What are the must-have tools for gunsmithing?

I'd have a hard time considering anyone who doesn't have a mill and a lathe as a real gunsmith.
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I have both and sure do not want to be without either one.

That being said my Mentor only had a very small lathe and I can assure you he was a real smith and turned out some exceptional pistols.
I can recall the days of working with him and cutting sight cuts with files, do that a few times and one learns to appreciate a mill.

There's already been a good list of tools posted so I will not waste the space to make another list.
However make sure you purchase some good accurate measuring instruments and all tools should be of top quality.

As your business grows you will see very quickly what specialty tools and machinery you will need or want.

Good luck in your endeavors.

Best Regards
Bob Hunter
www.huntercustoms.com
 
I agree with Hunter Customs. It is according to how much you want to do as a gunsmith, and what you can afford at the time. Also, is it a profession, or a hobby? A small lathe is big enough to make firing pins, and do work on all revolvers and pistols. There are some small mills out now, for around $500, that would do about all you can do in gunsmithing, provided you don't overload them on a cut. Everyone thinks you need a big Bridgeport turret mill, or a big South Bend Turnado lathe, but you don't, as the work isn't that big.

Also, I have seen some gunsmiths who had the machine shop and welding knowledge, but simply didn't do it, they farmed it out. That didn't make them any less of a gunsmith. If you took a look around the gunsmith shop of Bob Dunlap, he uses smaller machine tools, and his shop is only about 18' x 24', if I remember what he said correctly.
 
The old gunsmithing books I mentioned ,such as Dunlap and Baker,would be a very good place to start.They talk a great deal about screwdrivers,chisels,files,etc,along with a great deal of other shop knowledge.

There are ref books of firearms disassembly/assembly.

One thing about guns is the cosmetic factor...different than mechanic work.

A speck of sand on a bench can really ruin your day if you slide a color case hardened Hi-Wall receiver over it.One little extra nibble with a chisel inletting a lock leaves a gap you will see forever.

I really like a good 10x loupe with about a 1 in focal length.

A calculator,solar,that will do trig.Paper and a pencil to plan and sketch.

A six in Browne and Sharpe or Starrett scale,flexible,satin chrome,with 1/10th graduations on one of the scales.

A tube of prussian blue.Some 12 in lengths of feeler stock about .025 thick to make scrapers.

If you lack a mill,you may get a drill press.If you do,get a Palmgren or other modest quality X -Y vise or table and a few center drills.Try for a vintage quality drill press like an old Delta Rockwell.Spindle must run true.Check it with a pin and indicator.

I do not own a Dremel tool.Try a 65,000 rpm or so air pencil grinder.And a Foredom with the low speed on the backside.


You need a proper coffee cup.Very important.

It has many uses.Its where the answers come from.Sometimes thinking harder does not work.Have a cup and let the answers come to you.

Its also good when things aren't going quite right or you are pushing a little hard...just stop before you screw something up,have a cup,chill.Then you won't have a new problem to fix.

Keep it enjoyable.

One path you might try,get a Dixie catalogue.Maybe Ned Roberts"The Muzzle Loading Cap Lock Rifle"

Order a Siler Lock kit,and a Muzzle loader barrel..maybe a .36 or .40.Make a squirrel rifle.There is a Foxfire book where Herchel House builds a poor boy rifle.

Its not real hard,simple tools,but you will drill and tap,torch heat treat,inlet,file,fit,shape and finish...

Fun to shoot when you get done.
 
For just a general list of tools, you can go onto the Colorado School of Trades website and they have a .PDF file list of what they require a student to purchase before attending their gunsmithing program - everyone listed a lot of stuff you would need, but that list may be helpful in terms of a general list of essentials before you get into specific tools geared towards a specific area of expertise.
 
tools

I do not claim to know everything about gunsmithing. But I know enough that Remington trusted me to be the head gunsmith for their east coast warranty center. That being said, before you buy a screwdriver,stone,file,hammer,bench block, punches or any other tools..... Buy BOOKS. They will as a beginner, and continue to be throughout your ENTIRE career the most important tool that you own.
When working on guns it is never what you know... it is what you do not know that will get your tail in a bind real quick. Feel free to ask any other professional gunsmiths, and im sure they will agree. When working on guns there are VERY RARELY any small, or minor mistakes. It would seem in my experience that when something goes wrong on a firearm. It goes very wrong. So the best thing you can do as a gunsmith is make sure you have taught yourself everything you need to know about a particular job before you go diving in head first, s that you do not get blind sided by some very small, very minor piece of information you did not know about before hand.
One small case in point. I had a local amateur gunsmith bring me a ORIGINAL 1886 Winchester deluxe grade rifle to "repair". One of his customers brought it to him to clean. He decided to disassemble it to clean it. He did not know AHEAD of time that the mag tube retaining ring is rotary cut. NOT a dovetail cut. These two cuts look very similar but disassemble VERY differently. One is turned, one is pushed. Long story short. He hammered it out. instead of twisted it out. he turned a 7000$ rifle into a 2000$ rifle because of one very, very tiny piece of information he didnt know ahead of time. Had he read the disassembly instructions in his BOOKS, ahead of time... well you get the point.
 
books.

books, believe it or not. i think the best 40$ you can spend on books would be to call jack first gunparts and order their 3 volume parts catalog.1) you will need it to order parts from them.2) for 40$ you get 3 huge volumes of parts diagrams for basically every gun out there. the book exploded gun diagrams cost 35$ and doesnt have half the amount of diagrams. just my 2 cents
 
Agree that good books are needed. It helps with assembly and disassembly. Jerry Kuhnhausen's books are among the best for service manuals.
 
