Is majoring in Mechanical Engineering in attempt to design firearms unrealistic?

[BobTheTomato]

Industrial and Systems engineering might be a better degree to get into firearms mfg.

 

[gbw]

I'd consider combining it with ROTC. Go where guns get used most. A military career as an officer is another very attractive option for engineers. Then try to steer your military career to the ordnance area - should be doable, talk to your local ROTC liaison. Plus, they'll pay for your school if yo do your part.

 

[Owen]

I wouldn't advise the military route myself, unless you can get a guarantee you'll end up at the PWS shop at Quantico or similar. Very little of the small arms work in the military (other than routine maintenance) is done by active duty personnel, and none of it is done by officers.

Officers don't drive CAD stations or machine tools, they manage the people that do. In the small arms realm, the people that are driving CAD stations and machine tools are civilians. Active duty Marines build weapons at the PWS, but they are generally following a cook book, not innovating. If you want to end up at a military systems command, then military service will help because of hiring preferences, but I wouldn't expect to get any design experience at all as an active duty service member.

That said, if you want to do innovative design for the military, you don't want to be at a Systems Command, you want to be at a contractor that does work for that systems command.

 

[Tejicano Loco]

Another degreed ME here and I can also speak for how turning you dream into your job often robs the romance out of it.

In my first job out of college I was a design engineer but the actual "design creativity" was such a small part of what I did day-to-day. The administrative part was bigger than the actual design. Of course laying it out in CAD was a bjg chunk of the time - and I did enjoy that - but actual creativity was something that rarely came up.

Another angle that made it more work than enjoyment - the design has any number of constraints on it, many of which are mundane things like cost, weight, or things you might not be interested in.

Look at what probably is Georg Luger's most lasting contribution : the 9X19mm cartridge. As I undestand it he really didn't want to design it but his customers wanted his pistol in a cartridge larger than the 7.62mm round he made it in. So he came up with the largest practical bore with a similar energy to his smaller round so he wouldn't have to re-design the pistol from the ground up.

I would say to get the degree if you have the general interest in knowing how things work because it can lead to an interesting career which can pay well - and allow you to buy and even make your own firearms the way you want to.

 

[Uncle Richard]

regardless....

Go to college and get a degree. Employers want.experienced people. Would recommend working for a gun smith. You might discover that guns is not the desired career.

Regardless, get a college degree. Being successful will be easier and more oppurtunites will be available.

Proud of my chemical engineering degree, even though not in that field anymore. Life has a way of changing things.

 

[lawson4]

From someone in the industry, I have to agree that new, revolutionary designs are relatively rare. Most time is spent making changes to decrease costs, to get products to play nicely with each other, incremental changes to improve performance, and all of the related administrative chores.
CAD is mandatory, so is project management skill. You may spend time finding and talking to suppliers, expediting prototypes and answering questions from the production floor.
But, an ME is the way to go if you want to get in the industry to design firearms.
lawson4

 

[buckhorn_cortez]

ME is a basic area of engineering. You'll need to know: metallurgy, materials science, manufacturing / process engineering, technical writing, and business at the very least. You will also need to learn ancillary skills like the use of computer aided design (CAD) software, finite analysis using SolidWorks software, spreadsheet / database software, and project management skills.

If you can add those type of courses and skills as part of your ME - then you will be a very valuable person in manufacturing which is what making guns is all about.

The thing you need to know about a mechanical engineering degree is that the discipline is very broad - and it's up to you to add the additional areas that will make you valuable within the specific area you want to work.

As an example, the company I work for has ME's that have specialized in: heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) design, bridges (with a second degree in structural engineering), robotics, and manufacturing systems design.

 

[Ironclad]

For years all I wanted to do was be a mechanical engineer and work for one of the gun companies, Caterpillar, or Ford, because I love guns, heavy equipment and trucks. I started out in school as a mechanical engineer, and learned about all of the dry, boring things a mechanical engineer can be involved in. Also at the time a lot of the mechanical engineer graduates I knew were having trouble finding jobs.

I switched to mining engineering and never looked back. I get my trucks and heavy equipment, and got to learn about and use explosives to boot.

The point is that it may be a tad unrealistic to shoot for such a narrow goal with the job market the way it is, but going to engineering school is never a bad idea and will give you opportunities and options that you don't even know exist right now. However, be prepared to work your butt off.

