gunsmith courses?

[Tele]

Are there any gun smith courses or schools in the Lehigh valley area?

I am very interested in learning the trade and it would be extremely helpful to gain as much knowledge as I can, while I pursue my hobby of shooting.

Has anyone ever interned so to speak, at a gunsmiths shop to learn? I would be interested in doing this as I am a good worker although my knowledge of working on guns is very limited.

thanks for the info.

[cdi]

Think hard about it as a career-
The difference between a gunsmith and a pizza is that a pizza can feed a family of four.....

[HRearden]

I never understand when people ask about becoming a gunsmith , they are usually told to forget about it , give up your dream , no one wants a gunsmith anymore, etc. Then I read all the posts where people are asking for a local gunsmith in their area to do work on their guns? . In my line of work I deal with metal casting ,cad/cam of metal , and tolerances where half a millimeter is a mile, precise fitting of metal to metal etc. I for one would love to take some courses or god forbid intern at a shop for free. I may never go into bizz as a full time smith , but maybe do some side work or just work on my own guns. I think the gunsmith community as a whole would benefit itself to help promote and encourage the passing on of a truly american trade.

[Schlafftablett]

I'd generally agree that for the most part I see a lot of people trying to dissuade others from getting into the business. This is for a variety of reasons such as guys trying to keep competition to a minimum, speaking from their own negative experiences, or just because once you've been the business for a minute you see so many guys loose their shirt and you hate to see it happen again.

I try to be positive with new guys but also realistic. If you're committed to the craft and have talent then give it a go but if you can't hang a picture without breaking something and or have no patience then maybe it's not for you. If you do decide to go for it try to find someone to apprentice under (NOT an easy task) or look at one of the full time schools such as PA Gunsmith School in Pittsburgh; Yavapai in NM, Colorado School of Trades, or similar (AGI or remote classes are pretty much useless afa I'm concerned).

Once you've committed to the business you can figure that there are basically two ways to go as a smith; you can either be a do-all general gunsmith or you can specialize.

I chose to specialize and found an in-demand niche market and become an "expert". Working primarily on one or two brands and models of gun simplifys parts and tooling but it's sometimes boring and repetitive and not always the easiest row to hoe depending on market trends at the time. As a general smith you will have a much greater variety of work to do and will always be busy but because you then have to have more tooling, more parts available, and it usually takes more time it's often less profitable.

Either way it's possible to be successful but it will depend greatly on your talent in both the craft and in business. LOTS of good smiths tank because they can't handle the business end and LOTS of good businessmen fail because they are crap smiths.

Regardless, good luck!

[Trucker76]

I think it also depends on how you can learn. The only things I ever had any formal schooling/training for was electro-mechanical technology (high school vo-tech) and truck driving school (which was a sad joke). Some people are like me and can learn from reading and watching videos. The internet is great for learning now. Back in the day when I learned welding it was all from books I got at the library. But with that knowledge I was able to build several trailers including an 18' dual axle drop tail trailer to haul our backhoe as well as many other metalworking projects. I am a bit of a jack of all trades, plumbing, electrician, rough carpentry, hvac, glass blowing...I am also a master sandblaster (and if you think that's easy try sandblasting a granite headstone), auto mechanic.....If a person has the ability to grasp concepts and learn from written material and videos they can be a valuable and inexpensive resource. IMO formal gunsmithing school is expensive and I don't see a big return unless you can become a master. I am teaching myself general gunsmithing as a hobby and maybe weekend work using books, online classes, and videos. Will I be making custom rifles using $1,000 raw stock planks? Nope. Have no urge to. But will I do some basic stuff, maybe learn some machining and get a mill and lathe? Maybe.

[Tele]

Thanks for all the advice and input. I am not interested in doing this to provide for my family. I have a career that I am somewhat happy with. Learning the smith trade would basically be for my personal gain and to help friends and family with whatever issues arise. I myself do not learn very well from reading books. I like to see how its done and have that hands on experience to learn. I personally know a smith that went to the school in Pitt and he highly recommended it to me. the drive is about a 4 hours from pitt to Lehigh valley, and on top of working full time(50-60 hours a week) I don't see this as a logical solution.

My main focus as of now is to mess around and modify my bolt action rifle. Bedding the stock/scope base, properly mounting rings scopes, action work, trigger tuning. Not really hard stuff, I just want to learn properly and not mess things up trying to do them myself for the first time.

[762xIan]

The best smiths I know started out as machinists (lathe and mill) and can weld very well like TIG. Good metal guys all around. Then they started getting into smithing, either full blown at the few full time schools that are around or course by course and slowly building a rep at an FFL or getting their own FFL and taking in work.

The other aspect is refinishing, parkerizing, bluing, plating, lots of very time consuming detail work. Refinishing can be a job by itself.

I have said it before, good revolver guys are getting harder and harder to find. That is a specialty unto itself.

I like the AGI courses, have a few books and am a member of the AGA. I like going to the flea markets and finding a shotgun or rifle on the cheap to butcher on.

Not a smith myself just a hobbyist, I have re-barreled, built, crowned, parkerized, many rifles, shotguns and handguns.

[mbwaldo]

schlaffleblett said it pretty good....if you're interested in a specific short term course Brownells will be able to provide excellent insight. They just sent me a pamphlet with info for individual courses. AGI might be up your alley too