What I noticed when I started cleaning guns in better light

[king_of_riffles]

I'd been cleaning by feel and routine for years. Better lighting showed me carbon I'd been leaving behind, wear patterns I hadn't tracked and a crack in a recoil spring guide that I would have missed entirely under my old setup. Always clean in good light, it changes what you find.

 

[Alan]

Funny how brighter light suddenly finds problems your routine kept conveniently in the dark all those years.

 

[Handyman]

 I used to think I was doing a pretty good job until I got a brighter light for my bench. Then I noticed all this buildup I’d been missing for ages and it made me slow down, forcing myself to properly check things over instead of just doing things by habit

 

[Quark]

Or do like I do and have the gun professionally cleaned every year. Well my rifles. I've been cleaning my 1873 Winchester clone. I did take the side plates off and clean as best as I could which I thought was good enough. Then I took the rifle to the gunsmith and he cleaned the rifle and when he gave the rifle back to me he boy was that dirty.

I'm going to clean my 1885 Winchester clone from C. Sharps Arms company but I will have him clean once a year when I'm done shooting. While I do have the instructions on how to take the block out I do not have the work area and I could get it out but I'm not sure I could ever put it back together again.

 

[Robbie C]

Or do like I do and have the gun professionally cleaned every year. Well my rifles. I've been cleaning my 1873 Winchester clone. I did take the side plates off and clean as best as I could which I thought was good enough. Then I took the rifle to the gunsmith and he cleaned the rifle and when he gave the rifle back to me he boy was that dirty.

I'm going to clean my 1885 Winchester clone from C. Sharps Arms company but I will have him clean once a year when I'm done shooting. While I do have the instructions on how to take the block out I do not have the work area and I could get it out but I'm not sure I could ever put it back together again.

I'd be tempted to, but the handful of gunsmiths we have here are backed up months and don't seem to be at all supportive of "young blood" getting into the business (at least that's what I've heard from folks I've talked to).

 

[Quark]

I'd be tempted to, but the handful of gunsmiths we have here are backed up months and don't seem to be at all supportive of "young blood" getting into the business (at least that's what I've heard from folks I've talked to).

I'm lucky I guess as I have a great gunsmith with apprentice gunsmiths and usually have the gun back from cleaning in a couple of weeks.

 

[Howdy]

A gunsmith is like an auto mechanic. He has to compete with mass production. Another characteristic they have in common is both spend much of their time fixing what engineers and lawyers screwed up.
That said, a gunsmith has to be pretty damn smart and talented to do his job effectively and the income stream is simply not enough to support the needed talent. The lack of qualified gunsmiths is just going to get worse.

 

[Quark]

A gunsmith is like an auto mechanic. He has to compete with mass production. Another characteristic they have in common is both spend much of their time fixing what engineers and lawyers screwed up.
That said, a gunsmith has to be pretty damn smart and talented to do his job effectively and the income stream is simply not enough to support the needed talent. The lack of qualified gunsmiths is just going to get worse.

Maybe maybe not.

MSSA has gunsmith's listed just click on the gunsmith tab. https://www.mtssa.org/

In looking things up on gunsmiths I found out that the there is a gunsmith school in Kalispell. https://www.fvcc.edu/community-education/adult-education