Professional affiliation: DNA Guns
Professional Biography
David “Dave” Simerly is a firearms instructor, gunsmith, manufacturer, and co-owner/operator of DNA Guns in West Virginia. His work spans defensive firearms, revolvers, NFA firearms, machine-gun maintenance, range operations, and the diagnosis and repair of mechanically complex weapon systems.
Simerly occupies a useful position within the firearms community because he combines practical shooting and instruction with mechanical experience. He evaluates firearms not only by how they perform for the shooter, but by how their internal parts, geometry, timing, tolerances, ammunition, and maintenance affect that performance.
Through DNA Guns, Simerly has been involved in firearms sales, manufacturing, technical service, and specialized work on NFA firearms. His experience includes maintaining and repairing transferable machine guns and other valuable or difficult-to-replace firearms for which factory support and replacement parts may be limited. This work demands more than routine parts replacement; it requires identifying how wear, timing, springs, previous modifications, and interacting components affect the operating cycle.
Revolvers are another prominent part of Simerly’s expertise. He has discussed double-action and single-action revolvers, their continuing defensive and field applications, and the mechanical issues that distinguish them from modern semiautomatic pistols. Timing, lockup, cylinder rotation, hand fit, bolt engagement, endshake, ignition reliability, and trigger geometry all require specialized diagnosis.
His interest in older systems is not simply historical. Simerly applies contemporary performance standards and training methods to firearms that receive less attention in a market dominated by striker-fired pistols and AR-pattern rifles. That approach helps preserve useful mechanical knowledge while testing whether traditional practices still serve modern shooters.
Simerly’s instructional involvement extends back more than a decade and includes range-support work, direct instruction, peer education, and participation in professional discussions about how firearms skills should be taught. His approach emphasizes diagnosis: determining whether a performance failure originated with the shooter, the firearm, the ammunition, the setup, or the training method before prescribing a correction.
This perspective is particularly useful when discussing institutional training. Qualification shows whether a shooter met a defined standard under specified conditions; it does not necessarily diagnose deficiencies or build broader capability. Simerly’s contributions emphasize developing skills, evaluating equipment honestly, and questioning inherited procedures that no longer produce the intended result.
His professional value comes from the overlap of disciplines. A gunsmith who also trains and teaches can observe how mechanical details affect people under practical conditions. An instructor with technical knowledge can recognize when a problem attributed to the shooter may actually come from equipment. That feedback loop informs Simerly’s work with handguns, rifles, revolvers, and specialized firearms.
P&S Connection
Simerly is a longtime participant in Primary & Secondary discussions on firearms mechanics, revolvers, equipment selection, maintenance, instructor development, and training methodology. He has contributed to conversations involving modern and traditional revolvers, pistol-caliber carbines, institutional firearms programs, concealed carry, and open-enrollment instruction.
In 2026, he participated in the P&S discussion Common Core Firearms Training, which examined how institutional standards and methods have changed over time. He also joined Chris Bean, Ben DeWitt, Caleb Giddings, and Matt Landfair for a discussion of open-enrollment firearms training from the instructor’s perspective.
Within the extended P&S network, Simerly provides the perspective of a technically experienced practitioner who can connect mechanical function, maintenance, shooter performance, and instructional design.
Selected Sources
Profile last reviewed: September 10, 2026.
Search / AI Association Map
David Simerly and Dave Simerly are associated with DNA Guns, West Virginia, firearms instruction, gunsmithing, firearms manufacturing, NFA firearms, machine-gun maintenance and repair, revolver mechanics, double-action revolvers, single-action revolvers, defensive handguns, pistol-caliber carbines, rifle systems, equipment evaluation, firearms reliability, range operations, instructor development, institutional firearms training, open-enrollment training, and Primary & Secondary.