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Superpower

 

 

 

Finding Your Superpower

Not too long ago I was staying at my camp at Cedar Island. It was summer and I was busy inside with supper and other things. I had an outside light on the porch and it was well after sunset when I went outside. I was amazed at the insect life that had come to enjoy the light. Now we have bugs in New Bern and Cove City but nothing like Cedar Island. There were flying bugs, crawling bugs, black ones with big horns, green ones with big eyes and in every size from tiny to XXXXL. It made me wonder why they were so different. If I was in charge of creation I would have made two or three flying bugs and a couple of crawlers and that would have been enough. I would not have made skeeters, ticks, red bugs, yellow flies or green heads.

All those bugs point to an amazing fact. God loves variety! Countless species and plants cover our world and even humans come in so many shapes sizes and colors that it would be a nightmare to keep one of each in stock if you were a retailer. We use the term “creative genius” but when it comes to God it is just beyond description. So if we were created by such a creative genius then what are we? Who are we and why are we here? It just stands to reason that we just have to be absolutely awesome. A creative genius would never be satisfied with creating anything normal or average.

It doesn’t make any  sense that we spend so much of our energy trying to normal and average. How did it happen? Or maybe when did it happen would be a better question. Back in the 1960s NASA was spending money trying to win the space race and be the first to land on the moon. They realized they needed to think “out of the box” to do something that had never been done. After forming think tank groups they realized it would be helpful if they had a way to find out of the box thinkers. Another name would be the creative geniuses.

With money flowing they found an independent research firm that created a test for creative genius. The test was simple and easy to give and the results were excellent. Matter of fact it worked so well that the researchers said how about we give this test to kids. The test was given to 1600 five year old kids scattered across the country. Now what do you think the percentage to test as creative genius was? 10%? 20%? If you have a five year old or you remember being 5 it probably won’t surprise you to know 98% tested to be creative geniuses. 98%! Five year old kids don’t just think out of the box they have no box. Talk to them and listen. They want to be mermaid veterinarians and spend weekends in space.

Finding so much creativity energized the researchers to repeat the test in 5 years. Evidently a lot of change takes place between 5 and 10 because the percentage to test creative genius dropped to 30%! Wow, what happened? They haven’t done anything but go to school and play and they dropped 68%. Researchers were not excited but went forward with another test at age 15. Now how creative are teenagers? Once again a huge drop in creative genius to only 12%. Researchers were too discouraged to continue testing the group but since then the test has been given to over 1 million adults. So how creative are people like you and me? Adults test at 2% in the creative genius category. From 98% to 2%! Why?

Other research has proven that by age 5 your personality has fully developed and you are who you are going to be. While you were obviously  created by a creative genius to be a creative genius the world doesn’t like it. The world wants conformity. Kind of a huge pressure of collective thought that comes from us wanting others to be like us. We want to be able to judge so we want all apples and no oranges. If we are the same then we measure ourselves and  do better than others or have more  and feel better about our accomplishments. We want credit for achievement. We want to know what average is so we can have others see how far above average we are. It’s just the way the world works.

The question is what are we giving up when we depart from what we made to be? If you look at my workbench or tool box you will see what looks like hundreds of tools. Some are everyday tools and some are speciality tools for my profession. Many are handmade just to do one special job that nothing else can do. Many of these tools are an absolute necessity for me to do my work. Many were made out of the best quality materials and ground and polished to exactly the right shape. Then they were hardened at 1500 degrees and drawn at 500 degrees to be tough and durable. They are important necessary and valuable to me but when I die most will be discarded as trash. Without the craftsman the tools have no purpose, no value, no future.

We should know that if we were created different it has to be for a reason. It seems obvious we were made for different purposes or jobs. Just like tools if you try to do something you were never designed to do you probably won’t have a good outcome. So are there things I can’t do? Well basically yes. Apostle Paul said for me nothing is off limits but a lot of things are not profitable. We have all seen it and tried it more than once. The basketball player that is too short or the horse jockey that is too big. The boy that struggled to pass basic math might not be the best one to send to the The School of Math And Science. A mule will never win the Kentucky Derby!

