gunsmithing as a hobby?

[AZ Mark]

I have thought of trying working on guns to pass some time and find out if I want to do it as a serious hobby. I thought I might try to buy a gun that doesn't work right or has been abused and working on it. What advice can you give me as to what type of firearm is good to learn on and might be available cheap?


Mark

[10-96]

I'm not licensed as anything but a dept armorer, but I believe I can give you some considerations.

http://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-to...prod45568.aspx - These are out there for several different categories. They are a fantastic resource- and make a pretty good bathroom reader. My suggestion is to get one or two and compare what's available to what you think is in your realm of tools and abilities. In the book you can kind of tell what is new and old, what is completely simple, and which ones might require an MIT grad to diagnose.

For simplicity, something like a Marlin 60 or an old Steven 87 might be a good place to start. I don't know your familiarity or background- so just for safety sake- I kinda hate to see a guy new to the hobby get into something that squirts out a high pressure ctg. Lots more can go wrong and injur a feller with large centerfires.

Those books are great because there is always a section in the front that discusses basic handtools, and the making of special tools.

[Clark]

25 years ago I would go to pawn shops at lunch and dicker them down on broken 22 rifles. I would buy spare parts from Numrich gunparts corp
http://www.gunpartscorp.com/
I would fix the rifles and sell them at other pawn shops that sold on consignment.
I was earning 1% of the $ of my normal hourly rate repairing broken 22 rifles.
After a dozen or two of these, I was not a well rounded gunsmith, but I was getting better at fixing broken 22 rifles.
The hardware stores sell tools for fixing houses, but not for fixing guns.
I got the gun fixing tools from Brownells and Enco.

~ 8 years ago I brought home some 19" equipment rack plates from work. After dinner I put DYKEM on them, scribed lines with the stylus on the height gauge on the granite surface plate, and put the metal on the mill, and cut the big connector holes with a fly cutter.
I charged my engineering rate for that work.
In a few days my gunsmithing machine shop paid for itself.

My wife is an engineer and sometimes I make fixtures for her with my gunsmithing tools.

I have a neighbor that sometimes needs a part made for weight lifting.
I have another neighbor that needs a lot of machining to build an R2D2 robot.

What does it all mean?
Gunsmithing does not pay hardly anything, but it is fun, and the skills and tools will help with lots of other stuff.

[g.willikers]

Start with this:
http://www.egunsmithingschools.com/w...rpersferry.jpg

Then this:
http://www.cnccookbook.com/img/Works...dgitMaster.JPG

[Goatwhiskers]

There's a fine line between doing it as a hobby or as a business. When you start making money from it the ATFE wants you to have a FFL which entails getting the appropriate business license and whatever other paperwork your locality requires. Basically, if you keep it overnite you're supposed to have a FFL. Where the line is only the ATF knows for sure. GW

[Bill DeShivs]

Working on your own guns requires no kind of licensing.
Working on other people's guns does if you keep the frames overnight-as already stated.

[James K]

Buying guns, fixing them up, and re-selling them (even on consignment) would probably be considered by BATFE as engaging in business as a dealer and require an FFL.

Jim

[AZ Mark]

I had thought of putting an ad out locally asking for anything abused, broken, or neglected that I could get for cheap and see what surfaced. I assumed that a .22 bolt action would be ideal. Why the recommendation for a semi-auto? Is a bolt action actually more complicated? It doesn't seem like it would be.

[AZ Mark]

Oh, yeah. What about handguns? I would think a semi-auto handgun would be pretty similar to its long barrel counterpart. Is that true?

It sounds like fun to poke around in pawn shops.

[10-96]

Why the recommendation for a semi-auto?

Because bolt action .22's are usually so simple and void of lots of little pieces and parts that it's quite seldom that they are found with much of anything wrong with them. More often than not, if a run-a-foul bolt action is found- it's likely to be something major missing from something that hasn't been made for 100 years. With a semi-auto, you can have all sorts of possibilities such as incorrect assembly, a worn/broken spring you can fashion from a similar spring or wirestock, a disintegrated buffer, lost lifter pins, c-clips, damaged safeties, etc.

Another idea that might appeal to you while you wait for broken firearms to start showing up is to keep an eye out for inexpensive stocks to refinish. THOSE- you can sell all you want. Chances are pretty fair that someone would like a spiffied up new stock for something if they see it roaming around a gunshow.

About the pistols being a lot like rifles- probably not nearly as much as you might think. Those books I posted a link to- take another look into getting those. They will answer a ton of questions in a much better way than I can imagine the line of thought you have when the idea forms.

[James K]

A pretty lucrative field and one in constant demand is stock repair/restoration. Think of all those cut down Mausers and Springfields that folks now want restored. You wouldn't need any FFL, and you could obtain a couple of guns to use for fitting, or have the owner bring the gun only for final fitting to the stock.

Jim

[Hunter Customs]

gunsmithing as a hobby?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I have thought of trying working on guns to pass some time and find out if I want to do it as a serious hobby. I thought I might try to buy a gun that doesn't work right or has been abused and working on it. What advice can you give me as to what type of firearm is good to learn on and might be available cheap?


Mark

Mark, it's to bad you don't live closer as I have a gun that would make you a great project gun.

I have a Winchester model 11 shotgun that needs new wood, I have the new wood.

Disassembling this old gun and fitting along with finishing the new wood would give you some good experience.

I wish you the best in your endeavors.

Best Regards
Bob Hunter
www.huntercustoms.com

[4V50 Gary]

Suggest you enroll in those NRA Summer gunsmithing classes.

ETA: g. willikers - I want the former, all water powered. No worry about electricity bills. My classmate may do that one day. He's got a river in his backyard so he might set up a water wheel.

[SIGSHR]

Depends on how you define "hobbyist" and "gunsmith"-as opposed to "johnsmith". In past threads we have discussed changing barrels on revolvers, the old "frame in a vise and hammer handle through the frame" is a quick and easy way to ruin the frame, a proper vise costs about $150-how long will it take you to recoup your investment ? Then the forcing cone has to be properly trued up, perhaps cut, etc.
Yes, starting out on 22 rifles is a good way to start, older 22 autos-the Savage/Stevens Model 87s have a rather complicated design, in years gone by being able to successfully disassemble then reassemble the Colt M1877 double action was consider the mark of a real gunsmith.

[4V50 Gary]

Heck! I'm still having trouble getting a Colt 1877 working. May have to make another spring (original broke and I already made a replacement once).