Gunsmithing/Gunsmith

What Gunsmithing/Gunsmith Majors Need to Know

O*NET surveyed people in occupations related to gunsmithing/gunsmith and asked them what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important for their jobs. The responses were rated on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being most important.

Knowledge Areas for Gunsmithing/Gunsmith Majors

According to O*NET survey takers, a major in gunsmithing/gunsmith should prepare you for careers in which you will need to be knowledgeable in the following areas:

• Mechanical - Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
• Production and Processing - Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
• Physics - Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub- atomic structures and processes.
• Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.

Skills for Gunsmithing/Gunsmith Majors

A major in gunsmithing/gunsmith prepares you for careers in which the following skill-sets are crucial:

• Operation Monitoring - Watching gauges, dials, or other indicators to make sure a machine is working properly.
• Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
• Troubleshooting - Determining causes of operating errors and deciding what to do about it.
• Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
• Operation and Control - Controlling operations of equipment or systems.

Abilities for Gunsmithing/Gunsmith Majors

As you progress with your gunsmithing/gunsmith degree, there are several abilities you should pick up that will help you in whatever related career you choose. These abilities include:

• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
• Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
• Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
• Perceptual Speed - The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
• Control Precision - The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Gunsmithing/Gunsmith

Some careers associated with gunsmithing/gunsmith require an advanced degree while some may not even require a bachelor’s. Whatever the case may be, pursuing more education usually means that more career options will be available to you.

Find out what the typical degree level is for gunsmithing/gunsmith careers below.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	56.5%
Post-Secondary Certificate - awarded for training completed after high school (for example, in agriculture or natural resources, computer services, personal or culinary services, engineering technologies, healthcare, construction trades, mechanic and repair technologies, or precision production)	32.5%
Some College Courses	7.3%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	0.9%
Bachelor’s Degree	2.9%

Online Gunsmithing/Gunsmith Programs

The following table lists the number of programs by degree level, along with how many schools offered online courses in the field.

Degree Level	Colleges Offering Programs	Colleges Offering Online Classes
Certificate (Less Than 1 Year)	0	0
Certificate (1-2 years)	10	1
Certificate (2-4 Years)	2	0
Associate’s Degree	13	1
Bachelor’s Degree	0	0
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	0	0
Post-Master’s	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Majors Related to Gunsmithing/Gunsmith

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to gunsmithing/gunsmith.

Major	Number of Grads
Musical Instrument Fabrication & Repair	171
Watchmaking & Jewelrymaking	103
Locksmithing & Safe Repair	44
Precision Systems Maintenance & Repair Technologies, Other	18
Parts & Warehousing Operations & Maintenance Technology/Technician	11

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• College Scorecard
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers First Quarter 2020
• Image Credit: By Phasmatisnox under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.