Thread: Real gunsmiths

Great Idea for a thread - I suspect a good deal of being called "a real gunsmith" is choosing your customers, or another way of putting it, only taking on jobs where you can meet the customers (realistic) expectations.

There are two gunsmiths (that I know of, there may be others) in NZ who are capable of doing high end work on Mauser rifles, and they produce results comparable with the original Oberndorf Mauser Sporting rifles. I have had work done by other Gunsmiths (also possibly technically competent) who were not able match the original results aesthetically or in terms of finish etc.

Some of it is training, but I suspect a lot depends on a passion to learn, research and gain experience to do good work - for many projects having a bit of "art in your veins" will also be a big help. There are a couple of young gunsmiths out there that I've run across that in due course will be getting projects from me as a test of their ability. If they meet expectations on less challenging jobs they will get trusted with the expensive stuff later. I think its important spread ones projects to allow those starting out to get ahead.