Real Gunsmith Courses

What sort of course is worth the money for aspiring gunsmiths?

A long-time gunsmith posted a flyer for courses he runs on the gunsmith forum I started.

This led to a series of questions:

• And just how many businesses in the firearms industry are going to recognize this class as legitimate training?

• Is this accredited?

• Just go to a local trade school to learn lathe and milling, then get some gunsmith DVDs and have the same level training.

People interested in gunsmithing are also interested in approaches to becoming a gunsmith. Here’s the truth about that.

“Certified” Gunsmithing

There is no official national or international certification or accreditation process for gunsmithing. There is no official “gunsmith certification” or any universally recognized gunsmith accreditation. If someone insists on such a thing, ask for the International Organization for Standardization, or the American National Standards Institute, or similar standard they're referring to along with the accreditation body that certifies compliance with it. Hint, it doesn't exist.

There is no formal licensing requirement for anyone to proclaim themself a gunsmith. That is both good and bad news.

It’s good because no sanctioning body, government, or non-government organization is demanding fees and genuflection as a gatekeeper for anyone wishing to pursue gunsmithing as a trade or hobby. There’s also no standard or requirement for any coursework, whether remote or in person, so instructors have freedom to offer what they think is best. Less government oversight and requirements are often a good thing.

The downside is with no official certification requirements, anybody can declare themself a gunsmith and anyone can offer a course for would-be gunsmiths.

This puts the responsibility of evaluating a course or service squarely upon the consumer, caveat emptor. Some tips:

• The gunsmith offering the course above worked for a big-name custom maker before setting out on his own. His training center is in his shop so students will be learning next to real custom client work. Those are excellent indicators.

• A good course should have plenty of successful student projects to highlight.

• All trades ultimately produce real work. The end result is more important than the certificate.

• Concentrate on the goal rather than the certification, which should be to learn skills useful to your trade and then complete real projects. In the Information Technology world, there are many certifications; however, it is sometimes viewed as a negative to have many of them without any real-world projects. “Show me your Git repos (software repository), not your certs.”