One of the challenges when starting out working on guns is building your tool collection. It’s hard to find cost effective tools so you wind up making do with stuff, creating tools ad hoc, etc. Interestingly enough, this is where eBay just might help. While I’m not happy with their anti-gun position, there are a lot of tools that pop up there – ranging from low-end Chinese stuff all the way to some beautiful vintage tools.
So, I want to show some example searches with 20 live feeds from each section:
Gunsmith and Gunsmithing Tools
The trick is in the searching. For example, here are the top 20 matches for gunsmith tools or gunsmithing tools and you will probably see a mix:
[ebayfeedsforwordpress feed=”https://www.auctionrequest.com/arfeed.php?uid=inf5efd3d98495c&keyword=%28gunsmith+tools%2Cgunsmithing+tools%29&sortOrder=BestMatch&programid=1&campaignid=5338063879&toolid=10039&listingType1=All&feedType=rss&lgeo=1″ items=”20″]
Of course there are brands I will steer away from such as NCStar and others that I will look closer at such as Brownells, Lyman, Tipton, Weaver, etc. I also read the ratings of the seller. If a seller has a good rating and more than 30 sales, that’s a good sign. Less than that and you are taking a gamble.
Vintage Gunsmith Tools
“Vintage” seems to be a popular term for “used”. You tend to find a lot of unique stuff that was made by a gunsmith to fit a special need as well as high-quality tools that were made with care vs. mass produced. Be careful though. I’ll zoom into the photos as much as I can plus look at the seller’s description and the rating of the seller to try and decide if the tools are in good shape or beat to death.
[ebayfeedsforwordpress feed=”https://www.auctionrequest.com/arfeed.php?uid=inf5efd3d98495c&keyword=vintage+gunsmith+tools&sortOrder=BestMatch&programid=1&campaignid=5338063879&toolid=10039&listingType1=All&feedType=rss&lgeo=1″ items=”30″]
Used Gunsmith Tools
“Used” is still a popular term and is worth checking also. Bear in mind the cautions I gave under vintage.
[ebayfeedsforwordpress feed=”https://www.auctionrequest.com/arfeed.php?uid=inf5efd3d98495c&keyword=used+gunsmith+tools&sortOrder=BestMatch&programid=1&campaignid=5338063879&toolid=10039&listingType1=All&feedType=rss&lgeo=1″ items=”30″]
Brownells Gunsmith Tools
Brownells has been around a long time — they were founded in 1939 and have always been known for their quality tools, parts and supplies to gunsmiths. Because they have been around for so long, you tend to see a fair amount of Brownells stuff hit eBay by name so that is worth searching. Still look at the photos closely and the seller’s rating to play it safe. By the way, if you have never read their Gunsmith Kinks books – be sure to pick them up.
[ebayfeedsforwordpress feed=”https://www.auctionrequest.com/arfeed.php?uid=inf5efd3d98495c&keyword=%28Brownells+gunsmith%2Cbrownells+tools%29&sortOrder=BestMatch&programid=1&campaignid=5338063879&toolid=10039&listingType1=All&feedType=rss&lgeo=1″ items=”30″]
Antique Tools
What is “antique” really is up to the seller. You’ll see stuff that ranges from a few years to over 50 years old.
[ebayfeedsforwordpress feed=”https://www.auctionrequest.com/arfeed.php?uid=inf5efd3d98495c&keyword=antique+gunsmith+-%28ratchet%2Cair%29&sortOrder=BestMatch&programid=1&campaignid=5338063879&toolid=10039&listingType1=All&feedType=rss&lgeo=1″ items=”20″]
I hope this helps you out! There is a ton of stuff out there if you experiment with the search terms some.
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