How does one become a gunsmith?

[Beav]

I've seen schools for gunsmithing on the internet but its seems that school would be only part of the equation.

It seems to me that alot of the reputation is earned on skills and knowledge that are attained over time.
So is gunsmithing something thats hard to break into?

Is it kind of like the starving artist thing or getting a job that requires experience, but how do you get experience if you've never had a job kind of thing?
I mean how do you make a decent living if you don't have the reputation to draw business, how do you get a reputation if you don't have business.

*I'm merely speculating as I know nothing about gunsmithing.*

So how does one get into gunsmithing the right way and what should that person expect?

 

[dfariswheel]

The two most certain methods are to go to an accredited gunsmith school like Trinidad State College, Colorado School of Trades, Lassen College, or one of the other good ones, then go to work for an established gunsmith.

The other is to serve an apprenticeship with an established gunsmith.

In both of these methods, you first learn about real-world gunsmithing, AND the business end of things. You also build up contacts, and a potential customer base.

It's possible to break in cold by getting a correspondence course, and just soliciting business, but this is TOUGH, and many people who attempt this route, "starve out" and fail as a business.

Another, somewhat over-rated method is the military armorer route. In this one, you join the military, and sign up to be taught to be a small arms armorer.

The problem with this is, most military armorers are actually gun REPAIRMEN. They learn how to get malfunctioning military weapons working again, by replacing parts. True military gunsmiths are actually rather rare, and in any case, are still experts on MILITARY weapons, not commercial sporting arms.

While it is possible to get going with correspondence courses, or even as a self-taught 'smith, the apprenticeship or school method have several big advantages:

1. You learn the actual, RIGHT method of doing things. If you're doing something wrong, or there's a better way to do it, an instructor is right there to point it out to you. No correspondence course can do this.

2. You get a wide range of experience, working on the school's guns. You're not learning by making mistakes on customer's guns, and you'll learn things you might go years without seeing.

3. You have an instructor who will do something the correspondent courses can't and won't do: Tell you that you that you just simply don't have the talent or skills necessary.

This is invaluable.
I attended a watchmaker's school when I was starting out in "the trades". There were a number of people who just weren't cut out to be watchmakers. They didn't have the talent, the temperament, or the ability to simply do the work.

Painful as it was to do, the instructors let them know that they should look at another career.

This can save a potential tradesman a bundle of money, time, and frustration. Nobody likes to be told they can't cut it, but a school or a working gunsmith will do the right thing for both you and the customer.

Once you've got the real skills of a gunsmith, there a many ways to get started in business, running from working for an established gunsmith, working for a large police department as a armorer, working for a gun company, or a "day job" and having a start-up gunsmithing business on the side.
As the business grows to the point where you are SURE you can make a living, you drop the other job, or continue to do both.

 

[Beav]

awesome reply thanks dfaris!

 

[11xray]

So ya wanna be a gunsmith?

dfariswheel has given you some pretty good advice. Now let me tell you a little story.

The elasped time between the day I decided to become a professional gunsmith, and the day I drew my first paycheck as a gunsmith, was about five years. And I cannot see where I wasted any time.


After deciding, with the help of the fine folks at TFL, to attend the Colorado School of Trades, I sold out in Birmingham and moved to Lakewood, Co., where I went to school six hours a day, five days a week for fourteen months and worked a full time job to support myself and my ex-wife(known hereafter as The Hellbeast).

Sixteen thousand dollars in tuition and one divorce later I came out the other end with an Associate of Occupational Studies Degree in Gunsmithing.

Twenty months after graduation I landed my first job as a rookie gunsmith in another southeastern state.

I now work on guns five days a week, and get paid for the privilege.

I work on these guns VERY slowly for the most part, because I am somehow or other the senior gunsmith at this particular establishment, having almost no experience in the real world of gunsmithing.

I have, thus far, managed not to butcher any guns, primarily due to the excellent education I received at the aforementioned school, and the awareness of the fact that I have yet to learn everything there is to know about the craft I am now practicing.

I meet customers on a regular basis who know more about thier guns, which they expect me to repair and alter, than I do--this can be a rather humbling set of circumstances.

The former HMFICOG at this particular establishment has been more than helpful in dispensing advice and wisdom, and without his help, there have seen several times that I might have found myself in a bit of a predicament.

I make just enough money that, by working a second job, I am able to keep a roof over my head and food on the table, beer in the fridge etc....

To summarize, and make a longer story short, if you have an overwhelming and burning desire to become a gunsmith: Go to a good school.

I strongly recommend the one that I went to. There is really no other way, except for an apprenticeship with an established gunsmith, to get to where you want to be as a gunsmith. I am still not where I want to be as a gunsmith, but I am well along the road--and I would not be where I am except for the fact that I went to school.

Whatever path you choose, I wish you the best of luck.

If you need more info PM me, as I check in here very frequently, but rarely ever post.

 

[bonzo]

I have a very good bud who graduated from the Trinidad school and if he's any indication of the type of folks that school is turning out, I would give ANYTHING to be able to go myself.

 

[spartacus2002]

It would seem to me that gunsmithing might be a good trade, as the number of FFL holders and gunshops decline while the number of gun owners remains somewhat constant. Seems like a decent amount of job opportunities would exist.

Am I off base?

 

[Jim March]

Another approach:

A good gunsmith, by definition, is a good machinist first and foremost, who also knows a bit about metal finishing/coatings/platings/bluing, a bit about woodworking for stocks/grips, and a lot about gun mechanicals/innards. Most "gunshop butchery" stems from poor machining skills.

So, it seems to me it'd be better to get training as a MACHINIST as a career, then learn the "gun specific issues" separately or even informally, leaving finishes/coatings/platings/bluing and most grips/stocks work to outside contract shops like Robar and the like until you build up a need for such in-house.

The benefit here is that you have a machinist's trade to start out with, doing some smithing on the side until you're ready to switch over PLUS you have a fallback position - and you can even continue to do small-batch, custom machine work in your "gunsmith business".

Hey, if Hogue can make toilet seats out of their rubber grip material as a fallback...or a better example: Ruger makes more money in custom castings for ALL industries than they do in finished guns.

A good gunsmith is also a good shooter, who understands how the "human interface" parts of a gun interact with the owner (grips/balance/sights).

So that's what I'd advise.

 

[Balog]

Good advice Jim March. I'm going into the USMC with the hope of being trained as a machinist. Even if I can't transfer into that job (I'm going in as an 03, which is infantry) I'll use the TAP and GI Bill to pay for schooling.

 

[Balog]

Oh, and it is my understanding that you must hold a FFL to work on others guns as a business. I'm pretty sure this is true, but I cannot point you to the relevant law.