I attended) as your capstone project. I chose the LR-308 and was sent a palmetto upper with a low rent lower that still doesn’t mate well with the upper (I’ve done all the filing that I can do without making the firearm dangerous to operate). Otherwise, it’s TH-cam university with a few irrelevant classes.
To get a sponsorship you have to sign a strict and detailed contract dictating how the sponsor is presented on your (and any affiliated) channel. Broadcasting anything else on the channel, even from someone else's mouth, would constitute a breach, and a successful lawsuit would follow.
Yeah that’s not how those work. You don’t get paid til after the vid is posted and there’s usually multiple checks/reviews the sponsor gets to do of the full video before you post it.
This is exactly what happened to one of my best friends. Got out of the military, has always loved firearms and he used his GI bill on it. He's a trucker now.
Deep diving on sdi saved my money and my future. I just graduated high school and want to become a gunsmith on the side, sdi was my plan before people started being honest. I'm looking at MGS now but that will have to wait a couple years
I recommend the Colorado school. I know a few guys who went through it on their GI bill. None of them actually became gunsmiths because going with being a machinist made much more money for them. They got a job right away and within a year they already bought homes in Texas. (Nothing down, VA loan, but they were making more than enough money to make their mortgage payments.)
During one of the courses we had to write a paper on wether or not gunsmiths should know how to work on mini-guns/chain guns. I said, as a person who litereally worked on them in the Marine Corp, that the likelyhood of a civilain ever seeing one, let alone having to work on one meant that it was, in my opinion, cool to learn but definitely not important... The retired LE "teacher" deducted point because he disagreed... With my opinion piece... On a subject that i have first hand knowledge on...
^This is exactly why I dropped out. Not the butthurt instructor, but that particular essay. I don't have your particular knowledge on those weapons, but I was smart enough to know I'd never need it.
Excuse me Mr. Gunsmith, I have a problem and was wondering if you can help? Well you see, I got this M-61 Vulcan that I got through totally legal means, she's not working right though. Can you diagnose the issue and fix it? I tried contacting General Dynamics about it but they never returned my emails.
Have been at a well known firearm manufacturer for almost 5 years now that I got just by interviewing with no prior experience and in that 5 years ive been in finishing dept, getting raw machined parts ready for assembly, laser engraving logos, serial numbers and state, local, and international insignias, and even small bits of assembly. But not only does the company teach everything while on tge job, but offer courses for gun smithing and other skills at their Academy. These companies will give you the tools to learn
The capitalized Academy makes me think that the company is in New Hampshire and has recently gotten some major government contracts. Smaller companies will generally have less formal educational programs.
SOME companies will give you the tools to learn. 90% of companies today will not hire you without experience even if they could train you to do it in a week or two.
As a rule I never trust any sponsor on TH-cam. The only one I did is Privacy, just because it's a free service and it actually is good for web security.
Yeah, some tech companies are solid. But stuff like this, or especially betterhelp, hoooo doggy, dont even get me started on them. If you have the need for some SSRIs, or other low strength meds like that, just go to hims. If you need therapy, just go to a real one. Yes its annoying and stressful to find a good fit for you, but its 1,000,000% worth it.
I’m the automotive industry, I run into applicants from places like Lincoln Tech, WyoTech and other similar schools. The way to get an idea if they might be good or bad is to ask how they liked it. The ones who loved it usually learned very little. The ones who are more ambivalent in their description usually taught themselves to a decent starting point.
We’ve been asked about SDI many times recently; I mentioned it in a video months ago and figured it was time to talk about why we don’t recommend it. The real hope here is the we can make enough of a wave SDI uses its huge sums of money to make a better program.
Can't tell you how much I wanted to know about SDI. Not that I was interested to attend because I grew up sitting in my grandfather's gunsmith shop so I have a fairly decent idea about what it takes for skill and to make an income out of it, but that I speculated that it must be a scam. Yet you guys are the first bold enough to talk about it. Very happy this video popped into my feed this morning. Big kudos! Subscribed!
When I decided to get into gunsmithing I debated between SDI and AGI (American Gunsmithing Institute) which people said were the top 2 places to go. I decided on AGI over SDI because it A) was less than half the price for their maximum package, B) had substantially more information and covered everything under the sun in terms of firearms, and C) was do at your own pace. I'm very glad I did. I'm a little over 1/3 the way through the course and I've learned a ridiculous amount about function and maintenance and troubleshooting. I still need more hands on work, but I started from nothing and now can tell you how the average firearm works, I know a lot of history, I have already repaired my 1st pistol, and I can explain how things work to other people. So glad I didn't pick SDI. The knowledge is always more important than the certification.
Had the SAME issue with ITT TECH..... LONG STORY SHORT they've been SHUT DOWN BY THE BOARD OF EDUCATION and was sued also for QUESTIONABLE GRANT AN LOAN INTAKE PRACTICE..... these schools ARE NOT THE WAY TO GO....
Garand Thumb didn’t drop SDI until everyone on YT started exposing SDI. To be clear, he did nothing noble; he simply saved himself after making a ton of cash from promotions. He knew better, but maybe you (the viewing audience) didn’t.
Same thing with Big Daddy Unlimited. Slightly different situation I know but I stopped ditching him a long while ago. I used to watch him a lot, pretty much every video. Once I started buying my own gear while considering recommendations he made, only then did I realize not much applies to me in a significant way. I still think the information was interesting to know but I started digging and found that he promotes products from the highest bidder. I don’t know if there’s any truth to that but I wouldn’t be surprised.
Agreed. I remember when he used to push freedom munitions and it wasn’t until the money dried up and people complained enough that he admitted to all the problems with the ammo
Been waiting for this. Never made any sense they would have the marketing budget to pay for as many ads as they do without it being something cooked like it always is. If you see a billion sponsorships on TH-cam and its not obvious how they have that kind of money - its probably not great. Never had your channel pop up for me before, the color grading is glorious.
@@Ben-xr6eh How many schools do you see dropping that kind of money marketing something as niche as gunsmithing? Whenever you see that kind of money getting dropped the profit margin needs to be insane. That usually means the product is grossly overpriced for its cost. In this case the product is the quality of your teaching.
Thank you you just saved my 21 year old gung-ho son some money. I had told him the same thing but of course he's going to believe it off of another TH-camr more😂.
@@davidstorer1971 if he wants to get a start in gunsmithing we are more than happy to direct him towards an education path based on his goals! Have him DM us.
I saw a story on T.V., one of the human interest stories in the early 80's. It was about a guy living in a camper shell in the back of his truck while going to Lassen county community college for gunsmithing. I joined the Army in 1985. In 1989, I was a desk sergeant in Korea at an MP station. My clerk, who we will call Vinny, was that guy. He accumulated 140 semester hours at a community college. He was also made my unit's Armorer. He could fix anything that did not require machine tools.
I can second this. I am a recent graduate from that same school, Lassen College. I graduated their 2-year vocational gunsmithing program in May of 2023, and have received every certification they offer. I can very safely say that I learned more in machining, gunsmith machining, gunsmith welding, and firearms design and repair in my first semester than any SDI student will learn in their 2 years. I have had many chances to converse with SDI students and I haven’t been able to hold an equally knowledgeable conversation with any of them. They simply are not a good school. I’ve handled and fixed countless guns, fabricated countless parts, polished for hundreds of hours, have hundreds of hours behind many types of machinery, and your average SDI student won’t know how to turn on a lathe.
@@larrylamb5462no way! I lived up in Susanville for my time at the college but moved back to the Bay Area when I graduated. Was able to find a job in the industry but I don’t see a having a huge future in gunsmithing here due to the shitty politics. I will probably be moving somewhere better soon if I get the chance to.
@@cooldudepharaoh food for thought. Out of 3,060 or so counties in the USA, the one I live in now, Randolph, NV, is the 9th most heavily armed county in the country, and has been for years. Don't know of any gunsmiths around, either.
@@Ryan-xq3kl I said I’m a leftist, there is no leftist party in America. Also, yes, I support gun control laws, we need to stop the school shooting epidemic in our country that’s been going on since before I was born.
