Inwood resident Michael Meador works on a .50-caliber machine gun as part of his gunsmith duties with Extreme Firepower Industry, of which he’s vice president. Meador will be the guest adviser on Friday’s episode of “Sons of Guns,” airing at 9 p.m. on Discovery Channel.
INWOOD, W.Va. — While following his passion of gunsmithing led Inwood resident Michael Meador to open a firearms business with his wife, it also led him to another surprising destination – television.
Meador will be the guest adviser on Friday’s episode of “Sons of Guns.” Airing on Discovery Channel, “Sons of Guns” is a reality show about the owners and employees of Red Jacket Firearms, in Baton Rouge, La., who create custom firearms.
Last fall, Meador, vice president of Extreme Firepower Industry LLC, traveled to Baton Rouge for a week of filming to create a custom firearm at Red Jacket Firearms.
“Their technical adviser is a friend of mine, and they had a need for somebody like myself who’s a (special occupancy taxpayer) manufacturer to come out and do an episode. They needed my licensing to basically make sure they fell within legalities for the show,” Meador said.
As a special occupancy taxpayer, Meador does not sell firearms, but provides gunsmithing services on items like rifles, shotguns, handguns, machine guns and silence suppressors, and also provides transfer services.
Although Meador cannot reveal what type of custom firearm he helped design and build on the show before it airs, he said the fact it could be built surprised even himself.
His first time on television, Meador said it was surprisingly easy to be himself and forget that a camera crew was capturing all of his words and expressions.
“I honestly forgot the cameras were there. Joe and I were working on a gun with the technical editor, and I was so into it, I forgot the cameras were rolling, and I just turned and looked up and was surprised to see they were right there,” he said.
“They did have to bleep me out a few times,” he jokingly said.
As for the series regulars, Meador had nothing but praise…