Watch: YouTuber Suffers Catastrophic Failure While Testing Rocket Launcher

Don’t let anyone tell you being a guntuber is easy.  US Army veteran Adam Knowles experienced the danger first hand while testing a RPG-7 (Rocket Propelled Grenade) for his Ballistic High-Speed YouTube channel when the device exploded in his face, likely due to the propellant igniting too quickly.  The horrific accident was captured in slow motion video:

Adam from Ballistic High Speed was injured following a catastrophic RPG failure as seen here.

Injuries sustained:
Third degree burns on about 10% of his upper body broken jaw
fractured skull
face and chest lacerations
several pieces of shrapnel in his body
long term nerve… pic.twitter.com/ZiaYgTVJVo

— Mrgunsngear (@Mrgunsngear) December 17, 2023

Knowles is alive, but sustained multiple injuries including third degree burns on around 10% of his upper body, a broken jaw, a fractured skull, face and chest lacerations, several pieces of shrapnel in his body long term and nerve damage in his face. After treatment he is recovering and has returned to YouTube to view the footage for the first time, recalling the experience of being blown up.

Walking back through the day of the misfire, the YouTubers explained how the shoot consisted of multiple launcher tests, and the RPG-7 happened to be the “final shot of the day.”

Despite running all the usual safety checks and being as cautious as possible, something went wrong during this last fire and in the blink of an eye, Knowles was “on the ground.”

The event has not deterred Knowles from continuing his work at Ballistic High-Speed.