Machinist school

[cthulhufan]

I'm looking to trade in a 13+ year career in IT for a new career in precision machining.

Specifically, I'm looking to get into gun smithing/engineering because I enjoy working with firearms 10 times more than I enjoy sitting on conference calls with idiots 10 hours a day having meetings about meetings discussing work I'm supposed to be doing somehow in tandem with all of the calls and meetings about doing said work.

Blah.

I'm looking for advice for technical school relating to machining related to gun smithing.

So far, in my local area, I've only found an accredited school that also requires credit hours to be spent on general studies in addition to machining.

I'm looking for something much more Navy style where it's applied science plus a bare minimum of semi non related stuff. I just want to get my hands dirty ASAP and if I need a math class, that's cool but I don't want to dick with "basic computer literacy" (really???) or English composition. Not to mention I have limited funds.

Do we have any machinists here that can give advice?

 

[Jim K]

IT pays better.

Jim

 

[cthulhufan]

IT pays better.

Jim

That's pretty much my point in a nutshell; to hell with the money, I enjoy this much more and I want to learn how to be a professional.

 

[karlsgunbunker]

Community Colleges sometimes have machining coarse's.
If you have an IT degree you've probably met any Math, Science or English requirements.

You should do well at CNC Programing.

 

[Pokyman]

Trinidad college in Trinidad Colorado has a gunsmithing course. Supposed to be one of the best. Trinidad is located in southern Colorado in some of the most gorgeous country you will ever see. Also about 20 miles from Raton New Mexico. NRA's Whittington Center is located near there. Whittington Center is a world class facility for competition shooting. Locating to this area would give you the training you want as well as let you rub shoulders with some of the worlds best shooters.

 

[k_randomfactor]

There are a few good gunsmithing schools in the country: Trinidad, Montgomery in NC, Murray State in OK (where I went), and there is one in CA that I can't think of at the moment (edit: Lassen CC in Susanville). I've had experience with folks from those schools, and they are good to go.

If yo want to be a machinist screwing around with guns on the side, go to a machinist course. If you want to be a 'smith, go to gunsmithing school.

 

[luigi]

According to the Dept. Of labor Statistics the US will lose over 50% of our manufacturing jobs by 2016.

Skilled machinists positions are going to be hard to come by

 

[Krusty783]

You should be able to find a local community college that offers machining courses. I'd suggest you take a basic machining class or two if you've never been exposed to those skills before you dive into CNC stuff.
Or, if there are any universities in your area, you can register as a "student-at-large"/"non-degree seeking candidate", and take some basic machining and CNC courses.

If you have an IT-related degree, I suggest thinking about a manufacturing or industrial engineering degree. A good course in either of these will teach you the skills to create an efficient manufacturing environment and how to make things. Then you can take a gunsmith course, buy a small scale CNC machining center, and open your own firearm accessories/gunsmith business, or get a job at Olin-Winchester or some other firearms/ammo manufacturer as a process engineer.

I don't know the reputation of those "trade school" degrees.

 

[cthulhufan]

Thanks for all of the great replies!

At the end of it all, running my own operation is exactly what I'm after. There is a really good engineering school here in my state, Missouri University of Science and Technology, I'll definitely check out what kind of programs they have there.

It makes good sense to me to run through the college and then attend a good smithing specific school.

Thanks again for the great advice!