gunsmithing courses

[dev]

I have been wondering about which place offers a decent gunsmithing course. While the US and UK seem obvious, does anyone have infro on such courses in Oz.

Regards,

Dev

[mehulkamdar]

Dev,

As far as I know, several of Australia's and New Zealand's gunsmiths advertise that they graduated from the US - the top gunsmithing school here is at Trinidad State in Colorado. It is a difficult course to get into and the course itself is tough though it has been very rewarding for virtually everyone I know who has graduated from there. There are also gunsmiths from Europe who have been coming here in recent years and who advertise their Trinidad State Associate degrees in Art or Science as the case may be (Science for gunsmithing and Art for engraving) on their business cards.

If you are looking at bolt action gunsmithing in particular, then the USA would be the best place to come to. The world's finest custom bolt action rifles are made here these days. If you would like to look at traditional guns - SxSs, U/Os etc then the only course that I am aware of is at Ferlach in Austria, though that is conducted in the German language. British gunmakers have a system of apprenticeship and not a formal course like the US and Austria offer. France used to offer a course in gunmaking at one of the leading universities there (cannot remember which one at the moment) under the notable Belgian gunmaker Marcel Thys but Thys has long retired and I have never heard of anything recent related to gunmaking courses there.

Not quite information on Australian courses but if you are keen on Australia alone, the best place to ask would be the Nitro Express Forums. Membership is free there and the group is a very friendly and nice one - several of us are members there.

Cheers,

Mehul

[Mark]

If this is for a casual interest, there are a couple places that market home gunsmithing courses on videotape (well I guess they are DVD's now). One such place is AGI - http://www.americangunsmith.com/

I don't know much about any of these places. Onl;y thing I know about AGI is that they had a booth next to the one I was in at a large shooting sports exhibition. They had hired a girl from a modelling agency to help sell their videos but the poor girl could care less about gunsmithing and spent most of her time talking to the single guys in our booth.

Also, there are some fine books on gunsmithing out there and most of them were written in the 30's-70's era so hit up the used book sellers. New books, a man named Jerry Kuhnhausen has written an incredible series of books that are type-specific (45 automatic, mauser rifles, remington 870 etc) If you have a gun that he has written a book about I'd say without hesitation to order one.

I'll post a question on the OZ forum and let you know what the replies are.

[Mark]

Here is a reply straight from the kangaroos mouth:

There are no gunsmithing schools in Oz. Some of our gunsmiths have done their training in Europe or the USA, others are simply machinists who are also shooters and have taught themselves the trade of gunsmithing and then there are others who are just self-taught.

Accordingly, the quality of work varies considerably and there are some so-called gunsmiths who should be run out of town (or linched) while others could go toe-to-toe with any gunsmith on the planet.

[dev]

Thanks Mehul and Mark, I am at the moment unsure of how strong my intent really is. I have hit a certain plateau in my career as a advertising creative director and am wondering where I can find my mojo again.

I was thinking of Oz because of family and the possibility of a loan. While generally surfing the net I had come across an account about how they had done away with gunsmithing courses.

I have also experienced the joys of buying a scope from one of those gshops who should be lynched. They showed me the stainless steel version of the Bushman Sportsman scope with the AO dials and all and when I asked for the black version they sold it to me at the price of the stainless steel one. I realised the skull duggery only several days later.

Anyway thaks so much for your detailed posts I am ever grateful for your support.

Thanks Dev

[monty3006]

Dev,
Colarado school of Trades offers the best course that is recognised the world over. Traditional british system speaks of seven yrs of training as an app. under a trained gunsmith. I was veering down this path a few yrs ago but then realised that in India at least this would lead to a hand to mouth existance.
Monish.

[mehulkamdar]

Dev,

The Trinidad State course is supported by the NRA and it has produced the best gunsmiths in the US. It is a two year course and if you plan on working outside India for the rest of your life, it would be a fantastic experience. Trinidad State has also trained gunsmiths in Europe like Bent Fossdal in Norway. Also do a web search for D F Maisey in New Zealand - another Trinidad State graduate. This is a fantastic course and you would do very well.

These days the US also has double gun craftsmen and in the future Trinidad State will have more courses in this area as well. If you would like a future career as a gunsmith, this is the right place to come to for an education. Move wherever you want after that.

Cheers,

Mehul

[dev]

Thanks Monty I thought that it would lead to a foot to mouth existense also in India. But if you make it like Rajeev Sharma and all then its not so bad.

Mehul,

Thanks for all the inputs I will do a search on the course and try to figure out what it costs. I like the plan of working anywhere else in the world. You have like a good guru pointed the way ahead.
Thanks once again.

Regards,

Dev

[mehulkamdar]

Dev,

Very slowly but surely non-Western people are entering the business of gunmaking and embellishment and doing very well. Purdey use the services of the Egyptian born engraver Rashid El Hadi quite extensively and in the US the father and son team of Harbans Singh and Raj Singh make what are undoubtedly the finest pistol grips in the world through their company Eagle Grips. In Tanzania you have the Brar brothers, Harpreet and Mohanjeet who run a huge hunting operation at Rungwa.

I found the link to Trinidad State's four semester gunsmithing course and this is the full thing. They also have short term single semester courses which are OK for armourers and not full fledged gunsmiths. There are other institutions like Lassen COmmunity College etc but the Trinidad State program is considered the best and it has produced the finest gunsmiths in the US.

In any case, if you like guns and would like to work with them, then the world is open - few countries are as distrustful of Indians as the Indian establishment itself is. If you ask Deepak or Inder they would tell you about the very positive experiences that they had interacting with other shooters and about the shooter and gun owner friendly laws outside India. Some countries are better than others but few are as hard on legal gun ownership as India is. These days with dual citizenship and other options, you do not have to worry about cutting off all connections with India as well. You would find many places to use your gunsmithing education in if you decide to choose this route.

Good luck!

Mehul

[Mack The Knife]

There's nothing to beat hands on training but I wonder if one could buy the text books for the entire course. Just a thought...probably a very expensive one.

Any idea what the fees are for this course?

Mack The Knife

[mehulkamdar]

Mack The Knife,

I would think that the cost of doing a course like this one would be approximately $ 12,000 to 15000 a year all inclusive. It is a two year course. As fara s the books are concerned, MArk's suggestion of AGI may be useful.

In any case for someone who does not want to become a full time professional gunsmith, Trinidad State offers short term courses every summer that teach basic gunsmithing. A number of police armourers etc take the basic course - it should be enough for someone who wants to do this thing part time instead of professionally.

Mehul

[Mark]

The Brownells catalog has a bit on gunsmithing schools in it, look towards the back I think, too lazy right now, and they are also listed on their website:

http://www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/Compan ... px?catid=8

[mehulkamdar]

Mack The Knife,

A book on the very subject by one of the finest bolt action gunsmiths in the world. I have met Mark Stratton and seen his incredible rifles. He is, like all master craftsmen, a very humble and friendly man. If you want a very good book on the subject, get his work off his website and tell him that I said Hi.

Cheers,

Mehul

[Mack The Knife]

Thanks, Mehul. Some interesting information and links here.

Mark's book would be far too advanced for me. I would like something that gives a general overview from scratch.

Mack The Knife

[dev]

Being humble again are we? .

Thanks for the link Mehul, to tell you the truth I couldn't find the correct site till now.

Regards,

Dev