Here’s a fun one from the archive. Back at the end of 2018, TFBTV ranked the year’s new guns by a simple metric: how many YouTube views each gun’s video pulled in its first 30 days. Not editor picks, just raw viewer interest. Their original video is below. Since we’ve now had the better part of a decade to watch these guns age, I’ll add some hindsight from the counter. I’m Lance Rankin, owner and gunsmith at Western Sport in Roanoke, Texas.
The countdown, with hindsight
10. Ideal Conceal cell phone gun
A two-shot .380 that folds up to look like a smartphone. It made TFBTV’s list on controversy, not merit, and that’s about how history remembers it. Clever engineering, real concerns about it being mistaken for a phone, and you simply don’t see them around anymore.
9. Ruger Security-9
A budget 9mm around $300 that shot better than its price suggested. This one aged well. The Security line is still what I hand a first-time buyer who wants a reliable full-size pistol without spending Glock money.
8. Glock 17 and 19 MOS Gen 5
Subtle tweaks: new barrel, ambi slide stop, no finger grooves, and the MOS optic cut. The optics-ready part turned out to be the whole story. In 2018 a red dot on a carry pistol was a novelty; now customers ask me why a slide isn’t cut for one.
7. IWI TS12 shotgun
IWI’s 15+1 bullpup shotgun with the rotating tube magazine. It stayed niche, but it has loyal fans and it certainly wasn’t boring.
6. Master of Arms ENYO
A 3.6-pound AR-15 built from exotic materials with a ball-bearing bolt carrier. Small maker, big idea. You rarely hear the name now, but featherweight AR builds went mainstream anyway.
5. Hi-Point 1095 10mm carbine
Everybody jokes about Hi-Point until they need a 10mm carbine for a few hundred bucks. Ugly, heavy, and it runs. The jokes tend to stop at the register.
4. SIG Sauer P365
The one the list undersold. At the time there was real drama about early reliability, and TFBTV hedged accordingly. In hindsight, the P365 changed the carry-gun market more than anything else on this page. It went on to become one of the most popular carry pistols in the country and spawned an entire family of variants. If any 2018 release still moves inventory in my shop, it’s this one.
3. SIG Sauer M400 Tread
SIG’s entry-level AR with Magpul furniture and decent controls at a fair price. Solid then, still around now. The “Tread ecosystem” marketing was a bit much, but the rifle itself is honest.
2 and 1. Glock 45 and Glock 19X
Over 300,000 combined first-month views by TFBTV’s math. The 19X, born from the military handgun trials, paired a full-size grip with a compact slide and started a thousand comment-section arguments. The G45 answered with the same formula in black with Gen 5 features. The crossover layout people argued about in 2018 is just a normal Glock configuration now.
What held up
Viewer clicks turned out to be a decent crystal ball. The novelties faded, the P365 and the crossover Glocks reshaped what people carry, and the budget guns kept doing budget-gun work. Credit to TFBTV for a format that let the numbers talk.
If you’re shopping today instead of in 2018, my best 9mm handguns under $500 and Glock 19 vs Glock 17 guides are current, and rifle folks can start with the best AR-15 for beginners. Anything on those pages, we can ship to your FFL or set up local pickup here in Roanoke.
Lance Rankin is the owner and Chief Gunsmith of Western Sport, a family-run Type 07 FFL and Class 3/SOT dealer in Roanoke, Texas, serving shooters since 2007. Born and raised in Texas with over 50 years of experience handling firearms, Lance purchased Western Sport in 2017 and turned his lifelong passion into his profession. He specializes in AR-15 and AR-10 platform rifles, manufactures Western Sport’s own AR-15 line under the Rankin Industries brand, and runs the shop’s in-house Cerakote coating operation. When he’s not behind the counter or the workbench, you’ll find him on his ranch deep into the night, hunting coyotes with an AR-15 and thermal optics. Lance holds an MBA and personally shoots and tests the products Western Sport sells.
