Tell us about your gun-related jobs!

[Wesker]

Coming up on the end of what was a very uneventful and rather unfulfilling six year enlistment in the USAF. Wasn't awarded a CJR with all the down-sizing the AF is doing, and cross-training is looking bleak with about a million and one retrainees trying to stay in. I know I'd be giving up a lot of unbeatable benefits and thats not what I would do given a choice, but you know how these things go.

So, tell us about your job that involves guns. Why guns? Because those jobs are typically more exciting

What we'd all like to hear is what it is you do on a daily basis that requires you to have a gun, what you had to do to get that job, what the job is like, and of course if you're hiring

 

[Low-Sci]

Well, it didn't require me to have a gun, but it was a good idea for me to handle them regularly...

For a year I worked at a barrel-making company that made single point cut-rifled barrels from .22 on up to 20mm. Most of our market was benchrest and highpower customers who built their own rifles or had us build one for them, but we did do occasional work for Government and Military folks.

My boss there was really pretty great. He's a physics guru in the industry and he made me familiarize myself with some of the guns we'd work on, and that was a good time. Suppressed M4's are too much fun, by the way.

My job was actually almost exclusively on a project to create Remington 700 clone receivers and a proprietary bedding system; I was supposed to tweak the design, cut the prototypes, make the fixtures, that sort of thing. Great job.

Until they ran out of work for me about six months ago. They decided that they couldn't afford my help anymore because they never had any work for me. They were running production grade button-rifled barrels and were so inundated with them that all I could do all day was ream barrels, which they decided I was too expensive to do.

Great job though. Got to go to Vegas for SHOT in February. Best job I've ever had.

 

[Axman]

Hmm, my job requires the use of a grease gun. Does that count?

 

[Wesker]

Mine too. Really boring.

Has anyone or does anyone work for an armored car service? As in bringing huge sacks of cash to ATM's and banks?

 

[U.S.SFC_RET]

Axman quoted:

Hmm, my job requires the use of a grease gun. Does that count?

LOL

20 Years in the Army can provide you with a bit of exitement.

 

[Ala Dan]

Retired LEO, carried a gun (starting with a service revolver) for well over
20+ years as a requirement; graduating too semi-auto's when the gang
banging crowd arrived on the scene. Before that, I carried off and on
with mostly a five shot Smith J-frame being the weapon of choice.

Nowdays, that I'm retired and working PT in the sales department of a
family owned mom and pop sporting goods store / gunshop I carry daily.
My weapon of choice on and off duty is the Kimber .45 ACP Stainless
Ultra Carry II; carried in a compact undercover rig from the fine folks
at Kirkpatrick Leather of Laredo, Texas.

*FootNote: FWIW, I have received many good compliments on this
rig~!

 

[DFW1911]

Navy Anti and Counter Terrorism back in the day.

We had a few guns

 

[SiG Lady]

Depending on how you look at it...

Firearm photography and graphic artist to a number of nationally-known shooting industry vendors.
Does that count? (It should.)

 

[carterbeauford]

Hmm, my job requires the use of a grease gun. Does that count?

Haha, mine too, in addition to impact guns, blow guns, paint guns...

 

[10-Ring]

Gun related...I have to get back to you on that one

 

[rbernie]

I get to help build new toys for Offett and Tinker. No guns on premises.

 

[thexrayboy]

I don't know if this really counts but from time to time I have to take care
of people who were shot by a gun. When a GSW rolls up in the ambulance
bay things usually get exciting for a while.

 

[Hypnogator]

My first job out of college was as an armored car messenger -- carried my old 6" S&W Model 28 Highway Patrolman.

Then, after the Army joined me, I became an MP, then a CID Special Agent. Was armed 24/7 for most of my career.

My retirement job is training law enforcement and armed security professionals on judgmental shooting. As a retired Fed, I'm privileged to carry concealed anywhere -- and do.

I've been told I've lived the life other men dream about. Somehow, it just doesn't seem that way most of the time. Still, I consider myself blessed.

 

[Il Duca]

I just got hired with an armored car service. I start on Friday the 13th. Lucky huh? I will be carrying a Sig P226 in 9mm. It will ride in a Blackhawk CQC Serpa.

