Gunsmithing advice

[KRUT555]

I'm asking for your advice on starting my own shop.
As I stated in another thread I have been apprenticing in a shop for 5 months,The shop i'm in works alot on older rifles,shotgun handguns, not much in the newer stuff, we do it all from stocks to bluing to total rebuilds.
What I am looking for is your opinion and problems you had so I don't make some of the mistakes you experinced.
I'm in my early 50's and this is going to be my deal after I retire in 3 years and may take over the shop I'm in as the boss is in his 70,s. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
KRUT555

[Schuetzenman]

Speaking as a former 01 FFL that gave up the business I'll say this. There was more money to be made doing gunsmithing, gun refinishing, barreling and headspacing than there was in retail sales of guns and ammo.

If you're going to take over this established business you probably have a good leg up on being successful. I'd say you have to cater to your clientel, do what they are into wanting you to do. You can of course try and change who you attract and what weapons you would like to work on.

Example; say you wanted to do assault weaponry instead of Elmer Fudds bolt gun. There's plenty of folks that would seek you out for customization or parts to build up or have built up. AR15 rifles are easy to build, as such many of us build our own in our garages or on our kitchen tables.

Gun kote finishes, Dura Coat finishes, bluing, parkerizing, these can all be full time activities that can turn some good money. But remember if you're they only guy don't take on too much work and leave people waiting. Most people don't want their weapon out of their control for long. Most would prefer a 1 week turn around. 2 weeks turn around will lose some customers and so it goes, the longer the lead time the more people / customers that will not use your services.

No matter what you stock for parts, accessories, magazines, slings, scopes etc. half your customers will want something you don't have and they won't wait for it to be ordered in. You will eventually gain a certain level of skepticism and contempt for people coming through your door. You will meet people that are so damn dumb you wonder how they passed the drivers license test so they could drive to your shop and waste your time.

Customers are always right, even when they have their head up their ass and wrong as hell. You will meet at least one wanna be customer that won't ever buy shit from you but will stand in your store every hour you're open finger fucking your guns, ammo, accessories. Basically anything they can get heir paws on. They will want you to order wierd shit that nobody in their right mind woud want. When you get them the price, they'll say "oh, that's way too much money, I couldn't possibly afford that or I won't pay that much". Variations will occure with what excuse they use.

An example is I had this guy that wanted an M1A Springfield because it was "like the M14 he used when he was in the Army". But Mr. M14 wannabe owner then says, "I read an article and it said the optimum barrel length for the most efficient use of a .308 cartridge is 26 inches. I want an M1A with a 26" barrel on it". It took me an hour of trying to get him to give up the notion of a 26" barrel when the weapons gas system is based on a 20" barrel and frankly nobody makes a 26" barrel for one. It would be custom and probably run you 500 to 600 bucks. "Oh, no I can't afford that much for a custom barrel". Where uppon you ask them, "then how are you going to afford the $1300 bucks that the M1A's usually cost"? Silence and eyeblinking is what you get for an answer. Luckily this pest eventually wore out and went away never to return. Never bought so much as a box of ammo for the 2 years he pestered me when I was open.

Such is the life of a dealer and part time gunsmith. If you're full time at it I'm sure you'll develop a rich lexicon of stories of off the wall nut job requests that will task your patience and ability to not insult the fool straight out.

[KRUT555]

Schuetzenman,Thanks for your info. and wisdom.
I had to laugh at the last two paragraphs as I have already met some real dumbass,so the catalog fo stories has begun.
The shop (as of now) has very low fierams sales,mostly used ,repaired,some special orders, but a backlog of smithing work to be done, good training.
Thanks for your response.
KRUT555