Any clown that can get a FFL can call himself a gunsmith,,,,, that is until he makes enough folks unhappy that they rebuke that title. Don't confuse a machinist with a gunsmith, The two are often used interchangeably, especially on the web. A machinist makes things using machine tools. Might be all he's ever machined is plastics, but he's still considered a machinist, unless he's just a 'button pusher' who puts material in and pushes the green button and takes whatever out when the cycle stops, and then he's just a laborer. Lots of high-tech work gets done with plastics and other synthetic materials, today, so I'm not diminishing the skills a true machinist has. As with any other trade, there are varying, should I say, classes, of machinists. Some with life times of experience with tooling and what can be done with it and some who are just getting a foot-hold on what can be done. Some of those with a life times experience who are so bull-headed they'll never learn anything new and a a few who are just getting a good foot-hold who seem to grasp whatever is put in front of them. Many have made a living as a "machinist". They didn't learn it by watching YouTube videos. A true gunsmith wears many hats. In the past he was a stock maker, a repair mechanic, a fabricator, a metal finisher and yes, a machinist. Only a very few become stock makers, anymore, and the true metal finishers are few and far between. Unless they go into the field of making synthetic stocks and if they do that and are successful, the rest of 'gunsmithing' goes by the wayside. Good metal finishers are usually so busy they haven't time for much else. Should you ask your gunsmith what the TIR of his lathe is? If he's competent, you'll probably just piss him off! There have been many accurate barrels chambered and crowned on, what some consider, 'junky' old lathes. The skill is in the man not the machine. The man who has the skills can compensate for the deficiencies , real or perceived, of his equipment. Don't take that wrong, a machine with ways that are worn completely out and the splindle bearing with the rollers about to "roll out" at you won't do it,,,, be neither will a brand new lathe if it doesn't have experienced brains controlling it. Well maintained equipment is just plain easier to do quality work on, but you still have to know how. To become a gunsmith the two year schools that are around the country (California, Arizona, Colorado, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Minnesota) would be a good place to start. You'd get exposed to all the fields I mentioned, above. I've heard it said "the self taught had a fool for a teacher". That's true, to a certain degree. Depends on the person, and then that person many times wants more, that he knows he might never learn on his own. I've seen where some recommend an apprenticeship with another gunsmith. I'd recommend that only if you don't need much of a pay check to live on. Not every competent gunsmith is a good teacher. How would you know if his way is really the right way to accomplish the task. There's a sound reason why S&W doesn't sell oversize cylinder stops and hands unless you have their Revolver Armorers certification. Many of the instructors at the two your schools have certifications from the firearms makers and/or are members of the ACGMG. Correspondence courses you say? Well, you haven't got someone looking over your shoulder giving you pointers or actually taking tool in hand to show you how. Or to put eyes and hands on and grade your work. Even if you attend a two year program and graduate there's still much to be learned just like every other field one may study. An apprenticeship in a real shop would be useful to you, then. Hands on experience, with a sound instructional background, is awful hard to beat. "Can any clown call himself a gunsmith that repairs guns without training, certification or FFL?". YEP! As long as they don't keep customer guns overnight! And anymore,,, there's lots of 'um!
