Computers In The Shop

As any of you know who have been following my articles in American Gunsmith, I probably come off as a crusty old dinosaur mired in the past glory of the early 19th century. However, looks, as well as the written word, can be deceiving. Just catch some of the propaganda on your TV or local newspaper and you’ll understand what I mean.

I’m going to admit here and now that I am a computer junkie and have been since the 1970s when I bought my first one, an AT&T machine (bet you didn’t know they made them) that I paid almost $3,000 for! For that kind of juice I got a computer that wasn’t on the Internet (didn’t really exist yet) had two 5¼ inch floppy disk drives (no hard drive) and was only used for word processing and games that I could afford. It didn’t even come with a printer. I bought a daisy wheel letterquality printer later for about $400.

Man, have the prices come down. I threw that computer and printer out in the trash one day while shedding a tear over the exorbitant expense they represented. But life goes on, and after I don’t know how many machines later, I am now on my latest desktop and laptop and am planning to update my system at the beginning of the new year. One thing I am sure of is that you get a hell of a bang for your buck nowadays compared to the poor suckers like me who didn’t know they were "investing" in planned obsolescence.

Just like the "pocket" calculator I bought while I attended college that I thought would help me understand all those fancy scientific formulas for only $400 (sure beats a slide rule) but that’s another story. That baby ate batteries like a crocodile eats swimming wildebeests and came with an adapter to allow you to plug it into a wall outlet. Today you can buy a solar powered lightweight powerhouse for about ten bucks.

Not only have computers and calculators become imminently affordable but printers are also a world apart from how they started out. Remember dot matrix printers? Does your printer still use expensive ink cartridges? I bought a laser black and white printer for less than three hundred dollars. The printing cartridge is supposed to last for about 5,000 pages and a replacement costs less than $100. Oh, happy days! I’m even "wasting" my cartridge to print such mundane items as recipes.

Have you joined the informational age in your shop, and if not, why not? What’s it good for, you say? Here area few examples of howa computer system can not only increase your efficiency but also actually save you money. For starters, inventory control, billing, and sales. If you stock regular items and want to know when they are getting low, scanning the bar code on your register can record that information and can automatically order a replacement for you at whatever level you desire.

Want to be reminded of how long an item has taken up space on your shelves? Maybe it should be a special order instead of a regular dog. Let’s put something else in there that will move in a reasonable amount of time. Selling an item too high? Lower the price ten percent and now it’s flying out the door? Computers can keep track of all sorts of inventory problems. If you’re a one man operation with no inventory except your tools you probably don’t need this function.

Are you cash and carry, still handwriting estimates and receipts? What about that dusty rifle in the back your guy forgot (and you forgot) that was supposed to be picked up two months ago? Your computer would flag that for you. I like a printed and itemized receipt; it looks 100 times more professional than a handwritten yellowed scrap of paper. How about when the widow comes in and wants an estimate on getting rid of all those old guns her husband had cluttering up the house?

Printing an estimate from the book and showing her how much you would charge on a legitimatelooking form would go along ways to make sure she felt more confident placing them in your hands rather than the guy down the street who handed her a grimy sheet of notebook paper. OK, maybe you’re telling yourself that’s fine for a big shop, but what about the guy who has a little place and a few loyal customers, or a fellow who views gunsmithing more as a hobby or a favor to some of his friends?

I could probably be considered more like the latter myself but I still have plenty of use for a computer. In fact, I don’t see how I could do without one. Numrich Arms (gunpartscorp. com), Midway USA (midwayusa. com), Mc Feely’s (mcfeelys.com), Grizzly Industrial (grizzly.com), Brownells (brownells.com), Graf & Sons (grafs.com) and many others all put out master catalogs displaying parts and tools. Most of the manufacturing companies that make holsters, stocks, grips and darn near everything else have a catalog.

And, almost all of them have a website. Believe me when I tell you I can probably find that part you need ten times

There are many like it, but this one is mine. It only takes a little space in a corner of my shop. Admittedly, it has some clutter but it is a working office. Pictures of grandchildren are optional. Documents, receipts, pages of books, etc. all can be duplicated easily. It even does double duty as a copier. This one was a steal at less than $100. faster than you can. The customer could stand there waiting all day but some of them won’t.

