About a year ago I answered a very similar question on another forum for a 17 year old, so I thought copy and pasting it here would save me re-tyoping the whole thing. I hope it helps you.
Gunsmith means many different things in this country, it can mean anything from a basic gun mechanic, someone who mostly sells factory rifles but does cleaning, trigger jobs and scope mounts etc. to the full blown Master GunMaker who literally builds every piece from scratch in his own shop. The Master class also encompasses a lot of trades in and of itself such as being an engineer, designer, blacksmith, whitesmith, stock maker, metallurgist, engraver, chemist, tool maker, machinist, and that's just to list a few. To my way of thinking to be a true Master you have to be at least proficient and maybe even a Journeyman at most of those other trades.
On to my own story, I apprenticed under a Master Gunsmiths (Steve Zihn) for two years and since that time I've talked to Steve on at least a weekly basis and until just a few years ago when he started running out of answers to my questions, it was an ongoing learning experience. These days it's RARE that he can answer my questions anymore because I am pretty much in my own territory with the niche I specialize in(Pre-1898 Big Bores, especially the 2 Bores). SO a two year apprenticeship working a fulltime day job and then spending every evening working with Steve. I then worked fulltime in the oil fields of Wyoming and part time as a custom gunmaker(mostly sporting rifles on Mauser actions, I had an FFL back then) for 4 years. Let me tell you up front it required a fulltime job to pay the bills because those first years were pretty thin on paying gun work.
I inherited my Family Farm in Kansas 8 years ago, so we moved from Wyoming and at that time I decided to build a new shop and go into Gun Making fulltime, this wasn't an easy or cheap thing to do, I have well over $200,000 in my shop(building and tooling) this is something that anybody going into gunsmithing has to consider is the investment in building and tooling. If you lease a building in a good location or if you buy or build it's all a cost that has to be considered. Thankfully I was able to pay for it all out of pocket and I don't have to make any payments to the bankers. Even at that I still wouldn't have been able to make it as a fulltime gunmaker if it hadn't been for my wife and Steve and a few lucky breaks. My wife agreed to go back to work so that our monthly bills would get paid while I was trying to establish my market(it helps to have a steady income while you burn through money on the other end trying to build a business). Steve also helped establish customers for me, he was getting old enough then that he didn't want to build anymore big bore rifles and agreed to start passing those customers my way, that helps a bunch to have some as respected as he is telling people that you can handle what they want built. Then of course I had the good fortune of several of my rifles being published in respected magazines and reviewed by well known gun writers. The first 2 Bore muzzleloader was featured in Muzzleblast Magazine and the first 2 Bore Cartridge rifle was Reviewed by Craig Boddington and he gave me 3 pages of his Gun Notes in Guns and Ammo. These are the kinds of promotion that are worth more than gold when it comes to advertising because I could never afford to buy 3 pages in Guns and Ammo. So it takes a good 8-10 years to really get established in the industry and you better have a marketable niche that doesn't have a ton of competition in it, you also need an exceptional business model because the feast and famine will ruin you otherwise.
Onto the daily life of a Custom Gunmaker;
I get up at around 5:30-6am everyday, I spend an hour or more sorting through emails and keeping up on my Website, Blog and Forum(I don't have these websites for fun they are and integral part of my Business Model). It's also why I do documented builds and share them on so many forums like this one, it's both a way to pass on knowledge and a part of my Business Model...it's good advertising(how many other Professional shops document their builds as well as I do?). By the way having a public email address means dealing with all the spam and garbage as well as the customers and suppliers that you want to talk to(average of 100 emails a day). So you can add IT and Web Development to the list of things you need to know to run a gun business. Once I get through all the web stuff then I usually deal with the tedious paper work stuff, ordering parts and materials, dealing with suppliers, don't forget banking and the gov't crap(thankfully I don't have an FFL anymore, I only work on pre-1898 stuff). When it comes to gov't depending on where you live and what kind of gunsmithing you do it can mean Federal(IRS, BATFE, ITAR, State departement, Dept. of Commerce, Social Security and more abc soup), State(Licensing, State Firearms, Treasury, Work Comp, Unemployemnt, et. al.), County(Tax, Commision, Licensing, Zoning, Business Licensing, et. al) and then City(Tax, Zoning, Licensing, et. al.)...trust me when I say that even running a lemonade stand these days lets more gov't into your life than you really want, just imagine how much more when it's guns.
