Gunsmith Dan introduction

[Gunsmith Dan]

Hi all!!

I have a new shop opening in San Diego called Gunsmith Dan starting May 19th, 2012 and will debut at the Del Mar Gunshow May 19th and 20th.

(Unfortuately the Del Mar Fire Marshall changed some rules so they lost over 120 spots and I was very lucky to just get one table)


I have been a Calgun member for awhile under another name but decide to make a "business" persona take over.

Gunsmith Dan will provide:

General Gunsmithing
Restoration
Customization
Bluing, Browning, Parkerizing
Plating (Nickel, Cobalt (like Chrome but cheaper), Nickel Boron, Gold)


Gunsmith Dan is commited to the highest level or customer service without the high price. ALL of our work will be done in house, no sending off to 3rd parties so the "buck stops here". We also will provide pickup and drop off of your firearms at your residence, business or at one of our partner gun shops anywhere in San Diego County, CA.

So hope to see you all at the Fair and I wish I had more room but I will be limited in showing samples and what work I can do at the show.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and look forward to fixing your firearms and for more contact info go here www.gunsmithdan.com

[john.t.singh]

what gunsmiths certs do you have? are you a glock armourer? sig? can you perform services like reduce trigger pull? just curious.

oh and congrats on opening and good luck!

[GMG]

Tagged.

[Gunsmith Dan]

My current Armorer certs are Glock and Sig (220,226 family) pistol armorer.

Working on Sig 1911/250 and Rifles, Colt, Remington, S&W and H&K but that will most likely be either end of this year or beginning of 2013 (got to travel to them and don't want to be closing my shop for that long of a time).

Trigger work, Smooth and Tunes, sights, scopes, welding, machining etc. Basically all the normal gunsmith stuff, customizing, and fabrication of parts for repairs only, not custom parts (i.e. slides, firing pins etc.).

[kcstott]

Being factory certified is good but don't use that as your sole source for choosing a smith.

WHAT IS THE GLOCK ARMORER'S COURSE?

The Glock Armorer's Course is a one day training program sponsored by Glock and with successful completion certifies you to become a Glock Certified Armorer.
GLOCK ARMORER'S COURSE OUTLINE

*Safety rules
History
*Models/calibers
*Basic operation
*Fields stripping (disassembly and reassembly)
*Details strip the slide (disassembly and reassembly)
*Detail strip the receiver (disassembly and assembly)
*Cleaning and maintenance
*Trouble shooting
Written test



SIG

Factory Armorer Certification P220, P226, P228, P229, P239

Duration: 2 days / 16 hours

Overview
*Introduction to SIG SAUER pistols
*Examination of the SIG SAUER Safety System
*Disassembly and assembly procedures: slides, frames, magazines
*A thorough examination of all pistol operations
Inspection procedures
*Troubleshooting
*Operational function checks
Sights: installation, adjustment
Alternative maintenance methods

* can be found in the OWNERS MANUAL


Any good gunsmith with an understanding of mechanics can self certify by reading a manual and looking at a handgun. The course is a joke to me.
About the only thing you could take away from those classes is inside info If they give it to you of known problem areas. Outside of that you could learn this from a owners manual.

Dan this Post is by no means directed at you. I just want to point out that there is too much faith placed in a piece of paper.

Three days??? three whole days to get both certs. How much better do you think someone will be after three days of factory training. Yeah maybe if they've never seen the gun in person maybe they'd be better. but any good smith even never seeing the gun before can figure it out and work on it without screwing anything up.

At 19 I stripped my brothers Beretta 92FS frame down to the bare receiver for anodizing, I had nothing but a exploded view to work from. I also put it back together in about an hour with out putting a single scratch on the new anodize

Being a good Gunsmith takes a lifetime of experience.

Now If browning offered a Certified Armors course and specifically for the Auto 5. I'd have more respect for a guy that can strip that shotgun down to the component level.


Oh and BTW Dan I wish you the best of luck.

[Gunsmith Dan]

KC I was gonna go into my lecture about the difference between a armorer and a gunsmith in my post.... I just did not want to sound to "elitist" or rude in a response, especially in a intro to a new business.

But yes a armoer's course does not a gunsmith make. They help you work on firearms without voiding a warranty and get you government contracts, which is the only reason I do them otherwise I would save the $1000's of dollars on airfare, hotels, rental cars and the courses themselves. In fact to get completely certified in all the courses for the companies I mentioned above would cost more than $10,000 easy, then do it all over in 3 years.


I have finished courses both at Lassen and Trinadad but that was years ago when gunsmiths were plenty and gunsmith jobs were few. I went into the high tech field and after 20 years kinda burned out on it and really no good money in it anymore. Now it is the reverse and after doing some refresher courses for the more advanced stuff I am ready to get this going, been almost 2 years in the planning.

Basic difference between a armorer and a gunsmith ..... gunsmiths either remove or add metal/plastic while armorers replace parts.

Ohh and no offense taken at all I know how you feel

[kcstott]

Dan
I'm the Pissed off german the floats around the board I come off rude quite frequently. It's not my intention but it is my nature. I am not the only game in town. I am not the only person with my level of skills. I am humbled by quite a few artists of metal an wood.
I am a better then average Tool maker with a server affinity to firearms.

I hear you on the contracts. Local municipalities will not even talk to you unless you have all your ducks in a row. Let alone county and federal government contracts.

One day I will be in you position where I will have my FFL. Right now i'm pretty limited in what I can legally do for a customer. I stay in the black when it come to the ATF and DOJ I don't care to pick a fight nor even attract their attention. I can fill in the gaps that you can't or won't due to time and money. But that is not what you went into business for.