You guys are 100% right about SDI only thing is being a real gunsmith is not running production parts for some big company anyone can get a job doing that being a gunsmith is about repairing more than creating I work on mostly hunting rifles AR's AK's and pistols that don't eject anymore most of the time it's literally just cleaning guns if you want to be a real gunsmith you must be a machinist there's no way around that and if you can train under someone who is actually doing things is the best way to go the things I've learned over the years can not be taught by computer correspondence SDI is a joke
You guys are 100% correct. I attended SDI using my GI bill. Not because I had aspirations to be a gun smith but because I had just enough GI bill left to cover it and I thought it would be cool to know how to better work on my own guns maybe do it as a side gig for family ect… and I was a waste of time and had I paid for it myself I would enraged
I feel like Guntubers who promote it aren’t fully aware of how bad SDI is, they get paid to promote and do not know that they are promoting a scam. Thank God there are Guntubers who don’t support them and drop them
If you live in the south east and want to get a degree in gunsmithing go to Piedmont Technical College. It’s cheaper than SDI and it’s all hands on with several different instructors that specialize in each aspect. You can choose other areas of studies like CNC and welding while you’re there. The instructors there are awesome, you work on many different guns and come away with a walk away with a Remington 700 that you machined the barrel for and made the stock for.
@@jonosterman2878What’s wrong with focusing on a niche? Especially if someone wants to be a proper gunsmith, let them spend their money on a proper gunsmithing course.
@@jonosterman2878for sure. I was going to do an apprenticeship with an amazing gunsmith but went a different route. I’m in the industry and thriving, but it’s nothing like I expected it to be.
Awesome! I knew that it was a scam, I went to a real gunsmithing school where I spent a lot of time using a lathe and mill, also welding. I’ve talked to a couple of people that started at SDI, one finished the whole program and when he showed me his final project I was shocked. He assembled an AR-15 using an 80% lower which he “milled using a drill press and router. I was surprised that it even functioned, but it gave him a degree. BTW, you just earned a new subscriber. I’d sponsor you, but I’m broke as hell! 😂
The best way to learn to be a gunsmith, is by working with a good established gunsmith as his apprentice. Old saying "Those who can, do; those who can't, teach; those who can't teach, administrate."
Just as I thought.. When I saw MAC(Military Arms Channel) promoting Modern Gun School I just kinda thought "huh wonder why he don't endorse SDI?" and now I have a definitive answer, thanks guys!! I'm currently living in Sweden with an ambition to move somewhere where I can live a better life because I wanna see more of the world and have better freer life and I love guns so I thought why not move to the U.S and become a gunsmith, I'm already a car/truck/semi mechanic, but want to try something else, so thanks again!!
Maybe go into marine diesel repair, specifically for low speed and medium speed diesels. Depending on the outfit that you join, it could definitely result in you being flown around the world. Alfa Laval for heat exchangers and purifiers would also work.
@@johnkrstyen7351 Yeah that's the main idea but I was also thinking about broadening my horizons before I move just so I have options and am more attractive as a worker. And look more attractive as a prospect citizen to whoever the border agent is to do my interview and handle my case because of what happened to Moist E-Sports in the Apex tournament.. That I think should be very embarrassing to every American. If you don't know what happened please look it up. But thanks for the tip and a good day and rest of your week! 😄
Well if you want to learn gunsmithing here in germany we have 2 schools (Suhl and Ehingen) and in austria there is Ferlach so you could learn gunsmithing within the EU.
What do you mean I can't learn a hands-on skill online?
what do you mean i’m not good at sex, i’ve seen so much online?
based seeing you here, Ian :)
well put
@@DeskPop I feel you might have missed the point in @ForgottenWeapons comment. he was being sarcastic.
@@kaelin000 And deskpop was being completely serious.
Wait a minute, US guntubers actually get paid to promote stuff?!? 😮
Where can we sign up?
We've been trying to figure that out as well.
sometimes they slip us a fiver but I have to do some knee work
Come to the Dark Side, We have cookies and guns
In the old country the companies sponsor guntubers... out of fear!
pretend to be zelensky, kamala's too dumb to notice the difference
What a novel idea "Research the products you're pitching"
We call that integrity.
Integrity doesn't pay anything, it just requires things like morals, honour and standards, things of little value in this cesspit of modernity.
@@Astraea7522 morals, honor and standards=integrity
Integrity is what i’d consider the only thing we really care about.
@@DeskPop glad to hear it.
@@DeskPopAnd here I thought we had something special
“SDI is a joke and a scam.” Former student.
And this is more citation than SDI uses.
You come to my place for the weekend. $500 bucks, I include the Dremel and booze. Guest lectures by Tannerite.
this is VALUE.
Hell yeah brother
Don't tempt us with a good time
Where do I sign up
sign me up! LOL
I always wondered why every channel is happily complicit in scamming vets by accepting SDI sponsorship. This video is a breath of fresh air.
A yes would’ve meant I finally got to start my “youtuber career” because this would stop costing me money every month.
they have SO much money; i’m not sure how this will effect us in the industry going forward.
Integrity is worth more to me than anything; even though I usually make silly videos.
😂
I've called them out multiple times. I don't think most youtubers realize SDI is a scam.
So according to the dude in Grey he went to SDI and thought he was going to be able to start a gun manufacturing company?? He also said he finished college and went right back to school because he wasn't prepared. So wouldn't that make the 4 year $200k tuition that you didn't even attempt to use the biggest scam??
@@ldial89 he’s a biologist; I also have two college degrees. He wanted to start a gun shop; SDI was a waste.
I think that this sort of video is really healthy for the community. You guys didnt come without reason for your opinions. If we can't look inward and make sure we aren't pushing garbage, then what good do we serve. Over the years, I've separated from a few brands that stopped making sense along the way and I think thats important for everyone to do, even if the paychecks are big.
We don’t have a reputation for starting drama and I try to keep it that way; but sometimes we get repeatedly asked about a company and this one is better explained in our long video.
the hope is that SDI uses some of its ridiculous money to fix its program…
@@DeskPop All you can do is share your thoughts and hope they do something about it, right?
@@TheGunCollective that’s the hope.
We all serve capitalism, whether we like it or not ...
@@DeskPopi used to teach as an online instructor there. You’re spot on.
Having been an LE armorer and armorer in the manufacturing industry. This is a trade you need to learn and be taught by others in person on the job. Honestly try to get into a manufacturer as an assembly technician/armorer. You can’t replace real experience
I don’t want to divulge too much personal information, so I’ll just say, I went to a brick and mortar Gunsmithing school right out of high school. The curriculum was 80-85% hands on work. 15-20% bookwork and that’s honestly that’s being generous. We had over 5,000 firearms in our schools vault that we were able to have access too. The first year alone was basically disassembly and assembly of various firearms. Then you got into welding, heat treating, working with Mills, working with Lathes. Bluing, glass bedding, stock working from a solid piece of lumber. I could go on and on and on about the hands on work it takes to really learn the trade.
Fast forward to now, I’ve seen the SDI sponsorships from many channels for years and have always wondered, how the hell can you get an online degree for a job that is almost entirely hands on?!?
Never really cared to look into it. As I have no interest for it, then this video hits my suggestion feed. Thanks for shedding some light on the matter.
Liked, subscribed, and hit the bell notification.
Sounds like you went to CST like I did
or TSJC
Where are they I was interested in maybe going to school for them once I save up enough money.
They just make you provide your own firearm.
Wait, tell us more about your career after you finished trade school! That's fascinating. 😎👍🏻
-100 social credit score, +500 Reputation score
Quest Failed: Sonoran Hegemony
New Quest: Desert Power
+5000 AURA
new_vegas_levelup.wav
Apparently we ruffled some feathers with this one
@@DP.HR.Conclusionshow do you figure?
22k for an associates degree in "gunsmithing" in a virtual setting? Thats like serving me microwave mac n cheese and telling me its a home made Italian meal.
You eat it via zoom
I'm confused on the gunsmithing in a virtual setting but they have an estimated travel cost when showing the 20k price lol. Travelling where? To the zoom class?
To be fair, with that breakdown of the $22k, more than half of it, over $13k, aren't things you'd be charged for online classes. Room and board, transportation, books. At the top it says "based on the info you've provided" so they clearly went for the highest possible bill, and not an online class. Still though $9.4K to learn a hands on skill online is a fucking scam.
why does an online course list room and board at almost a quarter that 22k cost? Something doesn't add up there.
So your telling me I can’t consider velvita an authentic Italian dish🤔🤨🤣
I work for a major firearms manufacturer. They have world class gunsmiths. Not one attended SDI. I know people who graduated from SDI and it did nothing to improve their career in the firearms industry. It’s nice to see someone saying this rather than shilling.
