Workbook

Copyright 1997-2001
by T. Mark Graham. All Rights Reserved.
ABOUT GUNPLUMBER
(Revised 09-22-00)
Do you really care about my biographical information? Probably not.
On the other hand it helps to establish my credibility - that I really do
know what I'm talking about and you won't ruin your FAL if you
follow my workbook. I am T. Mark Graham, known on the Internet
as "gunplumber." I'm 32 years old, and been tinkering all my life. I
am a full-time gunsmith and though this is definitely not the
profession to choose if you want to get rich, it is what I love to do and
I intend to die happy. I am sometimes called assertive, sometimes an
arrogant bastard. Either way, I won't bullshit you.
My parents wouldn't let me have a gun, so I became obsessed –
memorizing technical data and reading everything the library had to
offer. Went to Military Academy for 8-10 grade and competed
(poorly) on the school's indoor small-bore rifle range. I enlisted in the
U.S. Army at 17 and served from 1986-1988 with 75
th
Rangers.
Pretty cool training. Unfortunately, I had some completely ignorant, sadistic, knuckle-dragging
Neanderthals in my chain of command. Even more unfortunate was the bizarre military tradition that
I was supposed to obey them! Square peg, round hole. My smart-ass mouth earned a lot of extra
duty, so while others were enjoying themselves by getting drunk and stupid, I had to clean and
maintaining the foreign weapons arms room. AKs, AKM/Ss, PKMs, RPKs, RPGs, SVDs, a few
MP5SD3s thrown it. Clean 'em all, often. What a punishment. I was in heaven! Learned a lot about
function and operation. Waiting for my 18
th
birthday to buy my first rifle - either a SAR-48 Para
($750) or a Galil ARM ($800) - oh to see those prices again. Met up with an old guy who was a
gunsmith for the Army Marksmanship Unit and learned the basics of rifle accurizing and reloading.
Inherited an antique Winchester from great-grandfather. Mint. 98% condition. Ruined it. Sold it at
60% condition. Learned a lot of what not to do. First about the right and wrong tools – screwdrivers
in particular. Second – that color case hardening is not rust that needs to be scrubbed off with steel
wool. Well – we all start somewhere. . . .
Got out, finished college - A BA in History (Military) from California State University at Fullerton
and an MA in National Security Studies (International Relations) from California State University at
San Bernardino. The collapse of the Soviet Union dashed my hopes of working in the defense
intelligence community. Diploma still gathering dust on my "I Love Me" wall. Taught elementary
school for a while, then back on active duty for the SF Medical Course. Shortly after the Gulf War I
got to tour military units in Israel and earn the Israeli Parachute Badge. Really beautiful country and
a lot of guns – everywhere. Back to teaching. Restoring guns for friends, just for fun. Then started
charging a nominal fee for materials. Then actually started to get good. Saw the writing on the wall
with regard to California politics and moved to Arizona (Free America), specifically Phoenix - the
"Gun Mecca" of the U.S. Built military and police sniper rifles for a famous manufacturer. Gained
an enormous amount of hands-on experience on a wide variety of firearms. After a falling out with
the owner, I went into business for myself with a few side jobs going until I had a good enough
reputation to make it a full-time business. The senior chemist from the same former employer joined
me. He knew firearm coatings, and I knew the mechanical side. Thus began Arizona Response
Systems and the METACOL (METAl COLor) line of coatings. I still maintained my Army ties
through the Reserves, first in counterintelligence, then in chemical warfare. Finally got tired of
Clinton's Army and transferred to the Inactive Reserves and became a full-time civilian again in
2000.