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

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...


I agree ...they think it like fixing there truck...and parts come from Napa...that's why I avoid general repair work...And shotguns..it actually eats up more time looking for parts than the actual fix...I'll fix stuff only for good customers as a favor that understand...

I have talked to a couple of gunsmiths that told me they make more money mounting scopes and cleaning guns than repairing them. Some people amaze me the way they assume that there is a warehouse down the street that has an unlimited amount of spare parts for Arisakas, Enfields, etc.

The biggest money maker for me when I was doing general gunsmithing was drilling/tapping shotguns and mounting scopes on them. Takes about 10-15 minutes to drill and tap 4 holes and I got 10.00 per hole back then. That was in a shotgun zone for deer back in the days before rifled and cantilevered slug barrels. Also made quite a bit cutting down bird barrels and mounting rifle sights on them.

I always thought it would be fun to be a farmer.
How do I get started?

Buy a thousand acres (at $7,000.00+/acre), then you'll need 2-3 million dollars for basic equipment, and only another $350,000.00 or so for seed/fertilizer/weed control.....

Then pray you get some decent weather... Piece of cake..

Ok I've narrowed it down to either a rock star, or a motocross racer.
Then after I retire I will open up a gunsmithing shop.
I will specialize in general repair and charge $125.00 per hr.

Having a "hobby" "gunsmith" working on your rifles is akin to having your dentist do your knee replacement!

Lemme tell ya a story about a customer of mine about ten years ago. Called me up to ask if I could put iron sights on his rifle (can't recall the model).. He brought it in and I told him it'd be ready by tomorrow.. He said he brought it to Gander Mountain (at the time) and they were going to do it there. He asked how they would install them. GM "gunsmith" said, "we just 'eye-ball' them"..

He grabbed the rifle and left... I just LMAO when he told me that..

I got a kick out of customers who would buy a scope and new rifle from one of the big department stores and then ask us to mount it for them.

Hey what's 45 or 50 thousand psi, six inches away from your grey matter?

I have a couple of lathes and a mill all dro, a small surface grinder and everything to build a rifle from scratch....including a stock duplicator.

I make my living as a hydromechanic. It pays better and more consistent than guns. I have a pile of money wrapped up in this stuff and my "plan" is to be able to retire and make a supplemental income.