America’s new gun owners aren’t who you’d think

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Thank you for your response. Yeah, I have no interest in the retail side of things. My dream would be to eventually get to the point of having my own 07 FFL with an SOT, but to start with pretty much any starting position at a manufacturer would be really cool. Is there somewhere that has an easy to use list of 07FFLs? I would imagine there are at least a few in my state, but I was having trouble finding any manufacturers and didn't really know where to look other than google.

Ah, that's what I plan on eventually doing myself, I'm just not sure if my current residence is zoned for it. I don't think there's really a directory, your best bet probably is just going to be google and "gun manufacturers in [your state]", unless you don't mind moving for what is likely to be an entry level position. Do you have any experience or training? Most of the people on our assembly lines are either gun guys with a little AR building or maintenance experience, ex military (my company is very much into that), or old Vietnamese dudes who've been doing it forever and can put a fire control group together about as fast as you can say it. If my company is any guide, you might also have a better chance if you're willing to work nights, I'm on swing shift myself because that was where they needed armorers at the time, and the 4-10s evening schedule works well for me, plus I get a wage differential for working what is seen as a less desirable shift.

I will say though, be aware that a lot of the work is tedious drudgery, I spent a good chunk of last night working on an order of 25 ARs for a police department and most of it was torquing things to spec, putting red loctite on little screws, and otherwise making sure everything was perfect on duty weapons that have to work every time no matter what; nothing exciting, just exacting and precise.

My first gun was actually a stripped ar15 lower receiver that I built into a rifle. I don't have any training or much experience though and I was never in the military (I tried to join when I was 19, but my pediatric cardiologist said, "you have no business in the military"). I would be happy to do trainings though. I would be shocked if there weren't multiple manufacturers in my state. This state is very pro gun and manufacturing in general is the top employment sector I believe. I also want to teach myself more about engineering, specifically as it relates to arms design and manufacture. My interests actually extend beyond simply SALW and to heavier systems design, however I would be thrilled to even just be limited to dablying in the small arms section of things.

I don't have a problem with repetitive tedious things like assembling a bunch of the same rifle or with working nights. I just started a pizza job...

Did you build the upper as well, or buy a built one from PSA or someone? Putting a lower together is pretty easy aside from those damned detent springs for the take down and pivot pins, trigger is a little fiddly till you figure out how to do it under spring tension, but you don't really need any special tools or anything for the most part, maybe a castle nut wrench if you're going to be anal about it. The upper, on the other hand, requires a calibrated torque wrench and a reaction rod (you can use a vice block, but it's a bit risky), and knowing what you're doing with the shims when it comes to timing your barrel nut and possibly your muzzle device if you're going to put a can on it and can't use crush washers, and is generally the tougher part to put together correctly. Large frame uppers are a whole other thing, between the lack of standards between manufacturers and the higher torque specs required to handle the recoil, they're not much fun to do at home, the tools alone are not cheap.



Definitely start with an AR15 armorer's course, they're cheap and available many places, and you'll learn the basics on a very easy to work on platform, which will certainly qualify you for entry level armorer tech work. If you can scope out who's in your area and figure out which company you want to work for, I'd look to see if they offer any courses for their products as well, I know that most of the major manufacturers have traveling classes for police armorers and such that move around the country, just see what's available and what you want to know. You probably don't need a class for Glock, but SIG or H&K might be worthwhile, maybe a 1911 class if you're interested in competition guns and more traditional gunsmithing. My own school, Colorado School of Trades, is probably overkill for what you're looking for, and it's more focused on hunting rifles and shotguns than more modern stuff, though I hear they've added some newer things like cerakote and limited CNC since I attended.



Better crack the books then, mechanical engineering is super math heavy, and no one is going to take you seriously without a degree. If that's out of reach for some reason, learning CAD-CAM might be a way in for you, that would at least get you closer to the design end of things, and you could tinker with your own designs with a pretty minimal investment in a 3D printer, or desktop CNC tools if things are going well financially for you.



Heh, I've thrown pizzas and delivered them as jobs, it's actually pretty fun when you're younger, or at least it used to be in the days of cheap gas and no apps. Get good at tossing dough, it's a life skill that will stick with you for a long time, it makes it really cheap to feed yourself at home, and it impresses women when you do it for them.

A clevis pin (.25" I think) makes a handy tool for installing the detent pin and spring for the pivot pin. It saves a lot of cussing and you can get one cheap at Lowe's, Home Depot, Ace, or any hardware store.

