Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Colorado is home to the nation's oldest and largest gunsmith program

I wish that the link would show you the entire article because it is good.

Only a few miles South of Trinidad over Raton pass is the NRA Whittington Center and ranges.
If you are in the area it is great to visit both.



Gunsmithing a popular major at Trinidad State Junior College

By PABLO CARLOS MORA | ​pmorachieftain.com The Pueblo Chieftain

TRINIDAD � Students and faculty agree the gunsmithing program at Trinidad State Junior College is right on target.

�This is the finest program in the country,� said Dave Nolan, a professor of gunsmithing who leads the school's current crop of 55 gunsmithing students, including five women.

Gary Yee, 53, a second-semester student, said he moved from San Francisco to the Apishapa Valley near Aguilar to enroll in the two-year program.

�You learn in easy, progressive steps how to �sport-erize� or convert a military weapon, in this case a Mauser 98, into a gun for use in sport or hunting,� Yee said.

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Program oldest, largest in U.S.
By PABLO CARLOS MORA | ​pmorachieftain.com The Pueblo Chieftain

The gunsmithing program at Trinidad State Junior College began in response to the many World War II veterans in Trinidad who stopped by a gunsmithing shop owned by Parker Otto Ackley.

�There were so many veterans in his shop asking to get work done he set up a program at TSJC," gunsmithing instructor Dave Nolan said.

"The first class was held in 1947, making it the first gunsmithing program in the U.S."

The program gradually grew into the largest in the country, Nolan said.

Today, there are 55 students enrolled.

The students come from across the country and across Colorado.

Corey Hamsmith, 25, a student from Parker, talked about how he and his classmates view today's advances in gunsmithing, including the use of fiberglass.

�Wood is old school,� Hamsmith said, as he worked with a fiberglass stock. �A fiberglass stock is a different technology. As a man-made product, it doesn�t change with the weather."

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I am pretty sure one of my best friend's Father went through that Gunsmith school after he got of the Navy in the late 40's.

He is retired now, but some of the work he has done is just gorgeous.

By the way, the heeler in your avatar is one handsome animal.

As I know it. The Gunsmithing program at Lassen Junior College was started at Susanville, California 1n the fall of 1945. It is now known as Lassen Community College with a two year program. Starting each fall with twenty students and a sixty plus student waiting list. If someone is a resident or a Californis High school graduate, the tuition is probably the lowest in the nation.
I will check on monday for verification.