United States
Scott, known online as Kentucky Ballistics, is a former Kentucky State Trooper turned firearms content creator based in Kentucky.
Total Followers +2.3%
6.4M
Across YouTube, Instagram
Primary Platform
YouTube
5.9M followers · 92% of audience
Engagement
6.4%
vs. 1.5% category median
Sponsorship Tier
Mega
Est. $7.7K–$18K / IG post
| Window | YouTube | Combined | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Last 7 days | +10K +0.2% | +29K +5.8% | +0 +0.0% | +39K |
| Last 30 days | +40K +0.7% | +106K +20.8% | +0 +0.0% | +146K |
| Last 90 days | +143K +2.4% | +277K +54.2% | +0 +0.0% | +420K |
| Last 365 days | +143K +2.4% | +277K +54.2% | +0 +0.0% | +420K |
Trajectory estimated from current followers and reported 7/30/90/365-day growth rates.
Scott, known online as Kentucky Ballistics, is a former Kentucky State Trooper turned firearms content creator based in Kentucky. His channel centers on testing some of the largest and most unusual weapons available — historic anti-tank rifles, massive-bore hunting cartridges, and military surplus hardware — earning him the self-styled title "The Recoil King." A near-fatal on-camera incident in 2021, when a Serbu RN-50 catastrophically failed and punctured his lung, became a defining turning point: Scott's transparent recovery documentation deepened audience loyalty and accelerated growth into the multi-million subscriber range.
His audience is overwhelmingly male and skewed toward the 18–34 cohort, with strong US concentration and secondary reach in the UK, Canada, and Germany — a profile that attracts sponsors like Manscaped and gaming partners such as Delta Force, bridging hardcore gun culture with mainstream entertainment appeal. Engagement sits well above category norms, signaling an active community rather than passive viewership. As firearms content faces evolving platform scrutiny, Scott's law-enforcement background and on-camera survival narrative give Kentucky Ballistics a credibility layer that positions it as one of the more durable franchises in the firearms YouTube space.
Kentuckyballistics reaches an audience concentrated in United States primarily through YouTube, and is best activated via long-form YouTube integrations, Instagram Reels and Stories. As a firearms creator they map naturally to brands targeting that space. Engagement on YouTube runs around 6.4%, pointing to an audience suited to category-relevant, mid-funnel brand campaigns rather than pure-reach buys.
Benchmark estimates for a creator at Kentuckyballistics's tier (Mega, 6.4M combined followers, United States). Pulled from CreatorDB's category benchmarks.
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Yes — Scott had a near-fatal on-camera accident in 2021 when a .50 BMG rifle catastrophically failed during filming, sending shrapnel into his neck and chest. He was airlifted to the hospital with serious injuries including a punctured lung, but survived and documented his full recovery in a widely watched follow-up video. The incident became one of the most-discussed firearm accidents in YouTube history.
The video — Episode 13 of his "When Guns Go Boom" series — captures a 700 Nitro Express rifle undergoing a dramatic mechanical failure during filming. The 700 Nitro Express is one of the most powerful sporting cartridges ever made, originally designed for dangerous-game hunting in Africa, and the extreme pressures involved make catastrophic failures particularly violent. It fits squarely into Scott's ongoing series documenting real-world gun failures and malfunctions.
Yes — Scott served as a Kentucky State Trooper before transitioning to full-time content creation, a background he lists prominently in his social bios. That law-enforcement career gave him a deep professional grounding in firearms handling, which helps explain the credibility his channel carries when testing military-grade and extreme-caliber weapons. He has referenced his trooper days in multiple videos.
The nickname reflects Scott's signature content: willingly shooting some of the hardest-kicking, highest-caliber firearms on YouTube — 20mm anti-tank rifles, 700 Nitro Express, .50 BMG, and beyond. The title is both a badge of honor and a brand shorthand for a channel built around extreme recoil and the physical punishment those guns deliver. It distinguishes him from channels that only discuss or review guns rather than actually absorbing the punishment on camera.
"When Guns Go Boom" is a recurring series dedicated entirely to real catastrophic firearm failures — whether from ammunition defects, mechanical breakdowns, or the stress of extreme-caliber shooting. By Episode 13 (the 700 Nitro entry), the series had documented a wide range of dramatic failure events, and it serves as one of the channel's most distinctive recurring formats. It taps into genuine viewer curiosity about what actually happens when a firearm reaches its limits.
The Solothurn S-18 series is a Swiss-made 20mm anti-tank rifle from World War II — effectively one of the largest shoulder-fired weapons ever manufactured, originally designed to punch through armored vehicles. Scott fired it against a Husafell Stone, a 400-pound volcanic stone traditionally used in Icelandic strongman lifting competitions, for one of the channel's most visually extreme head-to-head tests. That combination of historical military hardware and absurd real-world targets is a hallmark of the Kentucky Ballistics formula.
Yes — Scott has used the #TeamManscaped hashtag across his posts, indicating an active partnership with Manscaped, the men's grooming brand. Manscaped is one of the most common sponsors across male-skewing YouTube and social channels, and Kentucky Ballistics' audience — which runs around 90% male — is exactly the demographic the brand targets. Brand integrations and dedicated sponsorships are a key revenue stream for a channel at his follower scale.
.277 Fury (formally 6.8×51mm) is the caliber chosen for the U.S. Army's Next Generation Squad Weapon program, intended to replace the M4 carbine and M249 SAW with greater range and barrier penetration. Scott covered it in a dedicated video titled "The U.S. Army's New Battle Rifle (277 Fury)," which fits the channel's consistent focus on active military technology and weapons development. Military and law-enforcement hardware is a recurring pillar of Kentucky Ballistics content, not just civilian shooting sports.
His real name is Scott Dunn — he goes by "Kentucky Ballistics" as his channel brand but has used his first name openly in his social profiles and his full name became widely reported during coverage of his 2021 on-camera accident. He identifies himself simply as "Scott" in his Instagram bio alongside the Kentucky Ballistics handle.
Kentucky Ballistics has grown to well over 5 million subscribers on YouTube, placing it firmly in the Mega tier of creators. What makes the channel stand out at that scale is that its engagement rate runs significantly above the category average — a signal that his audience is unusually active and loyal rather than passively subscribed. The channel focuses almost exclusively on the United States audience, which makes up the majority of viewership.
Stats (followers, engagement, audience demographics, growth) are pulled live from the CreatorDB API covering YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. Bio and FAQ content is AI-assisted; news items are sourced from cited public press at generation time. Read the full methodology →
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@kentuckyballistics · YouTube
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