 

[larryh1108]

If it's something you enjoy (ME) then go for it. If it works out that you get to your dream, all the better. If the worst thing that comes out of it is you work in a field you love then it is a win/win for you. Life has a funny way of leading you down paths to the unknown but with hard work you will succeed in whatever you do.

 

[cfullgraf]

The old standby engineering disciplines, mechanical, electrical, civil, chemical, etc, may be in demand these days but it because it is cheap labor for the companies. Being an exempt salary employee, you get paid by the year and employers expect a lot.

Working at something you enjoy is a plus, but i would look at an education other than mechanical engineering.

Working for yourself has lots of advantages and lots of risk.

(FYI, I have a BS and ME in Mechanical Engineering and a PhD in Engineering. Those and $5 gets me a tasty, designer coffee.)

 

[buckhorn_cortez]

Being an exempt salary employee, you get paid by the year and employers expect a lot.

Except...you really don't get paid "by the year." If you have to account for every hour through charge numbers, you're only guaranteed a certain yearly salary IF you charge every hour you work to an authorized charge number.

The latest large engineering company scam being "zero hour employee" where they want to send you home and not pay you until you have at least 20 chargeable hours of work per week.

Nifty way for them to frustrate the employee into getting another job - thus saving themselves laying off the employee and all of those extra dollars associated with things like severance pay, unemployment compensation, etc.

Oh yeah...engineering's a ball 'o fun....

 

[cfullgraf]

Except...you really don't get paid "by the year." If you have to account for every hour through charge numbers, you're only guaranteed a certain yearly salary IF you charge every hour you work to an authorized charge number.

Yes, I suppose in segments of the engineering business such as consulting engineering firms where the customer buys engineering time this would be the case.

In manufacturing companies, particularly the production facilities, we did not have to account for every hour. But, if management wanted you to work over, no OT pay either regardless of the number of hours we worked in a week.

i did work for companies where we accounted for our time for internal purposes but if the "customer" divisions did not ante up enough charge numbers, we had some slush charge numbers to put our time against.

I did work for a company or two that paid the engineers OT but only if it was scheduled and getting it scheduled was as easy as finding hen's teeth.

Yes, there are lots of ways employers can make an engineer's life miserable.

 

[btg3]

...interested in designing firearms as a career, mainly due to my fascination with the inner workings and operations of them.

Is majoring in ME simply to try to land a job in firearm design for a manufacturer an unrealistic goal?

I suggest materials science/engineering/technology. Metallurgy and polymers.

Suggest that you contact a few gun manufacturers as well (at least three!). Don't settle for Human Resources. Ask to be put in contact with the Design VP.

As an engineer for 30+ yrs, I've been in manufacturing, quality, product design/development. Contributed to warfare electronics and high modulus air-to-air missile bodies.

 

[Mike OTDP]

As I mentioned, consider the Department of Defense. All the services are looking for MEs to work ordnance development and testing.

 

[btg3]

^^^...and looking for MEs to do lots of other stuff. As mentioned further above, what you have in mind may not be what the military has in mind for your career path.

 

[Bill50]

I would think that a degree in ME could land you a job basically anywhere on earth, if your primary goal didn't pan out.

Only petroleum engineering degrees have good prospects in the US. All other engineering, computer science, and math/statistics degrees will only help if you have at least 3 years of experience. There's a huge shortage of STEM workers, but companies refuse to hire anyone straight out of school. H1B's are cheaper and have fake experience.

*Edit* If you are a US citizen, defense contractors might take you over an H1B.

 

[JustinJ]

I find all the comments that guns are relatively simple machines somewhat laughable. A nuclear powerplant is just a chunk of stuff that heats water that turns a turbine but in reality it is an extremely complex system. Obviously guns are nowhere near that complex but to design a modern gun that actually functions without injuring the operator actually does require substantial engineering. Especially when one considers the new materials being utilized. Sure, there have been savants in the past who designed new guns at home with very little training or background but such individuals are few and far between. They are also all but unheard of today as guns and the materials have become far more complex.

 

[bobalou]

Design a gun that is quiet without having to have a silencer?

