My interest in working on firearms started when I was eleven years old. My dad bought me a Marlin .22 bolt-action rifle and handed me the owner's manual. He told me we would go shoot it when I knew all the safety rules by heart.
As I studied the manual, I noticed that the exploded diagram of the rifle looked a lot like the instructions
My interest in working on firearms started when I was eleven years old. My dad bought me a Marlin .22 bolt-action rifle and handed me the owner's manual. He told me we would go shoot it when I knew all the safety rules by heart.
As I studied the manual, I noticed that the exploded diagram of the rifle looked a lot like the instructions for the model airplanes, ships and race cars I loved building at the time. It made sense to me. Parts went together in a certain order, and if you understood what each part did, you could begin to understand how the whole thing worked.
One day I stashed a few screwdrivers in my bedroom and asked Dad if I could clean my rifle. He knew it was unloaded and told me I could.
When he came in later to check on me, the rifle was in pieces.
He looked at it and asked, "What are you doing, and how are you going to get that gun back together?"
I told him, "I'm cleaning it. The instructions are in the owner's manual."
I got it back together.
That started a lifelong interest in firearms and how they work. Over the years I worked on my own guns and guns belonging to family and friends, always wanting to understand the design and function rather than simply replacing parts.
I spent my professional career in construction, but eventually decided to take that lifelong interest in firearms further. I completed gunsmithing training through the American Gunsmithing Institute in the design, function and repair of rifles, pistols, shotguns and rimfire firearms, and opened Gunsmith Rx in Jackson, Wyoming.
Today, Gunsmith Rx is a small, appointment-based gunsmith shop. I accept a limited number of projects and schedule work in advance, allowing me to concentrate on work that interests me and give each project the attention it deserves.
The website is also where I'll document projects from the shop. One of the first will follow a Savage caliber conversion, starting with its original 100-yard baseline, then changing the barrel and caliber, setting headspace, range testing the new configuration, and eventually returning the rifle to its original barrel and caliber. Other projects will be more about shooting and having some fun, like putting my Desert Eagle and Ruger Super Redhawk together for a .44 Magnum head-to-head.
These aren't necessarily finished articles. As I continue working with the firearms and learn something worth adding—or discover that experience changes my thinking—I'll update them. Some of those projects may even develop into services offered through the shop.
Gunsmith Rx is a small working gunsmith shop built around real guns, practical gunsmithing, documented results and projects I genuinely enjoy working on.
After more than fifty years around firearms, I'm still interested in the same question that fascinated that eleven-year-old kid looking at the diagram of his Marlin:
How does this thing work?
n guns I stashed a few screwdrivers in my bedroom and asked Dad if I could clean my rifle. He knew it was unloaded and told me I could.
When he came in later to check on me, the rifle was in pieces.
He looked at it and asked, "What are you doing, and how are you going to get that gun back together?"
I told him, "I'm cleaning it. The instructions are in the owner's manual."
I got it back together.
That started a lifelong interest in firearms and how they work. Over the years I worked on my own guns and guns belonging to family and friends, always wanting to understand the design and function rather than simply replacing parts.
I spent my professional career in construction, but eventually decided to take that lifelong interest in firearms further. I completed gunsmithing training through the American Gunsmithing Institute in the design, function and repair of rifles, pistols, shotguns and rimfire firearms, and opened Gunsmith Rx in Jackson, Wyoming.
Today, Gunsmith Rx is a small, appointment-based gunsmith shop. I accept a limited number of projects and schedule work in advance, allowing me to concentrate on work that interests me and give each project the attention it deserves.
The website is also where I'll document projects from the shop. One of the first will follow a Savage caliber conversion, starting with its original 100-yard baseline, then changing the barrel and caliber, setting headspace, range testing the new configuration, and eventually returning the rifle to its original barrel and caliber. Other projects will be more about shooting and having some fun, like putting my Desert Eagle and Ruger Super Redhawk together for a .44 Magnum head-to-head.
These aren't necessarily finished articles. As I continue working with the firearms and learn something worth adding—or discover that experience changes my thinking—I'll update them. Some of those projects may even develop into services offered through the shop.
Gunsmith Rx is a small working gunsmith shop built around real guns, practical gunsmithing, documented results and projects I genuinely enjoy working on.
After more than fifty years around firearms, I'm still interested in the same question that fascinated that eleven-year-old kid looking at the diagram of his Marlin:
How does this thing work?