I really love cleaning guns - I'm extremely malicious and a little OCD about it (not diagnosed, I just love to clean guns). I have a lot of tools, oils, and safe chemicals I use to clean guns, it's my meditation. I wholeheartedly enjoy cleaning them, and recently I was considering doing it as a part-time hobby that I can possibly monetize off of.
Is there a market for this? Do people/businesses want their firearms maliciously cleaned by someone else? I'm just not sure if this if even a thing, so I wanted to gather your thoughts. By "clean" I mean a through cleaning, polishing, oiling, the works - it usually takes me 1+ hour minimum for "small" arms and for "long" guns it can take 2+ hours, especially if the firearm has any wooden parts on it, those require special attention, getting underneath the wooden parts and putting a nice finish on the wood takes time, I have to break the entire gun down, including the trigger assembly - nothing goes unchecked.
I might get shit for posting this, but It's been on my mind for a while and I figure I'll ask anyway. Thanks in advance
Sporting good stores offer gun cleaning as a service, so someone must be buying it.
Only question I can think of is would you need to legally transfer the firearms to clean them? If you're clear in that regard, I'd put up a business card at any LGS in the area. Maybe put some craigslists ads up every month.
Samuel Morgan
Probably not, modern firearms dont need to be meticously cleaned but if your capable of hand polishing steel like your pic, people will pay several hundred
William Phillips
>is there a market for this yes and no. There's a market for a gunsmith to restore old firearms and maintain the historicity, but just straight up deep clean? not usually from a sole proprietor. Most ranges offer that service, almost every gun store does that service, but trying to do it as a side gig will need some seriously good marketing.
Charles Morris
Not a bad idea, and good observation...I might actually start doing that (business cards, cragis).
The legality of it though is def a grey area for someone like me, I'll go to my LGS tomorrow and ask directly, they know me very well.
Jayden Reyes
Wow, I can do this in 1-2 hours, very easily, these type of handguns are the easiest for me to polish, I can make it blind you in the sun.
I think $100 is way to steep for that type of work, but maybe I'm just biased.
Isaac Ross
It's easily over $250 for a normal polishing, let alone super mirror finish.
James Wood
You have inspired me, I didn't know this...that's exactly what I'm good at - polishing to the point where it basically blinds you. I've done it so long (7 years isn't very long but you get it), so it doesn't take me much time anymore.
Thanks user.
Michael Cooper
Best of luck. It's always good to do something you're good at and like and get paid for it.
Nolan Cruz
Truer words could not be spoken.
Isaac Wilson
I can barely sharpen knives so I would be terrified if I had to polish someone else's gun. But if you want to get a customer base, I would put flyers around gun ranges and create business cards to leave at FFLs, maybe even give them a 10% cut of the profits
Liam Ramirez
Sharpening knives is excellent, especially a kitchen knife you use daily - you want a that sucker as sharp as ever, dull knives suck - you just need to correct whetstones, but they can cost thousands of dollars sometimes.
I hear you though, I'm sending those out tomorrow for sure (business cards), I'm designing a business card as we speak, should only take 4 hours, pulling another all nigher to make this happen. Good idea about giving them a cut.
Smart.
Bentley Cox
Fuuuck, I wish I had someone like you around where I live.
Camden Gonzalez
>malicious If this wasn't Jow Forums, I would be sure your meant meticulous.
Landon Bailey
Sounds strange, but where do you live...
Brayden Ross
Indeed. Sometimes auto-correct gets the best of me.
Julian Wilson
>I really love cleaning guns - I'm extremely malicious and a little OCD about it
I would even offer a service called "winterizing". You are already doing it anyways but it sort of has the optic of "Hunting season is 2 months long and my gun needs to be stripped, cleaned, and oiled for next season". That's just me though but it's what I do to my motorcycles and winterizing has sort of a familiar sound to it.
Landon Martin
I just thought of something else. I can't word it correctly but I would market also to females who CC but you have to make it so it doesn't sound condescending "Ladies special because you're to stupid to clean it"
Jordan Wilson
What compounds are you using? Have an old 686 I'm trying to mirror shine...
Daniel Wright
>I can't word it correctly but I would market also to females who CC but you have to make it so it doesn't sound condescending "Ladies special because you're to stupid to clean it"
Billy Joe Cletus's Feminist Gun Cleaning Service. Because, sometimes, a man should do the cleaning.
Noah Williams
>Because, sometimes, a man should do the cleaning. It's actually not that bad. I was just getting at don't target to just men. You could even throw in a BB kid gun cleaning for free. (something easy like a wipe down, and running something oily down the barrel)
Christian Anderson
Flitz polish, a clean cotton t-shirt, and some Q-tips, along with a nice Dremel rotary tool. I wish I could do it for you to be honest, I love servicing those.
Spotless.
Christian Scott
Too far user, I'm east coast. If I was near you I'd ask for your details haha
Logan Moore
I'm going to bed guys, it's 4 am - I hope this thread is up when I wake up in 5 hours.
Thank you to everyone for the advice/response, really means a lot. This board is so kind.
To be honest, OP, I have a custom-made side-by-side shotgun and, while I like it to be meticulously maintained and cleaned, I wouldn't trust it to another person. Well-meaning but ill-0informed actions could completely fuck up the hand-rubbed oil then wax finish on the stock, or take off the colour-hardening
Brody Thomas
If you do it with the barrel of SA make sure you don't ruin them. I bet you already did your research on that. Have fun user : )
Yeah, that's doable. Every gunsmith I've ever done business with offers cleaning services. And that's to say nothing about a high-end service like you might offer.
