Can anyone recommend a good gunsmith training school or online training for a beginner? Prefer not to relocate for the traininig...

Google Gunsmithing schools.

Well, where are you?

I don't know your background, knowledge, or profession. However, I personally feel that good machine tool classes at your local technical college is a great first start.

quote:

Originally posted by Rub Line:
I don't know your background, knowledge, or profession. However, I personally feel that good machine tool classes at your local technical college is a great first start.

I agree. And if money is a problem, some community colleges or junior colleges will let you "audit" the machine shop classes (if there is room) for about 10-15% of the cost of actually taking the class. The only difference is if you take the class for credit you'll be tested and graded. As an "audit" student you don't have to take the tests and don't get a grade at the end of each term. All you get is knowledge and the ability to correctly operate the machines.

But as far as doing it on-line, my feeling is that such an approach is right next to worthless. First you need good machine skills, then you need someone to teach you about working on guns....what to do, how, and why. (And maybe even more important....what NOT to do, and why.)

That teacher or those teachers need to be able to see what you are doing so they can guide you and correct misunderstandings and/or bad practices as you go along. And you need to learn by doing while being guided. It is not a skill that can be learned just by reading about it or watching someone else do it. It is more akin to playing a violin. You have to do it over and over yourself to become even minimally skilled at it.

Start in as an apprentice Tool & Die maker at a small shop. You'll learn 10 times more useful information there concerning metal working and craftsmanship.

Then start working on guns.

quote:

Originally posted by Fal Grunt:
Start in as an apprentice Tool & Die maker at a small shop. You'll learn 10 times more useful information there concerning metal working and craftsmanship.

Then start working on guns.

Good advice, however, most T&D shops are now mostly CNC equipped and that don't help in the gunsmithing trade.

quote:

Originally posted by Jim Kobe:

Good advice, however, most T&D shops are now mostly CNC equipped and that don't help in the gunsmithing trade.

That is true to some extent. I suppose I should really emphasize small. The T&D shop I worked in for a couple years only had two small CNC's that were two axis Knee mills. We had customers come in and ask where are machining centers were!

I started out on a drill press putting in holes that were laid out with a scribe, square, trammel points, dividers, etc. Then I moved on to a shaper, then the horizontal, a manual grinder, then a vertical mill, dialing off holes on location; and a blanchard. Course all along I was using a lathe. We did some pretty trick work on a manual lathe. Learned about metal composition and heat treated most of my own work for the die's. I was there probably a year and a half before I ran the CNC. After that I got into the fun stuff, running the EDM, ID/OD grinding, and of course CNC. By the time I left there I was doing all of the above all day. It was REALLY fun and I learned a TON that was directly applicable to gunsmithing.

But Jim's right, a lot of shops you will not get that experience. The guys I work with know do not even know what a shaper does. We do not get the intimate involvement from start to finish. We send out everything for heat treat, our machining department machines everything, really I hate to say it, but most of our guys are very skilled assemblers and trouble shooters.

I don't know know what tool and dies shops you guys are talking about. But any good T&D shop is going to have manual machines and good tool makers. You can't CNC everything.
Sometimes that CNC just gets in the way of itself. For small simple jobs it would take more time to program the machine then to just throw it in the vise and start cutting.

I got my degree thru a correspondence school. They would send me repair lessons,metal and wood working projects. Then I would send them back for grades. I learned late in the game that by buying rough examples of the guns you were being trained on, and then re-conditioning/selling them, you could near pay for the course and acquire pretty good skills. Now, I work as a full-time repair gunsmith and gun salesperson. The mechanical skills I learned have also allowed me to work as a nuclear valve technician part-time.

Dusty Trail,

Things to consider: Your age, Location, back ground training,

If your are wanting to change occupations and are willing to work hard go to Trinidad's school. This school has instructors that can help you with any thing you want to follow in the gunsmithing trade. If you want to learn more on machine operations then go to the local schools. I worked for years in a high volume gunsmithing shop with 4 fulltime gunsmiths and we would not hire anyone without the degree from a gunsmithing school.

Anyone with a normal brain can learn to operate a machine, but only about 5% can learn to do pro quality stock making. If you can do fine stocks and get it out when promised you will have a waiting line at your shop.