Lassen Students Prepare for Future in Rare Kind of Class
October 17, 1965
By James Rattie
Bee staff writer
A sign on a desk in the Lassen Junior College gunsmithing class reads: “Guns don’t kill people, People kill people.”
The words are gospel to the 27 students who are preparing for a profession of their choosing, gunsmithing. For making guns is a serious business and the precision which it requires is a big hurdle for the student learning the trade in the college’s two-year course.
Instructor John Wise feels his class is unusual, being the only one of its kind in California. There are only four known gunsmithing courses in the West.
Wise, who once owned a gun repair shop, has taught nine years at Lassen College and has had 16 years experience as a gunsmithing instructor.
Students who take his class will find he knows all the tricks of the trade.
First-year students concentrate on learning machinery, such as the lathe.
Second-year students prepare for tougher assignments, like making a high-powered rifle from an assortment of popular models, such as the 7mm Remington, the .264-caliber Winchester or the .270-caliber Winchester.
If they are like Ronald Peverini, a 21-year-old student of Soledad, they may prefer something a bit more unusual, say a Bull Pup .257-caliber Roberts. As Wise explains, the guns are not duplicates. They are made to the customer’s specifications. “There’s a big difference,” he says. “A factory rifle means you take what you get.”
All Types
During the two-year course, a student will become familiar with all types of pistols, shot- and rifles. He will learn to mount sights and pads.
The student will take the barrel, the action and the trigger guard, ordered from the factory, and place them in a stock he has designed and carved himself.
The whole process calls for precision and patience to the final detail, the bluing of the rifle.
Good Future
What is the future for a gunsmith?
“We get calls from all over for these students who finish the course,” says Wise. “You know a kid can make a pretty good living at it.”
He said a student completing the course may either open a shop or work for one of the major gun manufacturers, the offers are unlimited.
His class is unique in another way: “I have no trouble with attendance. In fact, I have to run them out on the day of graduation.”