You can spend your day typing up a snail mail letter to receive a catalog, lick a stamp and wait for a month or two before the requested catalog is delivered. When it comes you can leaf through page by page looking for apart or a tool, calling your order in and generally wasting your time where a computer gets you there in seconds.

Isn’t it frustrating to meticulously search a catalog for just that right part you need and then calling or writing your order only to find out they don’t stock it anymore, or the price is twice what you told the customer it would be? The website is in real time. If the part is out of stock the website will generally give you that information and also when, if ever, they expect to have it available. They usually even allow a backorder if you have the time and are so inclined.

Order and forget it, as soon as they have it, it’s on the way. When you do place an order online your business records will be simplified. Simply print a receipt (or place it in a separate file) and it will all be ready for you at tax time. You will even receive messages about when your order was shipped and in many cases be able to track it through the UPS or another delivery site to know exactly when to expect it at your door. Forget about anything but a laser printer.

They are so inexpensive you can’t afford not to own one. Another advantage of a computer in your shop is that many of the company’s websites, such as Hodgdon Powder (Hodgdon.com), have links to information such as loading data immediately available. If a customer comes in and tells you he "only" put so many grains of powder in the gun before it blew up and you find it’s about five grains over maximum according to the manufacturer, it gives you some telling information a lot more quickly than pulling down a

manual from your bookshelves that may or may not be up to date. What if your customer wants to trade in his old deer rifle on one of those big blasters that got so much press last year? A quick check on the manufacturer’s website tells you that gun is no longer cataloged. Fair enough, they can make whatever they want, but at least you can inform your customer that it may take a little more time than usual to find one; then get on the computer and search. Speaking of searching, Internet sales are red hot.

If you want to sell a gun, or buy one, you can probably find something on Gunbrokers.com or GunsAmerica.com, among others. Not only do these sites have guns but also about everything else imaginable that could be used by shooters and sportsmen.

You can still find a lot of stuff on EBay.com, but they area little prissy about what they sell (semi-auto magazines, for instance, due to the bad press they received after some of the more tragic mass shootings.) A lot of people are into using old, collectable receiver sights and sometimes an online auction is the only place you can find one for an antique firearm. Forget the malarkey you’ve heard on the news and even from some of the people on our side.

INTERNET SALES ARE REGULATED THE SAME AS ANY OTHER, maybe more so. You cannot bypass background checks that are required in your state. The process requires that you send a copy of your dealer’s FFL to the seller before anything happens. All firearms are shipped to a licensed dealer and the transaction is then completed the same as if you bought the gun from them. Most of the dealers I know area pretty reputable bunch; they like to have a signed FFL come with the gun.

None of us want to get into trouble with the BATF. What irks me is the way this stuff is reported on TV, implying to the general public (on purpose to bamboozle them) knowing nothing about it that you can just get on your computer and have an AK-47 shipped right to your door. The other side uses every trick. For once I’d like to see them called on it. Regardless, if you deal in trades or used guns, or if you just want to increase your sales by moving a few guns on the Net, it’s easy to do.

All it takes is a digital camera and a little computer skill and you’re in business. You will be reaching thousands of potential customers, not just the ones who frequent your shop. Speaking of digital cameras, almost everyone has one nowadays. It’s difficult and much more expensive than it used to be to get old-fashioned film processed. The new cameras are relatively much less expensive than they used to be and are very user friendly.

All of them come with software that allows you to add images to a file and has all the information about how they work available online. You can either take a small memory card the size of a tiny cracker to a department or drug store put and have prints made or use a site such as Snapfish.com and get prints, enlargements, cards, books, etc. mailed right to your door—cheap, too! If you have a bore scope, most of them can be had with a digital camera adapter that will record any spot on the bore that is of interest.

Gradient Lens Corporation (gradientlens. com) makes the Hawkeye which is especially useful for gunsmiths. They are not inexpensive but are well worth the cost. They even offer a system that can be plugged into your computer so you can actually watch the progress of the scope in its travels through a bore on your computer screen.

Sometimes, when taking down an unfamiliar gun that I don’t have a schematic for, or one is not available, or even if I have one, I like to take digital pictures of how the parts fit together and what goes where. A digital camera shines for this kind of help. You can take as many pictures as you want without running out of film and can instantly determine if it is the picture you want by seeing it on the camera’s screen as soon as you snap it.