So I get all the paper trail out of the way for the day and I finally get out to my shop at 7:30 - 8:30 depending and I am greeted by our 3 dogs, none of whom actually protect the shop they are just there for the companionship and directing the livestock on the farm around once in a while, mostly they just eat food, play and sleep, and try to steal my attention away from my work. So with the chores done, I can get to work, maybe as early as 8am but usually closer to 9. I then work until noon when I take lunch. Ohh yeah don't forget I'm also the secretary and have to answer the phone when it rings and I'm also the sales department and tech department at my business so I usually put my customers on speaker phone and try to keep working, that doesn't work though if it's the lathe, mill or any other load machinery I am currently working on, so then I am talking to a potential/actual customer at the trade off of getting actual paying work done.
At around noonish I try to remember to stop and eat, but it's not like a real break, I usually check my email and websites while I eat so I am still working, some days though I get caught up in what I am doing and don't stop at all. After lunch around 1ish I go back to work and try to work through until 8pm when I stop for dinner. That's 10 hours at my bench actually working on guns. Then I eat dinner and check emails and websites again. Then I usually go back out close up the shop and put the dogs up for the night. Then I go in the house and go down in the basement to my drafting table and small work area and either work on drawing up the next gun or working on engraving drawings or doing more paper work. I usually get to bed around 12:30 or so. I do this routine 5-6 days a week(usually 6). Until last year I hadn't had a real vacation in 5 years.
Some more realities of running a business(any business);
Insurance, IT'S EXPENSIVE and you need lots of it...Liability and Medical for the customer who might slip on your property and decide to sue you. Then you need some Insurance for your own protection like in case of a Fire or Tornado that decides to destroy your building, equipment and inventory. And don't forget about the Liability Insurance as a Gunmaker because it will never be the customers fault the gun blew up, he or his family if he dies will immediately go after you so several million dollars of Liability just for that is going to cost you a bit. Ohh and just as an after thought you might want to look at maybe taking care of yourself, if you've never priced personal medical insurance and disability insurance that will be a nice eye opener for you. Trust me it may not seem like you need it and it is expensive but a few years ago when I got blood clots in my leg and was down for several months the Medical and Disability kept me from going bankrupt, well that and very understanding customers who were willing to wait while I got better. BTW in some states you will be required to pay into Unemployment and Work Comp for yourself but just try filing a claim on yourself and see how far that gets you, I have never heard or talked to anyone who actually got approved as the owner of the business. There is no paid vacation time, every minute you are away from the bench you aren't making money. There is no sick time and no comp days.
Another expense you really need to keep in mind is the Lawyer you are going to need, and you need one that is actually fluent in gun law not just business law. And you will want to pay them what they are worth and then hope you never have to use them for anything more than filing some LLC's, Trusts and Wills and designing your Customer Contracts for you because they really get expensive if they are actually defending you against plaintiffs from what I here(never had that experience... yet). Treat your Lawyer like a condom, it's better to have one and not need it than to need it and not have one.
You also need to be very good with budgeting your finances because paydays don't come at regular intervals, you have to stretch the checks between finishing the next project.
By now you are asking why would anybody want to work that many hours with that many potential headaches...well I love what I do and it's not a hobby turned business it's a true passion for firearms, if you love what you do you will never do a real days work in your life regardless of how hard it is. I spent a lot of years working in industrial construction and in the oil fields as a Journeyman Pipefitter and Certified Combination Welder, yes I made a lot of money but I was also gone form home a lot(the last year I worked in Industrial construction I was home 27 days in 12 months), so I will gladly work harder for less money to keep my business going that allows me to be 60 feet from my back door and allows me to see my wife everyday. I missed so much of my kids growing up and now they are grown and gone so I can't get that back...I wish I would have been doing anything at home when they were growing up instead of chasing a job.
Colin