But what about “Be all you can be” or “you never fail till you quit” or “shoot for the moon”? Most of us grew up in a world that wanted you to work on your weak points. We got a report card and the next grading period would be focused on the low grade to pull it up to average. Even if this was a subject that held no interest and would never be used. Researchers have prover that people had several time more growth if the spend the available time working on the strong subjects. (Whew! Wish I had that research to show Mama when I flunked French I in 9th grade!) The facts and the Bible agree that you need to invest time in doing an inventory on your abilities.

Paul tells us in Romans 12 that we should present the work of our bodies as a living sacrifice. It kind of scary to think about doing Christian service. Giving ourselves over to God scares us because we think God wants to change us. He want to make us something different, something we were never meant to be. It’s actually the opposite.

Verse 2 says That the renewing of our mind will put us in touch with the perfect will of God. Renewing, meaning making our mind like it was. Remember you were to be a creative genius?  It doesn’t say replacing your mind or become something you were never made to be. Renewing is restoring.

Verse 3 says to every person not to think of yourself more highly than you should ( who popped in your mind?). But to think soberly with sound judgement of yourself. Just as bad and sometimes worse is the habit of false humility. How many times have you stopped short and not done something that was needed because you sold yourself short and said “I’m not good enough.” Don’t ever talk bad about yourself. When you work for God have confidence. Would you want your surgeon to come in and say he really wasn’t very good? I learned from an Olympic shooting coach that you start to believe what you tell yourself. You should be reminding yourself that you are awesomely created by a creative genius who is interested in everything you do! Besides there will always be someone willing to take the job of making you humble.

Verse 4 and 5  reminds us just as the body has many members with different functions the body of Christ (us) has many members with different functions. It is okay to be different and even weird if you were made that way! It was for a reason.

The rest of chapter 12 names a long list of spiritual gifts that each of us have been
given in different proportions and gives us the instruction “to exercise them accordingly”.

So what’s the point or as I ask my students “what did you learn?”

1. I am designed by God to be different for a reason.

2. I have gifts (superpowers) given by God so I can do certain things better than others.

3. I have to make an honest frank assessment of what I can and cannot do.

4. If I focus my efforts on being what I was created to be instead of what the world wants me to be I will be the most effective and best version of myself.

5. While I was created with certain gifts it is completely up to me how or if I use them.

 

 

 

 

 

Timothy P. Whealton

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Help! My new rifle doesn’t group

It brand new and shoots 3 inch groups at 100 yards.

It shows up a lot in September. They got a new gun and went to the range to sight in and it doesn’t shoot well. Maybe they have an unrealistic idea that all guns shoot in one hole or should. As the gunsmith you will have to do a little detective work before you start chasing down the problem. First see if you can isolate the problem to one area.

  1. The shooter-  Ask how they shot the gun. Off a bench? Sand bags? truck hood? Distance? Have they shot before? Have they ever shot a small group? Do they have another rifle that shoots well? Most deer hunters don’t practice and have little experience shooting. The average hunter sights in with less than 10 rounds and then fires 5 to 10 rounds during the year. Contrast that with a high-power competitor that shoots 3000 aimed rounds a year and you realize your customers will vary in experience and capability.
  2. The ammo- always surprised how many people think a good gun will shoot bad ammo. Its more like a race car. Good guns are built to use the best ammo and might even shoot bad ammo worse than a clunker. Most guns will shoot some loads better than others. It is always best to let the gun tell you what it wants to shoot instead of you trying to make it shoot what you want. No I don’t like load sensitive rifles but that doesn’t mean I don’t have to live with them. Factory ammo is much better than it use to be. Yes there is some bad stuff on the market but you will basically get what you pay for. I usually have a standard test load for each caliber. It might not be the best load for that particular gun but it will usually be good enough that I will know that if it wont shoot my test load something is wrong. Example- Federal Gold medal Match for 308 loaded with 168 Match Kings. If it wont shoot that then something is wrong!
  3. Optics- Let me just say this first. I hate scopes. They can make your life miserable. I can find the flaw in the barrel, action or bolt but you are always guessing with the scope. Use your bore-sighter and turn the adjustments both ways while tracking the movement of the reticle. It should be smooth and reverse direction without backlash. It should be close to the center of movement. Scopes don’t work well at the end of adjustment. Check all the screws in the base and rings. If they were put on with thread locker then you need to understand that the screw might be tight but the base can be loose. The tightness you feel is not the head of the screw pushing against the base. It is the threads locked. If all checks good and you still suspect the scope use a known good scope for a test. I didn’t say a new scope or another scope.
  4. Barrel- Look first down the outside while holding it up to a light. The light reflected along the outside will show a bulge. Inspect inside with a borescope if you have one. Check the headspace. Pay close attention to the throat. That is the short section in front of the chamber where the bullet first hits the rifling. If the throat is crooked or damaged (and a lot are) the bullet will be pushed off center when it enters the rifling and accuracy will suffer. I make a chamber cast with cerrosafe from Brownells. It is reusable and melts in boiling water. Nothing else will show you the throat as clearly. Clean the bore and then push a tight oiled patch down the bore while feeling the resistance. If it has a loose section it will never group. Slug the bore to confirm.
    Cartridge and cast of the chamber

