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Gunsmithing Schools
Mountainfog
Member Posts: 10 ✭✭
Greetings, I am looking for a Gunsmithing school to attend. Can anyone help guide me to the best way of picking which school to get the knowledge I need to be a good Gunsmith? I want to do the regular repairs, but also would like to create accurate firearms and antique restorations. I sent off for some information on home study schools so I can keep working at my present job. These schools are Thomson Education Direct and Professional Career Development Institute, heard anything about these schools? I may be able to go to a school with a physical location if the quality of education is going to make up for sacrifice since I am not loaded with extra cash. Any feed back will be greatly appreciated! [:D]
Comments
Here is the link to a discussion that just took place: http://forums.gunbroker.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=103519
First off, there are no correspondence schools that can teach you gunsmithing. You can get information from books but gunsmithing involves your eyes, hands, brains and some machinery. They can't teach you how to run a machine or use a file or make a spring out of a book. Most of gunsmithing education involves hands on work, with instructors lecturing, doing demos and then assisting you while you develop the hand/eye coordination required for a manual skill. You have to build a mental and verbal library as well as a manual skills library for your profession. It involves practice and then more practice.
In my opinion, to pick the best school, you need to gather all of the material about each school that is either near you or has a good description of its' program that peaks your interest. Narrow them down as best you can. Then plan on physically visiting each school that you have a good interest in so that you see the physical plant, meet the instructors, discuss the curriculum and then meet some of the current students and get their thoughts on the program since they have been in it. Also, get a list of graduates and poll them by phone, letters or e-mail to see how they feel that the program benefitted them in the pursuit of a career in gunsmithing. Most folks are too lazy to do all of this work but this is your career choice, not just some frolic at someone else's expense. You are the one that will have to make the sacrifices and pay the bills, so do as much advance work as you possibly can.
Ask if you need more.
Best.
Here's where I'm coming from:
I do metal and wood work as a hobby. I have also made the occasional custom part, or done minor repairs, for someone, but mostly it has all been personal hobby work. I haven't done any work on guns, but I've always thought that would be interesting.
I'm more than 1/2 way to retirement, and have been considering where I want to go and what I want to do when I get there. My brother has a sawmill outside a small town, and has been telling me that someone who can work on guns and also do small machine shop work could keep as busy as desired. That sounds good to me - I might not even want to wait for retirement.
So I have been looking for a way to acquire some gunsmith skills. I agree that you can't do that reading a book. You also have to practice, hopefully with someone with experience nearby. A home study course would provide me with some familiarity with the subject, but not much practical hands on training. For that, I was thinking of finding a shop nearby where I could work part time, on a volunteer basis.
The home study courses I am considering are from American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI), and Modern Gun School. Has anybody any direct experience with either one, or know someone who has? Any other suggestions would also be appreciated.
Thanks.