Gunsmithing as a career...

trashcan

trashcan

New member
Hypothetical question for all you guys and gals: If a person were to take an accredidated course from a good gunsmithing school, what are the chances of acually making a living using smithing as a trade? I'm not talking about an internet school but an acual school that has dedicated smithing courses and degrees.
Also, with the FFL liscense(sp?) and the goverment headed into the crapper for at least another four years, are any jobs envolving firearms even feasable for someone to make a decent living? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Trashcan
Death Card Calls
 
I wouldn't see it as something you'd make a 'good' living at first but if you are really good and word spreads then it could be a lucrative career.
 
A lot of it comes back to the whole supply and demand thing. Considering that a lot of gunsmithing is done locally how much demand is in your general area? How many others are already doing it? If you have competition in your area what is going to drive customers to you? Other things to factor in is how much overhead are you going to have? Can you work out of your house or someplace else that will keep costs down? How much money are you going to have to recoup in education and equipment before you become profitable?

Unfortunatly that is just the tip of the iceberg.
 
Most gunsmiths are exceptional machinists. If you have those skills you can make more money working in a machine shop or for a business that requires these skills. Know several folks that worked for a machine shop or such and did the gunsmithing on the side. Some made it some didn't.

I ran a small gunsmith on the side 27 years. It was a great extra income and when I finally sold my shop equipment out to a graduate of one of the gunsmith's schools he was in business for about a year before he finally went belly up. Last I heard he was working for a company as a machinist to support his family and still doing the gunwork on the side.

This is a question I'd be asking some of the folks in the trade. Some of the folks in the business found that just graduating from a school wasn't enough, working for an established Smith after the school learning to actually do the work seems to be one of the trademarks of several of the folks still in business.

Custom checkering seems to be in demand and I know a couple of folks doing that full time and making a good living, that may be something you might want to look into if your into the woodwork.

I love the gunwork, but ended up working other jobs to make the main money. Perhaps if I lived in a more populated area it would have helped. This part of Idaho is fairly sparse.

my 2 cnts
 
I agree about the local market, Trashcan. If you have a big urban center nearby and can get a reputation as the guy to go to out of that population, then you could make a full time living. Other than that, I think it would be a fun sideline. Especially if you chose a specialty and got a reputation in that specialty. Then the Brown Truck might deliver some business too.
 
Your biggest obstacle to overcome is: Establishing a Reputation as a Premier smith...

I remember when Ron Powers was working out of his basement in Independence, MO in the mid 70's and specialized in building super accurate match revolvers...as well as local reliable stuff for a lot of police officers.

He established an excellent reputation and now runs/owns a great custom shop down in Arkansas. He also has the ability to invent new items that work..

There were several over the years that used to set up booths at the National and Regional Police Matches, as well as some of the others for 'on site' range repairs and upgrades... many of them were gun dealers on the side and made a decent living after their expenses were deducted, and their reputations grew. That's part of "paying your dues."

I've just met a local smith that has a great reputation regionally that specializes in Benchrest rifles, but works on anything... He's always busy and hard to locate (lots of county roads)... Rich? No...Living Wage? Yep...
 
Thomas... some have already touched on the demand thing, but you and I are thinking the same. I am looking for classes around here. Right now there are THREE smiths in a 50 mile radius from me. Two of them are not worth the time and the other is so busy he can't keep up with demand. For some extra cash... I think it would be a great second income. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif
 
I think the schools can be a good starting point to begin the learning. I went to Trindad's Gunsmithing program back in the 70's. The first two years were mostly building, and the third year was repair. I'm friends with the guy who's the head of the gunsmith program at Murray St. in Tishomingo OK. They're heavy into repair and such and also help with job placement too. Those are the two I can speak of. Like I said I think the schools give a good start, and then get a job at a good place and gain more real life experiance (there's a pucker factor sometimes)and it's real good to have someone you can turn to and ask "now what do I do?" instead of messing up something you can't afford.
For me, after school I went to work for the biggest gunsmithing shop in Chicago, we did the actual work on stuff gunshops took in. I did gunstocks and helped with pistol repair when the woodwork slowed. Then in '81 I went to work for an outfit here in MT building their custom guns till '95. In '96 I started working for another place here doing their hand checkering. It's not big money but I get to live in Montana.
Another option would be locate a good lathe and mill, etc.
Go to gun school and the get a good paying job and build some guns on the side, see how that goes.
 
I sense you love guns and hunting.

One of the wrongest things Ive ever heard was to "do what you love and the money will follow".

Im living proof that it can backfire. (With me it was not firearm related, thank God)
Whats more, if it does backfire you are left with little money, but also you might not love that thing anymore.

Can you picture yourself broke and hating hunting and shooting? Because it may well work out that way.

A better notion is to just grit your teeth and do what pays the bills, and dont take it too seriously. After that, if you want to work on firearms for enjoyment, so much the better.
 
Quote:
I sense you love guns and hunting.

One of the wrongest things Ive ever heard was to "do what you love and the money will follow".

Im living proof that it can backfire. (With me it was not firearm related, thank God)
Whats more, if it does backfire you are left with little money, but also you might not love that thing anymore.

Can you picture yourself broke and hating hunting and shooting? Because it may well work out that way.

A better notion is to just grit your teeth and do what pays the bills, and dont take it too seriously. After that, if you want to work on firearms for enjoyment, so much the better.



I honestly agree with this line of thinking...
 
I think it would be an excellent way to make some money on the side while still having a regular steady job. The only downside I can think of is if obama becomes president then there will be no more guns to work on. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif
 
Personally, I wouldn't think of starting ANY business[even after being trained well]. Unless, I was "exceptional".

If I ended up being "joe average" after being trained. I would use those new skills as a side job, for extra money.
 
You might want to keep in mind that 85% of small business's fail within 2 years of starting. Half the remainder in the following 3.

Do the gunsmithing as a sideline until it gets to the point that you have to give up the regular job in order to have enough time for the gunsmithing. By that time you will have the client base you will need to make a living from.
 
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