Same here. All our weapon engineers were from ferlach
Hey gotta pay the bills somehow honestly if you thought sdi was a good idea you kinda deserved it same with most other sponsors like optics planet and lucky gunner for example
What are some of the better schools out there?
SDI= online school scam. It is sad youtubers don't actually enroll themselves to see if it is even legit. This is like those gold investment companies they promote on conservative related content on youtube. They rip you off on the purchase price and sell price of gold if they even actually buy gold for you and "store" it for you. Oxford Gold Group just went bankrupt last month. Some fools actually invested over 100k with them thinking the company actually bought gold and stored it. Some even took out 401K money to invest with them. Millions of dollars gone. That wont be the last gold buying scam. Also, remember that "Establish Titles" land buying scam where you buy a square foot of royal property in England? Scams come and go lol.
@@chrisE815Be a machinist. That's it.
Ive used SDI uning Tuition Assistance. Did it for about 18 months. My command found out and asked me to stop, sent me to training instead. I learned more in 3 weeks at training than 18 months at SDI
@@remfaf9121 Freaking awesome work by your command; that’s the best help they could’ve given you
You've got some of the only leaders left.
So, they sent you to armorer school?...
Dam, people actually believe SDI is real college..
Majors like Gender studies, art appreciation, decision sciences. You really thought every "college" was useful? It's not that college is a scam, you just got scammed by "college" using loophole to get your money
Not sure if I believe this as you could've easily requested to go to Armorer's School, regardless of MOS, and I'm sure they would've sent you...
Props for making this video. Weird that it doesn't show in my subscriptions tab....
it’s a risk for us, hopefully it pays off long term.
TH-cam has a bad habit of doing that to us 😆
@@DeskPopthis is the only channel I’ve ever noticed it with. Also the only channel I bother to check on to make sure I don’t miss anything
@@bigfootgoesboom no really sure why; we’re honestly way too small still to matter so it’s just a weird thing that happens to us
TH-cam tries to squash upstarts before they can get big, especially if they don't agree with them idealogically.
Allegedly..
I wasn't a subscriber but it came up in my feed on top.
Another reason I love C&Rsenal. Even though they could really use a sponsor, they declined SDI because it, quote, "wasn't gunsmithing"
Respect
Sasquatch and Mae are wonderful, wholesome and full of integrity!❤
Come on, you know the are Ballistol shills! 😊
I think they only have one sponsor and that’s Ballistol
But then again Ballistol unlike 99% of ads, is a product that’s been in use for over a century
@@keepyourbilsteins Because it's gun oil, what are you gonna use? Butter?
In recent years, I’ve realized that if it advertises on my every podcast and TH-cam channel I consume, it isn’t a good product. From Raycon to Better Help to SDI to whatever mattress, etc.
All their money spent on advertising, and none on the actual product. It reminds me of a plot point in the show Silicon Valley (a great comedy about the tech world), when their small software development company was growing the choice was made to basically get rid of all the actual developers and techs, and just have a massive marketing department, with all the operating revenue spent on advertising, with no actual product. Pretty spot on to the real world unfortunately.
I actually like my raycon earbuds. Have had them for 5 years now with no problems.
BCM went hard for a bit, but I like that rifle. College in general is usually a scam. To be expected.
🤣🤣dawg my Raycons where so ass i ended up just copping a way better pair of headphones on amazon for like $80
AG-1 guy is super sus.
I hire gunsmiths. An SDI "diploma" is worth about as much as saying "I have watched 100 TH-cam videos on gunsmithing."
There are some legitimately useful gunsmithing videos on youtube though. Doesn't sounds like the same can be said for SDI.
what about a 1000+ majority of which being Forgotten weapons and InRangeTV
@cburn-YT that's a plus, imo but you need hands on time. LOTS of it. Spinning and chewing up metal...lathes and mills..
I had a squad leader get upset with me because he came up all excited about SDI and his big pitch was at the end of your course you learn how to build your own AR-15 and I just replied with “why go and pay for a course when the end product is something you can learn to do yourself on TH-cam” he was completely shocked to the realization that he was getting ripped off.
No different to any university. I’ve done a double degree in Design and Media Communication and everything I’ve learnt I could’ve watched an hour long TH-cam video lmao.
@@sounds_like_pain3345that’s a degree in design & media… lol no shit
@@sounds_like_pain3345man that one’s kinda on you. Paid to go to school for some stuff an Indian guy coulda taught you in a series of YT tutorials.
You make it sound like SDI only teaches AR platforms. That’s stupid.
@@sounds_like_pain3345You chose the wrong degree lmao
Damn. This makes Mika on Garand Thumb introducing them as "Stupid, Dumb, Idiots" that much funnier.
That was Charlie, but close enough I guess..
Sleepy Drowsy Prostitutes?
I was thinking the same thing.
maybe if you think about it that was the point lol
He was trying to subtle-ly warn us
As a veteran, as a former student at sdi, they are a diploma mill praying on veterans education benefits. You will not be a gunsmith by any means once you finish your their program. The software or servers that run Their online courses also freeze constant, fail to load and make it very difficult to get anything done. 100% would not recommend to my friends but would to my enemies so I could laugh at the screwing I already know to well they are about to get. Congress needs to discredit close and throw the culprits in jail.
Which institution isn’t a diploma mill?
Honestly at this point it is much faster to specify the extremely few educational programs of any type in the US which are not a worthless scam and sheep-shearing operation. US education is FUBAR, it was done on purpose by people who hate you, the stock has basically gone to zero unless you can get a couple very in-demand skills or go to an ivy
@@johnb.6468yeah but SDI didn’t even try to hide it lol
Congress hates vets AND firearms owners, and especially the firearms industry. Why wouldn't they want this scam to continue? It only hurts the people they already hate, so I'm sure they see it as a win.
Thank you for your input from another vet
What I've learned is that 99% of pro 2A companies are just grifting.
Like those specialized 2A legal defense companies that you pay a subscription for? Haven't looked it, just sounds like a scam
Facts. The firearms industry is so scammy.
everybody. not just the companies. many things today is a grift. very few authentic people today.
@Joe45-91 I saw a video on one of those "self-defense insurance" companies (who I will not name). Basically they let a paying member go through a substantial amount of the legal process without helping him, and another company picked up his defense (maybe for publicity, idk). They weren't ready to spend the money on a real legal defense for someone actually facing real charges. I have not renewed my membership with them since. A lot of the (older) 2A institutions have evolved into money businesses that grift on 2A issues.
99% of pro a2 people are just pro a2 because they think guns are cool, not to fight against a tyrannical government.
Dakota Wright here. Great video gents.
Thanks for all the Info and support on this man!!
Absolutely. I'm glad I could help some folks out in the industry.
So basically I'm hearing that I should sue SDI for fraud?
I had a pretty similar experience. I completed my degree. I think it would be a decent program (but not for the price) for a person that knows nothing about guns. I completed 90% of my classes and assignments without opening the textbooks (but I still had to cite them). With that said, I also have about a decade of experience as a hobby gunsmith. I did it for the free degree, and free gun (I used TA for it).
"Goon daddy"
This is probably as good a place as any to talk about my experience with SDI. It was February of 2023, my first kid had just been born, and I had realized the clock was ticking on chances to better myself for both me and my kid's sake. I tried SDI, because I have always had a great interest in gunsmithing that I just never capitalized on. A year passes with sleepless nights and mind numbing coursework, and I felt I had learned nothing of practical use. I withdrew from the school and began building an AK from scratch instead, learning more in the process. I now get to bootstrap my career with an extra ~$11,000 + interest in tow with a warning for other enthusiasts. Don't use SDI if you know (and I mean this) anything about guns. You'll be better off using your money on machines, educational material, and tools. Also ring me up if you're looking for a hoosier apprentice lol
So UTI but for guns
Yeah I really never understood how you're supposed to learn gunsmithing without any of the essential tools
Find you a old dude. And apprentice. Machine shop. Or old timer gunsmith.
There are in person gunsmith schools that teach a lot more. You can’t replace in person instruction for this trade.
$20k worth of tools is better than a degree. At least you can sell the tools if you decide to go a different route down the road. I am a college graduate and I approve this message.
Guys if you want to get into gunsmithing, save your tuition, go buy a mini machining setup (2000-3000) and start studying. This is the foundation of firearm production, repair, modification. Also buy some BUSTED old guns and practice on them. Listen to every word Mark Novak has ever said, its all gold.
