Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing How in the name of God does a gunsmith make any profit

I'll second Redneck's comment. A good knee mill beats the snot outta a mill/drill.

When I started looking at mills, years ago, I considered a mill/drill. After much advice (which for the most part I followed) I bought a Powermatic/Burke. Nice mill, about 80% the size of a Bridgeport Series I. Unfortunately, table travel was limited and were options for tilting the head. In the end I sent the Powermatic/Burke down the road for more than I paid for it, w/o any tooling. Enter the Bridgeport. Constant perusing of Craigslist netted a Series I, fairly local, for about what I sold the Powermatic/Burk for. I since added a DRO, and VFD.

Note: Used vertical mills, be it Bridgeports or their clones seem to cyclic in price - very up and down, and condition seems to mean nothing to the seller. I've seen Bridgeport Series I's sell for $1000. To months later a similar mill brought $2500.

As many have said above, it's mainly used now for supplemental income and/or a job for retirees.. Only way to make 'decent' money is (1) get specialized in a niche and/or (2) get big - really, really big.. Like, 3-6 employees in one shop.. (Think Ahlmans or Laib's, for example..)

I did a lot of general work for a few years before I decided to ditch the areas I didn't like and concentrate on those I enjoyed - hence the fact that I don't work on handguns and only a few shotguns that are heavily favored by the locals.. Other than that, the Model 70 is what I know and like to work on best..

I'll be 70 in ten days... I'll do this for another 4-5 years, then hang it up.. Whoever might need a good mill and lathe at that time, gimme a call...

Finding parts for obsolete guns can be a pain in the neck. Some customers show up the night before deer season and want an old firearm repaired and assume you have all of the parts just laying around in your shop. Sometimes finding original parts can take a very long time, and sometimes you never find them.

^^^^^^

My post in this thread may have come across as nasty.
But, this is what I meant.

That's why most 'smiths, after a few years, realize that those 'obsolete' guns are - many times - just not worth the time/trouble to fix.. Plus, then the customer is expecting a 50+ year-old gun should only cost $20-30 to get going again. About 10 years ago, I began to wean off those items from my services.. Those really never pay to even attempt to get running again (think Rem 742s and their ilk)..

That. I try to keep the most commonly required items on hand for firearms that are very often used in this area.. I don't charge extra for 'rush' jobs - customers appreciate that and it's why I continue to have these same people show up at my shop.

The only thing you can do is have the customer source the parts. Otherwise you get killed on hours.

What if the customer doesn't know what he needs? What if he has NO idea how to disassemble, fully, a (say) M742 or M100 in order to see (if he can) what is needed?

Nope - just refuse to even take 'em in.. First time I saw this actually, was in Rapid City at First Stop Gun & Pawn.. They had a sign behind the counter that basically said 'don't even THINK of asking us to work on..", then a fairly long list of about 20-25 firearms that they simply refuse to consider.. A great place, BTW..

I've never seen a customer that couldn't bring in a box of parts!

"Uh... well of course they are all there." LOL!

Gunsmith #1
Randy Ketchum died in 2013. He owned a gun store and did gunsmithing.
He always had a bible with him.
He built a C02 powered semi auto pistol that fired Aguila Colibri ammo.
He built a motorcycle supercharger from scratch.
He put a rifle barrel in my Tokarev pistol and it works.
He put a Marlin 444 barrel in my Ruger 44 carbine and it works.

I have interviewed a lot of engineers and have some idea of how much we pay for how smart a guy.
Randy was paying taxes on $30k/year.
Randy could have worked as an engineer and we would pay him 3X or 4X what he was making as a gunsmith.

Gunsmith #2
I am not giving his name.
He drives a Porsche.

Does he have a gun rack in the back windshield of that Porsche?

That wouldn't make him a bad guy!

Where I live the closest qualified smith is 90 miles away. All the rest have stopped. Big shops don't have a smith anymore (at least last time I checked) and Jack First in Rapid City is now parts only. The reason there are fewer and fewer shops is most people won't pay what it costs to get quality work done.

......and to put up with gov't bullchit....

Happy Birthday, Redneck!!

I've been fortunate in having some decent tooling at my disposal, but unfortunate in not having formal training to operate them. I can get by though, and don't mind taking a couple stabs at a project until I get it right- it's my time and I don't charge myself anything. I find lathe work to be the most satisfying and it comes easiest to me. I recently upgraded from an old Cincinnati mill and a prehistoric Sebastian lathe- a late model Acra mill and Hardinge tool room lathe now graces my shop, all analog no digital. A good used surface grinder is next on the list. Luckily a recently retired tool&diemaker buddy has agreed to spend time "learning me up some more".

I guess if I simply paid a machinist or tool&die man (notice I didn't say "gunsmith"- no cats of that breed live around here) to execute all my ideas I would be a lot farther ahead financially, but where's the fun in that?

If one consistently does timely and excellent work, the public will constantly be at the door.

1minute,

As a long-time custom gunsmith I know well once said. "It takes an awful lot of recoil-pad installations to pay the bills."

Which is one reason why there aren't many general-repair gunsmiths around anymore, and specialists tend to be the ones who survive--though very few make a better than average living.

hat

John...is the fact that not many general-repair gunsmiths around these days just a coincidence that these "throwaway" rifles, as many call them, are so prevalent today? Or is the question of liability also a cause? Or is strictly simple economics the full culprit in your opinion? Or a combination of factors?

Here is what I did....I bought my lathe first....then bought reamers as the jobs come...the first job for that reamer was just going to pay for the reamer..after 10 years I had a full stock...after about 3 years I had enough money to buy a bridgport and many other tools as needed...it was all financed out of pocket with my day job...never figured to make a living at it just love to do it...