But even guns that cost several thousand dollars apiece can bring in six figure salaries for master gunsmiths. He said that some of these customized guns have six figure price tags. “Making something out of scratch is not easy,” said Stienke, an Air Force veteran who described classical gunsmiths as “people who can craft something from raw pieces of wood and hunks of steel and turn it into something beautiful.” He said that a master gunsmith might spend 1,200 hours on a shotgun that’s “a work of art when they’re done with it.” But he said that gunsmiths who own their own shops and keep them open for more than five years can make $60,000 a year.īuck Stienke, gunsmith and owner of Lone Star Shooting Supply in Gainesville, Texas, and author of the Civil War book “No Time To Die,” said that many gunsmiths make $50,000 to $80,000 a year, though they can make more if they specialize in producing high-end custom guns. John Buol, editor of American Gunsmith, said that gunsmiths typically make an annual income of $49,000, based on his conversations with members of the American Gunsmithing Association. He said gunsmiths make as little as $30,000 a year for an apprentice, to upwards of $150,000 for an experienced gunsmith. But AR-15s, they’re sort of like adult LEGOs.” “Anybody can put together an AR,” he said. It’s relatively easy to add hundreds of dollars worth of scopes, stocks, grips, straps, magazines and so on. Gun owners love to tinker on their AR-15s, which are famous for their user-friendly, modular design. “Sometimes I have to make the same part three or four times to get the gun working properly.” “I have to make parts from scrap,” he said. Gunsmiths like Rivkin spend much of their time crafting new parts for old guns, a process that requires expertise, tools, patience, time and elbow grease. Many of these parts are no longer available, so gunsmiths have to make new ones. Gunsmiths replace missing or broken parts in old guns, if they can find them. While his explanation is simple, the job is not so easy.
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