I inherited a bunch of problems in a collection. I did what Mark said and did the maintenance. I also worked at a machine shop during my summers from college. Eventually I was having people bring me problems because they saw me using things my grandfathers neglected. I'm now at the "You owe me for materials and beverages" stage of practicing.
Best advice I ever heard was "learn to be a machinist if you wanna be a gunsmith." It's often at the heart of everything a gunsmith does, it's literally how guns were/still are made.
And if gunsmithing doesn't work out in your area or for you specifically, you still got machinist certs to fall back on.
I'd never heard of sdi and was shocked that there's an associates degree for gun smithing. I was like wtf lol, wouldn't you want to start as a machinist and get cnc experience. Having an engineering degree in mechanical, chemical or even classical physics. I received an engineering degree (not one that would apply to gun smithing) but still had to take many basic engineering classes. Dynamics, Fluid dynamics, material classes would benefit the most
@@goldenhide Exactly. Gunsmithing and especially gundealing requires alot of time and money to invest, and its not guaranteed to profit.
In my first year with that 3k machining setup I only made 5k making compensators.
Eh mark is kinda full of shit on a couple things, mostly good info and good fibished product mostly but slow as hell...thats why C&rsenal dropped him
I remember about a year ago, some SDI instructors got into a tiff with Ivan and some other 2A 3d printing guys, basically regurgitating the same fudd talking points of "that would never work", "that would just explode", etc., even in the face of overwhelming documentation and video evidence. That right there told me everything I needed to know about SDI and the quality of their "educators".
meanwhile nasa and spacex are 3d printing rocket engines using the same set of nickel alloys as far back as 2014.
Every generation has to learn about predatory colleges all over again.
Do the world a favor if you're reading this and remind kids of this.
ITT Tech***** Cough *****
Huh? What? I didn’t say anything.
@@logyz450 wyotech
@@logyz450 I remember those commercials form the 80's....Somehow we knew those guys were scammers.
@@logyz450they scammed me too. Worst decision ever!
@logyz450 I got a Bachelors from ITT and I'm a very successful electrical engineer. But I am definitely the exception to the rule.
Been WAITING for someone to make a video on SDI. Big ups to you dudes for the transparency.
Agree I have been thinking about signing up with them for a while.
I wonder if there will be a response?
I haven’t seen anyone in the comments or other tubers asking about SDI or mocking them.
I think it's safe to assume that anything promoted by a TH-camr is dodgy or a scam. It's been proved time and time again.
Is sad to see Integrity leaving the “influencers” but at the same time we don’t get nearly as many sponsors or as high of offers when we drop stuff like this or just tell them “no” when we don’t like their product
I don't think it's everything, but there are some that definitely scream "scam"
@DeskPop Influencers have never had any integrity. Most millennials and generation DA are just flat out zombified sheep that blindly believe what the internet tells them.
@6negative991 Yeah, there are some that are fine or just mediocre products.
Eh, Helix did alright by me.
I’m old. I hear SDI and think of the Strategic Defense Initiative…
LOL same here! Star Wars! I remember watching the animation about it on the news thinking how cool it was, not knowing at the time it wasn't anywhere near being developed.
I'm young. I hear SDI and think of Sexually Dransmitted Infections...
@@MomoWax1000dransmitted? Bc you have neurosyphillis
same here i grew up in the 80's that's all you would hear about damn i'm getting old
Charlie was trying to warn us all along
Nah. He took the money too and ran with GT into the sunset
😂 no wonder
"Shakin baby institute"
Money talks my friend, even if its by Sme*** D*** Itali**s
“Korean Meat Bathing suits”
I looked into SDI a year ago or so. Twenty minutes of research is all it takes to realize it’s a complete waste of time/money.
Exactly, looked at it after highschool and shut that shit down asap lol. Shame
@@Wes0602 it’s crazy how many people don’t look into things before signing up and paying.
Ditto here. I graduated Spartan school of aeronautics and all I had to do was look at the SDI website to make a: NO THANKS decision.
People will knowingly sign up to waste their money on stuff like this and then act like they got scammed. This isn’t even a gun thing this is just basic school 101
I had a similar experience a few years back, when Brandon Herrera first started shilling for them. I looked into it, was concerned by the lack of information about the cost, googled the cost, and was horrified by the amount for an online course. If it was $100 or so, it might be worth it for the shortest course, but not $10-20k. I closed my half completed application and thought that was it. They called me less than an hour later asking me why I didn't finish the application. I politely said I couldn't afford to pay the tuition, and they hung up on me without another word
Reason I took SDI ads a few years ago:
Buddy was an instructor and spoke highly of it.
Reason I stopped taking sdi ads:
He slowly began to see the education being offered was not worth it for the students.
I think he might be on focus trips stream/video at some point.
I’m glad we will get more eyes on it from an instructors viewpoint too.
The money they throw out right now is life changing to a small channel like us. So it’s really a moment of “do I just do the ads and get the check”
I did the sdi associates deal, and I absolutely agree with this video 100٪. I would love to know how many sdi graduates worked on Brandon Herreras ak 50 project. My bet is zero. I am a contractor gunsmith 3 and it was the military maintenance process that landed me this job, SDI wasn't even a thought in my employers head.
I love you reno, let me be your bipod
@@WilliamEacmen Brandon’s head gunsmith follows the channel; I don’t think he’s and SDI grad or he would’ve said something to us by now 😂
Surrreeee, blame it on your "buddy" 😊
I graduated from SDI and regret ever going. Most of the curriculum was TH-cam videos I had already watched for free. The only jobs that I could get were VERY low paying.
@@shanebrown6415 sorry you had to find out that way man; we’re really hoping to set people’s expectations extremely clear with this video.
I understand 100% what you guys are saying. It takes a large degree of integrity to walk away from those kinds of dollars. I'm 71 years old and I can honestly tell you the most important asset you have is your word. Many, many kudos to you two young gentlemen for having the balls to say no.
It's all we have here, I didn't fully realize that until my 30s, it's hard to understand the depth of that statement in today's society. I was almost killed and it changed my perspective on everything. There really is nothing here with value except your word!
I got hired as a cnc operator with limited metal working experience. Will work at lower wages for a couple of years and then can earn much more. Kinda like an apprenticeship. No college required. Just a good attitude. Now I can run a mill and a lathe, and just today modified an mlok part for a better fit. Otj training.
I was going to be one of the foolish people who would go waste money on SDI, but then I looked up the reviews of SDI online. I was fortunate enough to talk to a guy in the firearms industry that set me straight on what SDI is actually offering and what it actually TAKES to be in the firearms industry. It was a long chat and I'm glad I reached out to him to explain this. So, thanks toy you guys of Desk Pop for save my backside as well.
so what does it actually take
1978 before the internet. There were about dozen or so gunsmith schools. I didn’t want to be a plumber,electrician,mechanic. I wanted something different. Ending up at Colorado School of Trades, and it was and is still around. The way CST did this was to take repairs from the public as well as your own firearms. You could go during the day or part time at night. Many veterans were among the students. If you were lucky you could score a part time job at a gun shop, Foothills Shooting Range. They were a Class 3 dealer meaning fully automatic firearms and I was in heaven. Keeping this short I graduated and looked around and applied for jobs in the firearms industry. I was green and even though I had training I wasn’t able to score the gunsmith position. (Another story),learned a lot made friends and some still talk to me to this day. CST was like becoming a doctor of sorts teaching general all around
gunsmith things. Many would specialize,I had a blast.
Working at several different shops and even working at Smith & Wesson. Learning a long the way I didn’t know as
much as I thought. Most if not
all firearms companies need CNC people to run the machines. You need hands on training. Be very careful picking a school and don’t let people take advantage of your G.I.Bill and you. Good luck on your journey.
Just one example of the bigger problem. TH-cam is happy to sensor any content they don’t like, regardless of its legality. However, they are more than happy to post the most ridiculously obvious scam adds the world has ever seen! As long as they are making bank they don’t care how many viewers are getting ripped off.
TH-cam wasn't posting it it was all of OUR favorite gun tubers backing it for years idk why you have 85 likes but there must be 85 more retards down here in the comments 😂 I've never been pushed an ad for SDI outside of a BH AC or GT vid so it's not TH-cam or Google pushing it it's our content creators pushing it with no due diligence bubba ( I know there are scam ads on TH-cam but SDI was only pushed by our creators)
Notice how Better Help has been making a huge comeback?
Hell, they're even on TV and radio now.
