Achieving a Dream - Best Gunsmith school to go to in the Western States

Cody,

As a life long learner, I commend your wife for her determination on working towards her degree and for your overwhelming support. Both my sisters are nurses and I have a soft spot for them. I wish my wife works on her Master's. I am vested for my second retirement and I will do the same if my wife's schooling means moving to another state. Instead, it is me that is back to school after 18 years (Master's) absence from the academic world. :D

You have gotten excellent recommendations. Good luck on you and your wife's endeavor. God bless!

Ed
 
codyadams said:
Sorry for the long back story, if you want to just cut to the chase, skip to the bold paragraph.

So my wife finished up her Associates RN Degree (nursing), and we are now working towards getting her a BSN, we have about a year until that is done. During that time she will work at an acute care center, and god willing, in a year and a half to two years she will get accepted into a CRNA program and after roughly 3ish years of that, she will have her Doctorates Degree in Nurse Anesthesiology.

I am currently employed in Law Enforcement with a little over 5 years in. When my wife goes into her CRNA program, we are going to have to sell our house and move where ever her school is, and I am going to have to resign my full time job to be a full time stay at home dad with our 3 young kids (currently 6, 4, and 2-1/2 months), and live modestly off of a student loan and part time work, as the CRNA programs are very intensive, and she would not be able to work and go to school, will constantly be on call, and we could not afford constant daycare for the 3 years. We were barely able to get by for the 3 years while she was full time schooling for her ASN with only my income, I don't know if we could do it with a much more intensive schooling.

It is going to be a very long road, but we will get there. When we do, we will move back to Wyoming, and our financial situation will be very comfortable compared to what we have grown accustomed to. She is extremely grateful that I am willing to make such a huge sacrifice for our family so that she can achieve this, and she asked me if I could do anything, regardless of income or cost to achieve it, what would I want to do. Well, that was an easy choice. I would like to work on and build custom firearms. My wife told me to start looking into how to achieve that, so that after her schooling, I can go to a trade school to learn smithing. So here I am, one of the best resources I know of to talk to some of the best gunsmiths in the world. It seems that one day, my dream may become a reality.

I have a fair bit of knowledge with woodworking, fitting, bedding jobs, load development, fine tuning rifles for accuracy, some light fabrication, and I am pretty good with my hands and pay attention to detail, but I am a far cry from anything resembling a gunsmith. Also, I have exactly zero knowledge on running a metal lathe or mill. I need a great trade school to look in to, so that I can get the hands on experience I would need to get on my feet after I graduate as a professional gunsmith. I would like to hear from people that have attended and graduated gun smithing schools, to hear the pros and cons of the school/schools you attended, so that I know a few good options to look in to. I would prefer ones in the western states, so that it would minimize the amount of time/distance from my home state of Wyoming. Any first hand insight will be greatly appreciated.

A big reason we are going to all this trouble is to prove something to our children. My wife and I both come from modest backgrounds, as do our parents, and I appreciate that every day of my life, our families have survived solely by hard work. But with all the laziness, self entitlement, and arrogance that floats around in today's society everywhere you look, we want to show our children first hand, that no matter what obstacles stand in your way you can achieve anything through hard work, sacrifice, and determination. The long road of trials will look much shorter once we are at the end. I could go on more on this subject, but I have already turned a forum post into a novel.

Thanks to everyone for any help. God bless and take care.
Click to expand...

Look for a reputable builder that would be willing to take you on as an apprentice. I know a few in the WY area- all older gents with lots of experience. Not all look to take someone on, but they'll sure allow you to come work, watch and learn without pay.

**** on the idea of paying for gunsmithing school. You'll also get the business experience as well.

I've helped the one GS nearby with marketing and financial consulting. You need the business side of things. If you can't market then I don't care if you went to the Ivy League of gunsmithing.
 
codyadams said:
Sorry for the long back story, if you want to just cut to the chase, skip to the bold paragraph.

So my wife finished up her Associates RN Degree (nursing), and we are now working towards getting her a BSN, we have about a year until that is done. During that time she will work at an acute care center, and god willing, in a year and a half to two years she will get accepted into a CRNA program and after roughly 3ish years of that, she will have her Doctorates Degree in Nurse Anesthesiology.

I am currently employed in Law Enforcement with a little over 5 years in. When my wife goes into her CRNA program, we are going to have to sell our house and move where ever her school is, and I am going to have to resign my full time job to be a full time stay at home dad with our 3 young kids (currently 6, 4, and 2-1/2 months), and live modestly off of a student loan and part time work, as the CRNA programs are very intensive, and she would not be able to work and go to school, will constantly be on call, and we could not afford constant daycare for the 3 years. We were barely able to get by for the 3 years while she was full time schooling for her ASN with only my income, I don't know if we could do it with a much more intensive schooling.

