Gunsmithing: How to Make Money From Your Firearm Knowledge and Tools

Here’s a question for all the preppers out there: how much do you know about repairing and modifying your own weapons? This is an important question, as your guns will only be able to defend you in a SHTF scenario if they are in proper working order. And the longer that the S keeps H-ing T F, the more likely it is that your weapons are going to break down in a manner that makes them difficult or impossible to use.

You don’t have to be worried about the end of the world to think about taking up gunsmithing. In fact, many firearms enthusiasts have taken a keen interest in gunsmithing simply because it can be a lot of fun. But more than fun, it can also be a way to make yourself a little coin, either on the side or as a replacement for a job you’ve lost – or one you’re dying to get rid of.

When we think of trades, we often don’t think of gunsmithing. However, there are a number of private companies and public institutions where you can learn everything you need to know about it. You’ll have to put your time in, have a business plan and have an aptitude for the material, but there’s potentially never been a better time to get into gunsmithing – with five million new gun owners in the United States in 2020 alone, you’re going to have a lot of potential customers in your market.

What Do Gunsmiths Do?

“What do gunsmiths do?” might sound like a question with an obvious answer. But as with most simple questions, the answer has a bit more depth than one might immediately think. So what exactly is a gunsmith and how do they spend their time? This is a question you must know the in-depth answer to before you even start moving the pieces of your life into order to get yourself on the path to a career in gunsmithing.

First, a definition by differentiation: an armorer is someone who merely replaces parts on a firearm. A gunsmith does much more than that. A gunsmith can repair and modify weapons, but he can also design them and create them from scratch. This is a far more detailed and nuanced skill set than simply trading one worn-out part of a firearm for a new one. Those with a creative bent will be attracted to the last two parts of a gunsmith’s job description: If you’ve ever wanted a weapon to be a very specific way, but didn’t know how to make your stock weapons to your own specifications, you can start making guns for yourself. And if other people have the same spec desires for their weapons, you can make a handsome living making guns for those people as well.

What this means is that gunsmithing is effectively an interdisciplinary craft. You will need to learn the finer points of both machine working and woodworking. Engineering skills are not optional. In practice, you will be making what might seem like maddeningly minor adjustments to firearms to better equip them for the personal purposes of the shooter. But to the gunsmith, these minor differences are a world apart from one another. Even when you perform simple repairs, you will likely be fabricating the necessary parts in your own workshop rather than simply swapping out spare parts that you have lying around.

Some gunsmiths focus much more on cosmetic alterations. This would include refinishing and creating intricate decorative carvings on the weapons. But even these will be cutting off a ton of potential customers without intricate knowledge of harder skills with regard to weapons design and repair.

Many gunsmiths start out working in gun shops rather than starting their own businesses. Others work in factories and armories designing and repairing weapons. Most gunsmiths have an area of specialization (such as pistols or hunting rifles), but will generally know a lot about repairing, designing and modifying weapons of all kinds.

Specializations Within the Trade of Gunsmithing

We mentioned that there are areas where you can specialize in the trade of gunsmithing. It’s worth diving into what the major areas of specializations are so that you can gain a greater appreciation of whether or not the trade is for you, as well as what kind of gunsmithing you might like to go into.

