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MHCC used to have a great machine shop program, evening classes were affordable and will teach basic mill and lathe operations, exposure to various other equipment and shop operations are invaluable, and a great way to get started for gunsmithing. Building a good rapport with the instructors may allow access and permission to bring personal projects into the shop including (political incorrect) gun parts
If you want to build 45s you can do most of what you need on a small benchtop machine, other than cutting a Novak rear dovetail. I started out with a full size import mill, a "Sharp" it has been a great machine, but was 6700.00 new, JET was making a decent 10-50 square column mill for around 7500, but that was 15 years ago, and I have not priced machine equipment for a long time. If you can find good used equipment often with some tooling is a great way to go, but they get snatched up real fast. These days you can buy 45 components with all the machine work done and just do the final hand work and assembly, "unless your pursuing your passion for perfection and personal creativity", you can custom order everything down to the serial number on the frame; from folks like Caspain Arms, STI, Strayer Voigt/Infinity and the like, But at some point you'll likely end up getting an FFL.
If you need any technical info or help building 45s , give a shout. The largest gunsmith specialty supplier is Brownells, not for machine equipment or tooling, but parts, shop supplies, custom tooling and fixtures form other gun smiths. Also would recommend two books on the 45, "The colt 45 automatic- a shop manual" ,by Jerry Kuhnhausen and "The US M1911/1911A1 A shop Manual, by Jerry Kuhnhausen", both available at Brownells or likely Amazon,
Best luck Speedsteel
If you want to build 45s you can do most of what you need on a small benchtop machine, other than cutting a Novak rear dovetail. I started out with a full size import mill, a "Sharp" it has been a great machine, but was 6700.00 new, JET was making a decent 10-50 square column mill for around 7500, but that was 15 years ago, and I have not priced machine equipment for a long time. If you can find good used equipment often with some tooling is a great way to go, but they get snatched up real fast. These days you can buy 45 components with all the machine work done and just do the final hand work and assembly, "unless your pursuing your passion for perfection and personal creativity", you can custom order everything down to the serial number on the frame; from folks like Caspain Arms, STI, Strayer Voigt/Infinity and the like, But at some point you'll likely end up getting an FFL.If you need any technical info or help building 45s , give a shout. The largest gunsmith specialty supplier is Brownells, not for machine equipment or tooling, but parts, shop supplies, custom tooling and fixtures form other gun smiths. Also would recommend two books on the 45, "The colt 45 automatic- a shop manual" ,by Jerry Kuhnhausen and "The US M1911/1911A1 A shop Manual, by Jerry Kuhnhausen", both available at Brownells or likely Amazon,
Best luck Speedsteel
