Gunsmith
A gunsmith is a person who repairs, modifies, designs, or builds guns. The occupation differs from an armorer, who usually replaces only worn parts in standard firearms. Gunsmiths do modifications and changes to a firearm that may require a very high level of craftsmanship, requiring the skills of a top-level machinist, a very skilled woodworker, and even an engineer. Gunsmiths perform factory-level repairs and renovations to restore well-used or deteriorated firearms to new condition. They may make alterations to adapt sporting guns to better fit the individual shooter that may require extensive modifications to the firearm's stocks and metal parts. Repairs and redesigns may require fabrication and fitting of unavailable parts and assemblies constructed by smiths themselves. Gunsmiths may also renew metal finishes or apply decorative carvings or engravings to guns. Many gun shops offer gunsmithing services on the premises.
Overview
Gunsmiths may be employed in armories by military or law-enforcement agencies, sporting goods stores, or small gunsmith shops, as either the owner, or as one of several of employees.To pursue the entirety of this trade, a gunsmith must possess skills as a parts fabricator, a metalworker or blacksmith, a woodworker and an artisan; be knowledgeable in shop mathematics, ballistics, chemistry, and materials engineering; be knowledgeable in the use and application of a variety of hand, power, and machinists tools and measuring devices. Those who are employed in small gunsmith shops must also possess skills as small business operators; work effectively with a wide variety of customers; and remain abreast of, and comply with federal, state, and local laws, ordinances, and requirements.
Due to the great breadth of subject matter to be mastered, many gunsmiths specialize in only a few of the skills required of the general gunsmith. Alternatively, some gunsmiths learn many of the skills of the trade but only apply them to a few weapon types.
Responsibilities
The primary responsibility of a gunsmith is to ensure that guns work and function safely. Gunsmiths accomplish this by always properly observing and demonstrating gun safety in their handling procedures, both in their own actions and the actions of their customers and the people around them.They accomplish that task secondly by inspecting guns to ensure safe mechanical operation. Gunsmiths use their in-depth knowledge of firearms and manufacturer's gun schematics to guide inspections: repairing deficiencies, notifying customers of unsafe conditions, or preventing catastrophic failures.
Some of the conditions a gunsmith looks for when inspecting a firearm brought to them for repairs are improper assembly, missing parts, cracks, bore obstruction, improper headspace, improper timing, safety malfunctions, worn sear edges, and deformed firing pin tips, among other problems.
*Gun schematics, also referred to as firearm schematics, are technical diagrams that display a firearm's internal workings and parts. These schematics usually feature detailed illustrations of significant components like the barrel, receiver, trigger assembly, and magazine. They are often used by gun enthusiasts, manufacturers, and gunsmiths to diagnose and fix problems that may arise with the firearm.
Common tasks
- Disassemble, clean, inspect, lubricate and reassemble.
- Remove corrosion and touch-up finish.
- Repair burred or damaged parts with files and stones.
- Replace defective parts with factory-made replacements, hand-fitting as necessary.
- Add after-market customizations:
- * sling-swivels
- * recoil-pads
- * iron-sights
- * scopes
- * grip caps
- * butt plates
- Repair and re-finish wooden stock parts.
- Checker or re-checker grip areas.
- Deepen or clean up worn or damaged engravings and markings.
- Re-crown damaged muzzles on a lathe.
- Repair dented shotgun barrels.
- Install or repair rib on shotgun barrels, or repair double-barrel assemblies.
- Measure and correct head-space dimensions.
- Check for excessive bore erosion.
- Troubleshoot and repair feeding, ejecting and firing problems.
- Test-fire guns with conventional loads to ensure proper operation.
- Fabricate wooden stocks to customer specifications and body dimensions. Fit same to existing receiver and barrel.
- Glass-bed actions to stocks to improve accuracy.
- Remove existing metal finish, and re-blue metal parts.
- Fabricate replacement parts from metal stock.
- Modify trigger-pull weight through careful stoning of trigger mechanism parts.
- Fire proof-loads through weapons to ensure sufficient strength of parts under over-load conditions.
- Replace worn barrels which have fired so many rounds that they are no longer of the specified caliber.
- Change caliber or cartridge of existing rifle, by changing barrel, and modifying receiver.
- Re-cut rifling and change caliber of existing barrel.
- Design and build complete rifles by fitting stock barrels to stock receivers; fabricating or purchasing additional parts as needed, and fitting same to rifle. Fitting custom stock to the same.
- Design and build a complete rifle, shotgun, or combination gun from start to finish.
A good example of a firearm type requiring the skills of a master gunsmith is a combination gun. These are highly complex hand-made long guns with several joined barrels. These are firearms that combine both rifle and shotgun barrels sharing a common breech and buttstock. Since these are completely hand-crafted by master gunsmiths, these can be made in almost any combination of rifle calibers and shotgun gauges. The most popular arrangement is a side-by-side shotgun with a high-power rifle barrel underneath with various firing mechanisms housed in a common breech.
Another firearm type demanding the highest skill levels is the completely custom-made side-by-side or over-and-under double barrel shotgun. These "doubles" are referred to in the British gunmaking trade as "bespoke" firearms and are referred to as "best guns". Their starting prices are commonly in the $150,000.00 range, with customer-specified changes adding to the cost. Close examination of any examples of these rarified firearms by one knowlegable in this field will show why these firearms are priced in this range. It is some of the highest level of wood gunstock blank selection, shaping, and fitting combined with flawless metal crafting. These firearms are commonly also hand engraved to a level of artistic design, layout, and execution that rivals the finest printing plates used in currency printing. These firearms overall are time intensive in their execution and demand the highest quality workmanship as the customers purchasing these arms are invariably highly knowledgeable and communicate within their select group. Less than the finest work will become quickly known and this customer base will abandon any future business with that gunmaker.
The highest level of custom-made firearms usually start out as several pieces of blank steel stock or rough forged parts, a slab of walnut; steel tubes with rifled or smooth holes drilled their length. Many smaller detail parts are fabricated in-house and are fitted by the maker. The highly skilled gunsmiths that craft these masterpieces commonly use nothing more than an occasional lathe or milling machine for roughing the parts to their final fitting stages plus a heat treating furnace for making springs, hardening parts to the proper hardness, and color case hardening. But the majority of roughing, fitting, and finishing is done completely by hand using files, scrapers, abrasive paper and cloth, woodcarving chisels and rasps.