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Posted: 9/29/2013 5:37:02 AM EDT
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I know that there is not a lot of money to be made in being a gunsmith, I am still interested in pursuing it as a career.
What is the opinion of the NRA short term gunsmithing schools? If I complete these courses, am I going to be taken seriously as I apply for jobs/put myself out there for work? I am under the impression that all of the correspondence courses (learn from home) are a joke and aren't taken seriously in the industry. What is the value of something like the Front Sight armorer's courses, are those worth getting under my belt? And I know this is a stretch, but has anybody looked into using GI Bill benefits on these courses? Do they meet the standards for technical education or on the job training? |
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The NRA courses are "Specialty" courses, focusing on a specific firearm typically. They also are geared for folks with some working knowledge/experience on the platform. Think of it as an AP class on the Remington 700 or 1911.
You are not going to learn the basics of metal/woodcraft, firearm design/operating theory, machining etc in the specialty schools or "Armorers" courses. An armorer is pretty much a parts changer whereas a Gunsmith is a skilled craftsman. Armorers are a dime a dozen. Without a dedicated education on Gunsmithing, finding a job as one will be tough. Either find a qualified Smith to apprentice under or bite the bullet and consign a couple years of your life to Trinidad, Lassen, Montgomery, Yavapai or the like. Can't make a comment on what your GI bill will or will not cover. |
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Quoted:
The NRA courses are "Specialty" courses, focusing on a specific firearm typically. They also are geared for folks with some working knowledge/experience on the platform. Think of it as an AP class on the Remington 700 or 1911. You are not going to learn the basics of metal/woodcraft, firearm design/operating theory, machining etc in the specialty schools or "Armorers" courses. An armorer is pretty much a parts changer whereas a Gunsmith is a skilled craftsman. Armorers are a dime a dozen. Without a dedicated education on Gunsmithing, finding a job as one will be tough. Either find a qualified Smith to apprentice under or bite the bullet and consign a couple years of your life to Trinidad, Lassen, Montgomery, Yavapai or the like. Can't make a comment on what your GI bill will or will not cover. I was under the impression that some of the NRA courses were intro level. Like the "Welding for Gunsmiths" or "Metal Refinishing" classes, they even have ones called "General Gunsmithing", "Basic Machine Shop", and "Basic Rifle Barreling". I would think that getting classes like that under my belt, familiarizing myself with certain systems via AGI videos, and having some completed work to show, could get my foot in the door at a shop, or give me something to stand on if I try to start up my own business? |
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Here's something I wrote up a few years ago.
This is the "Dutch Uncle" talk about becoming a real professional gunsmith: First, some of the professional schools take GI Bill benefits. Check with them. I was a professional watchmaker and gunsmith. Here's some pointers: Forget apprenticing. Very few gunsmiths will take on an apprentice these days, and in order to have any value in the trade, the gunsmith who teaches you has to have a well known reputation in the industry as a gunsmith and as a teacher. Since most gunsmiths have no real reputation outside of a few miles, a recommendation from them is worthless when applying for a job. It can take years to learn as an apprentice and in most cases you won't be paid. In too many cases the gunsmith is himself a hack and can only teach you hack work. Often, you have no basis to know he's a hack. Local reputation is no indicator of how good a man really is. Forget the internet and mail order "schools". At the very best they can give you just enough knowledge to do hobby work on your OWN guns. They cannot prepare you to do professional work on other peoples guns. What they do best is take money from your wallet. Apply for a job with a "diploma" or "certificate" from one of these places and you'll be lucky they don't laugh in your face as they pitch your resume in the trash. You can't really learn a complicated, intricate trade this way. Look at it like this; if you owned a very expensive sports car you routinely drove at extremely high speeds, would you allow a mechanic to work on it who learned his trade on the internet or by mail? The way to learn the trade is in a top school. You'll have a pro Master gunsmith/teacher looking at your work and telling you you're doing it right or wrong, and how to do it faster/better. The schools with the best reputation in the industry for turning out top students are Colorado School of Trades and Trinidad Junior College. Some of the other schools are also good. A degree from a top schools will get you an interview, and this is because these schools have a top reputation in the industry for turning out good people. TAKE SOME BUSINESS CLASSES. A great many people fail at trade businesses because they know nothing about running a business. Remember, you will not be a gunsmith......you'll be a businessman who happens to run a gunsmithing business. A large part of your day will be spent doing businessman functions like filling out paper work for the government, doing tax work, ordering parts and equipment, talking to prospective customers, being talked AT by dissatisfied customers, and spending only a limited amount of time actually doing gunsmithing. Always remember, over 50% of all businesses fail, NO MATTER WHAT THEY ARE OR WHO'S RUNNING THEM. This is just normal business attrition. Not knowing about how to operate a business guarantees you'll fail. The smart move is to work for another company or store that offers gunsmithing for a few years. While you spend eight hours doing actual gun work and really