I have thrown around the thought of attending PGS and becoming a 'certified' gunsmith.

 

But I really don't know if that is a wise career path to choose. Does anyone have any personal experience with Pennsylvania Gunsmith School?

 

 

Any thoughts on the subject of choosing gunsmithing as a career? I am very mechanically inclined and love firearms...but I fear there may not be many jobs in this field and that the pay isn't all that great.

There are many considerations. It sounds cool but most gunsmiths don't make much. I queried one website and it gave a starting salarry of about 30k a year and a top salary of 64k in NJ. That's one of the top gunsmith salaries in the country. Think moving to a gun friendly state will help? Top salary for a gunsmith in MT is only 30k. Those top salaries are after doing it 30 or 40 years. Being happy what you're doing is important but so is feeding the familiy. There are a lot of jobs that pay the same or more with a lot less schooling and skills.

 

You will probably start out working for someone else for two reasons. First you don't have the experience even with a school to know how to handle a job. Secondly the cash outlay for opening your own shop is substantial. Just the standard macine shop setup is going to cost you is substantial. If you want to make your own receivers that setup is going to cost several hundred thousand dollars. Many of the tools you will need may only be used once like if someone wants a barrel rechambered for some oddball caliber you can go out and buy the tooling needed (which you won't recoup the cost from a single job) or tell the guy to go somewhere else. Do the latter and word will get around you really don't do it all.

 

I would hazard a guess the top gunsmiths have there own shops. You really have to be a good businessman in addition to being a gunsmith. The business sense is maybe more important than your gunsmithing skills.

 

These are just a few considerations and if its for you, go for it.

I have also been thinking about going for training to become a smith. However, the way the industry is going and even though its booming right now I am not sure about the near future if Obama eliminated guns through the assult weapons ban or through a UN Arms Trade Treaty. I am a Graphic Designer but I have found after getting out of college that its extremly hard to find a job in NJ as a designer. I have been working freelance doing graphic design and it for about four years now but its extrmemly hard to know what career to choose. Heck even a few years people were saying you cannot go wrong with the medical field but many people I know even in this field are struggling to find work. It not an easy choice and I would hate to get into more dept over something that simply would not pan out! Also I am not sure about the PA school but the one in NC has over a two year waiting list. I hope you find a good career!

There are specialty Smiths that do quite well. 1911s, 1903s, ARs,, Garands, etc. Once you develop a name for yourself with a specialty, You will bring in some cash. Some one man shops have a 10 year backlog.

One more thing to think about, for many of us guns are a Hobie, some a full time Hobie but still a Hobie. Make it into a job and you might not like it as much.

 

Just saying.

 

I have known a lot of people over the years that tried to turn their Hobie into their main job, and most of them lost the passion for the Hobie and turned their fun time into a 9-5 gig that they didn't like.

One more thing to think about, for many of us guns are a Hobie, some a full time Hobie but still a Hobie. Make it into a job and you might not like it as much.

 

Just saying.

 

I have known a lot of people over the years that tried to turn their Hobie into their main job, and most of them lost the passion for the Hobie and turned their fun time into a 9-5 gig that they didn't like.

 

Good points here. I never knew anyone with their own business that did 40 hour work weeks. 60-70 hrs more the norm. Sometimes more. That time is spent dealing with customers, taking care of business matters, and oh yeah you will do gunsmithing. You'll also need night and weekend hours as that's when most people can bring their guns.

 

You can become very successful but it won't be easy.

The Pittsburgh school is has a 2-3yr waiting list.

SImplest math I can come up with is this. When you are done, how long will it take you to turn a box of parts into a very nice gun? From the gunsmiths I have talked to and dealt with, the margin between the box of parts and the completed gun is $1000-2000 (that's 1911/2011 pistols and bolt action rifles mostly. AR-15 clones and polymer guns are much less). Out of that comes all pay, tools, tooling, utilities, rent, taxes, licensing, etc.

 

 

The reason why you don't see higher incomes is that throughput limits profitability. Although I have seen different ways to get there, the fastest I have seen works out to about 2 guns a week with reasonable attention paid to the business side of things, and that is for a smith who is a good machinist, has lots of experience, and makes use of email and fast shipping to schedule people efficiently. 1.5 is probably closer to the average for someone doing it well on both the smithing ans business sides of the equation and keeping wait lists to a reasonable length. That's actual building BTW, not time spent waiting in line for your turn to get work done. To get that higher means you need to hire staff... and pay them.

 

There are some good quality, not so famous smiths probably making 40-50k a year in a part of the country where that goes a hell of a lot farther than here, and with their work and their hobby overlapping, it makes for a decent living, but is a lot of work and you aren't starting out there, and who pays you to get good at it?