I was at the Brownells Gunsmith Fair a few years ago talking to a polite young gent in a tie. We were in line for lunch and I had struck up a conversation since I always enjoy hearing what younger people say about the industry. The event was hosted by Brownells as an opportunity for entry-level gunsmith students to learn — and meet potential employers. The young man seemed anxious.
Adam Motter was in his last phase of gunsmith school and was about to take the leap into the workforce. “It’s hard to describe but I kept imagining everyone would be talking guns and helping each other, but it’s much more businesslike. These people are interested in their own shops and concerns and I feel as if it’s hard to, well, I’m not sure how to describe it, but sort of break the ice.” I understood. There were plenty of “old guys” in the crowd and many were there to learn to help their businesses and were focused on that. I’ll also say it seems many of the younger gunsmith students were overwhelmed by the concentration of sheer industry knowledge in the people around them. Many of the young gunsmiths were looking — a bit lost.
I joined Adam and his friends at a table and while we ate, I talked to them about the industry, the concerns of the business people in attendance, and offered some ideas to help as they entered the job market. I also got to look at dozens of good quality pictures showing a broad range of talented work the young ’smiths were doing in school. I saw a future — and an opportunity to help some.
After getting to know the group a bit more that evening, I made them a promise. “I’ve seen your work and know you’re passionate about pushing the envelope on design and high quality work. Graduate, find a slot and when your work is ready, send me some photos. If it’s good, I’ll put it on the cover of Handgunner.”
I noticed Adam smiled when I said that, then reached out and shook my hand. “You’ll be hearing from me.”
Adam kept in touch. After his graduation and cutting his teeth for a while learning the ropes of the daily grind of a custom gun shop, Adam moved to another slot he found at the CZ Custom Shop in Mesa, Arizona. About two years later he sent me an email with an image of a partially completed slide of a CZ-75 model — “How’s this?” was all it said. I said, “Keep at it and show me the final result.”
“This” ended up being just fine (the finger-groove gripped gun in the photos). When Adam sent me a photo of his completed gun, I said “Let’s show what you — and the team at the CZ Custom shop — can do, while we’re at this.” Shortly, a box of four custom CZ-based guns arrived and I realized the pistol-shooting public had been missing out on something remarkable — custom CZ semi-autos.
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