Where have all the Gun-Smiths Gone? - Page 2

Rangefinder · August 15, 2005, 03:44 AM

I'd really like to know the answer to that myself... Recient situation---a friend of mine has a Magnum Research SSP "Lone Eagle" in .22-250... Last fall the firing pin broke. Well, being the local gun-know-it-all, he asked me to see what could be done to fix it. After a week of trying everything I could think of--phone calls (to Magnum Research themselves mind you), internet searches, aftermarket dealers, etc., anything and everything I could think of to find a new firing pin, I finally ended up just saying to hell with it and spun out a new pin on a make-shift lathe in my livingroom. Now, I'm not condoning such behavior, I DO know what I'm doing with metals, etc, just don't have a full shop available. So the finished replacement was within less than 1/1000" of the original on all dimensions except for the finger length (the part that broke off) which I dialed down easily enough. now the weapon has fired clean for several hundred shots and all is well. The point is that I think the actual trade of gunsmithing is being outdated by the mass-produced weapons we're seeing more often and the actual art behind the weapon itself is lost to the masses. Those with both the knowledge and the interest that can benifit the art are fewer and farther between.

Motorbike · September 7, 2005, 10:21 PM

Same place the machinist went. I know, Ive been a machinist/toolmaker for 40 years. I used to do a good amount of gun work, even though I would not call myself a gunsmith, until I became sick and tired of all the "experts" walking through the door and asking me to do something dangerous or illegal. Our society is indeed sick. College boys get an education in booze and skirt chasing, get a degree in animal husbandry, then go to a big company and get hired as the supervisor of a machine shop where they give orders to men who have been "doing it" for longer than the little geek has been on the earth! And you wonder why the truly gifted craftsmen of America have gone undercover? I work out of my garage with nothing but rudimentary machinery and make a decent living without the horse-hockey I used to put up with. Rant over.

August 15, 2005, 03:44 AM	#26
Rangefinder Senior Member Join Date: August 4, 2005 Posts: 2,017	I'd really like to know the answer to that myself... Recient situation---a friend of mine has a Magnum Research SSP "Lone Eagle" in .22-250... Last fall the firing pin broke. Well, being the local gun-know-it-all, he asked me to see what could be done to fix it. After a week of trying everything I could think of--phone calls (to Magnum Research themselves mind you), internet searches, aftermarket dealers, etc., anything and everything I could think of to find a new firing pin, I finally ended up just saying to hell with it and spun out a new pin on a make-shift lathe in my livingroom. Now, I'm not condoning such behavior, I DO know what I'm doing with metals, etc, just don't have a full shop available. So the finished replacement was within less than 1/1000" of the original on all dimensions except for the finger length (the part that broke off) which I dialed down easily enough. now the weapon has fired clean for several hundred shots and all is well. The point is that I think the actual trade of gunsmithing is being outdated by the mass-produced weapons we're seeing more often and the actual art behind the weapon itself is lost to the masses. Those with both the knowledge and the interest that can benifit the art are fewer and farther between. __________________ "Why is is called Common Sense when it seems so few actually possess it?" Guns only have two enemies: Rust and Politicians.

September 7, 2005, 10:21 PM	#27
Motorbike Junior Member Join Date: September 7, 2005 Posts: 8	They went the way of the dinosaur. Same place the machinist went. I know, Ive been a machinist/toolmaker for 40 years. I used to do a good amount of gun work, even though I would not call myself a gunsmith, until I became sick and tired of all the "experts" walking through the door and asking me to do something dangerous or illegal. Our society is indeed sick. College boys get an education in booze and skirt chasing, get a degree in animal husbandry, then go to a big company and get hired as the supervisor of a machine shop where they give orders to men who have been "doing it" for longer than the little geek has been on the earth! And you wonder why the truly gifted craftsmen of America have gone undercover? I work out of my garage with nothing but rudimentary machinery and make a decent living without the horse-hockey I used to put up with. Rant over.