Newby Lathe/tools question

Z

zinger

Guest
Hello to everyone, new member here. Read through the forum, but haven't really found what I was looking for, or I missed the post.
I'm looking to set up a small shop to start working on guns during off time from work, maybe even get more serious as time goes by. I have some friends that have been into machining for years, but it seems I'm getting different advice from everyone, so I figured I'd ask here.
What sort of lathe/mill should I be looking at to do this kind of work (barrels, etc.)? My budget to equip the shop is 10K or less. I've looked at Grizzly Gunsmith lathes, does anyone have experience with them? I see many Chinese machines out there, are they any good?

Thanks in advance,
zinger :confused:
 
zinger said:
Hello to everyone, new member here. Read through the forum, but haven't really found what I was looking for, or I missed the post.
I'm looking to set up a small shop to start working on guns during off time from work, maybe even get more serious as time goes by. I have some friends that have been into machining for years, but it seems I'm getting different advice from everyone, so I figured I'd ask here.
What sort of lathe/mill should I be looking at to do this kind of work (barrels, etc.)? My budget to equip the shop is 10K or less. I've looked at Grizzly Gunsmith lathes, does anyone have experience with them? I see many Chinese machines out there, are they any good?

Thanks in advance,
zinger :confused:
Click to expand...

Zinger, if you are going to work on guns for others, make sure you know the BATF rules on gunsmithing before you buy a bunch of equipment and hang out a shingle.

The big reason you are getting different advise from others is there is more than one way to "skin a cat".

Good luck though.
 
Hmmm. Good point. At first the idea was for myself only, but that may change. I'm looking that up.

Thanks.
z
 
zinger, do you mean you have 10g for machinery or 10g for everything. You will probably end up spending 10g on tools and measurement equipment alone. As far as mills go you can find a decent Bridgeport series 1 for 4-5g that leaves you 5-6g for a lathe. I don't know much about the Chinese lathes so I can comment on those. A half decent one can be had for $700+
 
I bought a lathe down to Detroit, not far from Ohio

$1400.00 got me a Rockwell 10". Really good shape. Bought a KDK toolpost later from Dick Trimstar. Works better than the rocker style. They have many Bridgeports their as well! So my point is all of Detroit is on sale. Just call Bridgeman Machinery 313-366-1060. Paul Becigneul bought a 15" Clausing / Colechester for around $4500-5000. Really good shape! Same place. ...ok, I'm a little sloppy.

517962357_pDPwJ-M.jpg
 
Very nice. Thank you, I'll be making some phone calls next week. BTW, MIM, it was 10Gs to set up basic tools and start working, then build up from there. THanks again guys, I appreciate all the pointers.

...sloppy? where? ;)
 
Learn First Buy Second

I had served an apprenticeship and became a Journeyman Machinist before I ever even thought about Gunsmithing. When I became interested in being a Gunsmith I sought out Gunsmiths that would answer my questions and worked on my own firearms for many years. I would return the favors from the guys that helped me by giving them jerky and fish and purchasing my materials from them. You have much better opportunities to get your questions answered than I did, Al Gore had not invented the internet yet when I started in the seventies. I used the shop equipment at work, after hours and paid the shop owner for the wear on his equipment and tooling. During the learning process I made some mistakes and learned from those mistakes. Those mistakes were made on my guns and if I wrecked one it was my loss and did not involve any BATFE paperwork.
When I decided to hang out a shingle I formed a Sub- S Corporation, took out a loan for $50,000 to purchase a new mill, lathe, associated tooling and two large gun safes. The equipment went into a separate building on my property that I built (paid cash for the materials) for just for this propose with its own address, utilities, burglar alarm, forced air heating and parking lot about 800 feet from the house. After getting the conditional use permits from the County the BATFE Agent came and inspected the location and issued my license after much paperwork and waiting. Would I do it again? NO! Am I glad that I did it? YES!
I suggest that you learn to be a competent Machinist first if you are not yet. Take some classes at Community College and attend some of the high intensity short length Gunsmith classes available. Then start thinking about being an 'Off Time from Work Gunsmith and Possibly Get serious Later' kind of guy'.

Good Luck,
Nic.
 
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