Certification for Gunsmith

SmithSolar · Dec 11, 2009

what is the cost of Certification for gunsmith
and do you need Certifications

Jake_2oo3 · Dec 11, 2009

it's not something you just buy. to get it and for it to mean anything to anyone thats in the biz you will need to go to college for two year. trinidad state in trinidad, CO or murry state in tishamingo, OK are the two i would recommend. as for the cost when i went to trinidad i think i spent 40 to 50k and that was 2003-2005

Jake

SmithSolar · Dec 12, 2009

After all that does pay good

MilGunsmith · Dec 12, 2009

Military

You can also join the military, USMC 2112 is a true gunsmith, USMC 2111 and US Army 45B are Small Arms Repairman. We have all military at work. The coraspondance or online courses we have looked at are just "paper mills" for the very basics. Nothing beats hands on experiance.

SmithSolar · Dec 12, 2009

Thank you for the info
But I am 55

bsstan · Dec 12, 2009

Are gunsmiths at Gander Mountain or other sporting good stores certifed. bsstan

Butch Lambert · Dec 12, 2009

You can go through the military and to trade schools, but there is no test for certification. Both are great ways to go and are a real good basis for a gunsmithing career.Butch

Jake_2oo3 · Dec 12, 2009

you wont get rich doing gunsmith work if that's what your asking.

gander mt dose most of there hiring threw the trade schools or used to at least.

ironworker · Dec 14, 2009

gunsmithing

There is no such thing as a gunsmith at Gander Mountain. They get whatever they can find for $6.50 an hour. I know several self trained gunsmiths. You have to have a good mechanical apptitude & the willingness to buy books, DVD's, & the right tools for the job. Nobody respects the time & effort to go to school to get certified.

SmithSolar · Dec 14, 2009

This is posting from south bend

I am waiting for day a college offers a c on being a Journeyman machinists
This takes at less 10 years on the job and what good will a Certificates do for this job.

I am adding this *** 20 years ago I hired certified welders they past a test a indepened company license by the state.

If you had some hand you a cert from a school it do not mean any thin just a scrap of paper. That is still to day

As a Journeyman machinists you had to prove your self in the shop again a cert from a school was just scrap of paper

But today the HR need the scrap to make there job easer and cover there but and the job shows this by the bad work by some how have cert.
Even you doctor needs time on the job to do a good job not just a schooling.

GeneT · Dec 14, 2009

Certification (such as it might be) is almost worthless. Your customers won't ask for it, it doesn't mean you do good work, and some of the best 'smiths around are self-taught. If it has any value at all it's that it *might* reduce your insurance costs - check w/ your agent.

GsT

msalm · Dec 14, 2009

You might want to look at what you want to do by way of gunsmithing. If it's general repairs work to include bluing of firearms, you can take one and two week summer courses through many of the gunsmithing trade schools. I went to MSC in OK for rifle rebarreling 8 years ago or so. Go on the NRA site and search gunsmith schools. You will be able to find lists of courses for each school that offers summer programs at a very reasonable rate, and go from there. Many times you can take 2-3 courses back-to-back for far less than attending the school full-time, and you will learn the specific tasks you are interested in. It's a great way to learn exactly what you want to know, and from some of the best in the business. On top of that, look for a local tech school that offers a machine shop program and attend basic machine shop to learn the use of the mill, lathe, surface grinders, etc.... That will help a great deal if you have no prior knowledge. I took evening classes for two semesters at my local tech, an then attended that rifle rebarreling class in OK. I think it was only $250 + lodging and food for the week.

bridgeport · Dec 18, 2009

Lassen college up in Susanville Ca.

ArmySGT. · Dec 19, 2009

I went here. Hated it.

