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Jaxom · Senior Member

The more I think about this, the more I like the idea. My first air gun purchases were just "for yucks". I hadn't a clue on what I was buying. I was really lucky that with some guidance from fellow Airgunhome.com's members that I was able to take a marginal purchase and turn it into a source for table fare.

In the past few months, with little money and alot of time on my hands I had to come up with "a plan" for where I wanted to go in my life. During this process I've come to the conclusion that, unless something falls in my lap job wise, I cannot afford to keep the home we're living in.

In order to find a home that I can afford, I'll have to move conciderably further from the "city". Land becomes much more reasonable out there. Best example I can give as of now are two properties I just seen online last night. One is 12acers with 4 bed, 2 bath house, barn, 3 car garage, and 1 acer stocked pond. $135,000! Another property was 70 acers, no house... $115,000!

The drawback about moving to these area's is work. Yes, depending on size and type of land I could lease some of it to a farmer for planting crops, and I could also set aside more land for our state's CRP program and collect money from the state. But will this be enough income to pay the taxs, utilities, telephone, cable/satelite, internet, ect? I don't want to take the chance, I need to plan some other source of income.

So, what potential income sources would I concider? Most of my career has been in retail as a assistant manager/manager. And I HATED every minute of it. I tried, unsuccesfully, to go into computer networking. But that was a bust for more reasons then I care to mention here. The state paid for me to learn how to weld, but that too was a bust. Can't get a job as a welder, if you can't read the blue prints!

Even before coming to Airgunhome.com, I had already started tossing around some ideas for a metal foundry business that I'm working on. Combined with my welding skills, even if I can't read welding symbols, I can still weld. I can make an income. But will it be enough? I don't know, and I don't want to find out!

That brings me to air guns and gunsmithing. The more I read and understand about air guns the more I want to know. And I "think" I can work that into a profitable buisness.

At one time, I'd of said I wouldn't dare touch something as complicated and confusing as an airgun is. Just the though of all those tiny pices and springs just made my tummy turn queezy. But the more I do work on my own weapons and read all the fantastic posts I read here. (And I do read all of them, even it doesn't apply to guns I own). I'm still learning. But this learning has me craving for more!

But like anything else you must learn to walk before you're ready to run. Right now I'm paying down alot of debt and such. There's just no way I can take a gunsmithing or machinists class at this time. In the future I do hope to do so though. But in the interm I need some guidance for some basic information.

As of right now there's no "Dummies guide to airgunsmithing" that I know of. (Perhaps those of you that have done this sort of thing for a long time might concider writing one, could make alot of $$$ if ya did!). Like most things worth doing, it takes hands on practice to become any good at it. But you do need some founding basic information to fall back on.

So that's where I could use some advice on. A founding library of the basics. There's sooo much information on gunsmithing, for the beginner, it's hard to tell whats good and what's not. Same goes for machining. This will be a must as far as I can see to take this to the level I want to.

Next, it'd be good to know what makes a nice start of tools specifcally for a machine shop. I already know what I need for my welding and foundry. It's just a matter of time and money till I get that far.

Word about tools though. Joe mentioned that for anyone interested in doing some of this work, they should concider a certain sized lathe to start out with. But that's more money that I can afford at this time. And yes I check Craiglist/Ebay out often! I'm more of the philisophy, I'd rather start out small, and become very good at what I'm making/selling and then reinvest those profit into larger and better equipement. So what if I made one small part, I want to make sure it's the best! I think all too often people buy large and expensive quipment that they either don't know how to use, or it's above and beyond what they actually need.

Let's say for example, 3 parts small parts. Ones I can make on a micro or mini lathe. I wouldn't need a huge lathe to make a trigger, muzzle brake, or different type of scope mount for example. If I sell enough of those 3 items I can always buy a larger lathe in the future for bigger items as I expand the buisness. This gets me into the "black" quicker then investing in a machine that's twice the price. And really more machine then I need given the parts I'm making.