learning the trade, the owner will do the businessman functions. This will allow you really learn the trade, which the school will only get you started on. It will allow you to build up a reputation in the trade and build a prospective customer base. You can take time to identify a good area to open your own shop, and you can buy the VERY expensive tools and equipment over a period of time. It will also allow you to save enough money to tide you over the starvation period new trade shops go through. In most cases, for at least the first year you'll spend a lot of time just sitting there waiting for some work to come in. Meantime, the bills keep coming in and you can get awfully hungry. Too many new trade shops starve out from lack of income, before they can get an established customer inflow. After you've learned how to do good gunsmithing FAST, bought the equipment, have a reputation in the trade, found a good place to open up, and have some customer base established, then you can take the risk of opening your own shop. And it's ALWAYS a risk. Remember the more than 50% failure rate for all businesses. As for salary, there's an old joke: "How's a large pizza and a gunsmith alike....... Neither can feed a family of four". The only gunsmiths who make much money are those like Bill Wilson who own big shops employing a number of gunsmiths. When you take into account the hours spent doing businessman functions and actual gunsmithing the average self-employed gunsmith is lucky to be making minimum wage......This is NOT a joke. The only gunsmiths who make good money and benefits are those who work for someone else, preferably in a big shop like a Wilson's. A self-employed gunsmith has to be a person who can get personal satisfaction from the work, and can be content with not making a lot of money, not having the nice car, the nice house, the nice vacations, the nice Rolex, etc. On the skills part of gunsmithing, you have to be one of those odd people who get satisfaction from constantly trying to do a job better, and always thinking you could have done a better job. People who are the type who think "It's good enough" usually fail. A lot of people want to be good watchmakers or gunsmiths, but not everyone has the talent. The school will, one way or another let you know if you're cut out for the trade or not. This may be a blunt statement from an instructor, it may be hints that your work isn't up to standard, or it may be in bad grades. Realizing you're not cut out for the trade depends on how well you listen to them and whether you're willing to admit it to yourself. An amazing number of people in these technical schools simply refuse to accept it. In that case, your time and large amount of money will be a total waste. We NEED good gunsmiths, and the trade is a satisfying one on a personal level. If you're serious, squeeze everything you can out of the school, take the business courses even if you have to do night school at a community college, and don't jump into opening your own shop until you're fully prepared. About a year before you're due to graduate, start looking for a job. Most of the schools will help in job hunting, but it's largely up to you. The day you graduate you should at least one FIRM job offer, and at least several strong possibilities. The fools and boobs will wait for graduation to start looking. There are a surprising number of sources for jobs beside gun shops. Many of the big custom shops like Wilson are often looking, Cabela's and other big retailers often need people, gun companies often are looking for GOOD people, some industries and companies you might not expect employ gunsmiths in research and government contract work. Most police departments don't employ gunsmiths. They send cops to gun company armorers courses to be parts replacers. Unless you're a cop, most won't accept an application, but a few do, so it can't hurt to check. The government and military do employ gunsmiths but these are only very top, experienced people, and usually ex-military people. Bottom line: If you're really serious about being a real professional gunsmith, attend a top school, not necessarily just the one that's closest to where you live. Take the business courses even if you have to go to night classes at a community school. Unless you have a degree from one of the top schools, no reputable company will give you a second look. They're in business and cannot afford to have some partially trained stumbler botching up customer guns and costing them money. Given a choice, the two top schools with the best reputation in the trade are Colorado School of Trades, and Trinidad Junior College. Several others are good too, but those two have the best rep. Last, don't think you just sign up and be off to school. The good ones usually have waiting lists, and some will not accept just everyone. There are people who actually get turned down. This is a long, difficult and VERY expensive education. You damned well better be stone cold serious and willing to devote your FULL attention on the school. Get close to the instructors. This doesn't mean suck up, it means pumping them for the extras most students don't look for. Once an instructor knows you're a serious person, he'll usually take time to show you the little extras that can make the job better and faster. Last, know this: In trades like gunsmithing and watchmaking that demand high order skills but offer low pay, five years on, most graduates will not be working in the trade, they'll be doing something else. All this is not to discourage you, we NEED good gunsmiths. It's to make you understand that this isn't an easy path to follow AND succeed at. |
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dfariswheel offered some excellent advice! I might add it would be a good idea to take some machinist classes prior to your gunsmithing classes. They will be most valuable and if you decide that you can't earn a decent living as a gunsmith as they allow you a fallback like a good friend of mine wound up doing. Too bad, he was a damn good machinist, but even a better gunsmith!
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