Meet our New Armourer!
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Last week we were pleased to finally announce the appointment of our new armourer, Daniel Orlando. Dan will be taking over our Smith & Wesson and Mossberg service centres as well as general repair work in our brand-new, purpose-built armoury. For this month’s blog post we tore Dan away from the workshop to find out a bit more about him. We hope you enjoy getting to know him as much as we did! Dan grew up in a tiny rural town in Ohio, USA surrounded by farms and woods. He describes himself as a very outdoorsy kid and says he learned the value of hard work from a young age, assisting his father on a number of wood and panel beating projects and landscaping for his neighbours. It was here that Dan first learned to shoot. “Dad let me start shooting with a BB gun when I was eight, and I shot my first pistol at around twelve or thirteen, a Smith & Wesson 2206 .22.” “Firearms were just a part of life where we were, so he wanted me to learn to respect them early,” he says. |
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But it wasn’t until he joined the Marine Corp in 2009 that he began to shoot for fun, after completing long range training and finding he was a pretty decent shot. In the years that followed he developed a love of rifle shooting, and says before relocating to Australia, he often went out shooting with his Dad. During his time in the military Dan trained as an armourer and after 8 years of service, he left to pursue a career in gunsmithing. In 2018 he enrolled at the Pennsylvania Gunsmithing School and put in almost 2500 bench hours refinishing, machining, and building custom firearms. Dan loved everything about gunsmithing but says he particularly enjoyed working on the older models. “I loved working on historical stuff,” he says, “bringing old firearms back to life and making them look new again”. After graduating with honours as a qualified gunsmith Dan made the decision to move down under, in pursuit of a new adventure, and to be closer to his partner – an Aussie gal he met in Hawaii. So far, he says he has thoroughly enjoyed his time in Aus, calling it a great experience despite the blistering heat. “It’s too damn hot here!” he says, “It snows where I come from, I’m not used to this!” Dan joined us earlier this year, and has just received his Firearms Authority, meaning he can officially begin working on your firearms. He will be offering a new range of armoury services in addition to our existing warranty station repairs, and hopes to get a few custom jobs through as well. “I love working on custom firearms,” he says “I love anything that’s a bit different where I can push the boundaries and show off what I can do.” Describing himself as a bit of a perfectionist, Dan says he is keen to get the best results for our customers. “I know how it feels to put your faith in someone to work on your firearms,” he says, “I’ve been disappointed before and that drives me to do my best for others.” “I love the feeling I get when someone says ‘hey this hasn’t worked in 5 years’ and I give it back and it’s actually working again”. A long-range shooter at heart, Dan says his favourite firearms to work on are probably bolt-action rifles. “I love bolt action guns because you can do the most with them,” he says, “I can get them to shoot very accurately over long distances which is really satisfying.” While longarms are his passion, Dan says he is looking forward to working on a variety of models here at Grycol. “I’m honestly just happy to be working on firearms again, I can’t wait to gain some more knowledge and experience working with Smith and Wesson and Mossberg, and whatever else comes in!” You can contact Dan here at Grycol for all your repair needs or enquiries. He’s more than happy to help out, and says he’s looking forward to working and learning with you to find the best solution for your needs. We’ll be posting regular updates on what Dan is up to on our Facebook and Instagram, or you can follow him @Dano_the_gunsmith to see what he’s working on! Welcome to the team Dan! We’re thrilled to have you on board!
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