[rero360]

Ever since I bought my first gun (mossburg 500) I've been a tinkerer, I've enjoyed doing work on my guns, from lightening triggers, to removing material on my savage's stock where it was touching the barrel, I've changed various sights on guns and all that, My question for all of you is how would I go about getting a job as a gunsmith, what sort of formal training would I need and where would I recieve said training?

[dfariswheel]

The best way is to go to one of the attendance schools like Colorado School of Trades, Trinidad State College, Yavapai in Arizona, and Lassen College in California.

These are formal schools, some of them colleges, where you have to actually attend.

They turn out professional gunsmiths, not hobbyist, "armorers", or tinkerers.

[DevLcL]

I was just thinking the same thing myself. I would like to become either a gunsmith or an armorer either with law enforcement, the military, or any one in the private sector willing to hire me. I'm not really sure how you go about obtaining the training and finally the job itself. If I find any info I'll be sure to post what I can. I'll be checking back to see what others have to say.

-Dev

[Sunray]

Yep, there are schools. However, finding a decent job for an inexperienced guy will be difficult. You will likely have a bit of a leg up due to your tinkering though. Make sure you have that clearly indicated on your resume.
The mail order schools are a waste of money. You'd need each type of firearm the lessons are talking about and there's no way to learn to operate a lathe, mill, etc by mail order or from a video. Look into your local Community College for a machining course.

[rmw]

If you really want to be a Gunsmith for a living go to a school , If you just want to tinker than stuff like AGI is fine . Most of the armorer's I have known have worked for the Dept As a Cop and did it as part of there duties . Also don't plan on getting rich , for what you will have to know and be able to do as a "good gunsmith" you can make allot more money in different areas .