Gunsmithing for the dealer: how you can give your patrons the "custom" treatment

Shooting Industry, August, 1993 by Scott Farrell

This is the age of "mail order" and "do-it-yourself" customer treatment, and shooters and gun buyers are one of the last groups of buyers who expect top-notch custom service. If they want nothing more than bargain prices, they'll head down to the local "Mart-Mart" gun rack. If they come to you, their neighborhood gun expert, they expect serious service -- and they're usually willing to pay for it.

Many gunshops offer some degree of gunsmithing services, from simple cleaning and adjusting to full-scale engraving and customizing. If you don't offer some type of gunsmithing service already, here are some simple "custom touches" you can extend to your customers. If you already operate a gunsmith service in your store, you'll want to keep it state-of-the-art with these great products and tools.

Brownells

There isn't a shooter, collector, or gun enthusiast in the world who doesn't know the Brownells name. This company is widely respected as "the place to get any kind of tool." Their 200-page catalog lists everything a gunsmith could need to repair any type of gun, from choke tubes and scope mounts to wood carving tools and drill presses. Brownells is truly the first name any gunsmith should know.

B-Square

Cataloging a wide variety of scope mounts, bases, and accessories, B-Square is one of the premier manufacturers of easy-to-use customizing products. When your customers want a scope on their handgun, shotgun, or rifle, turn to B-Square.

Colonial Arms

When you want to work on shotguns, Colonial Arms is here to help. Their extensive catalog includes a variety of tools for use in cleaning and installing choke tubes as well as shotgun bead sights. Colonial Arms also offers a selection of after-market choke tubes for all shotguns for use with both lead and steel shot, in all chokes and most popular gauges.

Ed Brown Products

For the serious gunsmith, Ed Brown products offers the parts and supplies needed to break into the fast-growing field of custom competition guns. Ed Brown offers a selection of top-quality parts, such as guide rods, slide stops, barrels, magazines, grips, and the Four-Star compensator. Ed Brown also offers a dealer program to allow you to offer customizing services on pistols your customers bring in.

Faith Associates

No gunsmithing bench would be complete without some products from Faith Associates. With bore gauges, borelights, brass and nylon brushes, and bore brushes in most common calibers, gun cleaning and maintenance is a snap.

Forster Products

Precision gunsmithing is the specialty of Forster with an extensive line of gunsmithing tools, including their Universal Sight Mounting Fixture. This tool was designed to give gunsmiths the accuracy required for drilling and tapping holes for the mounting of scope mounts, receiver sights, or shotgun beads. The fixture will accommodate any single-barrel gun, allowing you to do a first-class job and keep your customers coming back.

H-S Precision

Custom, high-quality rifle stocks are one of the best custom touches you can give your customers, and H-S Precision is one of the best rifle stocks on the market. The H-S line of stocks is made for the Remington 700 for sporting, police, and target shooting customers.

H-S Precision also offers several polymer stocks for the Remington XP-100. All stocks are made of Kevlar, graphite, and fiberglass with a T6 aluminum bedding block for stability.

Lyman

Along with their complete line of reloading presses and dies, powder scales and measures, and case cleaning tumblers, Lyman also offers several gunsmithing tools. The Deluxe Hammer & Punch Set is a must for anyone who takes apart firearms for cleaning and repair. Lyman also markets an attractive tool display which features ratchet screwdrivers, a polishing cloth, and a magdriver with replaceable tips.

Millett Sights

Millett offers a line of installation and adjusting tools for use on all Millett Sights, including a service/repair kit, the Dual-Crimp installation tool, the handgun boresighter gauge, and the pocket sight adjustment tool.

Millett also manufactures a line of shooting rests for the gunsmith who also test fires guns. The BenchMaster rests are available for both rifles and pistols.

Paragrave

With the technology of an ultra-high-speed engraving tool, the Paragrave system allows anyone who can trace a line to etch and engrave like a master gunsmith. Simply trace on the easy-to-use stencil then follow the lines with the tool, and your customers will be delighted with the results.

The Paragrave tool will work on gun stocks and metal parts as well as brass, ceramic, glass, and other materials. The company also offers a free demonstration video so you can see the system in action before you start.

RIG Sportsman's Products

All good gunsmiths should have top-quality cleaning equipment, and with RIG Products, you'll be ready for any job, no matter how tough. RIG offers full cleaning kits for shotgun, handgun, and rifle customers. All come with a sturdy, re-usable box or bag for convenient carry and storage.