The Gunsmith apprenticeship standard is finally approved. Now while what you see in the link below is a couple of pages of text, the work behind getting to this point cannot be underestimated. It has taken weeks of hard work and meetings with the department of education to get this over the line. There has NEVER been a government funded Gunsmithing school in the UK, this is changing and will soon be realised. I’d like to personally thank Graham Greener, Gary Clarke (ex Boss), Tony White, Marc Newton (Rigby), Pete Boxall, James Edminston and the guys at Viking Arms for the support up to this point. BASC have also now pledged support.
The next step is to finalise the end point assessment, which in short allows apprentices to be graded against the standard.
To reiterate this means training costs to employed apprentices is at no cost to the employer. A meeting is also planned with GCCT (Gunmakers Company Charitable Trust) that will make it even more compelling for a business in the sector to take an apprentice. NO BUSINESS CAN GROW WITHOUT THE RIGHT PEOPLE.
The Gunsmith Academy is brand agnostic and being set-up for the benefit of the wider trade. It is my belief that this is the best opportunity presented to the UK Gun trade to revive itself for a very long time. It is gathering pace week on week and as such I (Steve Horton) have decided to scale back my own business (W Horton & Sons) to by appointment only from 1st June (for a period of time) to take up an unpaid position of Principal of the Gunsmith Academy to ensure it has the best start.
I’m interested in hearing from businesses within the sector who would like an apprentice (potentially at zero cost), people who would be interested in becoming a trainer (full or part time) and also young people who wish to become an apprentice.
You can reach me on email at info@hortonguns.co.uk . For those who have already made contact I will be coming back to you the first week in June. Start date for Apprentices will be September 2018.
You can read the published Gunsmith Apprenticeship Standard here
Birmingham Gun Quarter 
that is a big sacrifice to make!
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It needs doing Simon.
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I wish there had been something like this when I was in school. All I ever wanted to do when I was at school was either be a game keeper, or better yet – be a gun smith. I was told by the careers department that neither was an option, as they had a student two years older than me who had the same dream, and it took them months to get him placed as a game keeper, and it was all the way up in Yorkshire (we were from Cambridge). I ended up going to the Milton school of Agriculture & Horticultre instead.
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