The History of Competitive Shooting Competitive shooting is a sport that people take part in throughout the world. It is something that involves immense skill and concentration along with plenty of practice. But shooting was not always the competitive, popular pastime that it is today. Here is a look at how shooting has changed and…
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Gunsmith Lore and Legend, Vol. 1 Gunsmiths are not just made out of necessity and love for a craft, they’re born out of history, literature, and even the foundations of the English language. There’s so much interesting stuff out there that it can be hard to know where to start. While we can’t hit all…
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Hollywood and Firearms: Separating Fact from Fiction This month, let’s delve into how Hollywood portrays firearms and the accuracy of these depictions. Growing up in a military home as the son of a 39-year Army veteran, and as a gunsmith myself, I’ve developed a keen eye for all things gun-related. My father wasn’t a fan…
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3 Ways Gunsmiths Can Signify Memorial Day Memorial Day is a special day for many people throughout the country. It commemorates and pays tribute to our fallen heroes who have died during military service to the people of this great nation. People choose to celebrate this important day in many ways, the most popular being…
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Browning: Inventor, Engineer, and Firearms Innovator On January 23rd, we celebrated the 169th birthday of prolific firearms legend John Moses Browning. Browning is commonly coined as the father of modern gunsmithing, and his birthday is one of the most important days on the calendar. Browning’s legacy hasn’t faded one bit over the years. Now, put…
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5 Family Hunting Stories and Traditions Hunting is a long-standing tradition embedded in American culture. In some families, it is a way of life passed down from great-grandfather to grandfather to father to son. Due to hunting being a large part of family life for centuries, there is a wealth of different traditions and legends…
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Gunsmithing Career History Gunsmiths have been around much longer than armorers. First gunsmiths evolved from bellmakers, later they overlapped with watchmakers — wheel locks had much in common with watch mainsprings and escapements, and with furniture makers. The same person didn’t usually work in both fields, but the skill sets overlapped considerably. Armorers, people who…
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Metal Finishes: Bluing, Electroplating, and Spray-Coats Weather isn’t always kind to steel: rust never sleeps. For the first six centuries of its existence, guns also had to deal with corrosive residues, first from black powder residue forming sulphuric acid, then from salts from mercury-based primers. First gun finish was bluing, a form of carefully controlled surface oxidation.…
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Competitive Shooting Sports: An Introduction In this month’s discussion I will introduce you to the world of shooting sports. Firearm shooting competitions have been around as long as firearms have been in existence. In the United States, in the late 1700’s “Turkey Shoots” were organized to test the abilities of the local population. The prize,…
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How Does Trap and Skeet Shooting Differ? Trap and skeet shooting are two clay shooting sports in which participants shoot moving clay targets in various conditions. These sports originated as practice rounds for gunsmiths to shoot without harming live birds. But due to the rise of animal rights, these practices have grown into their very…
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