Selling To The DIY Customer
Image: Tanawit / Adobe Stock
Some gun owners want their gunsmith to do everything: clean their guns, repair any problems and customize their firearms. Others want to do it all themselves. These DIY customers tend to explore the fun side of the shooting experience, and it represents a market segment the savvy retailer can capture.
Caleb Savant is a gunsmith and video and studio supervisor at Brownells in Montezuma, Iowa. Although Brownells is often thought of as a supplier to retailers, the company has its own retail store with a strong customer base of do-it-yourselfers.
“The do-it-yourself gunsmith is our core customer,” Savant noted. “Since 1939, we’ve been a company that services gunsmiths. As gunsmithing information has become more readily available through the internet and other sources, there has been a huge influx of guys who want to do it themselves. What I do here at Brownells is make content all day, every day for both gunsmiths and for those do-it-yourself customers, as well.”
This information goes out through a variety of outlets, including a large YouTube channel.
“The information is free and it’s easily accessible,” Savant said. “Not only do we tell you how to do it, we also tell you what products we’re using and what to consider when you’re picking the particular product. We also tell you not just how to put something together, but how to select the right parts for the build you’re doing and what parts are good for it.”
Where Videos Come In Handy
Savant produces videos on a wide variety of topics, with the list of subjects growing all the time.
“We cover everything from how to mount an optic to how to change and mount triggers,” he confirmed. “We have a full AR-15 build series that takes you step by step and piece by piece through a full AR-15 build. When we say, ‘every component,’ we mean every little pin in detail is covered for how to install every part.”
Not only does Brownells’ YouTube channel tell gunsmiths how to install parts and build guns, but it also has videos on how to troubleshoot problems when things go wrong.
“If you mess up somewhere, there’s a video to tell you what you may have to redo,” Savant said. “We try to cover everything on that end.”
Savant also produces product- and brand-specific videos.
“We’ve done a lot of product videos for Leupold on their optics,” he informed. “If you name a product we carry, we’ve probably done a product video of some kind on it, or if not, on something similar to it. We do videos on everything all the way to tactical gear.”
These videos are not just on firearms. They are also on all kinds of gear related to guns and shooting.
In their own take on “Myth Busters,” Brownells creates videos on firearm-related myths.
“We call the series ‘Smith Busters,’” Savant said. “We have a video on pretty much everything firearms-related.” (Brownells is also on other major social media platforms, giving them a broad reach to firearms enthusiasts.)
America’s Most Popular Rifle Is Its Most Customizable
Cost is one of the biggest things holding gun owners back from getting into doing their own gunsmithing, according to Savant.
“A lot of gun parts aren’t inexpensive,” he said, “and the ones that are inexpensive are generally not very good and they’re harder to work with. A lot of people have a fear — especially when they start having to file on something — of messing it up and being out the cost of the project.”
One of the most customizable platforms, of course, is the AR-15. Savant shared the AR continues to be one of the most popular guns to customize as well.
“If someone buys one off the shelf, the most common thing you’re going to see them change out is the stock and the grip,” he shared. “Then, if they’re feeling a little bit bolder, they may change out the handguard.”
When it comes to other firearms, Savant observed, customers are more about accessorizing than they are about changing core components.
“I think because there’s only so much you can do as a DIY person to other guns until you get into some pretty challenging gunsmithing that it’s not practical for most DIYers to do,” he said. “You’ve also got to have some expensive tools to do it.”
“Must-Haves” For At-Home Gunsmiths
When it comes to basic “must-haves” for the DIY gunsmith, Savant contends the most important thing is a good workspace.
“You need a good bench to work on,” he stated. “You also need a good vise; a good gunsmith’s vise is very important.”
Brownells makes a gunsmith’s vise for the home gunsmith.
“We also carry several other manufacturers’ vises that are affordable,” Savant added. “A DIYer can get one of those affordable vises and do a lot of what they need to do without spending a terrible amount of money.”
(Savant particularly likes the Brownells’ brand vise and says Tipton is a less expensive option that provides good value for the price.)
It Comes Down To Knowing Your Market
Not every retailer has DIY customers, so it pays to know your market before delving too deeply into products suited to these shoppers. Just ask Art Huckfeldt, the manager at Frontier Arms in Cheyenne, Wyo.
“We don’t see a lot of customers who do their own gunsmithing,” Huckfeldt stated. “If someone comes in and buys a gun, we show them how to tear it down to clean it. But as far as replacing triggers or things like that, we don’t recommend our customers do those things. You’ve got to have the right tools and the knowledge, and our customers don’t.”
Although a lot of gun owners became interested in working on their own firearms during COVID, Huckfeldt didn’t see a lot of change in what his customers wanted during that time. The one place he does see clients doing their own customization, Huckfeldt confirmed, is on AR-type platforms.
“Those are kind of like LEGO,” he observed. “Something like that our customers may modify, but even when it comes to taking bolts apart, they still bring them in for us to do and we take care of them.”
Cheyenne is a military town, Huckfeldt added, so they have a lot of customers who should know how to take care of their firearms. Even those clients, however, still bring their guns in to be worked on.
“I don’t think they’re teaching them like they used to, like when I was young and in the military,” he said. “But as far as modding stuff up, it’s easy to do. We see a little bit of it, but all it does is add weight to the gun and make it harder to handle. Every now and then we see one or two guys who want to do that.”
Even the trope of someone who finds an old, rusty gun in a pawn shop and restores it doesn’t hold true for Huckfeldt’s clientele.
“I don’t see anyone doing any of their own bluing,” he noted. “There’s what they call ‘cold bluing,’ but it’s not a very good way to do it. If you’re going to re-blue a gun, you need to send it off to someone who does electroplating. We don’t have any customers who are doing so.”
As with many other aspects of retail sales, it pays to know your market and know your customer. If you have the right clientele, a section of do-it-yourself products can be a source of additional sales for your bottom line.
