Question regarding certain careers and the term "Gunsmith"

[Woodsy]

As a gunsmith with 50+ years experience this is a subject dear to my heart. To my thinking a gunsmith is one who has the knowledge and ability to make a complete firearm, and also have ability to repair any firearm that comes to his door. Sadly, that is not the case these days. The trade is becoming specialized these days and here in New Zealand there are people calling themselves 'gunsmiths' who only do work in a specific area (barrel fitting, suppressor manufacture and fitting, fitting after market parts to pistols and AR15's, stockmaking, etc.) and cannot make springs, reblue, case-harden, file parts from stock, or many of the myriad tasks that a real gunsmith needs to perform. Even the British term 'gunmaker' is overused by some practitioners in the trade who work for the old firms like Purdey, H&H, etc. These are excellent tradesmen but are specialists in a single field (actioner, stocker, etc.) and it is really only the 'finishers' who are the best qualified to use the term 'gunmaker'. The old military trade of 'Armourer' included training in the basics of metal working, stock repairs, etc. as well as the specialist training for the service weapons of the time. Their work involved the precise fitting and adjustment of parts in some instances. Nowadays, it is all replacement of parts with little or no fitting required. I guess it is indicative of the way the World is changing and tradesmen are no exception. Carpenters used to build a complete house from the concrete foundations to the roof covering, but in the last 25 years this has changed to assembling a pre-cut frame, hanging doors, and some finishing work. The sub-contractors used to be the drainlayer, plumber, glazier, bricklayer and electrician, but now that list has more than doubled (concreters, roofers, insulators, window installers, wallboard fitters, stoppers, painters, etc.). There used to be 5 year apprenticeships in the trades where youngsters were taught by older experienced tradesmen, followed by another 5 years or more working to gain more experience before they could consider themselves 'proper' tradesmen. Now it is all about instant results and people are only taught enough to quickly provide the employer with an income.

[CINDERS]

As Woodsy points out the decline of trades into shortened timelines to fill gaps, whilst my chosen early career is not recognized as a trade but more of an art that of an open crane operator where one has to have the 'nouse to operate as written on my original ticket "Operate any crane other than driven by steam" there are still cranes driven by steam in Africa on the rail lines.
What we have seen here is RTO's (Registered Training organisations) get persons "their High Risk License" in a matter of days to operate a crane where I had to do 200 hours dual instruction from a licensed operator no less that 12 hours/week and no more than 40 hours/week then tested by an inspector both practically inclusive of whistle signals and the verbally going through a myriad of load charts for different cranes plus slinging of loads and working weights out that alone was a 3 hour verbal examination no notes allowed.
We're called "Operators" by our peers, we call ourselves "Lever Attendants" others are called "Drivers" whom have all the skill level of a one legged man in an egg & spoon race I have been present and watched cranes go over on construction sites due to "Driver" error its not pretty and fraught with extreme danger for people not even remotely near the machine check this pic of a Lampson Transi-lift crane and understand the ramifications if it went south during that lift.
For fineness of touch as we call it imagine being asked by your rigger when your in a tight space with (In my case 96 Meters of boom + Fly combo) to move a load 6 inches and what that equates to at your end so they get the amount at their end.......

But I guess that is the way things are now-days, an old Aussie WWII veteran who was a POW of the Germans said to me one day in the late '70's to emphasize the fact of change in society ~ "In days of old we had men of steel and buildings of wood. Today we have men of wood and buildings of steel."

[browningautorifle]

You guys have a look, you see he's from the Philippines and he's asking some odd questions... He hasn't been back since his other thread was closed after that was pointed out...

https://www.milsurps.com/showthread.php?t=65114

[CINDERS]

From that thread ~ "But I also read that for a rifle with light ammo, a heavier rifle is what is desired." I gather by this statement from him one shooting say a .577 NE would require 6.5 pound rifle.
Interesting article thanks Jim what a strange bird he is......soon to be was if he builds and fires that thing.

[browningautorifle]

soon to be was if he builds and fires that thing.

They have many jungle gun shops over there and I wonder if that was what was happening...looking for alternatives...