As a recent graduate of the Colorado School of Trades in this past year, I cannot even begin to lay out the extent and depth of knowledge i gained at CST. As others have mentioned, metal working, wood working, tig, different ammos, headspacing, lathe, mill, cerakote, hand tools, blueprints, precise measuring, and so, so, so much more. Every graduate builds a rifle from the ground up, custom fitting a barrel blank to their teceiver that they chambered onto an action that they trued up. They bed the action into a synthetic stock, fully shape and finish out a wooden stock that they bed as well, its incredible. From my time there, about half to two thirds of the students are LE/MIL. ALL of the instructors are incredibly knowledgeable. There are flaws, but they are certainly being worked on. They appear to be adapting in near real time to the industry, and even host armorers courses while youre there, that you can attend as a student.
I am a former CST Grad (2016) as well. RIP Gary Schlomer
I wish I had known about gunsmithing at CST before wasting my voc rehab & GI Bill on some useless "accredited" diploma mill paper. A few months after I finished grinding for my pointless certifications, I met a guy who had just graduated from CST.... for exactly what I wanted to do in the first place. No thanks to any of the VA voc rehab counselors & DAV advisors I spent months talking with; CST was never mentioned once.
Since then I've never had the opportunity to use *any* of what I learned in real life, and the promised jobs were non-existent. So in the close to 20 years since I kick myself nearly every day for not looking into different schools a little more, and just settling for what they were pushing at the time. I constantly wonder what-if, because now it's too late to do anything else and I have to watch everyone else having fun doing what I wanted to do. F*** the VA and f*** the DAV.
How much were your courses
@TommyBrittain_tbgaming I think in 2016 the course length was 16 months for 23k
@@anaxis I mean, you still could have done that stuff if you had started at ground level. With the way you worded it, it sounds like you (rightly) got bitter and kinda gave up after one setback.
IMO it's still not too late if you're up for it and really want it. 20-40k isn't all that much to get in debt, you'll have a better paid job and can nullify it pretty quickly.
Agree about everything else though, f the va & dav, they shill for stuff like SDI.
I've always stunned myself with how poor I perform in some aspects of life but then can instantaneously tell a company or person is fibbing with great accuracy.
Should've gone into intelligence work or law enforcement.
right? It's a talent. I have been on YT since day one as I am yet to find out that someone I "like" turned out to be sth very distasteful. With how prolific certain proclivities are, this can't be a matter of chance xD
Yep, I've screwed a lot of stuff up in my life, but my Bullsh*tometer functions fine.
I Never did get it. Kind of dogshit in everything else. But I do take pride in my Bullshit detector.
I’m the opposite lol. I trust people and assume good intentions way too easily
Let's see if Brandon Herrera drops them as happily as he did Established Titles.
He and Hickock and everyone else would be silly not to drop them, and honestly shoulda never even considered them in the first place.
Ole boy ended the video with about 14 zyn pouches in 😂
Came here to comment the same exact thing but decided to see if anyone else noticed it as well.
🤣 Yep!
Super annoying hearing him talk with all of that stuff in his mouth.
Literally. I was like dude, he *just* put one in, and he's reaching for it again? Just switch to regular chewing tobacco and get a horseshoe lip lmao
Haha I noticed that myself, wasn't sure if he was doing it for a comment.
I am attending Modern Gun School, now to be fair it is basically the same thing but. The whole tuition is like $2,500 and that’s including all the tools they send you. Difference is it is a trade school. It is accredited as well and takes the GI Bill. I like it pretty good though, it seems to build a decent foundation. Nothing super advanced but they send you projects to finish and send back for grades.
Can you send me a link or names, it's it really just called modern gun school?
@@michaelsaine Yes you can find it under Modern Gun School, or try typing in MGS.
I finished the MGS Advanced course. Was worth the money in my opinion. Made me do projects I wouldnt normally do. Good experience and the project feedback was good.
This comment thread sounds like bots.
I'm not saying it is, just terrifying.
@@James_Bee I'm tots not an atf bot doing atf things faining where to do my atf things
Good video, fellas. There’s reasons I’ve never taken a penny from them. I did get a beer koozy from them at NRA show one year, sooooooo I’m not totally clean. 😂
So you're in their pocket now is what I'm hearing. Lol
@@LooniJoose I’m koozie rich!!!😂😂😂
@@LegallyArmedAmericaFTSGI
sounds like they’ve paid you off 😂
@@DeskPop total hush money payout!!! 😂🤫
I didn’t even think that “SDI” was that serious of an institution. Thought it was just a hobby course. I also skip ads anyway because I’m there for content not paywalls or advertisements.
Not a video people expect to be made in our industry. Respect for the honesty.
how to lose sponsors, speedrun edition
1 man who’s truthful is worth more than 1000 fakers.
Preying on idiots for views is somehow virtuous while preying on them for ad revenue is somehow reprehensible. Did I get that right?
We may be ret@rd3d but it also means we don't know how to lie in our videos.
Thank god I didn’t waste my gi bill on this “school” glad I made the right choice.
GI bill Siphon has been a trending phrase for the reviews… The targeting of people with GI bills to waste on this really made me dive into it.
I requested info from sdi 3 years ago. Then decided it wasn't worth it and didn't pursue. They have called 3 or 4 times a month. 3 or 4 emails a week and weekly texts ever since. I have asked them to stop repeatedly in person, text and emails but I had an email and text this morning.
I almost paid cash for the course😅
@@HansBelphegorgood dodge
@@DeskPop you guys have earned my respect, I’ve been telling all my guys about how sdi produces mostly temu ass gunsmiths and now a lot of people have came out about which is going to be a good thing for service members and normal folks.
There is no substitute for hands on learning. As you stated - a milling machine and lathe are not something you can learn remotely. You cannot separate them from the curriculum. I spent two years obtaining an associates degree from an NRA accredited program in North Carolina. It got me a job in the industry. It made me cringe hearing people support and promote the SDI program. Go to a real school. There are four in the country last I checked. PA, AZ, CO, and NC.
I graduated this year from the program at Trinidad State in Colorado. I definitely got more out of it than SDI offers. Machine shop classes, welding, all the way to making traditional wood stocks.
@@Rob-bn9ib yep! We learned how to blueprint a gun from scratch. How to make tools. How to refinish guns correctly. If you wanted to learn color case hardening - they would take the time to teach you. Whatever part of gunsmithing you wanted to specialize in. Another point the video leaves out - there are areas of expertise. Some guys end up just doing general repair, some of them make ludicrous money doing very intricate metal engraving, or making high-end safari rifles.
There are 2 in Colorado. THE Colorado School of Trades and the other one called Trinidad.
What’s the az one called
It's painful that Garand Thumb always sells his channel to the sketchiest people...
I still remember how Shadiversity roasted Kamikoto knives. Selling 10$ knives for 300$, claiming they are worth 1000$.
No. Easy to tell who to avoid. 😂
To be fair GarandThumb used to be and most other guntubers are currently working under contract with Leviathan Group. It is a marketing company that negotiates all of the sponsorship contracts on behalf of the channels. GT announced fairly recently that he was going to leave Leviathan Group and do sponsorships strictly in house and only with sponsors they had vetted. So while he did agree to the contract with Leviathan, he likely did not have final say in what specific sponsors he had to do spots for
@@jossege thats incorrect; we are signed with Leviathan group. I personally Vett all the sponsors we take on and have said no countless times (this video in particular did not make them happy)
Leviathan represents your channel for financial negotiations; you still get to say yes or no to the job.
He HAD his ad campaigning subsided by and therefore under the control of leviathan group - whom he recently severed ties with - and I imagine this whole thing is part of the reason why. Not defending him necessarily, just adding context
Hey, you guys really stuck you neck out there going against a big sponsor whilst being a smaller channel. I fully respect that and admire your bravery and honesty. So many smaller channels would take any sponsorship to get off the ground but you did the right thing. Nice job guys.
My little brother went to school to be a machinist, cost him a total of $2500; pulls in almost $110k/yr. Can do more than most gun smiths who claim to have 20 years experience.
Threats of government restrictions and today’s consumer society kind of made that a very niche low demand vocation. Guns are cheap now I’d imagine the vast majority are either sent back to the factory or pawned off on an unsuspecting soul to continue that process until it’s forgotten about or someone tinkers with it themselves.
@SuperIcarusman This is the way, you are 1000% right about the machinist path. Every shop is starving for capable curious people and you can learn most beginner info on TH-cam, Reddit etc. Enough to get you in the door and through many obstacles. And like you said way more and way cooler stuff than just guns
He does way more in the automotive side.
