Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Where would someone go to learn gunsmithing?

I would agree with those who tell you to learn lathe and mill work first. I am a journeyman tool and die maker. I can't tell you how many times I've bailed out gunsmiths who only learned their machining the "monkey see, monkey do" way in gunsmithing school and didn't know what to do when things went wrong or they made a mistake. Also when they took on jobs that demanded machining skills and knowledge beyond their learning.

With regard to learning the business aspects of it, yes. A "hobby" that makes a profit is a business. A "business" that doesn't make a profit is a failure. There are a lot of places to learn how to run a small business and how to make a viable business plan. Find one.

Or instead of going into the most difficult and expensive aspect of it. You could buy a bluing tank and set up. Jewel and rejewel bolts. Learn how to do trigger work. Heck, people will drop off guns just to be cleaned. Charge $30 per cleaning. These little jobs help pay for the next step

90 percent of our everyday gunsmithing does not involve a lathe or mill. A small hammer, good punches, smooth jawed vise, an assortment of files and stones is what pays the bills. Never finance anything. Nothing will kill your business faster than a loan on top of your regular overhead. When you start machining of any kind now requires an ITAR annual registration fee of $2250 in addition to your 01 FFL Gunsmith/dealer license. Plan on going full time or just doing it for yourself. Pretty hard to justify the operational overhead for a part time hobby unless you like working for free. You must show a profit in a few years or the IRS can declare you a hobby and retro every expense since you started as taxable. Making a profit is also an ATF requirement for licensing. Make sure your zoning and neighbors approve as it only takes one complaint to get you shut down by the city or county.

After almost 9 years full time I rarely go shooting for fun. Last thing I want to do in my spare time is talk about or play with guns. I'd rather play with my and my friends race cars.

Stock making also.

You may be interested in building rifles but people who can afford to buy them usually want it built by somebody with a reputation. It takes time to build that. You will end up putting on recoil pads and mounting scopes.
You will have to deal with people. Some are a pleasure, others may be a challenge.
See if you can visit a local gunsmith after hunting season is over and see how he keeps busy.

Learn how to program a CNC lathe or milling center.
You can make more money. It will be in a nice air conditioned shop. You might want to start by taking machining classes at a local community college.
Once you learn machining then be a gunsmith.
Welding is handy to know.