These pictures can be printed and/or put into a file on your computer for future reference. For customer service, diagnosing problems or whatever, pictures can be burned to a CD and given to your customer to view at their own satisfaction. This kind of preparation has saved my bacon more than once. Another reason to take pictures is to be able to show your customer what was wrong with the firearm you repaired or what you will have to do to repair it.

A record like this is a wonderful thing, not only for customer relations but especially for legal reasons. If the trigger was already screwed up by someone who didn’t know what they were doing, by all means document this fact. This kind of factual information could really make your day in court. Judges and juries rely on hard evidence like photos and written copy. Lame excuses don’t go over very well. What about computers out of the shop? Isn’t this article about computers IN the shop?

Yeah, but these points are also relevant. A laptop gives you a lot of freedom. If you just want to get away from the grind and noise of the shop and go outside on a nice day. A little solitude, a little fasting (well, maybe that’s too much), a cool drink and relax in the shade while you take care of business. If you have a wireless Internet connection (very common) you can access the Net away from the confines of your shop. Usually your laptop can pick it up as long as you don’t wander off into the daisies.

Also, the laptop can go where you do. Take it to the local shooting match. Your range might even have wireless Internet access. If you’re loaded with the appropriate software a portable computer will still allow you to rule a small part of your world. Running for 6-8 hours on batteries, you can finish almost any match before a recharge is need-

com, Webster’s New Twentieth Century Unabridged Dictionary is still useful. ed. Load data is at your fingertips, so are pricing and billing questions, add new or potential customers to your database; trajectory tables are no problemo, on and on. Load up a CD with digital pictures of work you’ve done. You can display them on a computer screen to show your customer exactly what you are talking about and for examples when it comes to modifications or work they might want done.

Pictures are better than vague, "Stop by the shop sometime and we’ll see." You can seal the deal right at the range. That makes you the guy with the answers. Who do you think will get the most traffic and build their customer base, you with the power of the computer as an aid or Joe Blow sitting ten benches down who dispenses homilies and hearsay without any backup? When the match is over you can go back to your shop and download The books shown are not available online.

Both have their place. all the data from the day into your main system to use as needed. Flag a call to the guy you met at the silhouette match who might want a gun built. The computer will remind you. Did you promise more information when you had the chance to do some research? Do you want to put the new contacts on your mailing list? All of these things and many more I’m probably not even aware of can be easily handled by these fantastic machines. Throw away all your books and printed material.

If you have video on gunsmithing, dump it. Not! The Internet, no matter what our young millennial friends tell us, does not contain all the information in the world, or even all that is worth having. There is a big gap between what we can learn on the Net and what we have to dig for. Many have lamented that the day of the book is over. I disagree. You still can’t download a PDF copy of the 1965 Shooter’s Bible. All the wisdom of Jack O’Connor, Jeff Cooper, and Warren Page is not in the ether.

How many millions of books have come before us? I asked a young kid who Doc Holliday was. All I got was a blank look. Yeah, you can learn about him online, but let’s also read and watch good movies as well. During the last Presidential election cycle I conducted a small, but telling, experiment. I asked an eighth grader and a friend who is seventy years old to name the man who was currently serving as our Vice President (Biden). Neither one could tell me.

Then I asked who Mitt Romney was. "Is he the Vice President?, " my older friend asked. This is the same man who will not touch a computer as if it were a snake. He says it is because he doesn’t know how to type. Do you need to know how to type to use a mouse? He is incredibly afraid of anything new, an affliction called neophobia (I just looked it up online.) He is also about the most uninformed person I have ever met.

As Flounder was admonished by Dean Wormer in Animal House, "Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son." Well, stupid, anyway. I will still haunt used book stores and search out obscure tomes until the day I leave for the Happy Hunting Ground (hopefully.) When everything is on the Internet I will get a chip implanted in my brain so I don’t even have to use a keyboard or voice to access whatever I want. I hope that day never happens and if I’m long gone before then I’ll be glad.

Using the power of the computer to increase our knowledge, customer service, sales and prosperity can only be a good thing. What’s neat is that you can embrace as much or as little as you please. All it takes is perseverance and determination. After the first few steps you will wonder why you hadn’t done it sooner. AG