And finally software. I'm not sure what other's are using, or even if they are using any type of cad software. But I'd like to know which of the cad programs is easiest to learn? I have a few idears that I've made drawings of or have a mental picture of that I'd like to get down, but don't need to spend a year learning a cad program before I can successfully do so.

Other thoughts. I'm really interested in this. But it is quite possible that after reading a bit, I may decide that it's more then I want to take on. That it just may be beyond my ablities. I won't know until I start readiing and more especially doing. And I do believe any education you learn is a good thing. I have a few one off's of things that have absolutly nothing to do with air guns that would require me to learn some basics of machine work, and I can always apply what I learn there, even if these things are only for myself.

Thanks,

Jax

AirGunEric · Site Admin

One key thing to remember in any business venture: if you can turn an enjoyable hobby into an enjoyable business which will be profitable, that's wonderful. The problem is with many hobbies, it can either become un-enjoyable as a job, or may not be terribly profitable.

There are very few people out there that I am aware of that use airgun tuning and/or custom parts as their primary source of income. Is this indicative of the market, or something else?

Alstone · Moderator & Site Supporter

Hi Jaxom
I design and make parts for a variety of air guns, QB’s, Air Arms, Rohm etc and I can sell all I can make, the only problem is that with a small work shop any new design for an add on part or replacement takes time, unless you have a full complement of machine tools, (Lathe 24” bed, Milling machine, Bench drill plus the skills to operate them), then you can make a lot of parts cheaply and quickly, and this is the only way you will make a living. I only make a few prototypes to get the item right them give the design away to anyone who wants it (I’m inherently lazy), but not many people take up the offer because they will be working many hours for very little reward, and this they find out after making the first one. Neutral

If you are going into the tuning of airguns then this is more profitable, provided you are good at it, because you can make more money by adding value to an item that you don’t have to buy in the first place. Smile

But all these things depend on having a constant stream of customers, whether you get them by advertising or word of mouth, this will take time so you will need another income while you get established. Question

A little tip on learning how to use machine tools, read the relevant book on the subject them get the model engineers book on the same subject, then you will learn how to use something like a lathe in ways the writers of the official guides never thought of, you can get away with only one machine tool in a workshop, and that is a lathe. You can turn, thread, drill, grind, mill and saw all on one machine. Cool

Have fun

Al

cw · Banned

If you do move to the country, you could always try pest control.
I have paid for a Condor with Bushnell 3200 elite, bi-pod, tac light,
laser, SCUBA tank, handpump and miscellaneous accessories by
doing pest control. Actually, I have paid for it three times over with
the Condor (it makes pest control fun and easy). Plus, you are doing
a comunity service. I saved a huge corn field last growing season
that nutria had flooded by weakening an irrigation canal above it.
I made $200 and received a pickup full of corn. All for two days
of 3 hour sessions of shooting my airgun at evasive, waddling,
swimming and diving 20-25 pound rodents (72 total).

Jaxom · Senior Member

Thanks for the adivce guys. It does seem to be a bit more complex then I had thought...It's just that I need to get out of here asap. Five years max. If you were in my shoes, what would you concider? As long as my feet remain on the ground and it's legal, I'm pretty much game to try anything.

Although I'd still like to buy a small lathe and mill. As I've mentioned, there's a few hobby things non air gun related that I wish to build. Suggestions on brands/modles?

Jaxom · Senior Member

I forgot to ask...what rodent is 20-25lbs!???

Alstone · Moderator & Site Supporter

Amigo · Veteran Member

Jaxom:

The last reports I'm getting indicate that sub-prime mortgages may be a thing of the past.
BTW, is your child support caught up yet?

Amigo

cw · Banned

Jaxom, sorry, I ment 12-15 pounds. I'm talking about nutria.
They look like a huge rat with a square head and webbed
back feet. They burrow through the sides of irrigation cannals
and weaken them the point of collapse. The crops below the cannal
are then flooded and subsequently damaged. I have been all over
Oregon and Washington doing this for years. Just put up flyers
in the stores and take out an ad or two in the local papers and
you'll have more business than you can handle in little time.

kanyon · Silver Status Member