Another "I want to be a Smith" Thread

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Mountain_Man

New member
Hello all. My names Jacob and I am new to this site. The bottomline is I went to WVU for a history degree and it turned out its not what I wanted. I am working on a farm currently but I want to become a gunsmith. I am talking tomorrow to the people at a local gunstore about an apprenticeship. The issue is that I have not had any Lathe, Mill, or welding experience. I have, however, restored historical firearms to specs and recently fixed a broken MAB R22. I cant afford any of the schools I have seen because none of them seem to be able to give West Virginia residence financial aid. What are my options for getting into Gunsmithing. I have already read that its not good money, its a hard road, and youll probably fail, from my parents most of all. I want to do this because firearms and historical ones especially are my love. Any time I am working on a gun no matter the frustration of getting it working I love it. What I appear to have left out is, what can I do to get the skill and still pay back student loans?

Thanks, Jacob
 
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If you can turn your passion into your vocation, you will have accomplished more and be happier than most. Gunsmithing will be a huge challenge, given your situation, but I wish you success.
 
Is The Master Gunsmithing Program at Pennsylvania Gunsmith School any good or is it another one that wants your money? I am looking at trying to go there since I can get Fed. loans there. Only issue is the lack of car and no place to stay there
 
How about this? Start laying some groundwork. Find your local community college and take some small business courses so you start to learn all the day-to-day challenges of running your own small business. While there, see if they have some machinists classes as well- you'll need to know this stuff. Welding if they have it too.

Start to contact all the major schools (Trinidad, Colorado School of Trades, etc) and request information about the courses and about financial aid. You may want to do some research about student loans and how they differ from other types of unsecured debt, and your options down the road if you have to declare bankruptcy.

You may want to start building a realistic financial model of what your business will look like- how much you spent on your eduction, tools, building, how much you expect to earn, and balance that with what you think you can make with that business. How much startup money will you need, and where will you borrow it? Retirement? 401K, etc, etc.

Having been down part of this road myself (worked for a gunsmithing shop) I can tell you it's a hard way to make a living. I don't want to discourage you, as I had a bunch of fun, but you should seriously consider the choices you make at your stage of the game. You don't want to end up at 40 years old with $50,000 in student loans and a failed business.

Personally, I've kinda ruined two perfectly good hobbies by going into business with them. That's something to keep in mind.
 
How about this? Start laying some groundwork. Find your local community college and take some small business courses so you start to learn all the day-to-day challenges of running your own small business.
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Personally, I've kinda ruined two perfectly good hobbies by going into business with them. That's something to keep in mind.
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I think this is some great advice. When people fail to successfully turn a passion into a career, I suspect it's usually the "running a small business" aspect that gets them in trouble, rather than a lack of talent or ability.
 
Exactly - everyone who thinks they can cook thinks they can run a restaurant, just like everyone who thinks they can fix something - whether cars, guns, or air conditioners, thinks they can run a small business

Get your business degree first, then specialize in your area
 
...and lets just say you lose interest in the gunsmithing thing while you're at your local community college. You'll make business connections there and probably end up with some part-time jobs. Those small-business classes might make you be a shoe-in for moving up the chain in any business you may end up in. Keep those options open.
 
I appreciate the advise. Right now I have just talked to the owner of a local gunstore and he may be able to bring me in to his shop. They only do minor things and no mahcining but I can still learn a thing and get a small paycheck to start saving for the what nots. I dont want to jump into starting a business first, I want to learn the skill and I dont mind working for someone either. I simply want to work with guns. I love firguring out whats wrong and learning how each one works. I may eventually try to start a restoration business as history is my second favorite thing. I have started restoring a Mauser back to 1944 BYF specs but its no longer in my possession. I am very good at researching reliable information so I have found specs for my friends '45 Arisaka with Crysanthum, I have helped him take a Carcano from 1984 back to 1942, and I have cleaned more mosins of cosmo then I have of spent powder and copper. While I am doing substantial amounts of reading on smithing in different aspects I understand its not the same as hands on.
 
Many of the manufacturers offer amrorers courses, so you might look into that. I know sometimes they limit who can actually take the course, but if memory severs gun store employees are usually eligible.
 
Well, get all the JB Woods books, and the NRA Exploded View books. We collected every book on gunsmithing we could find- Dunlap, Ackley, Nonte, etc. Read everything you can on the subjects that interest you. Amazon and Powells are a good resource.
 
Given your criteria, you'll probably be able to care for a family and yourself about as well as if you were a mechanic or a clerk at Walmart.

It's not always feasible to "do what we want."
 
Given your criteria, you'll probably be able to care for a family and yourself about as well as if you were a mechanic or a clerk at Walmart.
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A mechanic or a Wal-mart clerk? That's a heck of a spread in income.
 
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