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Gunsmithing does not pay much for the talent and effort required.
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It does, for a few that are well-positioned in their niche- and have the reputation for quality work and the efficiency to make $$ at it.
I had a potential customer email me about installing a PE mount on his Mosin-Nagant ex-sniper. It would require un-plugging the mount holes (three each side of the receiver), re-drilling and tapping them, indicating all the holes on the mill (not an easy task and I haven't even thought through the process of doing it on BOTH sides of the receiver)...
Then, taking an un-drilled mount, and transferring all six of the hole locations to the new mount (again, two sides, so double the set-up time again) to drill the mounting screw holes.
How in the world would one estimate time for a task like that when you've never done it before...and I know I'd give him a coronary with a quote. Sure as heck isn't a $20-$30 per hole scope mount d&t job.
So, as with a lot of work sometimes undertaken in this trade, it's done as a labor of love (meaning, bend over...), or just take a pass because I'm too busy to spend a good part of a day messing with it. Seems to be the case much of the time, that the labor hours involved in a task just don't equate to what the customer would equate to a reasonable "price point".
Kudos for keeping this nine-year old thread alive. Must be a record
