Just wondering how many of the folks here on the forum do gunsmithing also. Was going to go to school for it and hoped someone might have some adivce with this and also how well does it tie into evgraving. (I would think good) I need advice on a good online school to take courses. Aslo does it pay to be a gunsmith now days.
Question: Gunsithing
- Thread starter ETHELBERT
- Start date
i'm not a smith-- but i think you would have to evaluate your particular area. how many gunsmiths in your area, already experienced, would you end up competing with for work. as far as being a gunsmith/engraver- it would do no harm to have both skills. as far as gunsmithing aiding your engraving endeavors, it would depend upon how much gun engraving you would become involved in. the smith builds, repairs, maintains, refinishes-etc. the engraver simply embellishes, and maybe refinishes. i would only utilize a gunsmith to do takedowns, barrel removal. and such. for that matter, it's incumbent upon my client to have such done at their own expense. this way i'm not in the loop when it comes to all that extra stuff that needs to be done to do a proper engraving job. early on, losing tiny little springs, removing barrels with a pipewrench( not an option btw) best to leave it to the pros. if a client is trying to avoid the xtra expense of using a smith, well you got a client that's not too serious. these people are to be avoided.
atexascowboy2011
Elite Cafe Member
- Joined
- Feb 13, 2012
- Messages
- 997
Bert
THEY GO HAND IN HAND!!
You need to know how to disasemble a firearm, before engraving.
While you're in there you should FIX, after asking the customer, anything that may prove dangerous once the weapon is returned. Let a gun blow up in someone's face just after you tore it apart, engraved it and reassembled it and his family will own YOU!
Plus, just starting out you will need a supplemental income.
Think about the Trinidad School of Gunsmithing. Then apprentice with someone for a couple of years.
THEY GO HAND IN HAND!!
You need to know how to disasemble a firearm, before engraving.
While you're in there you should FIX, after asking the customer, anything that may prove dangerous once the weapon is returned. Let a gun blow up in someone's face just after you tore it apart, engraved it and reassembled it and his family will own YOU!
Plus, just starting out you will need a supplemental income.
Think about the Trinidad School of Gunsmithing. Then apprentice with someone for a couple of years.
Become a gunsmith and you will be busy! There are three gunsmiths in my area and their wait time is unreal. I do some engraving for one, so I have some pull when I need something taken apart in a hurry, another one is just not available (way booked up) and the third has a reasonable waiting time. I always use a gunsmith for take down and prep work and include the fee in my proposals. Personally, I don't have time to fool with the gunsmithing portion and leave that to the professionals, my job is embellishing the piece.
Bill
Bill
I have been a working gunsmith since 1971. I graduated from Trinidad State Junior Collage a very long time ago. Of ourse I would say attend TSJC to start off with. But there are several great Gunsmithing schools all across the country. There are also the NRA Gunsmith courses during the summer. I started engraving 8 or so years ago. It was one of the best things I have done. Engraving fits into the Gunsmithing world like a fine glove slipping onto your hand. I have been fortunate to meet some of the best people in the world in the engraving world. There has always been a demand for gunsmiths. And there is plenty of work for everyone. Good luck
Sandy
Sandy
Texasgerd
Elite Cafe Member
I also do both, but find I am working less w/ smithing and more on engraving. Majority of gunsmithing work is low key. Cleaning, scope mounting, replacing a broken part, recoil pads, etc. Not much true custom work. I always say you won't get rich, but you'll always afford a reasonable house, drive a reasonable vehicle and put food on the table. (Not bad these days)
I've been asked this question multiple times from guys wanting to work under me, and my answers the same.....LEARN to a machinist and welder first. Many community colleges offer great classes in these areas to start you off. The rest is a lot of hands on experience, reading and research (books and internet). If you purchase "gunsmith kinks Vol 1-4" and understand them, you're a lot further along than most. Lots of good info how to make $$ in these pages. Also, page thru Brownells catalog and learn what each part is and is not. They sell them because there is a demand.
Hardest part is starting and getting your name out there (just like engraving). Learn your local market demand, and strive to become the best there is. Always give the customer 110% of what they ask for. As Sandy said, you'll have a 3-4 month back log, and working on your own pretty quick as there are fewer and fewer smith’s out there.
Dan
I've been asked this question multiple times from guys wanting to work under me, and my answers the same.....LEARN to a machinist and welder first. Many community colleges offer great classes in these areas to start you off. The rest is a lot of hands on experience, reading and research (books and internet). If you purchase "gunsmith kinks Vol 1-4" and understand them, you're a lot further along than most. Lots of good info how to make $$ in these pages. Also, page thru Brownells catalog and learn what each part is and is not. They sell them because there is a demand.
Hardest part is starting and getting your name out there (just like engraving). Learn your local market demand, and strive to become the best there is. Always give the customer 110% of what they ask for. As Sandy said, you'll have a 3-4 month back log, and working on your own pretty quick as there are fewer and fewer smith’s out there.
Dan
M. J. Atkinson
Member
- Joined
- Dec 16, 2006
- Messages
- 72
There's a guy down in Thibodeaux, La. that was doing both, think now he pretty much sticks to engraving. RE the 'smithing side, you need to be in a "somewhat" urban area to get the volume of business required to stay the course. Most rural 'smiths don't actually make a living out of it unless they have a specialty that's in real demand.
