Chapter 04 · GunsmithFM 93-07

Gunsmith

You kept the gun counter at the sporting-goods store, and the back room where the real work happened. Rebarrelling, headspacing, fixing what people brought in after they had already tried to fix it themselves. You still remember the patterns by heart.

A sporting-goods back room: stocks, a vise, a revolver in pieces on leather. — Plate III-G. — The back room where the real work happened.

Spec	Issued
Creation cost	−6 — the most expensive thing in the mod, paid for recipes nobody can level into
Effective start	Gunsmithing 5 · Aiming 1 · Maintenance 2 · Armorer
Granted trait	Armorer (purchasable 6) — Gunsmithing XP; weapons hold up.
Already known	Workshop pistol, pistol magazine, revolver, shotgun, carbine. NeedToBeLearn, no AutoLearn. Skill still applies on top (pistol 6, mag 5, revolver 6, shotgun 7, carbine 8).
XP source	Gunsmithing crafting only. Pull-down shotgun shells and the cleaning kit are ungated for people who are not you; you spawn past them.

Who this is for

The house’s gun counter. You did not pay six points for Reloading; you paid them so the settlement can have workshop firearms without a miraculous schematic drop. Aiming 1 and Maintenance 2 mean you can also carry what you build. If you wanted to be the press, that is the Ammunition Technician.

// FROM THE FILES — SPORTING GOODS, US-29

The back room the clerks were not allowed into is still the job. The patterns did not leave with the customers. Paper in a desk can teach a stranger. You already know.

How to play it

You still need brass, lead, powder, and a bench. Knowing the carbine does not spawn one. Strip firearms for parts (Gunsmithing 2 — you can). Carve a stock (3). Machine a barrel (6). Assemble a press if the ammo tech has not. The cleaning kit is ungated; make one and use it. Armorer is wasted on rust.
Pipe guns are the week-one products. Pipe pistol at 2, shotgun at 3, rifle at 4. You start at 5, so the crude line is already a sales catalogue. They are not the workshop line. They keep people shooting while you farm Gunsmithing 6–8 and the metal to match.
Magazines are a product line. Fold 9mm at 4 (below you), .45 at 5 (spawn), then .44 and JS-14 at 6, 5.56 at 7, .308 at 8. Empty guns are ornaments. List mags next to the guns.
Build the workshop guns when the skill and the parts land, not as a personality test on day two. Shop pistol and revolver at 6, shotgun at 7, carbine at 8. You already know them. The rest of the server must find schematics. That scarcity is your rent.
Do not starve the loop. Pulling down factory ammo returns less powder than reloading consumes. The bullets do not even come back. A chemist milling smokeless powder is not optional for a town that wants to stay loud. You can pull and handload — you are just worse at bonus yield than Handloader.
Aiming 1 is a hint. You can fight. You should not be the only fighter. A Merchant’s companions and a claim with guards exist so the gun counter is not also the front door.

Caution — schematics For every other character, the workshop firearms are a magazine find with no AutoLearn. If you die with the only Gunsmith on the server, those patterns die with you unless someone already read the paper. Leave copies of the guns in the world. Leave a schematic if you find one. Do not be a bottleneck that raids itself by existing.

First week

Live. Pliers, a vise if you can, scrap metal, a firearm you are willing to strip, wood for a stock. Craft a cleaning kit. Pull shotgun shells for XP and ugly powder. Pipe pistol for personal use. Do not walk into a cordon with a dream of a carbine and a bag of nails. Gunsmithing 6 is the first workshop pistol; earn it on the bench.

Pair with Ammo Tech, Chemist, and someone who can found. You are not a settlement. You are why a settlement has teeth.