From what I've heard Murray State College and Trinidad are the best two in the country. Murray crams a four-year class into two years. 12-hour days aren't unusual.
I don’t believe there is really a general “best” School out there. Building off of my earlier comment, they are all capable of teaching the same basic material so it just comes down to the commitment and aptitude of the students and amount of shop time available. All of these schools generally require staff to be school trained smiths and often you’ll have an instructor at say, CST who graduated from Murray or a Murray grad teaching at PGS so the staff quality tends to be fairly even. regarding the program framework, they each have strengths and weaknesses depending on your individual goals. To wit, if you’re 18 and want to get into the gun world as a smith but may also want to move elsewhere within the industry, an associates or bachelors program may be “best” because of the degree offered. If you. Are older, perhaps with a degree already or don’t feel that you want to need one, then a full time certificate trade program may be “best”. I chose the latter at PGS because gunsmithing was a second career and i had no need for a degree In gunsmithing. As PGS is a certificate program, there are no “core classes” required meaning I got two full years in the shop vs. 6 months or so in the shop over 2 years with the balance in additional classes for an Associates program.
