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Rifles, Reloading, Optics, Equipment
Gunsmithing
True MACHINIST gunsmiths? (a rare breed)
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<blockquote data-quote=".30US" data-source="post: 1521733" data-attributes="member: 19108"><p>I take gunsmithing courses at a community college as time permits, and have had the opportunity to observe a couple things. The gunsmith instructors, who all have experience machining, whether it be through their degree at the school or some outside experience when they were away from the gunsmithing field, were very knowledgeable and detail oriented. They all stressed the importance of tolerances and concentricity in everything we did because they had an understanding of what we were intending to build and how the parts and accessories had to function together to produce the desired outcome. I took a true machinist's course from the same school with a top machinist instructor brought in from another reputable school. This machinist has an interest in gunsmithing, has take some of the courses I have, and teaches at a gunsmithing school, though he does not have a gunsmithing certificate, he has nearly 30 years as a tool and die maker, manual and CNC machining instructor, and many other relevant experiences. He introduced me to formulas for figuring out my ideal cutting speeds for different materials and sizes, which the gunsmith instructors I had previously had not touched on, but had given us general speeds to use for the machining operations we were doing. However, this master machinist went on to tell the class that using the tail stock to press a tap onto a barrel to thread the muzzle was every bit as good as single point threading it with the tool post. I don't doubt that he can do it just as well, but that is not a piece of information that I thought a bunch of aspiring machinists should be taking away from the course. There's a lot to be learned from either type of instructor, but for my money, I care more about having a great gunsmith that knows the machining he is doing on a firearm than a great machinist who doesn't think about things like, "how is that suppressor going to react to my muzzle threading in this manner?"</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE=".30US, post: 1521733, member: 19108"] I take gunsmithing courses at a community college as time permits, and have had the opportunity to observe a couple things. The gunsmith instructors, who all have experience machining, whether it be through their degree at the school or some outside experience when they were away from the gunsmithing field, were very knowledgeable and detail oriented. They all stressed the importance of tolerances and concentricity in everything we did because they had an understanding of what we were intending to build and how the parts and accessories had to function together to produce the desired outcome. I took a true machinist's course from the same school with a top machinist instructor brought in from another reputable school. This machinist has an interest in gunsmithing, has take some of the courses I have, and teaches at a gunsmithing school, though he does not have a gunsmithing certificate, he has nearly 30 years as a tool and die maker, manual and CNC machining instructor, and many other relevant experiences. He introduced me to formulas for figuring out my ideal cutting speeds for different materials and sizes, which the gunsmith instructors I had previously had not touched on, but had given us general speeds to use for the machining operations we were doing. However, this master machinist went on to tell the class that using the tail stock to press a tap onto a barrel to thread the muzzle was every bit as good as single point threading it with the tool post. I don't doubt that he can do it just as well, but that is not a piece of information that I thought a bunch of aspiring machinists should be taking away from the course. There's a lot to be learned from either type of instructor, but for my money, I care more about having a great gunsmith that knows the machining he is doing on a firearm than a great machinist who doesn't think about things like, "how is that suppressor going to react to my muzzle threading in this manner?" [/QUOTE]
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True MACHINIST gunsmiths? (a rare breed)
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