Legitimate Online Gunsmithing Course?

[Brass Rain]

Okay, so I'm pretty interested in guns. Which is putting it extremely lightly. Every single tiny piece of metal they cram into a modern production gun (or any, really) is interesting to me. And I want to be able to make guns work, or work better. That being said, I can't think of any schools in my area offering gunsmithing courses. I came across the "American Gunsmithing Institute" website, that offers a DVD course to learning various gunsmithing aspects, with a 108 hour course as well as several specialized videos for specific designs. Have any of you heard of or used these? It seems legitimate, but the owner smacks of used car salesman, and they seem to be promoting their free (plus shipping and handling) video pretty hard.

http://www.americangunsmithinginstitute.org/sales.htm

Thing is, even if this course did do everything they're saying it does, I don't have a room full of guns to play around with and practice on! (Or the money to pay for the course right now, but I can think on that later)

 

[Trebor]

Read this blog entry by gunsmith Grant Cunningham before spending your money on a on-line program.

http://grantcunningham.com/blog_files/becoming_a_gunsmith.html#

 

[Brass Rain]

Trebor, thank you. That was both helpful and informative. There seem to be no shortcuts. But I'm okay with that. I'll make it happen somehow.

 

[jonmerritt]

Hmm I do my own smithing, fitting, sometimes making parts. But I do it for myself. I guess I am a semi pro

 

[ArmedLiberal]

I think that AGI is legitimate and they have good DVDs. But gunsmithing is about as hands on a trade as you can find and you're really limited in what you can learn alone with just video instruction. You can learn a lot of theory, but theory is a small part of the whole.

Grant Cunningham's blog is excellent, he's one of the great gunsmith's and knows what he's talking about. He lays out a path for becoming a gunsmith that is realistic.

The AGI Technical Manual and Armorer's Course DVD's have taught me a lot about taking apart and cleaning my guns, how they function and some of their history. I have several and the are excellent for me, but I have no illusions about being a gunsmith. There is a specific DVD for most popular guns (I'm waiting for the one on Stoeger Coach Gun). The instructor is Bob Dunlap, a retired gunsmithing school instructor who really knows how to show the details and make it easy. You can usually find the DVDs for three for a hundred bucks at gunshows or $45 bucks online.

I think there is a college that teaches gunsmithing in Oklahoma, not too far from Louisiana.

Follow your dreams!

 

[Brass Rain]

ArmedLiberal, I saw the videos they have on specific models and think they would be very valuable even if one isn't interested in becoming a gunsmith. Having all the internals and the mechanical operations laid out is a pretty good resource, and I'll probably at least end up buying a few of those.

What I'm thinking of now is taking the advice of Grant Cunningham from his blog. Starting off with some type of auto repair courses and/or clock repair here. I really want to move to Colorado, where he mentioned there are two gunsmithing schools. In the mean time, I'll just read up on everything, watch all the related videos I can find, and screw around with the guns I have on hand.