Gunsmithing Any gunsmiths left?

[tangodown]

I have been gunsmithing for around 10 years now, It's a side business, just something I enjoy and it makes my hobby a little cheaper. I own a little shop, I do lots of Cerakote and some general repairs, I do custom builds but on pistols and AR's not long rifles as of now. Anyway, a guy called me a few weeks ago. His 300 Weatherby mag discharged when he took the safety off to unload the rifle (ouch). Its a MK V with the bolt lock so has to come off of safety to unload. Apparently this guy called every "gunsmith" within 100 miles and no one would even look at it for him. He brought it over, replicated the firing, pulled it apart, turns out the previous owner had jacked with the trigger and it was just a sear engagement issue. Got it fixed and him out the door in 20 minutes. Has our industry just gone to custom builds and parts swapping?

 

[Wannashootit]

Well...
Those smiths may have declined for the same reasons I would.
1) General lack of familiarity with the MK V, FCS.
2) I will not fuck with sear geometry/trigger jobs, with rare exceptions. Light stoning, cratex to smooth it out- sure.
But it is just not worth the potential liability to me for the few bucks involved. In this case, it having been boogered up by someone that decided to learn on the customer's firearm- I would have only offered replacement rather than attempting to fix someone else's fuck-up.

That said, another smith up the road I know loves to do nothing more than trigger jobs on handguns. He has tons of experience with it- kind of his specialty- so he's comfortable with FCS mods.

 

[THEIS]

Hi,

Because the last person that touched it will be the one responsible for it when it happens again but the projectile does not go into safe place.
First thing your insurance company and your lawyer and THEIR lawyer is going to say is "Why did you not replace the part since you knew it had already failed, not once but twice".....

Sincerely,
Theis

 

[BadAccountant]

I have been gunsmithing for around 10 years now, It's a side business, just something I enjoy and it makes my hobby a little cheaper. I own a little shop, I do lots of Cerakote and some general repairs, I do custom builds but on pistols and AR's not long rifles as of now. Anyway, a guy called me a few weeks ago. His 300 Weatherby mag discharged when he took the safety off to unload the rifle (ouch). Its a MK V with the bolt lock so has to come off of safety to unload. Apparently this guy called every "gunsmith" within 100 miles and no one would even look at it for him. He brought it over, replicated the firing, pulled it apart, turns out the previous owner had jacked with the trigger and it was just a sear engagement issue. Got it fixed and him out the door in 20 minutes. Has our industry just gone to custom builds and parts swapping?

Not everyone is willing to pay a $65/hr. shop rate when THEY THEMSELVES can swap the part and YT tutorials are out there for the everyman to see.

Even assuming a smith does it, swapping a faulty sear for a factory part is easy, cheap, and gunsmiths don't have to incur liability to do it.

 

[FisherT&C]

I never dealt with a Mark V that had that issue someone must of really got stupid with it. As far as where have the gunsmiths gone question, a guy needs to make as much as a mechanic to actually carve a living out of working on guns. Considering what a mechanic works on is usually a lot more expensive than a gun, that a difficult row to hoe. So yes most of the trade has gone to customs even then most guys have alternative revenue streams.

 

[Maxduty]

Unfortunately, the true gunsmith is going the way of the auto mechanic. With prefit this and modular designs that, it's too easy to just replace parts. Auto mechanics have been doing it for years now. There are very few good mechanics left. Most plug in the computer and replace the part it tells them to.

 

[BillyGoatMachine]

I won't accept an old firearm that won't shoot for some odd reason. Here's why... Spend an hour taking apart an unfamiliar platform, spend another 30 min finding a small broken spring. Spend another hr online finding a replacement that costs 5$. I cannot charge someone $200 for a $5 spring replacement. Yes, I have alternate sources of income besides my precision rifle building business, especially here in Ca.

 

[clcustom1911]

I won't accept an old firearm that won't shoot for some odd reason. Here's why... Spend an hour taking apart an unfamiliar platform, spend another 30 min finding a small broken spring. Spend another hr online finding a replacement that costs 5$. I cannot charge someone $200 for a $5 spring replacement. Yes, I have alternate sources of income besides my precision rifle building business, especially here in Ca.

This is a similar thing when I do work on 1911's. Usually fixing someone's booger'd trigger job that's doubling, or has hammer follow issues.

