As a gun blogger I get the chance to test and evaluate (T&E) pretty much any gun that catches my eye (you can read our reviews HERE) having this ability is great but before I test out anything I like to read reviews from other trusted gun sources, talk to my gunsmith as well as watch YouTube videos on the firearm so I can get the best possible handle on the firearm before I even have it in my hands so I know just what I am getting into.
Now I am by no means a gunsmith nor do I admit to any sort of gunsmithing knowledge. I leave that up to the paid professionals so I do not damage mine or any T&E guns beyond repair. I do need to have the basic knowledge to clean the firearm so I turn to YouTube because in most cases I don’t have the firearm or instruction manual yet.
About a 6 months ago a friend came to me with a pump action .22 rifle he wanted to clean but didn’t know how to so I sat down and pulled up YouTube. WE searched “[name of the gun] Field Strip” and the results that came up were a number of videos not relating to field stripping or even about that particular firearm. We did find one video where a gentleman was properly field stripping this particular gun, so we took the gun and followed along. By the end of the video the gun was cleaned and put back together.
I am not saying that you should use YouTube to do major gunsmithing because you can damage your firearms but for the basics of getting to know your equipment, YouTube is a GREAT resource.