Store Hours
Wed-Fri: 11A-6P
Sat: 11A-5P
Facilities & Capabilities
Machining — Lathe, Vertical milling, Miniature milling, grinding, buffing, polishing, coil and flat spring fabrication.
Finishing — Ultrasonic Cleaning, Bead/Shot blasting, all air brush and baked finishes, wood staining & varnishing, Rust Bluing, Cold Bluing.
Heat Treating — Hardening, annealing, tempering, case hardening.
Inspection & Measurement — Spring force characterization, Borescope inspection of barrels and chambers with photo documentation, Trigger force plotting, photo documentation at 10x magnification.
Rates
Shop Time $138 an hour
Repair Cost Estimate if Disassembly Required $45
(credited towards cost of service)
Our Shop
Sanding, Grinding, Buffing
At this station parts are sanded by belt or disk, ground or buffed. Buffing wheels and compounds can go as fine as 600 grit. Hand polishing can go to 2000 grit.
Degreasing Station
Prior to any refinishing, all barrels, actions and frames must be thoroughly degreased. They sit in degreasing solvent for timed intervals and then hung to dry. The soaking tank is drained into fuel storage containers every night.
Gunsmithing Lathe
The lathe is an essential tool. It is here that we thread the end of a barrel to add a compensator or suppressor. The lathe is where we ream chambers to change the cartridge the gun fires, shorten barrels, recrown muzzles and accurize rifle receivers and bolts.
Sand blaster
This is an incredibly efficient way to remove dirt, rust and old finishes. It leaves a uniform, clean, textured surface ready for a fresh finish. Here you see how we’ve equipped ours with it’s own buffer air tank and a vacuum to pull dust from the chamber.
Mixing Bench
Cerakote firearms finishes must be blended with catalyst/hardener in very precise ratios, requiring small measurements sometimes a drop at a time. At this bench bases are mixed to achieve the desired color and then catalyst is added to achieve the desired texture. The mix is then loaded into the spray gun for application.
Benches
At FIRST we have 7 individual assembly benches for gunsmiths and a single bench specifically designated for grinding and sanding. That way any grit that might mar a finish is kept off the assembly benches.
Gas Welding
Torches for small medium and large jobs use butane, propane or oxygen & acetylene. An explosion proof exhaust system removes stray gas and fumes. Primary uses are heating, heat treating metals and case hardening steels.
Barrel Vise
This is a specialized vise to hold barrels while the action is rotated off with a matching action wrench. It is necessary to separate the barrel from the action any time the barrel is to be put in the lathe.
Mill
Many different machining jobs are done in a mill. Here we see a 20 GA shotgun barrel held at an angle in a rotating fixture. Then the mill is used to open ports in the barrel to reduce muzzle flip and recoil. The mill is used to manufacture parts that can no longer be purchased. It is THE proper place to drill and tap a receiver to mount optics. The screw holes can be precisely centered and aligned to 0.001”.
Cleaning Station
Once guns are disassembled parts are cleaned ultrasonically. They are dried in a convection oven, sprayed or immersed in lubricant and then blown off with compressed air.
TIG Welder
For precise welding on steels and other metals Tungsten Inert Gas welding is used. It is especially suited to repairing cracks and broken parts as well as adding metal that has been worn off an old part, giving it new life.
Press
Many pieces in firearms are pressed together with great force. To disassemble them they must be pressed apart. This device is capable of applying 12 tons of carefully directed force to remove stubborn pins, remove barrels from receivers and mate other parts.
Spray Room
This special room is lined in plastic sheeting, supplied with filtered air and exhausted through a vent fan all designed to keep it dust free. We spray Cerakote here, producing factory quality finishes in the colors of your choice. Behind the door is the oven in which the finishes are cured.
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"Excellent quality in milling and Cerakote"
"We had a wonderful experience with Jed. His customer service and knowledge is wonderful. We learned so much just by talking to him. A fantastic place to customize your gun or shop for some awesome custom Ruger 22s."
—Erin Chrisler
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"Great Gunsmithing place!"
"They gave my WASR-10 AK that cold war look by installing my traditional ak furniture on it. Very professional and friendly people. Reasonably priced service as well. I highly recommend this place for all your gunsmithing needs!"
—Scott Maltzberger
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"Great service and great people!"
"Able to find rare parts and fix my first gun which had not been fired in over 30 years. Prices were even less than I expected and kept me up to date on the progress. Thank you! I will recommend to everyone."
—Dan Ridgeway
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"Jed was absolutely terrific to work with."
"Provided fair estimates and over-delivered on my expectations. I came in with the intractable problem of a stripped hex-head due using red Loctite [I should have used blue]. Jed repaired the problem with thoughtful precision. Highly recommended."
—S C
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"Great smith with even better customer service!"
—Fritz Gebessler
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"There's no place else in the St. Louis Area I would rather go"
"I can always rely on Mr. J and the team here to perform meticulous work and explain why it should be done. I have used a range of gunsmithing services, and I definitely recommend this one for the wide range of work it can perform and the quality and care with which it is carried out. Thanks guys!"
—Dan Smith
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"Fantastic gunsmith!!"
"Went above and beyond my expectations! Very thorough at explaining the work that they were gonna perform. Even fairly involved slide mass reduction cuts. He knew exactly what I wanted and made sure through drawings and explanations that I was 100% on board. Excellent job guys!!"
—Jason Vermeiren
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"Once I found this place I will not take my guns anywhere else!"
"Jed does amazing work and is a great guy to work with! This place is the real deal gunsmith I have been looking for!"
—Christopher Reyering
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"So this team knows their business."
"Price quoted correctly. Time Quoted correctly. Well informed and helped me with my AR10 platform thank you."
—Jim Bosomworth