Now that said How much grief did you get setting up your Bluing tanks?
I have a use for someone local that can do Blueing. I hate using Slivnick and Duncan's doesn't have his setup any more. You'll be hearing from me very soon.

[gesundheit]

Best of luck to ya, Dan.

[bigcalidave]

Dan if you want to continue advertising your business here please contact me by pm. Thanks!

[Gunsmith Dan]

KC

Blue tanks not to hard to setup really if you got the right room and venting. The biggest problem most shops have with bluing/parkerizing is making sure all the vapors and steam vent straight out, otherwise you gonna end with a shop full of rapidly rusting machines and tools.

I have a completely seperate room for that so that is 90% of the hard part. I use gas for 3 reasons, cheaper than electric (for now), works in a power outage (which come summer 2012 we gonna have more of them due to nuclear plant being shut down), and parts are cheaper to replace.

Yes you are right no one in San Diego actually does Bluing anymore, they all send it out. I will have samples of my work at the Del Mar Gun Show so pop in and check it out.

Bigcalidave

Sorry hope I am not in trouble ..... just wanted to do a intro as well as let members know I will be in time from time to give answers where I can. Yes I would love to advertise so I will be in contact.

[kcstott]

KC

Blue tanks not to hard to setup really if you got the right room and venting. The biggest problem most shops have with bluing/parkerizing is making sure all the vapors and steam vent straight out, otherwise you gonna end with a shop full of rapidly rusting machines and tools.

I have a completely seperate room for that so that is 90% of the hard part. I use gas for 3 reasons, cheaper than electric (for now), works in a power outage (which come summer 2012 we gonna have more of them due to nuclear plant being shut down), and parts are cheaper to replace.

Yes you are right no one in San Diego actually does Bluing anymore, they all send it out. I will have samples of my work at the Del Mar Gun Show so pop in and check it out.

Yeah there's a reason for everyone sending it out. Have you been inspected by the health department yet? Do you have a health permit? Do you have an EPA ID number? Do you have a SWPPp?? Unless you can prove you are a zero emitter you will need to get these documents and permits. How do you dispose of spent salts? They can't go down the drain. I don't care what brownell's says.

See it's not just the city you need to worry about (I had a business license in Escondido they are very easy going) it's the county and state too. Slivnick (black Oxide service) was allowed to continue operating because he was able to show he was a zero emitter. He has since died but the business is still running.

You need to do some home work before you get in some deep trouble with the state and with SD APCD. Metal finishing is highly regulated.

[Gunsmith Dan]

KC

In order to get and keep my FFL I am required to comply with all Federal, State and Local laws for all parts of my business. The law currently in place for the BATF&E is either you have a FFL or they revoke it, no in between.

If you noticed on my list of plating services there was no mention of Chrome plating. All of my plating is either electroless (Nickel, Cobalt, Nickel Boron) or in the case of gold not requiring a permit for the amounts I will be using. The reason I am not doing Chrome (besides the cost and extra work it requires) is because of the long list of requirements needed to be able to do it, and this is also the reason I am not doing anodizing as well. Bluing and Parkerizing are do not have a permit per say as a process ... but the uses and amounts of certain chemicals used are if you exceed certain levels, which atm I am not.

Now as far as your statement about doing my "homework" like I said before this has been in the planning stages for 2 years now and I am a very by the book person.

I am feeling you have taken a very hostile attitude toward me in assuming I am ignorant and/or of a shady character. If you feel I am/will be doing something illegal please feel free to report me to the proper agencies, you have all my contact info at my website. If you had a bad experience with other gunsmiths I am sorry but do not assume all gunsmiths are alike. On the other hand if you have gunsmith friends that you feel I will be competeing with and don't want them to lose business this is a very sad way of going about it.

Either way please be careful in the future as to how you assume things of others you do not know. They just might be the people you will need help from when you are in a dire situation but have burned the bridge behind you.

[kcstott]

Dan don't take me the wrong way. I'm just making sure you have your ducks in a row so you'll be in business next year too. I didn't mean to imply that you didn't know what you were doing but there are many hoops to jump through in getting a business set up let alone a conversion coating shop which is what blueing is. See while I was a tool maker I also had the dubious job of maintaing all our records and permits from the Fed, state, and local level.
I'm just trying to pass on what I know to help you out in a city and area I'm familiar with.
As far as Permits go Be careful. I've had one agency tell me that something was fine only to find out another agency required a inspection and permit.

I'll give you that fact that the volume (Tank size) you have may not be large enough to for the SDAPCD and the Heath Dept to worry about. Just double check if you haven't already


Now as for Gunsmith friends For one I don't have any. I'm my own gunsmith I do all my own work because I don't trust anyone to do my level of work. And the only guy I do trust I can't afford to pay. Two I hope you put all these AR15 tinker toy "Gunsmiths" out of business. Like I said I've lived in north county for three quarters of my life. The only decent Gunsmith we had was Duncans. Cal custom in fallbrook wouldn't work on your stuff unless you were his friend or knew a buddy. Then don't expect to get it back for two years. Swenson is dead And everybody else was a hack. Now we have all these Tactical shops popping up like weeds. If they can't bolt something on or if it doesn't fit on an AR platform Good luck getting them to properly fit an headspace a barrel to a mauser. And these are the same guys that tout their Glock certified armor and sig certified armor certs

No Dan you mis read me I sincerely hope you fill a very wide gap that exists in San Diego. We are lacking a good gunsmith a good all around gunsmith. Duncans could use a little competition to keep those boys in check. Maybe they'll start turing out work faster.
Dan I think you're going to do well up there.

[hermosabeach]

Tagged for updates

[hermosabeach]

Dan-
I am interested in the Nickel Boron for a few AK bolts and gas tubes as I shoot corrosive ammo.

Do you have a price schedule for having parts stripped and plated?

thanks