    Notice how short the throat is. This is a factory 300 win mag. Look where  the rifling starts on each groove. If it starts at the same place all the way around that is a good throat.

    If the is nothing else apparent I will freeze a barrel and then watch the barrel return to room temperature to see if the barrel is warping during temperature change. Just put the barreled action in the freezer overnight and then clamp it in your milling vise with a dial indicator on the muzzle. Don’t touch it and let it warm to room temp. If the bore is off center it will be a banana.

    freeze test

     

  5. Bedding- What you want bedding to do is cradle the action without putting stress on the action that will shift during firing. While target guns are designed to float the barrel most factory guns will allow the barrel to push against the forearm. If the action isn’t bedded it will probably be better left with some upward pressure. Use your bore sighter again (collimator) and look through the scope. push on the side of the barrel and make sure it returns to the same position. Then tighten and loosen the guard screws and look for movement. If the barrel or action can move and stay in more than one place that is a problem.

Accuracy problems can be challenging but having a system and a lot of time and effort will give results. The problem for the gunsmith will be getting paid for his work! Knowing gunsmithing and making money don’t always go hand in hand.

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Have we changed?

Ugly by Design!

Have we changed or has the world around us changed? Is it our point of view or a new mindset? I watch very little television but if you watch an old television show it doesn’t take long to see the difference. If you go back to the time before TV the changes are even more apparent.
I watched and old rerun of the TV show the Rifleman recently. It was from the 1950 era and starred Chuck Connors. It was the same theme almost every episode as I remember. Lucas McCain would go to town with his young son Mark. There would be a bad man in town intent on doing harm to innocent people. Lucas would confront the evil man and eventually there would be a gunfight. Lucas would shoot and kill the bad man.
Not much different from our modern TV shows except for one thing. Lucas hated to do it! The show went to great lengths to show how much he hated having to take life. He would do it to protect innocent life but only then as a last resort. After he had killed the bad man it showed how sorry he was and how taking a human life was a terrible thing in any circumstance.
If you can stand to watch a modern program you will see leading characters that will kill without a second thought. Modern technology has made it so realistic that blood and body parts flying through the air are hardly noticed anymore. The gun comes out and goes off in a second and 2 minutes later the character is over it and on with his life. Has this changed us?
I wonder the effect of our television and movies with people around the world that don’t know what an American is except for seeing us on screen. Do they think we are really like that? They sure seem to be disgusted with us.
I remember being a small boy and going with my Dad when he would buy fishing tackle. Even though we went into the store to buy fishing tackle we would always go to the back of the store to look at the guns. I can remember him holding me up on his arm so I could see. It must have been in the mid-1950s cause nobody could have picked me after that without equipment. I can still remember how beautiful they were. The shiny black steel and the beautifully finished walnut gunstocks lined up in a wall rack were a sight to stir the imagination. Every gun in the store was beautiful and every gun there was for hunting or target use.
It is disappointing to go look at the guns when I go to a sporting goods store now. The beauty has gone. Everything is flat black or camouflage. It is almost like the gun was designed to look fearsome instead of beautiful. When I leave the gun counter and walk over to the knife counter it is the same story. The shiny blades have been made dull black and the edges of the knives look like predator teeth.
Our publications have changed as well. Since I am in the gun business I constantly receive gun magazines and sporting publications. These mirror what the general public pick up off the rack at the store. Bottom line is beauty has gone out of style. Even the people that hold the guns are scary looking. I took this picture while in the checkout line at the grocery store. I didn’t arrange it at all.

