In 1981 Fred started gunsmithing classes at Lassen College in Susanville, CA. Bob Dunlap was the lead instructor, Fred was lucky to have started his career learning from Bob. Bob's teaching method is centered on the design systems of firearms; if you understand the systems you can apply them to any gun that comes your way. This makes gunsmithing much easier as new guns come on the market or a rare gun crosses the bench.Over the years Fred began to specialize in wildcat cartridges, mostly for rifles. He started making his own reamers and reloading dies, so that he could form new wildcats and test ideas without spending a fortune on equipment or tools. Soon Fred was asked to teach about wildcatting for the NRA Short Term Gunsmithing program in Oklahoma, Colorado and Montana. His first book on Wildcat Cartridges published in 2005 is now a collectable book selling for premium prices. In 2023 Fred wrote a second edition of the Wildcat Cartridges book for Gun Digest, it was released in April of 2024 with three all new chapters and three new appendices added plus the addition of numerous illustrations and pictures. During those same years Fred was working with a line of cartridges that we marketed through Z-Hat Custom Inc. Untold hours were spent testing and developing the Hawk line of cartridges. Literally years of data collection and testing have now led to the Hawk Cartridges Manual. P.O. Ackley, America's Gunsmith was published in 2017 by Gun Digest. In that same year Fred introduced his new series of textbooks for gunsmithing, "Gunsmithing Student Handbook Series" There are currently four titles published and many more in the works.Fred is an award winning writer and has several more books in the works. He lives in Kalispell, MT. Fred has two grown children and three grandsons.Read more about this authorRead less about this author