M. J. Atkinson
M. J. Atkinson
I stared as a gunsmith and when Meek's book came I took up engraving,and now do engraving and restoration with the two helpers.We do hand polishing,slow rust bluing,hot bluing,browning and niter bluing,the color case I send out plus I teach engraving.Restoration is were the money is,you deal with men who want there high end guns looking nice and don't quibble over price. J.J.
Last edited:
I live in the county adjacent to Memphis and its all rural. I had a muzzleloading storefront for a year back in 04 and somehow got listed as a gunsmith in the yellow pages. Then the internet search engines picked up my information and published it on various sites that list merchants in different categories. Even though the store is long gone, I still get calls from folks wanting gunsmithing work done and have to turn it down. I purposely avoided getting involved with having an FFL. Most calls were from individuals wanting to have Grandpa's old $100 shotgun restored, but when you tell them it would run $400 to $1XXX they have a conniption fit. I can do all the work, I just choose not to.
In the past several years, there have been 5 regular gun stores open and all advertise they have a gunsmith. None actually do, they just have a guy (shade tree mechanic) who has worked on his own guns and thinks he can do it commercially. None of them lasted more than a year before folding. A friend, who was a cabinetmaker before having health issues, decided he wanted to be a gunsmith. He sold his Harley to pay for a correspondence course. They sent him a lesson and when he completed it, he sent it back to them for grading and improvement. Minimal tools were included in the price of the course: a set of gunsmith screwdrivers, a couple of rasps and chisels, and a bluing tank setup. He made one practice stock, has yet to use the bluing tanks, and refused several jobs because he couldn't figure out how to disassemble the guns. Some of the ones he did do entailed parts which were no longer available and had to be fabricated and he ended up giving them back unfinished.
The gist of the story is you had better be mechanically inclined to start with and possess good problem solving skills. You won't learn them from a correspondence or online course. Be prepared to take formal courses offered by gunsmithing schools. Be prepared to outlay some cash to acquire the tools and manuals required to do the job. Like anything else, it takes time, expense, and knowledge as well as a wide variety of skills.
Marrinan
~ Elite 1000 Member ~
I inherited a machine shop full of tooling, 3 lathes, shaper, milling machine, drill presses, band saws, power hacksaws, tig and mig welders, lots of tooling and gigs. bought a TW-90 belt grinder with surface grinding capability and have several 42 an 30 inch belt grinders as well. My grandfather built live steam scale locomotives among other things and did a little gun smithing on the side. I taught basic machine shop 30+ years ago-pre cnc and none of this stuff is cnc. I'm 62 with full disability from a neck surgery that didn't fuse because of bone cancer. About an hour at the ball is about my limit. If I was fifty and fit enough to give it a go I would but just cant see it happening for me. When I get the house and shops and sheds cleaned out and moved to my house and shops across the street from current location I may be looking to unload some of the equipment. Thinking of building bits, spurs and buckles for the trade as my engraving is very limited. All the drugs make me sleepy and some times dizzy so... My brother and I thought we might be able to build highly finished units for others to embellish to supplement SS. Lost all my pension when MCI went under. Our university retirement system was heavily into MCI. lost over 400k in one day. No recourse but the bread line. Now fight to get SS benefits started so I have medical.
I know there is work for smiths here in southwestern GA just unable to start a new career- Wish I could and wish you luck.
As an educator-my advices is go to a reputable school not correspondence. So much is lost in not observing and getting feed back plus most distance learners never finish anyway. If you want it bad enough you can make it happen. local programs through vocational programs in welding and machining-business management classes. Look for the financial aid that IS out there. I started college at 34 after barely finishing high school on the social promotion track. Good gunsmiths make a pretty good living. many of the shops have a spot for guys who know a little machine shop skills and can weld tig and mig and have a grasp of metallurgy and heat treat. You will find someone who needs you and you can go from there. Best of luck but it is not something you can do without sincere drive and need to make it. If engraving becomes your primary focus more power to you. Best of luck. YOU have to build your skills to make your dream happen. My daughter works a Gander Mountain in gun sales. They have a Full time scope installer, service/maintenance plan "gunsmith. My daughter can mount a scope (fit to the customer-this guy just centers the scope without even checking the fit to customer). I taught her to use the right turn screw and fit to the customer in an hour and word of mouth gets her more of this work than the "smith". She watches all the training youtubs she can find asks question she doesn't get and is doing real well with it. The work is out there. Best of luck Fred
I know there is work for smiths here in southwestern GA just unable to start a new career- Wish I could and wish you luck.
As an educator-my advices is go to a reputable school not correspondence. So much is lost in not observing and getting feed back plus most distance learners never finish anyway. If you want it bad enough you can make it happen. local programs through vocational programs in welding and machining-business management classes. Look for the financial aid that IS out there. I started college at 34 after barely finishing high school on the social promotion track. Good gunsmiths make a pretty good living. many of the shops have a spot for guys who know a little machine shop skills and can weld tig and mig and have a grasp of metallurgy and heat treat. You will find someone who needs you and you can go from there. Best of luck but it is not something you can do without sincere drive and need to make it. If engraving becomes your primary focus more power to you. Best of luck. YOU have to build your skills to make your dream happen. My daughter works a Gander Mountain in gun sales. They have a Full time scope installer, service/maintenance plan "gunsmith. My daughter can mount a scope (fit to the customer-this guy just centers the scope without even checking the fit to customer). I taught her to use the right turn screw and fit to the customer in an hour and word of mouth gets her more of this work than the "smith". She watches all the training youtubs she can find asks question she doesn't get and is doing real well with it. The work is out there. Best of luck Fred
Sponsors