A must have book on assembly and disassembly is The Encyclopedia of Modern Firearms by Brownells. It has the original factory manuals from Winchester and Remington, plus a huge amount from the military, along with a bunch of parts diagrams. It has most of the collectible guns in it, but not the most modern.

http://www.brownells.com/books-videos/books/gunsmithing-books/gun-parts-reference/the-encyclopedia-of-modern-firearms-prod1691.aspx

For reprints of older manuals, and parts books, go to Cornell Publications.

http://www.cornellpubs.com/
 
A real gunsmith uses the lathe more than the mill, but I am not a real gunsmith.

I use the mill every day and the lathe every two weeks.

lately I have been making my own scope mounts, rings, and reloading dies. The dies are made on the lathe.
 
Sardine cans for parts !!!

A very helpful tool in my shop, are empty sardine cans or tins as well as tuna cans. You can use them for soaking parts, sorting and storing them so they don't roll off your bench. They are really handing for keeping parts in one secure place. Of course there is the added benefit of eating the sardines. I especially like the Kipper snacks and their tins. ..... ;)

Be Fugal and;
Be Safe !!!
 
Since sardine cans were mentioned (and I use one to hold solvent when I clean guns), medicine or better yet, vitamin bottles are great for holding small parts for the same firearm. Label it so you won't get it confused with another bottle.
 
I use large medicine bottles, too, and butter bowls for the larger parts. That way you can keep everything together when you take down a gun. I keep these with the gun all the way through, especially when polishing and bluing.
 
In our vintage metal finishing class, our instructor used four cat food bowls to put the express blue solution in. Somewhere out there are four hungry kittys. :p

Those magnetic trays are very useful for disassembled guns. Everything sticks in them.

We buy those white color roll-up padded shelf liners to line our work benches with (Firearms Repair). That way there's contrast so we can find our parts when we place them down.
 
On tins,the ones Altoids and other candies/breath mints come in are great.

If they still make disposable diapers that fold out flat,oil free,absorbent,sealed plastic backing.

A good 10x or 7x loupe,a streamlight stylus led penlight,a 1 in by 4 in fine india stone

Get a loaf pan,about 5 in by 8 in.Make a set on lid for it,sheet metal is fine.

Use 1/4 in mesh hardware cloth(steel screen) to make a false bottom about 1/2 in off the pan bottom.Fill it half way with fuel oil or kerosene.

Keep your polishing stones in it.

Pretty cheap,$25 or so,you can get a9 in by 12 in shop grade granite surface plate.That is the size of a sheet of wet or dry sandpaper.

You can use that to knock off high spots or flat sand a part.

Get an MSC,a Travers Tool,an Enco,and a McMaster Carr catalogue.If you need a two foot chunk of 2 in dia 8620 alloy steel,McMaster has it.

For some chemical jobs,a pyrex loaf pan is good.Amazon will sell you a stainless loaf pan,small parts Parkerizing

If you can find a shop that builds/services/repairs plastic injection molds

The lengths of ejector and core pins they cut off are a prize,as are junk and retired mold pieces.
 
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That's a good idea, on the shelf liner. What I use is drafting board covering. It has a light green, flat color that the parts stick out on, and since its rubber, it pads the whole gun. You used to be able to buy this at Office Depot, though I don't know if they still carry it. I think you can find it on eBay and Amazon, though. I bought extra when I last covered my drafting table, but that was a good while back.

I saw somewhere on the net, that a guy had fabricated wooden parts boxes for the guns in his shop, and they were made to hold every part, including the barrel. They kind of looked like a wood tool tote, like carpenters make up. They had them numbered, and they stayed with the gun through the work. I actually thought about making some of these myself.

Another trick, on storing buffing polish, is to buy the round, plastic, welding rod boxes. You need the 4" diameter ones, with the screw on tops, as they have a rubber o-ring, that seals them off to the air. They run about $11.00 each, but that's not bad for say, four sticks of polish. Just write the polish grit on them with a label, and you're all set. They'll hold a roll and 1/2 of polish.

I keep parts cleaner in one of those sealed containers, similar to Tupperware, but made by Zip-Lock (they're really cheap). The lid keeps you from spilling it, and it wont evaporate.
 
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