quote:

Originally posted by wrightd:
As an aside, I saw that Mauser is making hand made rifles in Europe (wherever they are)

Still in Germany, but not at the traditional Mauser location of Oberndorf. Current Mauser firearms are produced in the town of Isny im Allgäu, which is in far southern Germany. Same location as Blaser, a sister company.

Mauser was bought by Rheinmetall in the 1990s, and the civilian small arms portion of Mauser was split off into a separate Mauser company that was sold to a holding company. (Interestingly, the same parent company that owns Sig Sauer... L&O Holdings.) Rheinmetall retained the other former half of Mauser that produces military weapons systems, like autocannons, naval guns, and air defense systems.

So the new Mauser rifle maker has the same name as the historical Mauser company, but is not really the same company any longer. Kinda like Springfield Armory, Inc.

A few years ago I bought a Weatherby MarkV DGR chambered in 375 Weatherby magnum. It did not have a muzzle brake. Shooting 375 H&H rounds was tolerable but when shooting a 375 Weatherby rounds it was brutal.
The rifle has a front barrel band sight and not much room ahead of the sight on the barrel.
I sent the rifle to Weatherby to have a brake installed. They told me after they received the rifle that the custom shop could not install a brake because there was not enough barrel to thread for the brake.There solution was that I needed to have a new barrel installed that had a brake.
I contacted Randy Selby in Wyoming and asked him if he could do the work, he said yes, no big deal, about $300 with S&H for the job.
Weatherby agreed to ship the rifle on to Randy.
Randy removed the front sight and threaded the barrel to accept a brake very similar to the brake Weatherby uses. He installed a new barrel band sight and the gun was good to go.

Randy has a YouTube channel called the "THE REAL GUNSMITH". I enjoy the channel and listening to his 50 years of gunsmithing experience and his hunting/living experiences in Wyoming.
He is a dying breed.
I would highly recommend him.

This place is by me in NJ. There seem to be a lot of gunsmiths around here in northern NJ.

Giffin and howe

They cater to some wealthy people. I guy I played softball with hand carves the stocks.

Almost everywhere I go that requires craftsmen I look for the guys in shop in their 20s and 30s that would be learning the trade. I see over and over again guys in their 50s an 60s working away and not training anyone. I think the majority of the boys in my town smoke weed and play video games all day....

US has become a throw-away culture. If a product has a flaw hard to find anyone to repair it.

quote:

Originally posted by Mars_Attacks:
One of the last gunsmiths is at Deercreek gun shop in Kennesaw.

Last time I was there it was still in Marietta on Campground.

Wudja mean you want $125 to mount ma new scope I bought offa Amazon? My cousin Billy Joe's ex brother in law will do it for $35.

Trades will be 2 things in 10 years. Boutique professionals who will charge $1,000 a year just to be on their client list. And you aren't getting on the client list until someone on it dies. Or the alternative, Billy Joe Jim Bob with no knowledge, no skills and no work ethic. But they might show up a week from Wednesday. Maybe.

I retire in 4 years. I'm the last person to do what I do for 30 miles in any direction. And there is no young people in my trade.

quote:

Originally posted by wrightd:
My gunsmith retired. He was a real gunsmith, shit ton of experience, fully qualified with metal, fabrication, blueprinting, custom building, overhauls, you name it. He was a qualified machinist, with special machinery and mills and such, and all that goes with it.

So... Where is the gunsmithing industry going ? I know there are lots of specialists and specialist shops all over the USofA, but are new guys coming into the field to serve local needs, that go beyond the regular local guys that are more like Armorers and AR15 builders and such, than real craftsman/fully trained machinists etc. ?

Where is this industry going, or are we headed to the day when the gunsmithing industry, as we've traditionally known it, will go by the way of the dodo bird ? And if that's the case, that industry actually should fade away, why is that and what am I missing here ?

We lost Stan Andrewski and Richard Hoffman both fantastic gunsmiths.

quote:

Originally posted by AllenInAR:

quote:

Originally posted by OKCGene:


Does the US Military offer gunsmith training? I know one can be an armorer but not sure how much that includes.
.

An "Armorer" is an extra duty for a 92Y Supply Clerk. They handle weapons (issue/inventory/recieve) but they don't actually work on them. They don't break a weapon down any further than the average Soldier.

A Small Arms/Artillery Repairer (91F, formerly 45B) DOES work on them, but basically you're talking about performing higher level maintenance, inspections, replacing parts, etc. If you've ever assembled your own AR with stripped upper and lower receivers, you've done what a 91F/45B would do.

I would assume there are probably a very few people with special units (the AMU springs to mind) but as for actual gunsmiths? Not hardly.

not military so not sure if you are talking Army Marine or other branches

Dad was an Ord guy in the Army Reserve,, he worked Monday thru Fri as a Civilian employee of the Army Reserve as a Small Arms Technician,

he traveled to schools, units etc and maintained the weapons they had, he would inspect and repair, and if one of the guys in charge at the unit or school had an issue it was flagged for him to take care off,

he did this thru an AMSA unit,

he had things he "could do" and things he "could not", as in some things were sent up the chain, but basically that was when stuff was worn out or severely damaged from what I recall,


back in the late 70's and early 80's I used to go with him and had free run of the arms rooms and learned to work on them all,



back to the OP, there are still some good Gunsmiths here, in Central VA,

a lot of the niche guys have retired or died, some are still active as good overall gunsmiths, but they are backed up a few months if not more,


some of the shooting sports have niche guys that do great work but they pretty much specialize in that discipline, and they are getting scarce

an example would be one nationally known Bullseye guy passed a few (well maybe 7) years ago, and the 2 local Service Rifle and or Precision rifle guys are not as active as they were