I do occasional hand fit barrels, beavertails, hand cut checkering, etc. But now so many mid-level prices guns come from the factory with all these once-custom features already done.

 

[LRI]

I know a guy who has worked quite successfully in this trade as a side business for more than 30 years. He got sued once because he put a scope on a rifle and the owner never checked eye relief. It gave him a shiner resulting in stitches.


Almost 10 years in the courts and who knows how many thousands of dollars later.


Just because you can does not mean you should.

 

[tangodown]

I never dealt with a Mark V that had that issue someone must of really got stupid with it. As far as where have the gunsmiths gone question, a guy needs to make as much as a mechanic to actually carve a living out of working on guns. Considering what a mechanic works on is usually a lot more expensive than a gun, that a difficult row to hoe. So yes most of the trade has gone to customs even then most guys have alternative revenue streams.

Whoever did it just had no clue what they were doing. Probably just backed out every screw until the trigger felt light enough for them.

 

[tangodown]

I know a guy who has worked quite successfully in this trade as a side business for more than 30 years. He got sued once because he put a scope on a rifle and the owner never checked eye relief. It gave him a shiner resulting in stitches.


Almost 10 years in the courts and who knows how many thousands of dollars later.


Just because you can does not mean you should.

Disclaimer, I work for a very large law firm as my day job, I am intimately familiar with lawsuits, thousands and thousands of them in my life. Had I pulled the gun apart and it been something not a turn of a screw would fix I wouldn't have done it. That's my whole point, just because you look at a rifle doesn't mean you have to fix some sketchy part, sometimes it does require a new part to be safe, but if you're just turning away people before you look at a job you'll never know.

 

[tangodown]

Well...
Those smiths may have declined for the same reasons I would.
1) General lack of familiarity with the MK V, FCS.
2) I will not fuck with sear geometry/trigger jobs, with rare exceptions. Light stoning, cratex to smooth it out- sure.
But it is just not worth the potential liability to me for the few bucks involved. In this case, it having been boogered up by someone that decided to learn on the customer's firearm- I would have only offered replacement rather than attempting to fix someone else's fuck-up.

That said, another smith up the road I know loves to do nothing more than trigger jobs on handguns. He has tons of experience with it- kind of his specialty- so he's comfortable with FCS mods.

Good point on the first part, I grew up with a bunch of Wbys around, they are my dads favorites, he loves those big barrel burner cartridges. So I have had a lot of years tinkering on them.

As mentioned in another reply, had it not been the turn of a screw that fixed it, story would have ended differently. I don't mess with other peoples Youtube led project mishaps, but the simple turn of a screw I'll do all day long.

 

[LRI]

Disclaimer, I work for a very large law firm as my day job, I am intimately familiar with lawsuits, thousands and thousands of them in my life. Had I pulled the gun apart and it been something not a turn of a screw would fix I wouldn't have done it. That's my whole point, just because you look at a rifle doesn't mean you have to fix some sketchy part, sometimes it does require a new part to be safe, but if you're just turning away people before you look at a job you'll never know.

Fair enough. There is another part to this on the business side of things. I have folks that kill a scope base screw in a receiver and they bring it to us for a fix. Often these guns might have a retail value of $250 at a box store. I may have a solid hour to repair and I quote the job accordingly. The punctuation that often follows is a series of snide remarks thrown my way because they won't spend $120 on a $250 gun.

Do this for any length of time and you become acclimated to that canned response. For a lot of shop owners, it's just as likely that they reached the point of diminishing returns where they just don't want the hassle, so they decline the work. Those who would assume they can't do it is kind of a bold statement without actually knowing. (not saying you specifically here, just responding to some of the comments by others)

There are products that I just refuse to work on as a policy yet I have the resources to basically do just about anything here. That's what I mean by "cause you can doesn't mean you should." The word "NO" can be profitable when used appropriately.

 

[iceng]

The punctuation that often follows is a series of snide remarks thrown my way because they won't spend $120 on a $250 gun.

I a fan of "that's a rip off. My cousin is a machinist and could do it for half that price". So I politely said for them to go talk it to his cousin.... Turns out he doesn't have the correct resources / time is an issue / lives in a different state, etc..

They almost always proceed with the quoted job. $120 is cheaper than $250.