  • Engraver: There’s no two ways about it – highly customized and aestheticized guns are just cool. And if you want to work simply with making guns more beautiful, this is a specialization area that might appeal to you. You’ll have to have a strong aesthetic sensibility. Since most of this work is done by hand with engraving tools, a steady hand and attention to detail are absolutely necessary. The downside is that most of what you do is going to be abstract spirals, leaves and dogs. Keep in mind that everyone who walks through your door will almost immediately say “I want” – which means you won’t get a lot of opportunity to do original designs of your own choosing.
  • Stockmaker: A stockmaker makes customs stocks either because of aesthetic considerations or because a sportsman needs something highly specific. Stockmakers will work with shotguns more than anything, as these require highly customized stocks for the serious sport shooter. Stockmakers also often design and fabricate stocks for disabled shooters. Oftentimes, this specialization is combined with that of a checkerer , a gunsmith who specializes in adding checkering to stocks.
  • Pistolsmith: As one might expect, a pistolsmith is one who specializes in the design, fabrication and repair of pistols and revolvers. This specialization actually requires you to know virtually everything about gunsmithing, but you will only be working with pistols. You will, however, learn a great deal about the specifics of how different crafts and trades apply to pistols as opposed to other types of firearms.
  • Finisher: A finisher works with the finish of a firearm, subjecting the metal to a series of chemical processes (bluing, browning and Parkerization are three examples of this). This creates an aesthetic effect, of course, but it can also make the gun sturdier and more resistant to the elements.
  • Custom Builder: Custom builders work with creating custom guns designed from scratch from the ground up for highly demanding customers who need weapons made to very exact specifications. This could be anything from highly specialized weapons for sportsmen or people looking for a very specific and stylized weapon for their personal defense or private target shooting. It might sound like the most generalized specialization and, indeed, it might be, but it requires a great deal of skill and knowledge to do successfully.

You might have an eye on specialization from the word “go,” but the likely case is that you will begin your career as a generalist, learning about different specializations as you go and eventually moving your career into one of them. Still, if one of these jumps out at you as much more interesting than another, you should focus on that and do the various steps that it will take to get there whenever the opportunity presents itself.

Where Can You Learn to Become a Gunsmith?

There are actually ample opportunities for you to learn how to become a gunsmith, but they all fall into four broad categories:

  • The Military: Most people don’t know that the military will train you to be a gunsmith. It’s perhaps more honest to say that the military will train you to become an armorer, however, for many this is the first step in their career as a gunsmith. But there are bona fide gunsmiths in the American military, and while the positions are limited, they are certainly available. For example, highly smithed weapons are required for snipers. Every branch of the military has a place where you can study gunsmithing.
  • Apprenticeships: This is a bit of a harder road, as you will need to find a practicing gunsmith with the skill set you are seeking who is looking to take on an apprentice. However, for many people it might be the best option, either because they don’t have the ability to enter the military or to take time off of work for schooling. As an apprentice to a master gunsmith, you will earn a wage while you learn your trade and you will learn in a very hands-on environment. This can be a highly effective way of learning and will fit certain types like a glove.
  • Formal Education: There are two ways you can learn gunsmithing through formal education: First, you can attend a local community college with a gunsmithing program. Second, if no such program exists near you, you can enroll in a correspondence program that will allow you to distance-learn gunsmithing. In addition to these options, there are a number of programs through the National Rifle Association where you can learn the basics of gunsmithing. While this might not make you a master gunsmith, it will give you a basic set of tools that allow you to hit the ground running when you start a more formal and intensive course of study.

Each of these options has their own perks and detriments. You will have to evaluate your own situation with regard to finances and location to determine which is the right path toward becoming a master gunsmith for you and your family. In addition, while you’re waiting, it can be fruitful for you to learn basic machine working skills, as these will be used extensively by you in your training as a gunsmith.

How Much Do Gunsmiths Earn?

Before you head down this path, you should also know that being a gunsmith pays decently, but you’re never going to get rich doing it. The average salary for a gunsmith is between $39,935 and $43,280 as of 2020. So if you’re thinking about packing in whatever career you have, you need to consider the financial aspect of this trade. You will likely make far less money than this for the first years as a gunsmith, as you will be inexperienced and in the process of building up your customer base.

Note that this figure also varies widely by state. The best paid gunsmiths live in Utah, Oregon, Nevada and Oklahoma, while the lowest paid ones live in Maine, Alabama and Georgia. Check out what gunsmiths are earning in your state to get a fuller picture of your financial situation before you start seriously pursuing this career.

There is also the small matter of employment trends in the field, which are on the decline – though the recent uptick in firearms ownership might be the beginning of a reversal of this trend. And while the trade itself is slowing down in growth, there is still a 13.7 percent increase in the number of gunsmithing jobs due to attrition out of the field. Those who are serious and committed and have the right training and aptitude will be able to find employment. Those who are less qualified in these areas will likely struggle.

