Gunsmith Training and Requirements

How can I become a Gunsmith? It’s a question we hear from time to time. The answer is both straight-forward and complicated. First, work on guns, all types of guns. Study guns and how they work, foreign and domestic, old and new. Learn about different types ammunition and its effect on guns.

Get training. Gone are the days when you can apprentice with the local Gunsmith, the Feds and Unions have banished that. Online training is available, as well as correspondence courses. While they are a good start, hands on training is the only way to learn. How do you get people to let you “practice” on their firearms? That’s not so easy, and won’t be answered here.

The military can be a good start, but getting the job and training you want in any Military branch is a crap shoot at best, from our experience. It’s more being in the right place at the right time.

Gunsmithing skills include, parts fabrication, ballistics, chemistry, metalwork, woodwork and a certain amount of artistry. If you have some skills in those categories it’s a start. Knowledge of older metals and alloys and how they are different than the newer ones helps. Hardened and treated metal and how they respond differently to drilling, tapping, etc. than other metals will save you some grief. Wood for stocks and its care varies by type, age, environment and storage. There are too many variables and possibilities to learn them all, even in a lifetime.

The most important factor is a strong desire to learn and a dedication to the craft, that will get you started. The rest is hard work, opportunity and a lifetime of learning. The satisfaction of fixing something that didn’t work is universal in all the trades and the people you meet can be amazing!