Colorado School of Trades
1575 Hoyt Street
Lakewood, CO 80215
Phone: 800-234-4594
Email:

Lassen Community College
P.O. Box 3000
Susanville, CA 96130
Phone: 530-257-4211
Email:

Modern Gun School
80 North Main Street, P.O. Box 846
St. Albans, VT 05478
Phone: 800-493-4114
Email:

Montgomery Community College
1011 Page Street
P.O. Box 787
Troy, NC 27371
Phone: 800-839-6222
Email:

Murray State College
One Murray Campus
Tishomingo, OK 73460
Phone: 580-371-2371
Email:

Penn Foster Career School
ICS-Intext
925 Oak Street
Scranton, PA 18515
Phone:
Email:

Pennsylvania Gunsmith School
812 Ohio River Blvd.
Avalon
Pittsburgh, PA 15202
Phone: 412-766-1812
Email:

Piedmont Community College
1715 College Drive
P.O. Box 1197
Roxboro, NC 27573
Phone: 336-599-1181
Email:

Pine Technical Institute
900 4th Street
Pine City, MN 55063
Phone: 800-521-7463
Email:

Sonoran Desert Institute
10245 East Via Linda, Suite 102
Scottsdale, AZ 85258
Phone: 480-314-2102
Email:

I went here. Loved it.

Trinidad State Jr. College
600 Prospect
Trinidad, CO 81082
Phone: 800-621-8752
Email:

Yavapai College
1100 East Sheldon Street
Prescott, AZ 86301
Phone: 520-776-2150
Email:

mountain smith · Jan 15, 2010

I live in Idaho and I am 57 years old.. I moved to Lakewood CO. for 15 months and went to Co. School of trades.. I enjoyed the school with the exception of a couple of instructors.. I went head to head with 2 assholes who thought they were God...Other than that I did learn more than I knew before going.. The one thing that I hated most was living in the Communist occupied Denver metro area. I will never go back there, give me the Idaho mountains any day...

mtnsmith.............

SmithSolar · Jan 15, 2010

I have gone to collage but never trade school I am a union Journeyman machinist on the repair side. I have use book for all the trades School would teach. Most of instructor do not know the subject just what there book show them bad way to learn any thing. Mosey how has gone to the trade school think only way to go. I have found on the job I had to instructed them how to do the work. They even had a had time with 4J chucks and grinding tool bit. Certification how does come by a cert with the trade school. In weld a Certification was done by a test lab not the school. To become a union Journeyman machinist you have to prove you can do all the work of a union Journeyman machinist be for you get card. So where is the testing lab for gunsmith and other trades for a real cert.

Dave

Butch Lambert · Jan 15, 2010

Dave,It would help you if you used spellcheck. I have to read your posts a couple times to understand them.Butch

SmithSolar · Jan 15, 2010

jButch Lambet yes I do a lot of type O's and type to fast and for get to put word in but I am to fast

Dave

ArmySGT. · Jan 15, 2010

ironworker said:
There is no such thing as a gunsmith at Gander Mountain. They get whatever they can find for $6.50 an hour. I know several self trained gunsmiths. You have to have a good mechanical apptitude & the willingness to buy books, DVD's, & the right tools for the job. Nobody respects the time & effort to go to school to get certified.

Huh? The rep came right to the school (TSJC) every spring while I was there.

They offered $10.25 an hour plus benefits. Other places off $12 without. No one I know took their offer after spending $35,00o for an education. they keep coming back though.

Don't get into Gunsmithing if you think that will make you rich. Owning the shop, selling guns retail (and all else) plus having 3 or 4 smiths working for you (expect a two or three year turn around). You may be comfortable but, working 50+ hours a week.

GerryR · Jan 17, 2010

I got into gunsmithing so that I would have something I enjoy doing for "retirement." I got my FFL and decided to mainly concentrate on pistols and revolvers, working on the occasional rifle or shotgun for a friend or repeat customers. My background is automation engineering and machining, and I have had a lifetime interest in firearms, so 'smithing was, to me, a natural step.
I wouldn't invest a large sum of money into a "formal" gunsmithing education, especially at your (my) age, as I doubt you could ever recover the investment, which to me is outrageous for what you get. I would, however, take some of the armorer's courses offered by manufacturers for specific guns that you would like to work on, and specialize in those areas. You won't get rich, but it is another form of income and cash-flow, and I'm too old to worry about getting rich in any case.

Certification for Gunsmith

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