SAIT Gunsmith Course, couple of questions

kyle_chddr

kyle_chddr

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Hey all, I am looking into taking this course in the fall. And I have a few questions. I did a search and there seems to be a need for an action and barrel blank. Is this still needed for the course? And where could I find one at a low price? And second, I'm not looking to start my own shop or anything, just to build my own skills up. But if I were to take this on as a potential new career choice what work could I find in the Calgary area? There seems to be a demand for young guys taking up the trade and I feel that I have the drive for it. So in short if anyone has taken the course please tell me if it was worthwhile, or should I save my time and money and take an online course?


Cheers,
Kyle_CHDDR
 
Perhaps most importantly, you should read the sticky at the top of the page. In terms of building up your skill and reputation post gunsmithing course, one problem would be that most gun stores that accept work for repair, probably already have someone and probably do not have enough work for a second person. The SAIT course is good for giving you a experience with a wide variety of firearms should you want to work on your own guns. If you collect guns, that knowledge allows you to purchase guns in poor condition and bring them back to good working condition

cheers mooncoon
 
It's been a few yrs since I attended the course...was it worthwhile, in a word, absolutely ...will you be a gunsmith after taking one course, in a word, no.
The basic premise of the course is to familiarize you with power machine tools & machining technics used in some aspects of gun building. By the end of the first course you should be able to contour/turn a barrel, thread the barrel, chamber a barrel and fit the barrel to your action. Will you be proficient at all the above in one course, probably not unless you are very adept at absorbing mechanical function/methods.

Yes, you will need a barrel & action of some sort to work on. When I was there most of the guy's found an old, already bubba'd milt surplus action and we had access to rather inexpensive barrel blanks for $150. I used the opportunity to install a new 45-70 barrel on an 1868 Rem RB action I had sitting around.

The first course most take is to familiarize with the machines, subsequent courses are a good opportunity to use some very good machines at a very reduced price (compared to buying your own machines) and complete the project you started in the first course. For your money you get very good professional instruction, the use of some very expensive equipment and they supply the cutting tools & tooling required to use such.

I guess in another simple way to define it would be that you could call it a machinist course using a gun as the practice medium.
 
The "gunsmithing" course put on at SAIT should be re-named to "entry level lathe skills geared towards learning to, contour, thread, and if time permits chamber a rifle barrel".
The amount of learning about the causes for various types of firearms failure and how to fix them is nil.

Jeff the instructor is one of the machinist instructors for SAIT and he is a decent instructor, but his knowledge of firearms is limited.
 
I enrolled in the course about 14 years ago only to have to drop it due to work. For the money it will be fun but I found that it seemed to be the same guys taking it over and over again and using it as a sort of high priced hangout. Think gun counter at Wholesale Sports. Some guys were stooges who wanted to show off how smart they were. Ultimately after 4 classes I had to drop it but didn't feel too heartbroken. I took my action, blank and box of parts to a local gunsmith who put together a rifle for me.

I would probably take it again if I had the chance (my patience for stooges has improved over the years but might not be quite there yet) , but realisticly it won't much help you to get a job in the industry. You'll need to go to the Colorado School of Trades or the like for that. If you really want to be a professional gunsmith you should speak to someone like Rick at ATRS who actually builds rifles for a living. He will be able to tell you all you need to know and will do it honestly. It was a good many years of building rifles by himself in his garage before Rick had a standalone shop with several CNC mills and a staff of guys. Ask yourself this - do you want to be a gunsmith that lives and dies at the beck and call of people who can't make their 870 cycle or need to find a replacement bolt for their Cooey 22LR, or do you want to be a gun builder with a tooled up shop and relationships with manufacturers? The former are a dime a dozen, the latter are another breed entirely.

***Edit***Rick's less wordy reply got in there ahead of me.
 
I've taken the course every semester it's been offered for the past 5 or 6 years now.

You can ask Jeff, I'm a fixture in the class.

It's definitely not a gunsmithing course and Jeff is a machinist by trade. He teaches how to
apply machining technique to people interested in firearms.

The course has changed quite a bit over the last few years. In the past, people needed to have
an idea what they wanted to work on, and Jeff would show you how to do it.

The course now has a bit of a outline. He has small projects for people to work on before they
even get to touch their own barrel or action. All of the skills you'd use for the small projects
are easily transferred when you start to thread and chamber your barrel blank.

Jeff often tries to arrange to have the Korth Group come into the class one night and give
a demo on scope mounting. We've had a reloading night as well where someone came in
and gave an overview of the reloading process. Kind of interesting for people who might
be interested in getting into reloading their own ammo.

It's definitely easy to mess up something if you're new to lathes so his small projects
help you to work on your skills before touching your $400-500 barrel blank.

Everyone obviously works at a different pace and Jeff is very accommodating
with each different skill level.

With one course, I wouldn't expect people to leave at the end with a functioning rifle.

I'd guess it might take one course to acquire and work on your machining skills,
and the next course to get a rifle re-barreled.

If you want to just get a new barrel threaded on your rifle, take it to a gunsmith.
If you want to do it yourself but realize you're not going to be a pro when the course
is done, and you like working on projects, I'd say sign up and check it out.

One of the thinks I really enjoy about the class is all the people you meet. Everyone has
a different background, different level of machining, shooting, gun experience, etc.

Great place to meet people who are interested in similar things as yourself. I've met a lot of
great guys from the course who I still regularly shoot with.

Mike.
 
There are no entry level gunsmith jobs for anybody, of any age, anywhere. Stateside included.
As mentioned, that course isn't a gunsmith course. It's a junior machinist course. Says that on their site. Most smithy's don't do that kind of work much either.
 
Hope to see you in Sept when the course runs again.

I already have a pile of parts waiting to be assembled. I'm hoping to build
a 240wby and a 22-250.

If I have time, I'm going to try installing a side bolt release on a Rem 700 action.
 
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