Gunsmithing

roryh

Well-Known Member
Hello folks

I've been looking around and can't seem to find any kind of official type gunsmith training anywhere.

Apparently there is no official qualification in the UK which seems a little strange.

Does anyone know different?

Idle curiosity really and something I would like to pursue later on as a serious hobby rather than a career move.

Thanks in advance.
 
How old are YOU? If you are over twenty something then it is probably too late...sorry. I don't even know what the chances would be to get an apprenticeship now with Purdey or Holland and, of course, the last of the volume makers, Webley & Scott, long ago ceased operation.

There are still, of course, gunsmiths in B'ham and elsewhere but as to how many would pay an apprentice I don't know. In the UK most men did one thing and did it well. So you'd be an engraver, or a barrel maker, or an actioner. A stocker, a chequering man, and someone else which all he did was do blacking. There was no one man who would make a gun from scratch doing ALL the word himself.

USA shot guns tend to be machine made so there isn't the same sort of division of labour. Rifle work is different as it is, essentially, screwing bits on to an action or the odd bit of "fettling". That's maybe an over simplification but it's not carving actions from a rough cast block or making a set of barrels from two rough forged tubes, laying the ribs, and etc., etc..

In the USA there are "gunsmith colleges" such as Trinidad College. For general shot gun stuff look at Jack Rowe's videos on You Tube. Good luck with your query.
 
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Thanks ES yes it was more a thought about my fascination with the way things go together so the rifle side of things was what I was thinking. I did see a couple of online based courses from the US with their placement slots over there too.

Twenty something? No mate that ship has long since sailed.

Not really sure what inspired the thought but for the enjoyment of making things. I think it would be greatly interesting to build my own.... I think I'll stick with handling the odd knife for now then.
 
The riflesmith's skills will be different from the shot gun gunsmith. So it's unlikely you'd ever see a smoke lamp in a riflesmith's bench set up. Engineer's blue for sure...but a smoke lamp I'd doubt. So for a rifle you'll have lathe skills, knowing how to thread a barrel blank to the same thread as the intended action. Maybe turning between centres to contour it. Plus milling work to cut dovetails and basic drilling and tapping skills. Muzzle re-crwning or counter boring, threading for a moderator. A lot of that you can get qualification for as it is just lathe and milling machine skills applied to a gun instead of some other thing. But a lot of riflework is, maybe, just changing shot out barrels at its basic level.
 
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There are no nationally recognised gunsmith qualifications in the UK, if thats something you are after then Austria or Germany is where you should be looking.

Ian
 
I suggest you contact Lew Potter / Potter & Walker, he may be able to point in the right direction
 
I was trained in the US as i couldn't find someone who was able and willing to train me as a pistol smith over here that did't wish me to pay over lots of dosh , in the Good old USA most towns have good ones so the choice is there and they are happy to have you at a bench and pass on there skills :D
 
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