I am interested in a gunsmith course offered by
American Gunsmithing Institute. It is a complete video correspondence course that is accredited. It is not cheap, but looks to be very extensive and informative.

Has anyone taken this course, or one like it?
If so, how good is the course?
If not, how does a person get into this profession, and what are the most comprehensive books on the subject?

I would love for the armorers and gunsmith's out there to respond with some info.

Thank you,
Herman

BTT

Bump!

btt

kinda wondered about this myself....

HermanSnerd, That's a question that I haven't seen here before, I am sure a number of people here would like to know the answer. I don't know about the armorers course but I have read through a correspondence course in the automotive feild that someone I know was taking and it was not what I expected. As a pro mechanic I found it completely insufficient in content for someone to learn enough of the automotive trade that they would be able to get hired in this field. I am sure that they have better courses out there than the one I checked out, but you should really ask the pros. I would go to the Industry forum area where all the mfgs are and ask around there because they are in the business. Kurts Kustom comes to mind, he is highly rated as a smith.

I wanna know too !!!!  [:D]

the other way I'll learn is by trial and error...but that's even more expensive than a video course.  [:D]

FOTBR

btt

Guess it can't hurt. You might learn some useful information on working on firearms. As for weather or not you'll be able to be a gunsmith afterwards, I doubt it, unless you have a heavy background in machining or such.

As for armorer courses, i've atteneded several. All they will teach you is how to return the weapon to proper factory specs. They will not teach you how to blue weapons, file down springs and work on smoothing actions etc.

A fundamental understanding of different weapons operation would be beneficial no matter which path you took though.

I personally don't see how a skill like gunsmithing can be learned any other way but with a teacher and a lot of hands-on.  Can you imagine taking a correspondence course in violin playing?  Same idea.

Yep, they are still around I believe as Thompson Education Direct.

I was looking into the materials myself.

I totally agree with you Marvl.
You could not expect to watch these videos and take the tests, and then make a new bull barrel
for a bolt action rifle, parkerize it, and install it on the receiver. You would definately
have to apprentice with someone for a while, and start out on small projects until you had enough skill and experience to tackle a major job. A person would need alot of time learning on lathes and mills before being competent.

This company offers machining instruction courses as well as gunsmith courses. Their site
looks very professional, and extensive (unlike the old Sally Struthers courses). Check out their site:

http://www.americangunsmith.com/

Ask over in firearm discussion......