engineering positions in firearm industry

[tinygnat219]

I sent you a PM with some, but then read further down in the posts. Looks like you need a starter:

Here's a start: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_US_defense_contractors

http://www.army-technology.com/contractors/indexAtoZ.html

http://www.fairfaxcountyeda.org/wash_tech.htm

Some other places would be your University job placement office, local newspapers surrounding military installations, etc.

If you are looking in the Defense world, you won't have any problems.

 

[jeepmor]

HSM is in Montana.
Speer is in Idaho.
Double Tap is in Utah.
Crimson Trace is in Beaverton, OR (my backyard per se)

I'd personally stick to the West myself, but I'm biased, I was born and raised here.

R&D is only exciting for so long. These departments are notorious for burning out people quickly. I worked in R&D in semiconductors for 5 years, what a pressure cooker environment that was. It was satisfying for a while, then the appreciation for the effort becomes expected and it eats up any hopes of having a social life just to compete with your peers.

I don't want to discourage you, for the firearms industry might be entirely different, but R&D is typically viciously competitive. Get in, enjoy it while it lasts, then peel back to manufacturing based engineering to enjoy your life a bit more. Having seen both sides, the work is nearly identical, but the satisfaction is definitely better in manufacturing than R&D in the long haul. If you like sleep and a social life that is.

Good luck, as an ME holder myself, I can tell you that you have a better grasp of engineering and physics than nearly any other degree program out there. It will serve you well and provide you with many avenues to pursue.

 

[Glockman17366]

Here's a link and website to look at:
http://www.baesystems.com/Careers/

BAE builds tracked vehicles for the military. There are facilities all over the place.
One thing about the defense industry...it's a real roller coaster ride as far as job stability goes.

As far as jobs directly in the civilian firearms industry, go directly to their websites (Marlin, Mossberg, Colt, etc.). Some will have a careers link on their home page. The specialty manufacturers (Wilson, Les Baer, etc.) are pretty small companies.

ME is a good degree. Just remember a lot of what you learned will have little applicability in the real world.

 

[Ithaca37]

Jobs in the civilian firearms market are going to be hard to come by, many are rather small firms with probably very little in the way of R&D going on (they have a couple of products that they make well and they tend to stick to them). Look hard at the defense contractors. You should be careful and understand what it is you are getting into. As has been mentioned, if you go to work for a defense contractor your job will not be permanent. Do some research on it before you jump in. They are not the most stable job environments. Depending on what you plans are (a family, etc.) this may or may not be a big deal for you.