I haven't built one in over four and a half years since I'm already well enough provisioned in AR's for now. I have parts for one in .300 Blackout in M4 trim, and another in .308 which will be of the sniper rifle persuasion. Those, plus parts for others in 5.56 that are kitted and ready to assemble.

Sorry, I fell asleep before you posted this. I assembled the whole rifle from individual parts.

I am well aware that the field is math heavy, my wife had expressed a willingness to help teach me the math (math is one of her specialties), so if she sticks around I will take her up on that. I plan on ordering a bunch of used text books to get started when I have the funds and time available. I have also considered going back to school to study engineering. I am also interested in robotics, mostly as it relates to weapons systems, such as UGVs, UAVs, UUVs, ect..

I definitely plan on learning CAD and also getting a 3d printer and playing with that. I also plan on learning CNC and want to get at least some training in machining.


I am hoping that the only woman I will need to impress with dough tossing is my wife. So far the only roll I have in preparing the pizzas is to prep the dough for the next day. I mostly just deliver (and cook the wings).

That looks a lot like what we use at work for doing it, I think ours came from Brownells and is slightly different, a little more user friendly. At the risk of giving away exactly who I work for, our lowers are known for having a retention screw for the takedown pin spring, which is really nice when you're building a bunch of them and don't want those springs flying around when you're installing the receiver extension and the end plate.

I just finished a large frame build in .308 myself at home, it's legally a pistol cause I built it with an SBA3 and a 12.5" barrel, which is stupid short without crossing the line into actually ret*d. It's a beast, the handguard stops just short of the brake, and when I mount my can on it the lock ring actually goes under the handguard a little, it's pretty bad ass looking. You really don't want to shoot it without the can though, even with plugs under muffs it rattles your teeth at the outdoor range, it's great for clearing out the range if I want to shoot alone . I put a 3.5 lb straight trigger from Rise Armament in it cause it was cheap through my work and I'd never tried one, it's actually scary light, like I'd never put one in a serious rifle, but it's fun in this blaster. I've got a cheap Romeo 5 on it that I used to get a basic zero when I was dialing in the AGB, I'm going to put a Vortex Viper PST 1-6X24 on it when my funds recover, I get half off from them .

Last edited by Dox47 on 08 Oct 2022, 3:21 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Pics of said ridiculous blaster:





That's a Rugged Surge on the muzzle, and yes, it cost more than the rifle it's mounted to .

If it's an option for you and you're serious, definitely go to school for the engineering degree, it will open all the doors for you that are closed to me, nobody will even look at you for design work without one no matter how much practical experience and how many great ideas you have.



You can get an Ender 3 for $175 on Amazon right now, it'll take you a few hours to put together (definitely watch the video first to see what you need to adjust and level as you build it), then you can use it to print out upgrade parts for it to make it work better. I'd suggest paying a little more and getting the v2 model, the silent operations board, the glass bed, and maybe the auto leveling kit if you don't feel like futzing with the leveling screws all the time, it's all pretty cheap. You can get a hobbyist license for AutoDesk Fusion for free, and Cura, the program I use for slicing, is also free.

Machining, manual and CNC, is something I'd look for a community college or trade school to learn, as the equipment is prohibitively expensive and bulky, and I'd hesitate to just start messing around with machines that can maim or kill you quite easily. A mini lathe is an option, you can get those for $500-900 ish, they fit on a bench and run off of standard 110 volt power, they're mostly limited by having a small throughway in the headstock, usually .80, which really limits your ability to work on barrels, though it is possible to do with a steady rest if you're careful. Take a welding class while you're at it, it's another useful skill to have, TIG is the most applicable specifically to gun work, but MIG is great for other projects (like the robotics you mentioned) and general metal fab, while I'd avoid stick, as it's more for heavy duty stuff like welding girders together and too crude for this kind of work. Oxy-acetylene is good to know too for general purpose use, it can be very portable, and sometimes you need to silver solder or braze something and oxy is the way to go for that.



See if you can help out in the kitchen between orders, you'll make friends at work and get valuable cooking experience while you're at it, particularly how to slap and toss dough, which really is a handy thing to know how to do when you want to make pizza at home. I still love pizza even after a few different stints in pizzerias over the years, and making it at home is cheap and satisfying, I don't even use a mixer for my dough, I just hand mix it in a Cambro, give it a couple of folds to work the gluten, divide and ball it up when it's risen a bit, then let it relax in the fridge till I'm ready to bake it on a steel in the oven, I think it costs me about $2.00 to make a large.