American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) Celebrates 20th Year of Educating Future Professional Gunsmiths through DVD Training Courses
OutdoorHub 10.17.13
American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI), producers of the most authoritative instructional gunsmithing DVD courses, is celebrating its 20th year in business. Two decades ago, AGI Founder and President, Gene Kelly, saw an increased demand for Gunsmiths in the firearms industry and realized that there was a growing need to train new gunsmiths on a faster and more efficient basis. Kelly made it a goal to preserve the art of Gunsmithing for future generations and to provide a way for gun enthusiasts to pursue their hobbies from the comfort of their own homes through AGI’s courses.
“We have over 330 million firearms in this country and at any given time 10 to 20 percent of those are in some need of cleaning, repair or customizing, I mean, we’re talking tens of millions of firearms need work,” remarked Kelly. “There were a lot of gunsmiths after World War II and these people would now be in their 70s, 80s and even 90s and they have either passed on or retired. Gunsmithing programs were only offered at a couple of campus based schools and most people could not afford to attend them so the number of gunsmiths was
continuing to decline.”
Kelly continued, “So, using Master Gunsmith Bob Dunlop’s teaching methodology, combined with the video techniques we developed, we created a unique teaching method that allows the student to learn at home at their own pace. Since AGI’s inception in 1993, we’ve gone on to use this same method to teach people welding, machining, locksmithing and other trade skills.”
The AGI courses were built on the belief that one can’t truly fix something until one truly understands how it fully works. Now in its 20th year, AGI offers 58 Armorer’s courses, as well as a robust catalog of disassembly / reassembly, building and customizing DVD courses on various weapons from handguns to rifles to shotguns over many models and brands. Whether aiming to become a Professional Gunsmith or just a hobby firearm tinkerer, AGI offers a course for every need.
“We’ve come so far in the last 20 years toward our goals of preserving the Gunsmithing Arts and educating the future generations. I’m proud that AGI has been on the forefront of changing the perception of how one must learn to Gunsmith,” commented Kelly.
Kelly went on to say “AGI is the result of a huge investment of time and effort on the part of our instructors, DVD production team and support staff. We have filmed and edited thousands of hours of DVD to produce a wide range of courses that enable someone to become a Certified Professional Gunsmith or just be able to maintain or customize their firearms as a hobby. I want to personally thank all of our students, customers, industry affiliates and supporters for making this possible.”
For more information on the American Gunsmithing Institute, please visit www.americangunsmith.com.