It is going to be a very long road, but we will get there. When we do, we will move back to Wyoming, and our financial situation will be very comfortable compared to what we have grown accustomed to. She is extremely grateful that I am willing to make such a huge sacrifice for our family so that she can achieve this, and she asked me if I could do anything, regardless of income or cost to achieve it, what would I want to do. Well, that was an easy choice. I would like to work on and build custom firearms. My wife told me to start looking into how to achieve that, so that after her schooling, I can go to a trade school to learn smithing. So here I am, one of the best resources I know of to talk to some of the best gunsmiths in the world. It seems that one day, my dream may become a reality.

I have a fair bit of knowledge with woodworking, fitting, bedding jobs, load development, fine tuning rifles for accuracy, some light fabrication, and I am pretty good with my hands and pay attention to detail, but I am a far cry from anything resembling a gunsmith. Also, I have exactly zero knowledge on running a metal lathe or mill. I need a great trade school to look in to, so that I can get the hands on experience I would need to get on my feet after I graduate as a professional gunsmith. I would like to hear from people that have attended and graduated gun smithing schools, to hear the pros and cons of the school/schools you attended, so that I know a few good options to look in to. I would prefer ones in the western states, so that it would minimize the amount of time/distance from my home state of Wyoming. Any first hand insight will be greatly appreciated.

A big reason we are going to all this trouble is to prove something to our children. My wife and I both come from modest backgrounds, as do our parents, and I appreciate that every day of my life, our families have survived solely by hard work. But with all the laziness, self entitlement, and arrogance that floats around in today's society everywhere you look, we want to show our children first hand, that no matter what obstacles stand in your way you can achieve anything through hard work, sacrifice, and determination. The long road of trials will look much shorter once we are at the end. I could go on more on this subject, but I have already turned a forum post into a novel.

Thanks to everyone for any help. God bless and take care.
Click to expand...
Since I am a Canadian I can't help you with a good trade school but I can offer you this thought. Go to a few machining companies in your immediate area and tell your story to a few of the owners! Ask them if they would be willing to help you learn by putting in free hours of work with them. If you lived here in Alberta I could arrange that for you in about an hour. Talk to your friends someone should know of one or two that would be interested in such an arrangement.
 
bigngreen said:
I think most smiths myself included are more challenged by the business part, time management, work order management, shop management and that line of things than the actual work of gunsmithing or building.
Click to expand...
Take a look at a computer program called " Simply Accounting" if this is your challenge. It is Simple. I have used it for business management for years and has everything you mentioned other than shop scheduling! It can be a big help and it isn't scary to operate.
 
One of the best series of classes I took in collage was jewelry smiting. I learned more about soldering, puddle control, work hardening, casting, bending, forming, polishing, ... All hands on. Most community collages have classes like these as well as machining, welding, ... You don't need a dedicated gunsmithing program to get started. Buy a small welder, lathe, ... and start making mistakes. Mistakes are how you learn. If you don't have any space or money at all, put an ad on craigslist asking if there are any locals with a home machine shop willing to teach you. I saw an ad like this on CL and answered it. I showed the guy a few things and did a few projects with him. We've been friends now for quite a while. He comes over and uses the shop when ever he wants. Learn now, however you can, and when you are in a position to enter a dedicated program, you'll that much further along.
 
The key to machining is cut time.
Most gunsmiths don't run a machine much.
Compared to a machinist.
As to any art. 10 years to be there.
 
I worked for a barrel maker that dealt exclusively in extreme accuracy. We would never hire a trade school graduate because what was taught there was not state of the art in our particular field, we always had to retrain them to our methods and standards.
Get the machinery, lathe and Bridgeport down solid as you will use both all the time.
Decide if you want to specialize or do everything. The best way is to serve an apprenticeship to learn the tricks, as there are many. Wishing you luck.
 
Very inspiring Cody. You and your wife sound like you have your feet on the ground. I didnt go to school so I have no input there. I was fairly good friends with two Smith's, one graduated from the school at Murray State College in Tishomingo Oklahoma and the other from Pennsylvania School of trades. Both were excellent Smith's. Oklahoma has a two year program and also offers short summer seminars with guest instructors. Do some online searches for these short courses. Some are done through the NRA and are listed on their website. I learned all my limited knowledge through books, apprenticing at gun shops or machine shops, practicing on old guns for 40 years. Go to a school for certain! Theyll teach you correctly and be more demanding of performance and precision. I picked up bad habits it took me years to correct, especially in the machining work. I balanced rotating schedules, school and family for a long time. Dont look down, straight ahead and at the task at hand. Work really really does pay off. I was blessed to retire in my 40s and can focus on passions instead of problems. Keep strong, this too shall pass.
 
I am close to retiring as a Teacher/Coach and am also interested in pursuing gun-smithing as a second career. Having talked to a few of our local shops in the DFW area (Texas), there seems to be a shortage of qualified smiths. Wherever you land, I would suggest finding a local shop that needs a hand and maybe apprentice for a bit - even if it is only a few hours per week. With your LE background, perhaps the local PD has a smith that could use a hand.

What do you guys think of Sonoran Desert Institute (online classes)? Have thought about doing some summer online classes through them to get started.
 
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