I was planning on following up my SDI degree with a machining trade school.
Bullshit. No one gets any certification as any sort of real machinist for $2500. SDI aside you are full of crap!
You guys know something that a LOT of people seem to have forgotten:
*Your word (reputation) means everything...*
Subbed
Respect 💯
If a youtuber is sponsoring anything, it's a scam. SDI, Nord, Better Help, etc.
Not necessarily a scam, but definitely not a smart investment nearly ever lol. The one the one that always gets me is those stupid overpriced wallets like ridge lol
@@tjbullis1491 How much for a Ridge wallet? My cheapo tri-fold has seen better days... WHOA $150 for a piece of milled aluminum & a small strap attached? GTFOH! 😠
The thing about Nord is that a VPN is useful in specific situations, but not in the situations they use to promote it. A VPN will obscure (not hide) your physical location. It will help you get around content filters on your local network. It won't do a darn thing to protect your privacy.
No, not everything. Also, Nord isn't a scam, you just don't understand VPNs. 🤦🏻♂️
@@Studio23Media Nord deliberately misrepresents in its ads what a VPN does. They claim it protects you from hackers, data thieves, etc., when a VPN does nothing of the sort.
The only bad thing about GT dropping SDI is that unfortunately, we lose Charlie's quips at their expense.
Nah, i think he could keep it up without GT namingthem directly
He'll just pickup another horrible company. He has a history of horrible sponsors
@@ShellShock794agree. But hes making the absolute jack off the sponsors. Another channel mentioned GT and said he will get 20,000-30,000 grand from companies to have a quick ad on his video. "Mantis dry fire systems are cool" they give him 20 grand. Anyone who says they wouldnt take that deal is either independently wealthy, have no family, or an absolute fkin retard.
@@ShellShock794 Established Titles, Big Daddy, SDI, Mantis, dude is on a roll
@@ShellShock794 To be fair GarandThumb used to be and most other guntubers are currently working under contract with Leviathan Group. It is a marketing company that negotiates all of the sponsorship contracts on behalf of the channels. GT announced fairly recently that he was going to leave Leviathan Group and do sponsorships strictly in house and only with sponsors they had vetted. So while he did agree to the contract with Leviathan, he likely did not have final say in what specific sponsors he had to do spots for
This reminds me of the 2010s when for-profit colleges deliberately targeted veterans for the gi bill. You'll find a lot of videos talking about that.
I've seen a couple of your videos here and there. However, this is the video that made me subscribe. I've been fucked over a lot, specially as an active duty service member. I joined to be an armorer as it has been a life long dream to work on firearms. You could ask people who are the closest to me how much of my time online is researching firearms and perfecting the builds I plan on making once I am of age. I moved to America and joined the military because of this dream I had. However the military screwed me over my armorer contract. So I decided then once I left my military career I would pursue an associates degree in SDI. Thanks to you guys, I won't now. I cannot express how thankful I am for you releasing this video and maintaining your integrity. Thanks to you I'm going to search new avenues of approach for my dream, and thanks to you, I save the benefits for which I need badly to keep pursuing my dream. God bless you, gentlemen
@@frankcastle584 Welcome to the channel, if you’ve seen our stuff you know we like to have fun, but we really value presenting you all with as unbiased takes as we can.
Colorado school of trades would probably love to have you; if you’re extremely serious about your career (or any career) Moving to a new place for a bit is well worth it, especially to get trained by some of the best!
"However the military screwed me over my armorer contract."
Never EVER, EVER, EVER trust your recruiter. (This is for anyone young enough to consider signing up)
I am NOT saying you don't serve. Go in with your eyes wide open, knowing that your first or second choice may not be immediate. Once in, become a sponge. Wherever you get posted, take a course. Over a 6 year contract, you could hit as many as 2 courses a year if lucky (that's 10 additional positive marks on your record for while you are in, and 10 different things you know when you get out - Your first year will be challenging enough, survive!). What you become is based on YOU, not what that man handing you the paper to sign says.
I was an unfortunate "victim" of SDI. I took the information at face value and tried my damnest to get as much actual handson expierience after it. Did it prey on my GI bill? Yeah 100%. But at the time of recently getting out of the military it help solidify that i really enjoy taking dremels to various pieces of metal thatll make a fudd shed tears
I really appreciate you guy’s not being afraid to have some integrity… when the rest are falling aside.
They always seemed like a scam, but GT gave them a sliver of credibility. He owes an apology.
To who? People need to stop blaming other people for their own gullibility. I get it though. You trust his words and he told you about something, but if he handed you a gun instead it wasn't loaded you better check that thing (what I mean is you should always look more in depth into what it is you're getting yourself into instead of just going into it with open arms and an open wallet)
Nothing grand thumb promotes is quality. AAC is trash ammo, the dry fire bullshit is a gimmick and as the video focuses on, SDI is not a useful tool. His videos are good but his promotions mean nothing.
@@abracing199so glad people are recognizing this. For a long time he just takes sponsors by the highest bidder. I pretty much ignore any of his sponsorship promotions. His videos are good but I’ve stopped watching for that reason.
He sure does!
@@grand1957 I think there's a reason he just kind of blast through his sponsors without dwelling on them. He speaks about them for as long as he's legally required to do so to get paid and then he drops it. Usually trying to make bits and skits out of the discussion. He doesn't owe anyone an apology, and you shouldn't stop watching his content because advertisements. Are all of you people so brain rotten that you have to buy every single advertisement you see in the world?
Currently have this playing in the background as I do class work for SDI. I've been on the fence about swapping schools for a couple months now. I think this video finally convinced me.
Good luck!
I’m a retired guy and I was thinking about getting into gunsmithing. I was researching SDI and your video was the first video that I watched, thanking you for not letting waste my time and MONEY.
Bro went hard on the nicotine in this one 😂😂😂😂
Is that what he's shoveling into his mouth while trying to talk at the same time? F^$k^&g moron. My first partial video here will be my last video here.
haha! I thought you were joking but after @9:55 he just keeps popping them in every 20 seconds :)
@@randalthor6872 I was losing it haha. It was a good play because I couldn't stop watching wondering how many he was going to slap in there.
Zyn should sponsor the channel :)
Them boys was horkin up Frfr
Ironically enough, a worker at a local Rural King previously enlightened me to the worthless nature of taking the SDI course. Good to see more people revealing the truth.
Big props for this video. In a time of increasing concern over fiscal stability, you went at one of the biggest sponsors of many, many influencers. You could have taken a payday, but instead you stuck to your morals. o7 gentleman!
I’d rather be homeless and honest.
thank you so much. ive been saving to go to SDI and i will now be researching other options. genuinely appreciate what youve done here. youve saved me years of time and money and im very thankful.
@@423D This is why we made the video; the insane amount of people saying they’re cool with the service because it’s just taking their GI bill don’t understand that tons of people are saving their own money to spend on this college in the hope it’ll launch their career…
16:35 "my current rifle has over 1000 rounds through it without oil lubricant" the fear of my units armorer reawoken within me when i heard this.
1000 rounds is a morning at the range for some people.
Sure the gun won't fail after that many rds, but yea not something I'd do unless it's an emergency or other exceptional circumstances.
@@lazypat5497name checks out
Even as a European with no military or firearms experience, that's sounds wrong
Former 92Y here, was listening to this vid at work and when he said that my head jumped up lmao
Greetings from Czech Republic. My younger brother went to REAL gunsmithing highschool here in CZ, in Uherský Brod. Where they teach you to use machinery, how the systems work, etc. If you compare all he was taught with SDI, SDI is basically what they learnt the first month (out of all 4 years btw, for free.). I know this because i was tutoring him on few subjects. It's shameful the people of SDI charge so much for something that you could basically learn from youtube tutorial
@@foreststalkerbrothers here you could get a couple of certificates for most of the stuff you need to learn and / or just work at a shop and learn on the job. It could be done so much cheaper and easier sometimes even free...
Eey, the world is small...
I also been there for a year as a requalification student. I got books and some knowledge however I still think I would need a lot more experience to really call myself a weaponsmith.
Cool
The tuition cost of SDI is similar to the full cost of my master’s degree in mechanical engineering. That’s wild. It’s definitely worth it going the engineering route with a real college or doing some sort of apprenticeship in machining and working your way up. I’m an engineering hiring manager (not in the gun industry) and I would be very skeptical if I saw a resume with one of these scammy for-profit schools.