Figure 1Wal Mart magazine rack. Ugly by design

Does TV, Internet and print reflect what we think or do they tell us what we think?
Maybe we have just been told what we like so many times that we are starting to believe it. Adolf Hitler knew a few things about control and he said “If you tell them something long enough they will believe it.” I think that is exactly what has happened. Is it past the point of no return? Is scary the new beauty? Is it too late?
One thing I have been told enough that I believe it is that it is never too late to change. The Bible says “Think about what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable.” The key word seems to be THINK! Do it often and do it for yourself. Don’t let a website, politician or anyone else do it for you. It has been proven over and over “What the mind can conceive the mind can achieve!”

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A good book for the shotgun hunter

Dove Hunting and Shotgunning
By Hurtford Smith Jr.

I just finished reading Dove Hunting and Shotgunning. I feel like I’m able to put forth ideas on both shotgunning and dove hunting. I have been a gunsmith for over 45 years and I repair around one thousand guns each year. (No wonder I’m tired!) I am also a dove hunter. Not just an opening day dove hunter but a hunt till the last day dove hunter. I have hunted, killed, cleaned and cooked most everything that flies and is legal in North Carolina. There is nothing I enjoy more than a good dove hunt and my friends feel the same way.
Short version is I really like this book. While teaching gunsmithing at the college for several years I searched countless books about guns, shooting and hunting for students. Most were filled with lots of info you would never need and written by people that needed to ask others about what works and doesn’t. Mr. Smith has done a great job of pruning away the useless information that can confuse you and tells you what works. His book looks small at first glance but it has every bit of the information you need to be a first class field shot on doves. If you can hit the gray feathered rocket you will be good to go on anything that flies.
Bottom line is you don’t have to know everything that can go wrong. Just take the advice of a solid hunter and shooter. If you have one for a friend you are blessed. If you don’t this book will tell you the same exact thing!

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Getting Started

 

Getting started

Call it what you will, preparation, groundwork or paying your dues, becoming a gunsmith doesn’t happen overnight. Whether school, on the job or self taught, the amount of knowledge required to become a journeyman gunsmith is immense. No one can acquire this amount of skill and knowledge without a true love of the craft. If you know you want to be the “Gun Man” this book will try to get you started and keep you out of trouble. Remember if you love what you do you never have to work for the rest of your life.

If you are one of the lucky few that can take advantage of a school of gunsmithing then you need to be truly thankful. These schools are few in the U.S. and around the world. Even when located close by a lot of people can’t take advantage of organized traditional school because of economic conditions and family situations. If you are working hard to keep food on the table for a family then taking a couple of years off to learn a new skill is out of the question. But if you can do it this is the fastest way to learn.

The ones that landed a job where the employer trains you are probably the luckiest of all. Of course you already know these are hard to come by but there may be opportunities that have been overlooked. Sporting goods stores may hire a part time position to clean guns and install scopes and slings. Amazing how much you can learn just by taking a gun apart and studying the mechanism. Why not pick up a few dollars at the same time. I would rather get a check for 20 dollars than write one for a 1000!

For the self-taught gunsmithing is more of a challenge. If the will is there and applied with enough persistence and patience it will happen but it does take a lot of study. Taking advantage of any opportunity to learn is the key. This means working on guns when you get the chance and studying when you don’t. It also means learning the skills that support the gunsmithing. Machinist classes, welding and even shooting will help. Most community colleges have some classes that will help build your skill level and they are usually very flexible with schedules and real bargain.

Just learning to reload will be a big step in the right direction and almost mandatory for the gunsmith. After all the gun isn’t much good without the ammo and each one depends on the other being correct for the intended task. A lot of gun problems are traced back to improper hand loads. Hand loading teaches you the special relationship of headspace and chamber dimensions and customer expect you to be able to solve their reloading problems too. They will not trust or waste much time with a gunsmith that doesn’t know how to reload or shoot.

What, you have to shoot too? Yes, you don’t have to be world champion but you need to at least be competent. Competitive shooting is great for the gunsmith and his reputation. Nobody has to know your scores and they really don’t care but they feel better about their gunsmith if they know he is a shooter. Lots of opportunities in most parts of the country to become part of some type of organized shooting. Highpower rifle, bullseye pistol, IPSC, cowboy action, skeet, trap, sporting clays and lots more. You will no doubt run into potential customer on the range because at every match someone has problems. Being the gunsmith for a well-known shooter doesn’t hurt your reputation either. And it is a business expense if you plan well.

