Lots goes on behind the scenes at Ultimate Reloader for everything to come together. Today, I’m taking a moment to introduce Kyle Shields, one of our videographers.
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About Kyle Shields
Late last year, we put out a video looking for a media pro. This opportunity went out to approximately 300,000 people and we received one incredibly qualified candidate—Kyle Shields.
Kyle explained that our interview process was a bit out of the norm. He started out remotely, living in Oregon, and answered our technical questions with incredibly technical answers. Rather than answer creatively, Kyle talked about ISO and the exposure triangle.
The Ultimate Reloader team as a whole was incredibly surprised and impressed. There are many today who say they are media pros, but most of them don’t understand the technical side of media and camera settings.
Kyle has long been a fan and viewer of Ultimate Reloader and also has his own YouTube channel—DIY Reloading. (Check it out and subscribe!) This is an on-again, off-again passion project for Kyle, but with good, solid content. Kyle explained as he’s been busy making a living, he’s been trying to determine exactly what he wants to do with @DIYReloading. (Drop a comment if you have ideas!)
The second part of the interview was in-person. We had Kyle shoot video, edit video, shoot guns, and more. This was especially fun as not only did we get Kyle behind the gun, but we also got UR team member and videographer Tyler Hale behind the gun. (You may have seen him in our Halloween special and other cameos.) We shot the 6GT as part of field filming for our loading to 1,000 yards story. Everyone got first round hits at 706 yards and 1,000 yards on D-M steel targets! The cold, still conditions certainly helped.
This was a particularly thrilling experience for Kyle, who had never previously taken shots beyond 300 yards. He recalled when he could barely hit 100 yards as well as the work it took to improve his skills. Reloading came next when he wanted to shoot his 30-30 but didn’t want to pay high ammunition costs. It was then he started watching Ultimate Reloader.
Once Kyle became a proficient reloader, he decided he wanted to share what he had learned and his take on the reloading process. He said that “everybody’s different” and that viewers connect differently with different personalities. Even though the topics he was covering had been done before, they hadn’t been done in his words.
3D Printing
3D printing is an area I’ve only scratched the service of. We’ve been starting to investigate it, particularly for printing Cerakote fixtures and split bushings for holding barrels in the metal lathe. The split bushing shown below is an interesting one because the outside is straight, while the inside is tapered to match the taper of the muzzle of the barrel!
Kyle got the Prusa printer running and these items made their way into videos like the .338 Lapua build!
Conclusion
Here at Ultimate Reloader, we have a team with assorted skills and talents. Guy Miner is an excellent wildlife photographer. Kyle and I really connect with the technical sides of things. Tyler Hale is a former independent film maker and freelance videographer/photographer. Serena Juchnowski, our writer, is a competitive shooter.
Having such a diverse team allows us to learn from one another. I especially appreciate being able to talk with Kyle on a super nerdy, technical level.
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Thanks,
Gavin Gear
