Micah Mayfield Talks First Gun, Last Gun & What’s Next

On this episode of First Last Next, we sat down with Micah Mayfield in the Airstream at the Silencer Shop booth at SHOT Show 2026. If you have spent any time on gun YouTube over the last seven years, you already know Micah. If you have not, the short version is this: former Mazda master tech, former laser guy, former full timer with Garand Thumb, and now the guy running his own marketing company while still putting out content people love to watch.

The conversation got a little ADHD, in the best possible way. We got into K’Nex guns, PS1 Medal of Honor, a hand tattoo his wife was not thrilled about, and a 5.56 suppressor that just rewrote the chart at Pew Science.

First Gun: A Loaded Up Springfield XD

Micah’s first gun is, in his own words, “as bad as it gets.”

He had just turned old enough to buy a handgun. He had saved up oil change tech money, walked into a Sportsman’s Warehouse with zero research, looked at the wall, and saw a Springfield XD that was already dressed up. Tan finish. Suppressor height sights. Threaded barrel. Mag well flare. To a young guy who did not know any better, it looked like the coolest thing on the rack.

So he bought it.

About six months later he traded it in for an HK P2000, which he also bought based purely on how it felt in his hand. No research. No deep dive. That came later, once he started watching T-Rex Arms videos and the rabbit hole opened up. He still remembers the early Lucas Botkin “HK 416 at speed” style edits being the moment something clicked.

Everyone has a phase. Micah’s phase was a tan Springfield XD and all of the GripZone goodness.

From Mazda Tech to YouTube to His Own Thing

Before any of the gun stuff, Micah was an automotive guy. He went to school in Washington, started as an oil change tech, worked his way up to master tech at a Mazda dealership, and got laid off during COVID. His feelings about Mazda rotaries are not printable.

From there he landed at B.E. Meyers, doing marketing work and helping with R&D testing on lasers (think thermal drift data, that kind of thing). That lasted about a year before he went full time on YouTube filming and contributing on the Garand Thumb channel.

What surprised us is what came next. Micah started Mayfield Creative, a marketing company that now has two full time employees, right after stepping away from working under someone else. His take is simple. He loves making content. He is not as interested in being the guy. When a brand has a vision and his team gets to crush it for them, that is where the joy is.

More on the agency later.

Last Gun: An AK-19 Build, And A Tattoo To Match

The most recent gun Micah picked up is a parts kit for an AK-19, which is essentially the 5.56 version of the AK-12. He is having it built for an AK competition, and he wanted something that would actually look the part.

He is quick to say he is a “moderate” AK guy. He cannot name every variant off the top of his head, but he likes Arsenals, he likes certain Combloc rifles, and that is enough to know he wanted in on this match.

Which brings us to the tattoo.

Micah has an AK selector switch tattooed on his hand. The little hash mark for safe and the AB for fire, right there in plain view. He got it at Kalashbash, where he was actually filming the event for one of his clients. The combination of being at Kalashbash, being around the right (or wrong) people, and being a few drinks deep meant the tattoo was probably going to happen one way or another. His wife had specifically told him no hand tattoos.

He got the hand tattoo.

To his credit, he plans to actually shoot this thing. The AK-19 build, the competition, and the tattoo all line up. He also wanted a serious 5.56 AK so he could run it with his own suppressor, which is a nice transition.

The Tisha: A 5.56 Can That Just Broke Pew Science

Micah developed a suppressor with Stealth Additive Works called the Tisha. They built it in 5.56 and 9mm, and at SHOT he was carrying a 5.56 around in a fanny pack like it was a piece of swag he snagged from one of the booths.

Here are the numbers that matter. The Tisha is about four inches long and around 15 ounces. Pew Science tested it, and according to Micah it posted the highest composite score Jay has ever recorded for a 5.56 suppressor.

Next Gun: The M4A5 Dream Build

Most people give a polished answer here. Micah did not.

His next build is something he has wanted for years, and the inspiration is pure Call of Duty 4. He still remembers the M40A3 from that game. The reticle. The quick scope sound. The way it felt to pull the trigger as a kid on the couch.

He is not actually building an M40A3. He is building an M40A5, two A’s better. The spec sheet is what you would expect from a guy who waited this long to build it. McMillan chassis. Bartlein barrel. Badger Ordnance parts. Remington action.

It is a video game gun grown up and given a budget. We are very into it.

While we were on the subject, Micah also disclosed somewhere around 464 days of logged playtime on RuneScape and confirmed that early FPS games helped him get into guns.

Mayfield Creative: The Real Day Job

Micah was clear about something on the podcast that we want to repeat. The YouTube channel is awesome, and he still loves making content, but his actual day to day is running Mayfield Creative.

It is a creative and marketing agency built around the firearms and outdoor industry. Two full time employees. A growing client roster. The pitch is straightforward. He loves making content. He loves working with people. He likes meeting brands and figuring out what they actually want to say, then making it look good.

Kalashbash is one example. Stealth Additive Works is another. The agency is the reason he was even at the event where he got the tattoo.

If you are a brand looking for someone who actually understands the audience, the work is at mayfield-creative.com.

Final Shot

The Micah Mayfield episode of First Last Next is one of our favorites so far, partly because of the guns, but mostly because of the through line.

You get all the guns and the gear, it’s fun and it’s cool, but it’s not the whole story. You also get the human side, including a guy who built K’Nex guns on Instructables as a kid, married someone who supports his journey, and is now raising two boys with the K’Nex collection his mom saved for exactly this moment.

Big thanks to Micah for stopping by the booth.