I am looking into learning the art of gunsmithing. Are the online courses any good? I don't have any courses with live instructors in my region and I really want to learn to work on firearms.
I can't say about "Online courses" or some of the more popular "Correspondence Courses" to learn Gunsmithing.
I trained as an apprentice for 10 years under a Master, old time Gunsmith, before Buying him out when he retired due to health reasons. Gunsmithing is not only an Art, you need to know Metal Machining, Tooling, Metal refinishing, Wood working, wood refinishing, some Chemistry, Heat treating procedures,Welding, polishing,and proper use of lots of different tools,and Machinery. I really don't think I could have learned what I did without Hands on training .
Then , to be a GunSmith, you need Parts/Breakdown Diagram books, Lots of Proper Expensive tools, machinery and supplies, and confidence in your abilities that comes only from proper training . You also Need a very extensive working Knowledge of firearms, actions, and problem solving.
I will wish you all the best if you want to learn the business, and hope that if you do start it, that you stick with it ,and be the Best Gunsmith that you can be , and not become a "Bubba" Gun Butcher !
Rich
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[I]You know you might be facing your doom,when all you get is a click when you're expecting a BOOM!:( [/I]
This is my first post, so excuse me if I do or say something stupid!!! A few years after I got out of the USAF and 3yrs in Viet Nam, I kept looking at what I could do with the GI Bill. I found an ad about Modern Gunsmithing Schools in Arizona that was GI Bill approved so I decided what the heck, I would give it a try! I had hunted all of my life, but really didn't know anything else about guns but I started taking the correspondence course, and found that I was more than interested, I was hooked! That was in 1979, and I have been gunsmithing ever since! Of course I accumulated everything I could read about gun repair etc. and read and re-read all of the Gunsmith Kinks by Brownells. I was basically self-taught, but had a lot of good help from guys like Bob Brownell and Ralph Walker. In those days, you could call them and ask questions, and they were very helpful!
One thing I did learn,is that you never quit learning!! Everyday, I find out how to do something different than the way I did it for years, and if I can make myself stray from the tried and trued method that I had always used, I find that some ways are better and easier than I would have believed
I would have loved to have gone to a Gunsmithing School, but here in Montana, there weren't any then and I don't think there are any now!
Of course there are some things I don't do, but they are mostly limited by money, and room in my shop!
There, now I have made my first post on this forum, and I hope I haven't bored anybody that has the time to read this!
I worked on guns for 13 years under a master gunsmith, he had over 50 years under his belt before he passed away, he was an armoror in the navy and was a heck of a machinist., i learned a lot under him, the only thing i needed to do was pick up on the machining which i never did go to tech for any of it . it is something very interesting to get into, and i have been into thousands of guns and have repaired a million of them. you learn something new all the time
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What Would Jesus Do ????? Just Ask Him.
I've been yanking about guns since I was 16, pulling apart my buddies dad's Marlin bolt-action .22.. I was an armorer in the US Army, fixing M-16, M-60's, grenade launchers, and .45 Colt pistols. I WISH I could have went to some type of school..My last two fixes were a Ithaca that wouldn't fire, and a Marlin model 60 with jamming/ejecting problems. Yes, I'm a Bubba, but I have the common sense to not perform something that could jeopardize someone's safety. Remember Pearl Harbor....
Trinidad Junior College in Trinidad, Colorado has an excellent program leading to an Associate's Degree.
It is a accredited Colorado college so the Associate's degree has meaning and is recognized by potential employers.
You can never have machine shop training and work with an online course.
Trinidad plus several gunsmith schools have excellent NRA 1-2 week courses available each summer. You should look into that as a way to determine if that is your course in life.
I have a .357,mod 19,Combat magnum (S&W), the hammer pushes off, I need to have it repaired before I pass it on to my grand son as it is dangerous as is.it is safe for me to use as I know how to handle it, I need an expert advice, cost, parts needed,etc. without being ripped off, would appreciate any advice.
Facon2
go south from mcalester to hugo on the indian nation turnpike then east to the metropolis of sawyer ok. good deer hunting and a pretty nice place to live. It's right on hugo lake which is a good place to fish also
I am looking into learning the art of gunsmithing. Are the online courses any good? I don't have any courses with live instructors in my region and I really want to learn to work on firearms.
My advice:
Skip the schools. Sell your soul to a machine shop instead. Learn that trade until you feel very confident operating machinist equipment on your own.
Meanwhile, submerge yourself into the gun culture. No, I don't mean the paranoids waiting for Canada to invade. I mean avid shooters who have a positive impact on this trade.
Competitive shooting is a great way to learn this. These folks by far have the most trigger time of anyone.
When you have questions, seek out the successful shooters. They won't baffle you with BS and fancy words.
You do this and you'll move mountains bud.
Gunsmithing schools do one thing well from what I've seen. They inflate your head with ideas of landing a job with no experience required that starts out at 50K a year. A lot of processes they teach are obsolete now, especially when it comes to machine work.
