Hello!
Now that I'm retired, I'm toying with the idea of getting some training as an AR armorer. Not a gunsmith, just an armorer. Not for a career, more as a hobby.
I'm hoping to find an armorer's course 2–3-day type of thing. Preferably in the Pacific Northwest or Mt., Idaho, Utah to help reduce costs. I've looked on the internet and the only ones in this area are LEO only.
Does anyone have any suggestions??
Thanks for your input!! mike

The only one I know of and comes highly recommended.
https://cerberus-training.com/...ions/armorer-classes

I'm looking at taking a fundamentals class in April there and then a Run the Gun class later on.

I've heard good things about SLR but haven't been yet. I think they offer mixed courses. Unfortunately, I've been to primarily LE courses. I teach a course for my agency and can tell you there's definitely nothing top secret about them. The third pin location is on the internet and that's the biggest deal I can think of as far as someone freaking out.

https://www.brownells.com/gunt...|Make_3=AR-15zz1zzM4

Something to start with.

My agency put me through the Sig AR armorer course last year. I'd already built a number of ARs before taking the course, and if I'm honest I didn't really learn much in the class that I didn't already know. I did get a lot of good hands-on practice tearing apart and re-assembling Sig's guns on the company dime, which was cool, and the instructor had some good personal experience that he shared, but ultimately that class ended up being more about the certificate than the training.

I took a multi-manufacturer shotgun armorer course from "The Defensive Edge" (www.thedefensiveedge.com) last year as well. That course was excellent...by far the best armorer class I've been to yet. The instructor wasn't tied to a particular brand, and he knew the guns inside and out. He didn't pull any punches in talking about defects in the designs, or issues caused by manufacturing process changes or "upgrades". I went for the 870, but ended up learning a lot about the Mossbergs and Benellis as well. He had examples of all of them and made sure we got to work with any of them that we wanted.

I just checked his website...it looks like everything currently on the calendar for 2023 is LE only, but that's likely due to those classes being hosted by LE agencies. I know he travels a lot and offers non-LE training as well...you might reach out and ask if he has anything in the works. Based on the quality of his shotgun class, I'd imagine his AR class would be worth it.

I would learn online, at my own pace. Numerous resources available, many are free even.

92fstech brings up a great point. I strongly prefer non-manufacturer courses unless I need that specific cert. Thats where the best learning takes place. While I've learned things from manufacturers typically they want you to pass so you don't hate their brand. The private classes usually have far more actual learning. I really wish Will Larson was still around, for many reasons but his class was fantastic.

It will take you 6 months just to learn all the acronyms. Its a whole new language.

My PD put me thru AR armorer class done by Arma Lite.
We literally tore or rifle down to all its parts and re assembled it according to the TM. Two day class. They didn’t explain much. I was teaching the trooper next to me during the whole class and he learned how and why things did what they did.

A 2 day class is probably gonna be the same.

Take one it won’t hurt.

Check out the SOTAR channel on youtube, this guy takes it to the next level of nerdiness with the AR platform:

https://www.youtube.com/c/InstructorChad

He also conducts classes but, unfortunately, he's based on the east coast.

My department sent me to all the big makers armorers courses. This is where it was reinforced I was a parts swapper and not a gunsmith. They were worthwhile courses, but given the service length and overall simplicity of the AR, you can probably pick up the knowledge you need on line. It might be more cost effective to invest in a good set of armorer tools than paying out of pocket for an instructional course.

quote:

Originally posted by YooperSigs:
My department sent me to all the big makers armorers courses. This is where it was reinforced I was a parts swapper and not a gunsmith. They were worthwhile courses, but given the service length and overall simplicity of the AR, you can probably pick up the knowledge you need on line. It might be more cost effective to invest in a good set of armorer tools than paying out of pocket for an instructional course.

These are really good points, especially in relation to the AR. The P320 and P365 classes were more interesting to me because I went into them with less prior knowledge of the workings of the platform. I learned a lot in those, but I'd have been dissappointed had I spent my own money on the AR class. Armoring is truly just swapping parts, and that platform is so simple and there's so much information on it out there in the public domain that if you don't actually need the cert for some professional reason, there's not much you'll get out of the class that you wouldn't get online. I would reccommend at least purchasing a good reference book, though, to get proper specs from a reliable source.

Like Yooper also referenced, my big takeaways from the class were tools. We used some that I didn't know existed. A flat sided punch for the bolt-catch pin has saved me a bunch of scratched receivers, and there's also a handy tool out there for compressing ejector springs for replacing the ejector, but it's kind of expensive and I've been able to do the same thing with a 9mm case and a padded vice that I already own.

This is also not to say that there's not a lot more to building a truly accurate and reliable AR than what they'll teach in an armorer's course, but that's a gunsmithing class. Armoring is basically just parts replacement, cleaning, and lube.

Like most stuff I just acquire tools as needed.
Dimple jigs, pin gauges, etc.
Next tool I want to get is a gas block pin jig, BRD has a universal one that will work on the different ones I have.

Bolt catch pin punch's are handy but I just squeezed them in with large pliers to install.
That works fine till you want to take it apart without munging it up.
Wheeler has a nice set of pin punches with a plastic coating as well.
I just added that to the cart when I picked up a few new bolt catches.
Works pretty slick.


A 9mm case ejector tool.. Now I gotta go try it.

quote:

A 9mm case ejector tool.. Now I gotta go try it

I also drilled a hole in a small block of wood to seat the tail of the bolt in to provide some extra stability in the vice. It wasn't as good as the purpose-built tool, but it worked fine and saved me ~$75. If it was something I was doing regularly I'd just buy the tool.

Great suggestions and input !! Thanks, mike