I wouldn't know for sure, but from the way the system work, such bourgeous nonsense as 'rank of master gunsmith' mattered very little. It was the resonsible Party burocrat (presumeably a Soviet general in this case) who said who was a gunsmith and who was a capotalist exploiter and belonged in a prison camp. And a gift of a lavishly decorated shotgun or two could solve this problem in a minute.

Russian Hunting Shotguns