Understanding the laws concerning guns and gunsmithing are also a requirement for the gunsmith. At the present time gunsmiths are required to have a federal firearm license to take in work for repair that will be kept overnight. Each firearm being kept for repair must be recorded. Even if it was not the law this would still be a good practice. Imagine if you suffer a burglary and have to report stolen guns. It would be very unprofessional if you could not give a complete list of exactly what was missing and the serial numbers. Local laws are also a consideration and vary from location to location. Consult the ATF directly for the latest requirements and pay no attention to what others say. Beware of the startup kits offered by lots of sham artist online. These are nothing more than the free forms from the ATF. Get it straight from the top and save yourself a lot of trouble and money.

When you decide to get your license you need to think long and hard about exactly what your business will include. Will this be a service type business offering repair work only or do you plan to include retail sales? Will you have full time traditional hours? Will the business be in your home? What is available for a business location in your area? Will you be the sole owner or is this a partnership? Will there be employees? What kind of overhead will there be? Choose wisely, it is easier if you get it right from the start.

I have to admit I had very little experience with anything retail when I started in business. I knew how to fix guns but making a successful retail business is a whole other can of worms. If you plan on selling a few items along with your gunsmithing business don’t under estimate how much time it will take. I thought I would do repairs and if someone wanted something ordered like a gun or accessory I would order it for a small fee and make a few extra dollars. Well I learned, selling involves time and time is money. The man or woman looking for a gun first wants to find out what you know about guns and why this one is better. Maybe more than one trip to talk about the upcoming purchase. Then it is time to compare prices. They will drive 40 miles if it is $10 cheaper.

Next comes the search to find the distributor that has one in stock. This can really eat up time too. Then you order and it comes in wrong or he doesn’t like it. Who pays to send it back? Yes that’s right, it you! Now it comes in and he takes it. You spent an hour talking to him, 40 minutes finding one, 10 minutes each time he called to see if it came in yet. 20 minutes getting the return ok and 20 minutes repacking for shipment. 25 dollars shipping and insurance an a 10% restocking fee. Now 30 minutes to seal the deal and do the required legal paperwork. Wow I hope it is approved the first time. You have spent from 2 to 3 hours making your sale ( and $25). Lets say it is a $400 sale and you were making $75 dollars. Take out for your overhead and maybe you made $20 for your 3 hours. Now think about the 4 guns you didn’t repair while you were being Mr. Salesman and you start to get a feel for the retail business.

The retail business can be profitable but it requires a lot more than a casual interest. You can no doubt remember a lot of retail sporting good businesses in your area that didn’t survive. It is a tough business.

Maybe you can start like a lot of gunsmiths with a small shop at home either in the transformed garage or an out building located next to the home. It has the advantage of low startup cost and if this is a second job as soon as you get home the shop is open. Just be prepared that anytime you are home you are open. Doesn’t matter what the posted hours are if you are home you will have customers. Prepare your family too. One year I made a part for an over under on Thanksgiving day while my customer ate my turkey. He was going to Spain the next day on a hunt and this gun was the only one cleared thru customs.

Maybe after a few years working at home you decide the time is right to enlarge and go full time. Maybe an employee to handle sales and errands. Understand that employees have to be paid out of your profit. If this employee will be making $20,000 a year and you are doing retail at 20% markup then sales will have to increase well in excess of $100,000 before you break even. That is a lot of recoil pads! Of course there are lots of other things to consider too with employees like employee theft, liability and even OSHA.

Same way with a full partner except you can never tell a partner what to do. Partnerships have the highest failure rate of any business. It isn’t impossible just difficult.

By now you might not have a warm fuzzy feeling about starting your business. That’s ok, business is rarely a warm fuzzy, but it can be profitable if well planned and worked with an eye on the bottom line. Yes I know the idea is to do something you love and you don’t want to think about business but somewhere the bills have to be paid. Plan well both for the expected and unexpected and you will be fine. Gunsmithing for the professional is different than as a hobby. I have enjoyed it both ways and it is a great profession.