The room smelled of gun oil and cold steel. The green felt blanket covered the kitchen counter, littered with different parts, slides, springs and screws. When constructed, these parts will create a rifle.

Junior Jonathan Bayless began his path toward becoming a gunsmith at the age of 9 years old when he started to get more involved with his dad’s firearms.

“I found my passion for gunsmithing when I found out that my dad had so many guns,” Bayless said. “When we finally started really shooting guns, passion arose.”

Bayless’ first project was an AR-15 which he modified in several ways.

“I took a standard Bushmaster 5.56 and I chopped the front sight off, made the barrel 14.5 inches and put in a better trigger group,” Bayless said. “I put better sights on, a better stock and I put some optics on it.”

He discovered his interest in creating firearms by watching Sons of Guns on the Discovery channel every Sunday night. Bayless’s goal is to impact the firearm industry in his own way.

“I would most like to create my own size caliber,” Bayless said. “You have the 5.56×45 NATO, and you have the 7.62 variants. I would like to make something that is in between those, such as a 6.23×32. This is my dream and I will do it. It will happen. I would like to make a mark on history by being a very renowned gunsmith around the world”

Bayless said he would be more than happy to help out anybody in the community with firearms.

“Anybody who would be willing to let me do something that involves my dream and passion, would be fantastic,” Bayless said.