Locked and Loaded
Sturgis gunsmith open for business
Plumbers fix pipes, mechanics fix cars and Zac Borthwick wants to fix firearms in the Golden Triangle. After obtaining his last license from the ATF, his workshop Borthwick Ballistics in Sturgis is open for business.
Gunsmiths like Borthwick are a rare breed. Most run their business out of their homes and work almost exclusively on repairs. Borthwick chose a different path.
Starting last year, Borthwick began construction on a workshop in his backyard. He poured cement for the building on Aug. 10, 2018 and got to work.
Almost exactly one year later, on Aug. 3, Borthwick held a backyard cookout and ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Borthwick said despite being open, the workshop still needs some finishing touches and quality of life improvements.
"We're not done yet," Borthwick said. "We still need to insulate the door. I'd like for it to not be 110 degrees in here."
Comfort notwithstanding, Borthwick is fully prepared and equipped to cater to clients with broken firearms. His workshop is divided into four different work stations with tools at each to fix a variety of problems.
The biggest item in his tool collection is a 1956 Leblond Regal lathe manufactured in Cincinnati, Ohio. A lathe sculpts metal by rotating a piece quickly and with enough power to force the metal to bend and change shape.
Borthwick said he was especially fond of the machine because it came from such a different time yet it can operate automatically if the right settings are configured.
"They had this type of technology, where it could run by itself, in 1956," Borthwick said. "A lot of people don't realize that."
The lathe also gives Borthwick options when it comes to gunsmithing. Rather than just fixing a broken part, Borthwick can use the machinery to completely build a new part if the need arises, a practice he's successfully attempted with firing pins.
"It'll cost more, obviously, but I can make new parts with what I've got in this workshop," Borthwick said.
Having the machinery to build parts is only part of the equation, however. Borthwick has spent the past three years familiarizing himself with a stack of schematic manuals, each as thick as a dictionary. He said the schematics do not always have information.
"It's a good place to start," Borthwick said. "If I can find it in there, I can start to figure out how to actually make it."
Borthwick values his schematics as well as his customers' trust. To protect both, he fit a repurposed shipping container inside his workshop and renovated it to be a secure vault, where he can store guns in the process of being fixed as well as his personal collection.
Moving the container from the street, roughly 100 yards with a house sitting squarely in the way, took an entire day, as Borthwick recalled, but he added it was necessary to make his clients feel as secure as possible when handing their firearms off to him.
"We moved it three feet at a time," Borthwick said.
According to its website, the National Shooting Sports Foundation claims the firearms industry generates over $50 billion across the country.
The organization claims the industry creates over 4,000 jobs in Mississippi, paying over $200 million in wages.
Borthwick said he knows the market for a gunsmith exists and has already started reaching out to gun shops for work.
Beyond the bottom line though, Borthwick said creating this business is something that has lit a fire inside him, a passion he hopes to pass down to his soon-to-be born daughter.
"I'm doing this because I love to do it," Borthwick said. "If y'all want to give me some of your money, well that's great. That would be fantastic."