 

[MudPuppy]

A few years back I was a designer on a tactical shooter video game. We worked with the local SWAT instructor--he always had an MP-5 in the trunk.

He also had one of the very first P-90s in the country on loan for evaluation. SWAT cops have it good...except for the occasional crazy wanting to put holes in you.

 

[SILENTSOUL308]

witness protection for a few years, LEO after that and to the present......I carry and shoot more guns on my off time than I ever have while working.....it's a lifestyle.

 

[Eightball]

I sell guns. Big box store, which sucks, but I've found it hard to get a job "in the industry" since I don't know anyone and had "no experience" .

 

[DRZinn]

It will ride in a Blackhawk CQC Serpa.

I like those.

 

[Old Dog]

Why guns? Because those jobs are typically more exciting

Sorry, but I tend to disagree that "gun-related" jobs are "typically more exciting." In fact, I'd submit that most gun-related jobs -- insofar as jobs involving daily carry of firearms -- are most of the time at least as boring, or even more boring, than non-gun-related employment.

It's not the fact that one uses firearms as a primary tool of one's occupation that makes one's job exciting. It's the nature of the job itself and whether you actually get satisfaction from performing the tasks your job requires ...

All my adult life, my jobs have involved firearms, including twenty-plus years of active duty military, military police, reserve cop, and a current post-military law enforcement job ... It's rarely been the guns that have made my jobs interesting or exciting. It's been the job itself, the mission, but mostly -- it's been the people I've been privileged to work with...

Of course, for me, it's always been really cool to have nice guns to shoot. Still, I'd suspect that for most of us whose jobs do involve routine use of firearms, MOST of our appreciation of firearms and enjoyment of shooting comes during our own time, not on the job (well, except for all that range time some assignments entailed, being on a SRT or going on combat missions).

I guess my advice would be: don't pick a job (or career) simply because you'll have access to being around, using or shooting firearms. Pick a job because you'll enjoy doing it, or for the money, or because you can be good at it ... Plenty of time after work to enjoy your gun collection and range time.

 

[Standing Wolf]

I work in a combination shooting range and gun shop, and teach the concealed carry course now and then. I carry openly all day long. Of course, some days I clean the glass and vacuum the floors and contend with the computers: a man can stand only so much excitement in any given eight-hour day.

 

[Working Man]

I worked the gun counter at Acad part time (once a week). Run NICS,
stock ammo, and general gun BSing. The rest of the week was spent
unloading trucks.

Either way it beat working in a cube.... which I'm doing as I type this.

Has anyone or does anyone work for an armored car service? As in bringing huge sacks of cash to ATM's and banks?

VaughnT did or still does armored car work but I think he was getting board with it.

 

[max popenker]

well, i suppose being a gun writer (part time) fits the topic.
Although i do not fire too many guns, and have even less... well, i collect knowledge about guns and then share it. Fine for me, and what's better, my wife considers that hobby to be much more acceptable family-wise than watching football or such

 

[PistolShooter1]

My day job I am not allowed to even carry a sharp stick let alone a firearm or even a knife.

Two days a week at night and on Saturday I work at a combination shooting range and gun store. We usually have over 2,000 guns in stock. I get to see all the new stuff and am able to handle just about any firearm manufactures products. That along with talking with regular customers and the usual yahoos keeps the job interesting and fun.

I usually am the range officer one day a week and work the counter the other two.
I usually shoot around 150-300 rounds a week in my personnel firearms along with any customers firearms. Either problem solving or just checking out some of their new stuff.

Overall it is great............have a part time job to make a few extra bucks and get to enjoy my interest in the shooting sports at the same time !!

 

[Keith Wheeler]

I didn't get the job (overqualified -- they said I'd be bored) but I did interview for a "ballistics engineer" -- actually a test engineer -- position at a major ammunition manufacturer. It was a great treat to see inside the factory. They shoot from every lot made, and do some special testing for .gov agencies. They had a couple of Thompsons, a '240, and a '249 in the test lab. Cool!

 

[SUPERMAN .45]

I work as an LEO and I also work as a Executive Protection Specialist, that's why I always carry my gun 24 hours a day.