I think part of the issue is the very people they scam too, Americans have gotten so lazy at vetting it's crazy.
Wrapping up my time with SDI. Happy to essentially be given a rifle kit to build, and the associates it comes with, but glad its about to be over. I do not know any more about guns than when I first started the school. I have a second job that is part time at a gunshop and have the pleasure of working with a real gunsmith. He has taught me more in just a 10 min convo than the few years its taken me to go thru the school.
Oh look another degree that does nothing, I can’t stop winning 🎉🎉🎉
The reality is that the only degrees that are worth anything are medical degrees and law degrees. Anything else can be learned on the job.
So true.
I work for one of the major tech companies. Making far more than I ever thought I would.
I went to school online (via a real university sure) but my degree ran me nothing as a veteran. Had I paid out of pocket it was MAYBE a couple grand a semester.
I’m in a niche compliance field. My degree has nothing to do with it. Basically someone gave me a shot for a compliance role and it spiraled into me working in FAANG.
I’m telling my kids to pay as little as possible for school. School brand doesn’t matter at all anymore it’s just a piece of paper that they use to gatekeep.
College is just expensive information they send you to find on the internet anyway. The only real thing they "teach" you at any school is how to look for information.
@@USAVET11B20I have a degree in history and political science, which means that I’m fully qualified job wise to ask if you’d like fries with that.
@@USAVET11B20What about engineering degrees?
Now THIS is wholesome, spicy content. Godspeed to your lawyer(s). 😬 Someone had to say it, and we're all here for it.
$50m lawyer vs $1 lawyer video coming soon!!!
@@DeskPopit’s just as good
SDI graduate here. You get a muzzle loader to assemble and either an AR-15, LR-308/AR-10, or a pistol caliber carbine (in place of the 1911 when I attended) as your capstone project. I chose the LR-308 and was sent a palmetto upper with a low rent lower that still doesn’t mate well with the upper (I’ve done all the filing that I can do without making the firearm dangerous to operate). Otherwise, it’s TH-cam university with a few irrelevant classes.
my mate said he caught an SDI once, I didn't even know he was into guns
You should've taken SDI and just been honest about it.
SDI sponsored and the SDI student testimony from HR.
@@AvocadoAtrocity the biggest of brain moves
To get a sponsorship you have to sign a strict and detailed contract dictating how the sponsor is presented on your (and any affiliated) channel. Broadcasting anything else on the channel, even from someone else's mouth, would constitute a breach, and a successful lawsuit would follow.
Sponsors usually give you pretty strict talking points and almost always have to sign off before you post them
Then you don’t get paid. Why do you think that would actually work?
Yeah that’s not how those work. You don’t get paid til after the vid is posted and there’s usually multiple checks/reviews the sponsor gets to do of the full video before you post it.
This is exactly what happened to one of my best friends. Got out of the military, has always loved firearms and he used his GI bill on it. He's a trucker now.
Deep diving on sdi saved my money and my future. I just graduated high school and want to become a gunsmith on the side, sdi was my plan before people started being honest. I'm looking at MGS now but that will have to wait a couple years
@@Operator_Aspen Colorado school of trades; or even better if you want to wait a few years- assemblyman at any firearms company
I recommend the Colorado school. I know a few guys who went through it on their GI bill. None of them actually became gunsmiths because going with being a machinist made much more money for them. They got a job right away and within a year they already bought homes in Texas. (Nothing down, VA loan, but they were making more than enough money to make their mortgage payments.)
I work at a gun shop with a gunsmith, and he highly recommends the Colorado school! Dude's a real piece of gunsmith too
To agree with the other guys, Trinidad State in Colorado is where my dad went to study gunsmithing when he was young in the 70s
@@DeskPop what exactly is an assemblyman? Just slapping parts together in the back of the house? Is that a common position?
SDI is kind of like watching people shoot. It won’t make up for range time.
During one of the courses we had to write a paper on wether or not gunsmiths should know how to work on mini-guns/chain guns. I said, as a person who litereally worked on them in the Marine Corp, that the likelyhood of a civilain ever seeing one, let alone having to work on one meant that it was, in my opinion, cool to learn but definitely not important... The retired LE "teacher" deducted point because he disagreed... With my opinion piece... On a subject that i have first hand knowledge on...
Their “blogs and videos” for the curriculum must have disagreed
Womp womp maybe cite a credible source next time. My instructor happened to agree with my assessment as I shared it in the video.
^This is exactly why I dropped out. Not the butthurt instructor, but that particular essay. I don't have your particular knowledge on those weapons, but I was smart enough to know I'd never need it.
Excuse me Mr. Gunsmith, I have a problem and was wondering if you can help? Well you see, I got this M-61 Vulcan that I got through totally legal means, she's not working right though. Can you diagnose the issue and fix it? I tried contacting General Dynamics about it but they never returned my emails.
Thats all college my guy you write what the teacher agrees with or you fail, college is pretty simple, fake it till you make it
Have been at a well known firearm manufacturer for almost 5 years now that I got just by interviewing with no prior experience and in that 5 years ive been in finishing dept, getting raw machined parts ready for assembly, laser engraving logos, serial numbers and state, local, and international insignias, and even small bits of assembly. But not only does the company teach everything while on tge job, but offer courses for gun smithing and other skills at their Academy. These companies will give you the tools to learn
Please sir, tell me which company will do this! I live in Missouri, will CMMG do this?
The capitalized Academy makes me think that the company is in New Hampshire and has recently gotten some major government contracts.
Smaller companies will generally have less formal educational programs.
Sometimes they will, sometimes they will try to screw you if you quit - and will try to make you quit -
Pay attention to those contracts
@@ianmcmahon8589 😎 your assumptions are right hahahahaha
SOME companies will give you the tools to learn. 90% of companies today will not hire you without experience even if they could train you to do it in a week or two.
As a rule I never trust any sponsor on TH-cam. The only one I did is Privacy, just because it's a free service and it actually is good for web security.
You mean you don’t drink AG1 for energy?
@@charlesjohnsjr.5809this sincerely made me laugh
AG1 boys unite
AG1 = Ruff Greens
Prove me wrong.
Yeah, some tech companies are solid. But stuff like this, or especially betterhelp, hoooo doggy, dont even get me started on them. If you have the need for some SSRIs, or other low strength meds like that, just go to hims. If you need therapy, just go to a real one. Yes its annoying and stressful to find a good fit for you, but its 1,000,000% worth it.
I’m the automotive industry, I run into applicants from places like Lincoln Tech, WyoTech and other similar schools. The way to get an idea if they might be good or bad is to ask how they liked it. The ones who loved it usually learned very little. The ones who are more ambivalent in their description usually taught themselves to a decent starting point.
11:30 brother man that is your third one in 2 mins chill😂
Ive been scrolling waiting to see anyone mention that. Hes gotta be javked by now
What is it?
He puts in 5 between 10:00 and 12:00…ring of fire
@@therealboofighterzyn - nicotine pouches
@@therealboofighter Zyn nicotine pouches, or possibly some other brand
This is why I like you guys. You have proven time and time again that you will not shill for shitty companies you wouldn’t stand behind.
We’ve been asked about SDI many times recently; I mentioned it in a video months ago and figured it was time to talk about why we don’t recommend it. The real hope here is the we can make enough of a wave SDI uses its huge sums of money to make a better program.
They are always the highest paying ads, unfortunately. But we won't shill for crap.
Can't tell you how much I wanted to know about SDI. Not that I was interested to attend because I grew up sitting in my grandfather's gunsmith shop so I have a fairly decent idea about what it takes for skill and to make an income out of it, but that I speculated that it must be a scam. Yet you guys are the first bold enough to talk about it. Very happy this video popped into my feed this morning. Big kudos! Subscribed!
When I decided to get into gunsmithing I debated between SDI and AGI (American Gunsmithing Institute) which people said were the top 2 places to go. I decided on AGI over SDI because it A) was less than half the price for their maximum package, B) had substantially more information and covered everything under the sun in terms of firearms, and C) was do at your own pace. I'm very glad I did. I'm a little over 1/3 the way through the course and I've learned a ridiculous amount about function and maintenance and troubleshooting. I still need more hands on work, but I started from nothing and now can tell you how the average firearm works, I know a lot of history, I have already repaired my 1st pistol, and I can explain how things work to other people. So glad I didn't pick SDI. The knowledge is always more important than the certification.
