If there is high demand for gunsmiths? It must have changed around since I looked into it. Or perhaps I should have looked at a real tech college instead of the corrospondence course. A guy I have been friends with since kindergarten got his gunsmith certification, and was doing work for the local pawnshops. It drove him batty, and he couldn't work fast enough to make enough money to make it worht it. (The original plan was for us to do it together.)
I asked him, "Ok, so how do you make money?" He said basically one of two ways. (At least where we were living at the time.) Either get a running contract with a large police department, inspecting and repairing their service guns, or hook up with a smith with a national reputation, big deposits, and long wait lists. One of the 'brand name' artists. They demand a high enough dollar to make it worth it. Everyone else is going to nickle and dime it on their own. (He gave up, he got a great job as a chopper pilot.)
I would still love to get the basics of gunsmithing on my own. I would love to build my own AR uppers, 1911s, adjust my own triggers, and install my own night sights. Basically, I think I've paid a lot of smiths their 'one hour'minimum' for work that took them ten minutes. I think I'm smart enough to handle the easier stuff. I would love to be able to take some machining classes and get certified, but I have no idea if I will ever have the time.
