A Gunsmith is someone who works to repair, design and build firearms.
Gunsmiths can work for themselves or be employed in a variety of industries including sporting goods and firearms stores, firearms manufacturers, and armories.
Gunsmiths are building on firearm knowledge that has evolved over centuries, from the time when mankind first harnessed gunpowder to the modern era of semi-automatic, magazine-fed firearms. Talented gunsmiths are proficient in repairing, restoring, and refinishing a wide range of firearms.
Sometimes, gunsmiths will carve out a niche for themselves, such as working solely on ‘Modern Sporting Rifles’ or MSRs (the much maligned AR-15 platform is one such rifle), or working mostly on putting together high-end, competition-ready pistols, or perhaps even restoring antique firearms from the Civil War era or even earlier!
Because this specialty can take many forms, salaries can vary. That is why people still often wonder, how much does a gunsmith make?
Gunsmith Salaries
In general, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics classifies gunsmiths in the same category as metal and plastic machine workers. Their data indicates that the national median pay in 2018 for these groups was about $36,000 per year.
In order for a gunsmith to earn more, he/she must generally practice this trade for several years as an apprentice, with a firearms manufacturer or in a machine shop.
To earn a better gunsmith wage, consider specialization in a specific field of gunsmithing, or make sure you live in a region where gunsmiths are in high demand.
Regional Comparisons
A gunsmith averages $52,000 a year in Hawaii and $85,000 a year in New York.
Pennsylvania, for example, sells more than 1 million hunting licenses per year, and thus has a higher number of firearms owners.
The most popular hunting states, including Alaska, Montana, Texas, Georgia and Pennsylvania, report gunsmith salaries between $61,000 and $79,000 a year.
Independent gunsmiths can charge upwards of $40/hour for their services.
Since there is so much variation from region to region in gun ownership, if you want to make a better gunsmith salary, you need to live and work where gunsmiths are needed. That way, you will always have customers who need their firearms serviced.
A Gunsmith’s Education
If you want to have a successful career as a gunsmith, you need to get a gunsmith education.
Many gunsmith training and certification programs are run at vocational schools and community colleges. These types of training programs are designed to give you the skills to get a job as a gunsmith and to have a successful career while making a good gunsmith salary. Training and certification programs typically take about six months to complete. An associate degree in gunsmithing will take you up to two years to finish.
Once you get a job as a gunsmith, you will continue to develop your skills while working on the job.
What Types of Skills Do I Need?
Firearms are built to very tight tolerances and specifications, in order to maintain accuracy and ensure safety during firing.
After all, a firearm, like an engine, is merely a hunk of metal that contains, and directs, an explosive charge. Because of this, a gunsmith must understand not only how to work with metals, woods, and in more modern weapons, polymers based in plastic and carbon, but also how to meld them together in a way that produces a manageable, and accurate, firearm.
Here are a few of the most important gunsmith skills:
- Math skills are important for gunsmiths, since they must measure and cut wood and metal.
- Gunsmiths have excellent wood and metalworking skills. A gunsmith will know how to use lathes, drill presses, and even advanced machines such as CNC machines.
- Gunsmiths have mechanical expertise. A decent gunsmith will understand how all the many working parts of a firearm come together to allow a trigger to activate a striker or firing pin, which will set off the primer in a shell, which will set off an explosion (powered by gunpowder) and expel the bullet from the firearm’s barrel. They will also understand how to diagnose problems with the inner workings of a firearm, and how to correct them.
Gunsmiths who have mastered these skills will have excellent job opportunities in the field. Plus, the more skills you have, the higher your gunsmith pay will be.
What Should I Specialize In?
Not all guns are made equal. Many specializations for gunsmithing will earn the gunsmith a much higher salary because the work cannot be done by anyone else.
If you want to earn a higher gunsmith salary, you need to specialize in a more unusual area. That way, your work will be in high demand, keeping you busy and earning you money.
Consider specializing in a certain type of gunsmithing, including:
- Custom gun designing and building.
- Stockmaking, which involves building the gun stock using wood.
- Gun engraving, which adds aesthetic value to guns with decorative or patterned engravings in the wood or metal.
- Pistolsmithing, which is practiced by people who custom design and build only pistols. Other gunsmiths focus primarily on rifles or shotguns.
- Competitive gunsmithing, wherein competitors can spend three thousand dollars or more taking a ‘stock’ handgun, rifle, shotgun, or MSR (or sometimes a combination of the four) and fine-tuning it to fire faster, more accurately, and to customize the firearm for certain specific types of competition, such as IDPA or Three-Gun competitions.
These are a few of the many different specializations that gunsmiths may have. Keep in mind that you will need additional specific skills to work on these specialized weapons or complete the projects associated with them.
You can get those skills from your training and certification program or while working as an apprentice to a gunsmith. These specializations will earn you a higher gunsmith salary, so if you love working with guns, consider specializing to increase your earning potential.
How Do I Get Started?
Stratford Career Institute’s convenient and affordable gunsmith home study program can help you gain fundamental knowledge to help you work toward a career in gunsmithing.
Our top-quality, comprehensive course is designed to prepare the gunsmith beginner, but can also provide helpful information to individuals with more advanced gunsmith knowledge.
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Stratford Career Institute offers a convenient and affordable home study course to teach you the ins and outs of a gunsmith career.