I want to be a gunsmith. I would love your insight.

[EVEgreen2001]

How many of you all don't know what you want to be when you grow up?
I intend to become a Gunsmith. I am going to go to school for this and keep this as a hobby and not give up my good paying job. I would love to get insight from all of you gunsmiths on here. I'm mostly into milsurp guns.

 

[au_prospector]

Here is some advice I would give ANYONE looking into a career at ANYTHING.

Job shadow! That is, hang out with a few different willing gunsmiths here and there for several hours at a time. Ask plenty of questions, make sure it is exactly what you want to do before you devote time and $$ learning how to do it properly. See if you can find someone who is willing to take on a part time apprentice while you are in school.

Do you want to be an independent gunsmith or one that works for a gun manufacturer or one that works for a gun dealer with on premises gunsmithing services? There are big differences and being independent will be the most challenging.

I would think an independent gunsmith would need at least these qualities, probably more to be successful. 1) Business savvy 2) Patience (both gun patience and customer patience) 3) A steady hand and great eyesight 4) Thick skin to deal with some of your clients when patience isnt enough.

Let us know how it is going!

 

[Zeke/PA]

Look at Trinidiad State Junior College for training. as the info IS THERE!
As for a career in the trade, I have my doubts for several reasons.
I wish you the best.

 

[Steve Danielewicz]

I have been working with my grandpa for quite awhile now. I'll tell you that as a hobby its great but as a full time deal I hope you could get enough work. Its very hard to make a living doing it. Gramps worked as a gunsmith while being a full time Deputy Sheriff in Michigan. Just remember that if you do it as a side job/hobby you would still need all the proper license' and documentation to keep up with ATF. A FFL is a must for even being a gunsmith. http://www.atf.gov/firearms/faq/gunsmiths.html. Most likely you will end up spending more than you make. Good luck.

 

[Jim K]

This has been gone over time and again on this site and on this forum, and about every aspect of the gunsmithing business has been covered several times. PLEASE do a search and read what has already been written, then ask any specific questions you might have.

Jim

 

[EVEgreen2001]

First, I am not going into this full time. I have a great paying job that I'm not going to give up. I will take my time. Second, I'm looking to take on-line courses from Penn-Foster Career College next year to earn a diploma in Gunsmithing. I intend to take this education and fix up mil-surp guns bought for cheap(in rough shape)and make them beautiful and functional and build up other military rifles from parts/parts kits. Having an FFL will eliminate the dealer transfer fee. It wouldn't be a bad idea to build these guns up and sell them on gunbroker or other approved sites to sell them privately. a little cash on the side is a nice thing.

 

[Jim K]

If you plan to alter the nature of those milsurps (e.g., sporterize them as opposed to just cleaning them) you may need not a dealer's FFL but a manufacturer's FFL a much more expensive proposition. Make sure to check with BATFE on that as some dealers/gunsmiths have gotten in trouble on that issue.

Jim

 

[dsink]

My advice would be to lay down and let the idea pass.

Whether you do it as a hobby or fulltime, its going to cost you the same. I can promise you one thing, you will tie up a TON OF MONEY in equipment. To give you an example, I currently have about 55 or 56 reamers in my shop along with go and no go guages. That translates to about $10,000.00.

Buying a lathe and mill will be the cheapest things you buy. Its all the tooling that goes along with them that will cost you a fortune! I do it part time but it feels like im working 2 fulltime jobs.

Then you also have to deal with getting and keeping your FFL's, all the paper work that goes along with them and the headaches. You also get to deal with all the people that dont understand that you actually have other customers becouse they cant seem to understand why you cant drop what your doing, pull the part there gun needs out of your butt and fix it for them right then.

If you decide to do it then I wish you all the luck in the world. My advice though would be to find something different to do.

 

[TTF]

I second dsink! I'm building my tooling now....EXPENSIVE, so save cash for good quality tooling.

 

[EVEgreen2001]

If I am hoing to invest $10,000.00 in tools, that wil be completed in the next 20 years. Also, if you are still doing it, why are telling me not to?

 

[EVEgreen2001]

I am going to do this regardless. I will start small doing a thing or two in my garage and as the years go by my experience and number of jobs I can do will increase. As I said, I will take my time.

 

[dsink]

"If I am hoing to invest $10,000.00 in tools, that wil be completed in the next 20 years. Also, if you are still doing it, why are telling me not to?"

I have to much invested to stop doing it. You asked for peoples opinions and I was giving you mine. Im just letting you now what your in for. If I had it to do over again I doubt I would do it again. One of those, if I knew then what I know now deals.

I hate to tell you this but $10,000.00 in tooling isnt much. If you are going to space that out over 20 years as you said then thats $500.00 a year. Your not going to buy much with that.
I understand you want to start off small and grow from there but if the ATF dosent think you serious about doing it and your shop is not already set up, theres a good chance they want give you your FFL's.

You can just about figure $10,000.00 to get started. By the time you buy a good lathe large enough to do what you want and a good quality Bridgeport type mill and a few things to go along with them to get you started your going to have that much invested.

Like I told you before, if you do go ahead with it I wish you all the luck in the world. Im just trying to give you some insight from someone who has been doing it for a while.

When I open up my cabinet where my reamers are and I see $10,000.00 just sitting there, granted there all paid for but it makes you stop and think about all the money you could have if you started selling everything.