Had the SAME issue with ITT TECH..... LONG STORY SHORT they've been SHUT DOWN BY THE BOARD OF EDUCATION and was sued also for QUESTIONABLE GRANT AN LOAN INTAKE PRACTICE..... these schools ARE NOT THE WAY TO GO....
Same with Colin college in the southwest
Garand Thumb didn’t drop SDI until everyone on YT started exposing SDI. To be clear, he did nothing noble; he simply saved himself after making a ton of cash from promotions. He knew better, but maybe you (the viewing audience) didn’t.
Just goes to show if you put enough zero's behind something anyone is willing to sell a piece of their soul.
Same thing with Big Daddy Unlimited. Slightly different situation I know but I stopped ditching him a long while ago. I used to watch him a lot, pretty much every video. Once I started buying my own gear while considering recommendations he made, only then did I realize not much applies to me in a significant way. I still think the information was interesting to know but I started digging and found that he promotes products from the highest bidder. I don’t know if there’s any truth to that but I wouldn’t be surprised.
@@grand1957mr krabs, money money money
Agreed. I remember when he used to push freedom munitions and it wasn’t until the money dried up and people complained enough that he admitted to all the problems with the ammo
@@brandonschwertley2723 I see it more as them selling a piece of OUR soul.
Been waiting for this. Never made any sense they would have the marketing budget to pay for as many ads as they do without it being something cooked like it always is. If you see a billion sponsorships on TH-cam and its not obvious how they have that kind of money - its probably not great.
Never had your channel pop up for me before, the color grading is glorious.
Isn’t it a school? I would figure the school gets money from you know paying for school
@@Ben-xr6eh How many schools do you see dropping that kind of money marketing something as niche as gunsmithing? Whenever you see that kind of money getting dropped the profit margin needs to be insane. That usually means the product is grossly overpriced for its cost. In this case the product is the quality of your teaching.
Thank you you just saved my 21 year old gung-ho son some money. I had told him the same thing but of course he's going to believe it off of another TH-camr more😂.
@@davidstorer1971 if he wants to get a start in gunsmithing we are more than happy to direct him towards an education path based on his goals! Have him DM us.
I saw a story on T.V., one of the human interest stories in the early 80's. It was about a guy living in a camper shell in the back of his truck while going to Lassen county community college for gunsmithing. I joined the Army in 1985. In 1989, I was a desk sergeant in Korea at an MP station. My clerk, who we will call Vinny, was that guy. He accumulated 140 semester hours at a community college. He was also made my unit's Armorer. He could fix anything that did not require machine tools.
I can second this. I am a recent graduate from that same school, Lassen College. I graduated their 2-year vocational gunsmithing program in May of 2023, and have received every certification they offer. I can very safely say that I learned more in machining, gunsmith machining, gunsmith welding, and firearms design and repair in my first semester than any SDI student will learn in their 2 years. I have had many chances to converse with SDI students and I haven’t been able to hold an equally knowledgeable conversation with any of them. They simply are not a good school. I’ve handled and fixed countless guns, fabricated countless parts, polished for hundreds of hours, have hundreds of hours behind many types of machinery, and your average SDI student won’t know how to turn on a lathe.
@@cooldudepharaoh small world. I lived at SIAD in Herlong from 1990-1992.
@@larrylamb5462no way! I lived up in Susanville for my time at the college but moved back to the Bay Area when I graduated. Was able to find a job in the industry but I don’t see a having a huge future in gunsmithing here due to the shitty politics. I will probably be moving somewhere better soon if I get the chance to.
@@cooldudepharaoh food for thought. Out of 3,060 or so counties in the USA, the one I live in now, Randolph, NV, is the 9th most heavily armed county in the country, and has been for years. Don't know of any gunsmiths around, either.
Congratulations on the SDI sponsorship! You guys are awesome😄
And I love you random citizen.
I hate that Brandon Herrera shills them considering he owns an AK manufacturing company…
the guy is a politician. what did you expect?
Has he actually started manufacturing them or does he just finish parts kits?
@@JuanRuiz-bu4zk uh. Hes not a politician actually. He just ran. And then didnt even make it. Hes not a bad dude
@@JuanRuiz-bu4zk lol what? I think you have to actually be elected to count as a politician
@@JuanRuiz-bu4zk he ran but wasn’t elected so no he’s not a politician. He’s literally never held any political position.
As a veteran, gun owner, and leftist, I’m glad someone in the guntoob space is calling out this scam.
you proud to be a leftist even though your own party is promising to take your guns away by military force 😂😂😂
@@Ryan-xq3kl I said I’m a leftist, there is no leftist party in America. Also, yes, I support gun control laws, we need to stop the school shooting epidemic in our country that’s been going on since before I was born.
You guys are 100% right about SDI only thing is being a real gunsmith is not running production parts for some big company anyone can get a job doing that being a gunsmith is about repairing more than creating I work on mostly hunting rifles AR's AK's and pistols that don't eject anymore most of the time it's literally just cleaning guns if you want to be a real gunsmith you must be a machinist there's no way around that and if you can train under someone who is actually doing things is the best way to go the things I've learned over the years can not be taught by computer correspondence SDI is a joke
You guys are 100% correct. I attended SDI using my GI bill. Not because I had aspirations to be a gun smith but because I had just enough GI bill left to cover it and I thought it would be cool to know how to better work on my own guns maybe do it as a side gig for family ect… and I was a waste of time and had I paid for it myself I would enraged
I feel like Guntubers who promote it aren’t fully aware of how bad SDI is, they get paid to promote and do not know that they are promoting a scam.
Thank God there are Guntubers who don’t support them and drop them
If you live in the south east and want to get a degree in gunsmithing go to Piedmont Technical College. It’s cheaper than SDI and it’s all hands on with several different instructors that specialize in each aspect. You can choose other areas of studies like CNC and welding while you’re there. The instructors there are awesome, you work on many different guns and come away with a walk away with a Remington 700 that you machined the barrel for and made the stock for.
Yeah they should focus on CNC work and not worry about guns. They’ll be able to work on guns or any other industry using cnc and lathe work.
@@jonosterman2878What’s wrong with focusing on a niche? Especially if someone wants to be a proper gunsmith, let them spend their money on a proper gunsmithing course.
@@jonosterman2878for sure. I was going to do an apprenticeship with an amazing gunsmith but went a different route. I’m in the industry and thriving, but it’s nothing like I expected it to be.
Awesome! I knew that it was a scam, I went to a real gunsmithing school where I spent a lot of time using a lathe and mill, also welding. I’ve talked to a couple of people that started at SDI, one finished the whole program and when he showed me his final project I was shocked. He assembled an AR-15 using an 80% lower which he “milled using a drill press and router. I was surprised that it even functioned, but it gave him a degree. BTW, you just earned a new subscriber. I’d sponsor you, but I’m broke as hell! 😂
I couldn't understand a damn thing with all that dip bro 🤣
I was hoping he was going for a record.
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
The best way to learn to be a gunsmith, is by working with a good established gunsmith as his apprentice. Old saying "Those who can, do; those who can't, teach; those who can't teach, administrate."
Just as I thought.. When I saw MAC(Military Arms Channel) promoting Modern Gun School I just kinda thought "huh wonder why he don't endorse SDI?" and now I have a definitive answer, thanks guys!!
I'm currently living in Sweden with an ambition to move somewhere where I can live a better life because I wanna see more of the world and have better freer life and I love guns so I thought why not move to the U.S and become a gunsmith, I'm already a car/truck/semi mechanic, but want to try something else, so thanks again!!
Maybe go into marine diesel repair, specifically for low speed and medium speed diesels. Depending on the outfit that you join, it could definitely result in you being flown around the world. Alfa Laval for heat exchangers and purifiers would also work.
@@ianmcmahon8589 WOW, you are amazing, THANK YOU SOO MUCH for the suggestions!! 😄🙏
Hope you have a nice rest of your week! 😊
Stay being a semi mechanic if coming to the US.
@@johnkrstyen7351 Yeah that's the main idea but I was also thinking about broadening my horizons before I move just so I have options and am more attractive as a worker. And look more attractive as a prospect citizen to whoever the border agent is to do my interview and handle my case because of what happened to Moist E-Sports in the Apex tournament.. That I think should be very embarrassing to every American.
If you don't know what happened please look it up.
But thanks for the tip and a good day and rest of your week! 😄
Well if you want to learn gunsmithing here in germany we have 2 schools (Suhl and Ehingen) and in austria there is Ferlach so you could learn gunsmithing within the EU.