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Well, having tried almost exactly what you're describing, I would say go to work and make a living with the CJ degree, because most gunsmiths don't hardly make a living. Besides, if you like working with guns, the hobby quickly becomes just another job. Best reasons I can think of not to be a gunsmith:
1. You don't get to go hunting because you're fixing everybody else's hunting guns.
2. You don't get to go to matches and have fun because eveybody is after you to fix their guns for free.
3. You can't afford to buy ammo for your guns because gunsmiths are always broke.
4. You work evenings and weekends because that's when your customers can get time from their jobs to buy your stuff.
5. You work for less than minimum wage to fix somebody's Grandpa's gun, and when they come to pick it up they moan about how much you're asking for your time.
6. You know a lot of people, but have no friends because you can never afford to go do things with them.
7. If you do build a rifle that is one-hole accurate, you end up selling it to pay for the parts you had to buy to build it.
I could keep going, but you get the idea. Being a gunsmith was fun for the first few years until my partner decided he needed a job to pay for working at the gunshop. So remember: home, work, play, in that order. If you try to change the order you can't afford one of the others, usually play or home.
On the other hand, if you do want to learn gunsmithing, several trade schools around the country teach gunsmithing. You could go to school, buy a small lathe and mill, invest in the tools, and turn out really nice rifles for the rest of your life as a hobby.
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