All I can say is Wow.
I used to have a Gunsmithing Shop for 12 years. It was one man, me. I let it go in 1998, due to Bill Clinton and my health.
Anyway, Let me tell you what I did, and what I noticed happening during those years.
When I wanted to start, I incroporated, and built a shop builiding in my back yard. Next came reading everything that I could on the subject to find out what I needed to know to have what I considered basic knowledge.
Then it was school. Welding, machining, woodworking, metallurgy and business classes part time at the local college for a year and a half. The gunsmithing course (video) from American Gunsmithing Institute, I had a gun book of some type in my hand at all times. During that year, I bought manythousands of dollars of stuff from Brownells, Got a tig welder, a oven, 12x36 lathe, small mill, sandblaster, large utrasonic cleaner, and on and on and on. Just finding suppliers was hell sometines. The internet was a dream at that time, so thank god for Brownells and Shotgun news.
After all that, I got a collection of the crappiest trash guns I could find from Sarco and got to work rebuilding them and honing my techniques. Stocks,barrels, sights, etc you name it, I tried it.
After 3 to 4 months of this, I turned my attention onto mine and my familes and friends guns. When I had rebuilt, or fixed and refixed and modified untill they were perfect, well, that is when I quit the jobs I had, got my state and federal manufacturing FFL, and went full time.
Sounds like a mess don't it. Well, I was happier than ever.
It was after I had ben open for several months, that I decided to go and check out the competition. I quickly found that most had no clue.
Almost everyone that I found lurkeing at gun stores were what I called Mr Fix-Its. These guys could add a scope, or sometimes even put on a butpad, but were mostly incompetant in anything except a limited area of work. They would turn you away for almost anything that was not a bolt on job. Change th cast on my shotguns stock? heck no. How about back boring the crown on my rifle? No way. Make a new sear for my ancient muzzleloader? They would laugh you out of the store.
Sounds like the complaints that all of you are making now, huh?
The thing is this. Just as it was then, it is now. You will not find someone with a broad and varied background or capability working anywhere near a gunshop. A full gunsmith will invariably have his own FFL and his own shop. Failing that, they are working for a large manufaturer or repair business.
This is just like what happened with computer techntions. At one time, If you needed a computer fixed, you paid a person with a minimum of a twoyear degree in electronics and computer science to repair that unit. (the gunsmith)
Now, places like Best Buy have their 'Geek Squad' for you to take it to. It amazes me how little knowledge these guys have. They have only on the job training, and follow a well laid out procedure book for every problem. The onesI have talked to I would not even let them watch my computer, much less fix it.
If the work that you need is specifically what the guy in the gunshop does, and you see his other work and it is good, well then go a head with it. But watch what work you have done. Be sure of qualifications for anything that is not a bolt on. Things like barrel work, trigger work, and stock work. Be very very careful about who you let refinish you gun. Remember this, S&W does not allow their finishers (buffers)to work unsupervised for YEARS, because the art of buffing is really pretty hard to learn and it can be messed up real easy. I ALWAYS sent any buffing work out to specialty shops that I had pre screened by sending them tough examples to do.
You must be careful. No gunsmiths are certified by any state. The best you can do is ask them directly what their qualifications and education is. If it is from the Colorodo school of Trades in Gunsmithing, great! If they him and haw, well, run the other way, because they really do not understand what is going on in that gun of yours. The last thing you want is a incompetant touching something that tries to contain up to 50,000 psi inches from your face, maybe even worse, that protection firearm you have not working when you need it.
are buying modular weapons, easy to fit parts from companies that design the parts, not shooters themselves. Do I want to learn how to fix a hammer follow on an Astra? Not really.