On the upside, gunsmiths have a much higher-than-average level of job satisfaction. So while you might not become a millionaire making and repairing guns, you probably won’t dread going to work every day. What’s more, it’s not a trade that requires an extensive amount of training. Most gunsmiths have no more than two years of formal education before they begin their trade, though most of the good ones continue to learn after they have found gainful employment as a gunsmith. What’s more, gunsmiths typically have a standard 40-hour workweek.

Finally, remember that liking guns doesn’t mean you have a serious passion for them, nor the natural technical aptitude that is required to be a successful gunsmith. For some, the answer to this question will leap out quickly and immediately. For others, it will require some serious soul searching to decide whether or not this is the right career path for you and your family.

If you decide that gunsmithing isn’t for you, machine work, locksmithing and welding are similar trades that are not entirely focused on firearms.

Continue reading Gunsmithing: How to Make Money From Your Firearm Knowledge and Tools at Ammo.com.

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Hey, I’ve done my best to help my Maine gunsmith earn a decent living! But yes, I can see that a Maine gunsmith would be hard pressed to earn a living. Most folks up here, at least in the past, just used off the shelf firearms. Today the “gunsmithing” really means parts changing and that can be done on the kitchen table or the back room of the LGS.

FWIW, my gunsmith did learn the trade in the military and was a gunsmith for the AMTU to the best of my knowledge. He also doesn’t gunsmith full time.

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You got that right if you can even find one around here, but then everything is a long drive from here.

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Maybe I overlooked it, but I see no mention of the FFL requirements to be a gunsmith. You don’t want to get caught gunsmithing (in any form) for pay or, God forbid, “manufacturing” guns, without a license. And, just because you might think you know what “manufacturing” means, trust me, you might not.

And, the advent of YouTube and “parts changing at the kitchen table” is a huge part of why I’m still in business. Lol. Spend the money and get a job professionally done. It WILL save you money.

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I’ve said it before
The “gunsmiths” around here couldn’t fix a sandwich.
I learned by anal intrusion by the closest one in NJ
ALL the work I’ve had done had to be sent a fair distance to be done competently.
Oh yeah - it takes time- months and months for some but only had to be done once.
Big respect to Cylinder and $lide and a few others.
Ya get what ya pay for. Sometimes. If you are lucky.

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I guess I’m lucky to have a real gunsmith doing business maybe 30 miles away. Luckier still that he accepts the work I bring him to do.

I didn’t write it before but he was writing for Firearms News there for awhile. But I haven’t seen anything penned by him for quite some time.

Yes, it would be a pretty good drive for you Joe since he’s in Wiscasett. But you wouldn’t just drive there and drop the work off. He wants to know (I assume) the folks he does work for, so expect to be there for at least an hour. There’s another real gunsmith in the Bangor area, or there was. He has openly stated that he won’t work on any guns worth less than X dollars. I guess he got tired of being asked to change parts on SKS’s or Hi-Points.

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That’s called an armorer. A gunsmith is a machinist/ blacksmith that specializes in guns.

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I know the guy your talking about, he’s over in Otis he worked on my 1911, had to leave a $25 deposit before he would even look at it, 2 days later he called and said it was done. Asked how much I owed him he said not much ended up costing me about $35, got another guy owns my LGS who is a vet who will do minor stuff and has a machinist right up the road from him, that’s only in Lavant so not to bad for arount here.

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That’s pretty standard these days. I charge a $25 diag fee for looking at things and telling people what’s wrong with it. Keeps me from losing money by taking time to diagnose their problem just so they can go home and watch a YouTube video and screw it up.

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Yeah I know, it didn’t bother me any, he applied to the work he did and I would have had him do the work anyway after that drive and the lack a real gunsmiths in the area. But I know some people are dicks and think a professionals time is not worth paying for when they can become YouTube experts. I was always of the opinion that I should be able to make enough at my job to be able t pay someone to do theirs if I hired them.

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Did you see the “gunsmith” in quotes?

I’ve had one LGS tell me that their “gunsmith” would be in on Thursday night to install parts with a screwdriver. Yeah, a gunsmith my ass.

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