 

[bobalou]

http://world.guns.ru/handguns/hg/rus/pss-silent-e.html The PSS uses a specially developed 7.62x42mm necked round SP-4 (СП-4).[1]The*cartridge*contains an internal piston and a propelling charge, with the stem of the piston against the base of the bullet. On firing, the piston delivers enough impulse to project the bullet from the barrel to an effective range of 25 meters. The piston then seals the cartridge neck, preventing noise, smoke, or blast from escaping the barrel.[2]

 

[Double_J]

I am an Electrical Engineer by both training/education and title. I would go with a double major if I had it to do over. Mechanical Engineering with either a minor in Electrical Engineering/Computer Engineering, or a true double major of Mechanical and Electrical engineering. That will give you the best shot at a job as you can do both sides of the fence so to speak. PLEASE learn how to write software properly, it will help immensely when you are in the job market as most engineers can not write code for beans. I currently spend most of my time either working on ancient software, assisting the production process stay efficient, or assisting with the mechanical/tooling design side. I am glad that I have a slight mechanical mindset as it has helped me see things in the right way.

I would also look at an internship with just about any company I could get in with, just for the resume building experience. I currently work for a LARGE defense contractor and they want experience above all else. They do not really care if all you did was fetch coffee for senior engineers as long as you have something on your resume. We also do very little true design work, most of it is integration/systems level engineering, so do not expect to do any groundbreaking design work.

 

[Bubbles]

EE chiming in, get the degree and see where it takes you. If you want to get into firearm, pick up some machining skills along the way if you want to fool around with firearm designs. A lot of engineers are great on paper (or with CAD) but can't run a lathe or milling machine worth a damn.

Of course as an EE I'm still trying to figure out how I ended up making guns...

 

[gym]

Back in the 60's I worked on everything from the wiring harness for the Lunar Module, to fuel gauge units for B52's Hydraulic systems for helicopters going back to Nam, "overhaul work". We doing subcontracting for company's like Republic Lockheed, Grumman, etc. Anything that we bid on and got, was what we did for bread and butter. The side of the business like IC testers, and new types of ground terrestrial radar for F1-11's etc was here the engineering came in.
First they would design something, then design and build and breadboard it, "that's what I did", after which the final touches were put on it and a PC board was made, and prototypes were then constructed. And hopefully we came up with a better mousetrap than the other guys for less money. It's a team effort. You have your engineers working with techs, machine shop foremen, assemblers cost advisors etc. Then you submitted your bid for projects up for bid, and crossed your fingers.
Once you have a degree, you can end up doing something you never even dreamed you would be doing before you got into the field.
That's the military sector, but the private sector, is not that different, you have to come up with an idea for a project, and then turn it into a reality, build it while staying on a schedule and within budget.
I just don't know how much engineering is involved vs designing. You might be better off going into graphic designing, or computer rendering, specializing in weapon related design. I am not sure exactly what they call that but calling a few company's and speaking to their Department heads might help. Just ask them what courses, towards which major, you would be best off spending your time and money on.
In my day we didn't use computers.

 

[btg3]

PLEASE learn how to write software properly, it will help immensely when you are in the job market as most engineers can not write code for beans.

Depends. Some employers are much more interested in whether you have experience with the software they use, rather than having you write code. Although, I've written code, I've also used I.T. to provide that service.

Even if you do write code, it may not be the language needed where you will be working. You can learn to write code as needed, rather than as a prerequisite to applying for a job.

 

[Outlaw Man]

The engineering job market varies with where you are at. I know two engineers who were out of work for over a year and two others who had to move to another location they didn't like to keep their current job because they couldn't find an alternative here. There are jobs here, but you had better make yourself look exceptional. If you want a degree solely to ensure you always have a job, the medical field is your best option.

As for Mechanical Engineering, specifically, make sure there is something else you'd like to do in that field - and there are lots to choose from - in case the firearms job doesn't pan out. I hate to sound negative, but there simply just aren't that many firearms jobs out there. A BSME would definitely help you, though. If you really have some good ideas, follow it up with an MBA, find a good machinist, and start your own company.

Even if you do write code, it may not be the language needed where you will be working.

It has been my experience that if you truly understand how to write code, you can pick up a new language pretty quickly.

 

[btg3]

Once you have a degree, you can end up doing something you never even dreamed you would be doing before you got into the field.

...I just don't know how much engineering is involved vs designing. You might be better off going into graphic designing, or computer rendering...

The first part is so very true!

... are you thinking of concept rather than design?

A typical progression is concept...design... prototype... develop... manufacture --- with large overlaps!