Again, good luck.

 

[Old Dog Man]

Beginner Gunsmith

I have to agree with the other posters, Ive been doing gunsmith work off and on since 1963. Worked with other gunsmith friends and learned a lot from them, some god and some bad. Even worked with a custom rifle builder untill he went bankrupt. In 1997 he told me to s**t or get off the pot so I opened my own shop as a hobby. I was working 40hrs'a week as a machinist and worked nights in my shop. It turned into a fulltime job. I bought all new equipment, !3"x48" lathe, a manual mill. all the chucks, tool holders, dividing head, built my own barrel vise and action wrenches, lots of special fixtures and holders. Spent over $10,000 and still bought more tooling as needed. Didn't buy a lot of reamers, just bought barrel already turned threaded and deep chambered so I didn't have to buy reamer, which can be rented. Probably have around $15,000 to $18,000 invested and retired last October old age happens too fast. Trying to sell my equipment now. Good luck and don't give up if that's what you want to do. Al




















p

 

[Old Dog Man]

Beginner Gunsmith

By the way go my project rifle post and see what i'm building for myself. Al

 

[Jim K]

Hi, EVEgreen,

I fully understand that you like to tinker with guns, and that would be true of just about everyone who posts here.

But the days of doing what you want on your own property are over, at least for a lot of the country. The garage gun tinkerer can run afoul of zoning laws, health and safety regulations, income tax and bookkeeping laws, and of course, firearms laws and BATFE regulations.

I know you don't want to hear that kind of thing, but I would hate to see your career ideas blighted by getting in trouble over something you didn't even know was a violation. It would take too long to go into detail, but just be careful.

Jim

 

[Lerk]

I'm heading back to school in the fall to take up Gunsmithing, so I know where you're coming from. In my situation I have the opportunity to go back to school for free and already have a Machine Tool degree which covers some of the classes I would have had to take so I'm a little bit in the door there.

Even if this doesn't turn into a career for myself at least I'm going to learn a lot without a whole lot of money out of my pocket to fund the education. I would say if you can get financial aid and apply for a lot of scholarships, definitely do so that way if gunsmithing doesn't turn out to be something you want to continue doing, then you won't have invested a lot more then time into it vs. a lot of money for college just to find out you want to go another direction.

And applying for scholarships does help tremendously, out of the 3 years of college I had, I paid a grand total of $250. I was awarded enough scholarships to cover all tuition and book expenses, a good portion of tools, and also paid for some school trips with what I was given.

Another thing I've been doing is get out there in the gun community. Go to your local ranges and shops, talk with them, ask questions and learn as much as you can. Maybe see if you can get in as an apprentice or a job at them. Just being around firearms daily teaches you tons of new things. And you also get to learn about what's new in the industry, what people are on the lookout for, and also current prices and rates for items and services. That'll give you some insight for when you are a gunsmith to be able to offer your customers better services and information.

 

[EVEgreen2001]

I asked for some insight and boy did I get it! Thank you all for your wisdom on this.

 

[PRD1]

Been there, done that...

An aspiring young gunsmith I know just finished his correspondence course and was asking around for a working gunsmith to mentor his further development.
I saw him a week ago at the Swap Meet. There happened to be three of us there who are or have been engaged in the trade for many years, one way or another: one a barrel maker and custom riflesmith, one (me) who also makes barrels and builds guns, as well as doing general repairs, and one who is working in his own shop as a general 'smith.
All of us have other means (retired military: two careerists and one broken-down paratrooper/retired metallurgical engineer), and have never depended on gunsmithing in any form for a living. If you fall into a similar category, and really want to do the work, I'd say 'Go for it!'. Otherwise, it's a damned hard way to make a living, unless you work for an established commercial firm.
As for the aspiring young 'smith: the three of us looked at each other for about ten seconds, then turned to him and unanimously recommended prostitution as a more lucrative career path.
PRD1 - mhb - Mike

 

[oneounceload]

First, I am not going into this full time. I have a great paying job that I'm not going to give up. I will take my time. Second, I'm looking to take on-line courses from Penn-Foster Career College next year to earn a diploma in Gunsmithing.

Would you trust your car repair to a mechanic who only took online classes? How about your heart surgeon?

The courses at Trinidad and other places are hands-on and necessary for you to have any street cred in this business. There are WAY too many incompetents who can barelyt swap easy parts, let alone do major actual gunsmithing.

I have known 2 gunsmiths and a lot of "parts replacers". The two smiths can fix anything, making the parts if necessary, including making a gun from the ground up. When I asked one of the parts guys what it would cost to replace some springs on a Browning O/U - one of the most common guns and activities - I got the "deer in the headlights" look and was told it would need to be sent to Browning

If your goal is to be one of those guys, keep your day job and find another hobby. If your goal is to become a real smith, then get the real training, real tools and know how to do it all

 

[Jim K]

"When I asked one of the parts guys what it would cost to replace some springs on a Browning O/U - one of the most common guns and activities - I got the "deer in the headlights" look and was told it would need to be sent to Browning."

I might well have asked you to bring the gun in and I would give you an estimate. Anyone who has done much gun work knows that "the only thing wrong is that the (part) needs replaced" really means the barrel is bent, the bolt missing, the stock broken and the magazine was run over by a truck last hunting season. But the customer expects to have the gun fixed up like new for the cost of the (part).

Jim