Flathead Valley Community College’s new gunsmithing program hit the mark for a range of students in courses last summer.

“All rated content of the program and the instructors as excellent,” said Leslie Rogers, associate director of community education. “Many said they would take almost anything we offer.”

Law enforcement officials earned continuing education credits required for their licenses, hobbyists expanded their knowledge and others gained skills valued by employers in the valley’s burgeoning firearms industry. Rogers said the test run of gunsmithing courses attracted 19 students.

“That was pretty good,” she said. “We felt pleased about that for our first year.”

Brandon Miller, FVCC’s gunsmithing program coordinator and owner of Miller Precision Arms, initiated and help set up the gunsmithing program. It mirrors National Rifle Association-endorsed programs in California, Colorado, North Carolina and Oklahoma.

Prior to moving to Montana, he served as the NRA coordinator in charge of Murray State College’s gunsmithing program in Oklahoma. He figured the cultural firearms interest here combined with the growing industry would make the gunsmithing curriculum popular.

“We had a really good turnout the first year, especially considering how late we got started,” he said. “Everyone got a lot out of it and it was a good fit for our community.”

Miller anticipates an even bigger response in 2013 with more time to market the program. He said advertising will run in national magazines and he expects Brownells, a major firearms parts supplier, to help distribute 10,000 flyers across the United States.

“With that being mailed out to everybody, I think there will be a huge turnout for this year,” he said.

He said the college will start with an AR 10, AR 15 armorer course over spring break. Students learn functioning, disassembly, re-assembly, troubleshooting and function testing in these firearm formats.

Like the course last summer, members of law enforcement agencies earn continuing-education credits by completing this class.

“The other course is going to be offered in the evening and that’s going to be a glass-bedding course for precision rifles,” Miller said.

Plans call for offering glass-bedding classes for two evenings a week for eight to 10 weeks. It focuses on pillar-bedding and provides students a chance to bed at least one rifle in a method of choice.

The summer program will run from July 15 to Aug. 2.

“We’ve decided to expand the program quite a bit,” Miller said. “This next year we’re going to have nine total classes going.”

The classes run three a week for three weeks starting July 15-19 with:

• Basic lathe

• Designing Wildcat cartridges

• Gun stock checking

From July 22 to 26, the program offers:

• 1911 handguns (law enforcement weapon)

• Glass-bedding

• Knife-making

The final week of July 29-Aug. 2 includes:

• AR 10/AR 15 armorer course

• Bow-making

• Flyrod-making

Miller said the final class remains tentative. He would like to have a class with both flyrod making and fly tying.

Miller has had to put getting National Rifle Association accreditation on the back burner for this year. The organization recently added some new requirements that he has to work out before getting the NRA endorsement.

“That is still our goal,” he said. “It’s just taking a little longer to get there.”

He remains confident that people will travel here from Wyoming, the Dakotas and Idaho to take these classes. Miller points out that students would have to travel to Colorado for a gunsmithing program of this caliber.

“It’s a pretty good draw for the Northwest,” he said.

For local job seekers, Miller sees good potential for using these skills as a credential when approaching one of the firearms manufacturers in the Flathead Valley. He said it should help those seeking entry-level work as an assembler.

“You get a broad knowledge how the gun works and how it functions,” he said. “You get a certificate of completion in the program. You also walk out with a gun that you’ve built and you can say ‘This is what I’ve done.’”

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by email at cchase@dailyinterlake.com.