Gunsmithing, Part 1
I am continually amazed (but not really) how people tend to think that a gun is some kind of mysterious object that only a Zen Master could possibly understand. People who advertise themselves as gunsmiths, those who are on some cable channel talking about "gunsmithing" as if it were a sacred rite, even local gun shops act like this is something mystical.
Bullshit.
Mystical is fixing a mechanical-movement grandfather clock. Zen Master rank is rebuilding a V-8 Ford engine in 12 hours. There really are just two kinds of gunsmithing work. The first is assembly. The second is modification. This time around, I'll comment on the first kind. A gun is a very small collection of parts that work together. If you can change out a lawnmower blade, you can do this. Here's a "before" photo of all the parts in an M-4 carbine:
A dog water bowl full of little stuff and some big stuff. An hour later (ok, with a beer break), a few minutes of internet searching for instructions, and here's the result:
Anybody can do this. It's just putting something together. Keep this in mind when some self-proclaimed gun expert says that it takes years of experience and some kind of intuitive knowledge from the "gods" that makes it possible. No, I had never built an AR-15 in my life as I really don't have any uses for a semi-automatic 22 caliber centerfire rifle. I am just so tired of the "experts" that I figured this can't be that difficult. It's not. Neither is cutting rifle chambers, headspacing, adjusting a trigger, mounting a scope or anything else regarding firearms for that matter. For most assembly and repair, it doesn't take special tools or years of skills. It only takes a willingness to give it a try.
Bullshit.
Mystical is fixing a mechanical-movement grandfather clock. Zen Master rank is rebuilding a V-8 Ford engine in 12 hours. There really are just two kinds of gunsmithing work. The first is assembly. The second is modification. This time around, I'll comment on the first kind. A gun is a very small collection of parts that work together. If you can change out a lawnmower blade, you can do this. Here's a "before" photo of all the parts in an M-4 carbine:
A dog water bowl full of little stuff and some big stuff. An hour later (ok, with a beer break), a few minutes of internet searching for instructions, and here's the result:
Anybody can do this. It's just putting something together. Keep this in mind when some self-proclaimed gun expert says that it takes years of experience and some kind of intuitive knowledge from the "gods" that makes it possible. No, I had never built an AR-15 in my life as I really don't have any uses for a semi-automatic 22 caliber centerfire rifle. I am just so tired of the "experts" that I figured this can't be that difficult. It's not. Neither is cutting rifle chambers, headspacing, adjusting a trigger, mounting a scope or anything else regarding firearms for that matter. For most assembly and repair, it doesn't take special tools or years of skills. It only takes a willingness to give it a try.
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