Since the early 2000s, perhaps maybe a decade or so later than that, people have taken to building their own guns (look at bolt guns using a Savage/Remington barrel nut system or the ubiquitous AR-15 platform) or doing small tinkering jobs (like installing sights, triggers and many other aftermarket parts). While that’s been good for the industry as a whole, as it contributed to the growth of a huge aftermarket of accessories and new components over time, not every job needs to or should be a DIY job, and it pays to have a good gunsmith. Here’s why.
Builds Rapport
Have you ever gone to someone professionally on the regular? Not just for gun work, but for anything. A mechanic, a doctor or a veterinarian, perhaps? We all have for a few reasons: consistency, quality of the work, and because, especially in things like medicine, an intimate relationship with someone like a doctor builds rapport with that person.
A mechanic knows your car, a doctor or vet knows you or your animal, and it creates familiarity, which helps create a better, more personalized service. Of course, there’s an element of trust there, but once that’s built, it’s a relationship worth maintaining, especially for the benefit of your car, your animal, your health or, in this case, your firearms.
Expert Knowledge of/Connections to Adjacent Work
Let’s be real, most gun guys and tinkerers don’t have those titles as occupations. Someone who does gun work as a full-time job likely has more overall experience than we do in those fields. Not only do they likely have more experience in their certain line of work as a gunsmith, but they probably hire some work out—like coating guns, for example.
Because they probably know this person personally, a gunsmith can verify the quality of their work, may also be able to get you the friends-and-family price or tell you the person you’re going to for X work isn’t what you think it might be and give you a better recommendation. It’s happened to me more than a few times.
Saves Money
Getting into a new hobby is fun and exciting. But hobbies, especially those surrounding other already expensive hobbies, like shooting or collecting guns, can easily get expensive fast. Are there quality tool manufacturers that make good tools for the DIY gunsmith, like Real Avid? Absolutely.
But if I only need a pair of sights and trigger installed, and the tools cost me a couple hundred bucks and a gunsmith can do it for $40 for a one-time deal, why would I spend the money? And that’s a small job. Think making a threaded barrel on a lathe is gonna be cheap? There’s a time and a place to spend the money on tools. Sometimes, gunsmithing work isn’t one of them.
Saves Time
Time is money, and sometimes, it’s not worth the time to do a gunsmithing job, especially with other priorities, like family and work. And other times, even if we want to prioritize a job and get it done, other things come up, and it never gets done.
A gunsmith can save you valuable time, which allows you more time to either spend with the family, get other work done, fix a more urgent, pressing problem, or even just go shoot more. Even if it simply buys you more range time, sometimes, it’s worth the money to pay a gunsmith.
Professional Work Beats Amateur Hour
I can think of several times I was better off consulting a professional. I didn’t have the time to do the job well, it ended up costing me more money than it would have to pay someone, and a professional working on it would’ve done a better, more thorough job, and saved me a headache.
I’ve learned through experience that certain gunsmithing work is not my forte—like pinning a gas block on an AR. Paying someone a few bucks would save me the trouble of marring my gun, going through a few roll pins and shortening my lifespan by a few years out of stress and frustration. A professional would have it done in a couple of minutes, and I’d be out the door with a fully functioning firearm.
Keeps the Trade Alive
The difference between a trade and a hobby is, with a trade, someone can usually make their entire living doing whatever their specialty is, and they can usually craft their specialty from start to finish. Hence why we use the word “gunsmith” and not “gun builder.” They are true professionals. This differs from the DIY hobbyist who assembles parts to make something. This is why trades dying off presents a problem: Once a trade is dead, it’s dead, and it's difficult to resurrect it without the institutional knowledge built over generations.
Sure, personal knowledge and experience can get jobs done, but that doesn’t mean it’s what’s best (for the reasons listed above). So, it’s beneficial to keep gunsmiths in business. Not just for collectors, either, who need their niche guns catered to. For instance, if I want a new barrel, there’s no way I can make room for a lathe, afford said lathe and learn to use it from scratch. And that’s just one tool. It doesn’t include making a stock from a piece of wood and all the work that goes with it, nor does it include making all the pins, screws, etc. So, it’s beneficial for me to keep my local gunsmith in business. That doesn’t include all the other benefits of having them available I mentioned earlier.
My editor at American Rifleman knows this all too well, being a collector of antique firearms. Finding someone who can actually make parts and assemble them on old guns, rather than just buy parts and put them together takes a skilled hand and a knowledge far broader than simply following along with a YouTube video. By supporting your local gunsmith, you’re keeping him in business, and keeping gunsmithing around for when you really may need something.
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