The Gunsmith: Jack of All Trades and Master of All

Nowhere’in any repair field’ is there such a heavy demand for such diversified knowledge as there is in gunsmithing. From removing alive round wedged in a receiver to rebarreling a rifle to building a custom firearm, the responsibility for knowing so much doesn’t fall on anyone like it does on the gunsmith. Even a rocket scientist works as part of a large team, where each individual only knows a specific part of the overall process.

If you look back over your records of the repair jobs you’ve done in the last six months, for example, I bet you’ll be amazed at the various types of guns, the number of different manufacturers, and the variety of problems you’ve been called upon to solve. You must have a great deal of knowledge and resourcefulness to do what you have done. And knowledge and resourcefulness are what make a good gunsmith successful.

When you look back at those jobs you’ve done in the last six months, think about how many of those guns came back to you with the same complaint. If your returns are on the order of one percent or less, you’re doing one fine job and have reason to give yourself a pat on the back. If your returns are closer to five or 10 percent, then you have to be honest with yourself. Maybe you need to pay a little more attention to detail On the subject of returns, my advice is: Always guarantee your work.

If you do a repair that you know is not going to hold up very long for one reason or another, put a note to that effect on the repair ticket and have your customer sign it. In this way he has been advised and can’t come back on you. Furthermore, if a gun is dangerous and you don’t think it’s in your best interest (or anyone else’s) to "fix" it, don’t take the job.

If the customer insists he just wants to hang the gun on the wall, have him sign a disclaimer stating that you have advised him your work on the gun is for cosmetic purposes only, and he has been advised that the gun is unsafe to shoot. In my opinion, guaranteeing your work means you don’t charge for doing the same job twice. Doctors and lawyers get away with doing that, but that’s why people don’t like them and don’t trust them.

Even if what went wrong is not your fault, it’s better to eat the expense and do something over than it is to argue with your customer and have him badmouth you around the range or the hunt club. Speaking about doing something over, I’ll tell you a true story. I had done 15 or 20 rebluing jobs for a pistol collector. These bluing jobs were a work of art, and I don’t think anyone could tell them from a factory job.

On one day, I returned two pistols to him, and he called me later to voice great dissatisfaction with them. I told him to return them at once, which he did. Upon examination, both looked like perfect bluing jobs to me. Well, I waited a week, oiled the guns up, and returned them without touching them. Upon receipt of the guns, he called me again, this time to tell me how pleased he was with the "new" bluing jobs. I thanked him, and I’m still bluing guns for him. How do you figure that one? I don’t know.

Maybe he was having a bad day when he saw the guns the first time. The important thing is that I didn’t argue with him and now he’s happy. Such is a gunsmith’s life, I guess. There are people who are never satisfied and will complain over nothing. In that case, you could try my technique of taking the gun back and doing nothing to it (assuming, of course, there’s nothing wrong with the job you did). Then call him in a week and ask him to try it again.

If he comes back again and cries over something you didn’t do, tell him you’ll simply have to spend more time on the gun and then do something that shows you worked on it’like polishing all the parts or something. Check the gun out so you’re sure it’s all right, and then give it back to him with a big fat bill. Usually, if a complainer gets stuck with a big bill, all of a sudden the gun starts working fine and you’ll never see the guy again. Which is good; you don’t need the aggravation.

And then the next customer through the door will be the guy who wants you to accurize his Raven 25 because he can’t hit a target at 50 yards. Give him an estimate and take the job’if you have the brains of a squirrel. Or do what I do: Tell him that the gunsmith in the next town specializes in accurizing .25-caliber semiautos and send him over there. So you see what I mean when I say "master of all trades"? The gunsmith isn’t just a master mechanic, machinist, and engineer.

If he’s going to survive in this business, he also has to be a master diplomat, babysitter, and psychologist. And maybe a bit of a comedian as well. I

08 VENDOR ROSTER Single-Page Ad (coming directly from Belvoir)