Building my own guns.

Should be fun. I really like building and modifying my guns. I have yet to start from a block of metal, but building up from virgin receivers and/or flats is immensely satisfying. If you're at all like me, you'll start looking at mills and lathes pretty soon.

I am assuming you will be sourcing the barrels from a barrel manufacturer? Or not?

I think you may want to plan your designs to be easiest made with the tools at hand. Allow for some fitting to get the final lock-up.

Sounds like a lot of fun if you are into working with your hands like I am.

As you know, the famous Pennsylvania-style Longrifles were all rifled by hand, using a single cutter riding on a spirally-grooved mandrel with the cutter raised a minute amount on each pass.

But this is no more challenging for the modern garage mechanic in terms of ability and tools than it was for the old-time gunsmith out in the boonies.

Good luck! I know your results will be satisfying, but don't forget to "proof" your homemade guns remotely with a long lanyard.


REF:
http://www.city-data.com/forum/guns-hunting/659389-how-rifle-barrel-1700s-style.html

I have built the usual black powder rifle and revolver kits as well as an M1911 and AR15 from the frame on up but never a complete gun from scratch. Sounds like an interesting idea as typically I use to build these project guns during the winter when there was nothing else to do and I really didn't want to venture outdoors. Let us know how you make out with your build.

Spend a LOT of time drawing out your ideas before hand. Seeing it on paper (scale drawings) often reveals flaws in reasoning and design. Use new hacksaw blades (where applicable), cut everything oversize and file to fit. Metal cutting blades in a circular saw work a treat, but wear a dust mask or work outside. Otherwise, have at & enjoy.

I suggest you get Mr Single Shot's Book of Rifle Plans, by Frank DeHaas.
http://www.dehaas.com/guns/

That way you don't have to start out designing as well as building.

The Chicopee rimfire and centerfire versions are designed to be made with a minimum of machine tools, most parts are 2 dimensional out of flat stock.
The Vault Lock is a more involved design but has a round breechblock to simplify machining the receiver, you don't have to be able to broach a square breechblock channel.
I don't know what the fourth one mentioned is.

For a long time I was toying with the idea of building a miniature Wheelock out of Bic cigarette lighter parts.

But, alas, I no longer have a shop.

I think you've convinced me to build a 4-winds shotgun aka "slam bang" (legal length of course).

Mike

^ Had to look that one up:

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_a_four_winds_shotgun

230RN said:

^ Had to look that one up:

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_a_four_winds_shotgun

Click to expand...

The term was coined by the infamous Kurt Saxton (who had been aptly described as the king of all things cuckleheaded): 3/4" steel pipe barrel. 1" steel pipe receiver with an end cap. A small piece of wood dowel with a nail (firing pin) in it. You slide the two parts together to make it fire. Allegedly used by Philippine resistance against the Japanese. The idea of course is to trade weapons with a Japanese soldier at the first opportunity.

Same concept as the FP-45 Liberator:

General Motors made about a million of them for $2.40 each during WWII.

Ditto the CIA's "Deer Gun" in the mid-'60s:


I plan to stamp my receiver with my name, address, caliber, model name, and serial number using a Harbor Freight letter/number stamp set Barrel >18", overall length >26".

Mike

I've been thiinking about making a slam bang shotty for awhile, but still missing some research. I know there are different grades of steel pipe, some that can take the PSI and some that can't. Very important to make sure you have the right one and i have not been able to nail that down definitively, both the type and a source.

But, it is definitely on my list of projects.

Pizzapinochle said:

I've been thiinking about making a slam bang shotty for awhile, but still missing some research. I know there are different grades of steel pipe, some that can take the PSI and some that can't. Very important to make sure you have the right one and i have not been able to nail that down definitively, both the type and a source.

But, it is definitely on my list of projects.

Click to expand...

It's not safe by modern standards. The rated burst pressure for 3/4" SCH 40 steel pipe is 8610 psi and a working pressure of 2930 psi. It could work many times and fail later (the fatigue limit of steel alloys being ~50% of the yield strength).

I have no plans to actually use mine when I build it. I'll probably test it with blank loads (pour the shot out of low-brass shells).

Mike

There was a commercially produced Philippine Guerilla Gun on the concentric tube, slide/slam fire system. I recall the ads from early 1960s gunzines. I trust they used something better than gas pipe for the actual barrel. You could probably find a takeoff shotgun barrel to build with and have something that would actually work.

Has anybody ever read the memoirs of a le Resistance operative who shot a German sentry with a Liberator? Considering the British were distributing STENs in occupied Europe for not much more money, the little single shot probably got little use.

I made my own pipe fitting shotgun. A couple of them, in fact. Both use heavy wall industrial 3/4" non welded hydraulic tubing. I cut the threads on it with NPT dies. 18" barrel coupled to an 8" receiver, stainless rod bolt. The first uses a STEN style receiver, and its all mounted in a Monte Carlo stock. Not too bad on accuracy for a 3/4" choke. Its heavy, so there is virtually no recoil.

The second one I made is still a work in progress, since I can't always get the sear aligned to catch 100%.

I've got plans for a .38 snake shot shotgun, but if I can get a proper rifling bit, I'll cut grooves in the barrel. I'm using more hydraulic high pressure tubing with a 3.5 mm wall. Its rated to 45,000 PSI. Should make for a fun project.

I've also thought about trying to acquire a .410 Mossberg 500 receiver and custom .45 colt barrel. Something about a pump action .45 colt rifle, or pistol appeals to me.

I have built a few from parts kits with nothing more than a Dremil, and drill press. My Sten needed a welder too. It was time intensive, but rewarding. The Sten was more difficult then the 80 percent lower I built. Lots of fun and really only a piece of pipe with plumbing and sheet metal hanging off of it.

@USAFVet Good on ya. That's my philosophy too: when in doubt, overbuild it. Gotta love high pressure hydraulic pipe.

Where there's a will, there's a way.

RE: 4 winds shotty

Also known as a "ZIP" gun, esp. when used with pistol rounds.

I found the blueprints, still want to go into the garage and build a PPSH from scratch.
The issue there is that much of the receiver is stamped, and I have neither a brake to bend it or the welder it would take to machine it from billet and then weld pieces for the way the shroud wraps around.

Machina- Square or rectangular tube stock is your friend.

Round DOM tubing can be milled or draw filed to match the PPSH shroud external profile. Glad someone's more ambitious than a four winds bang-stick, we can do a whole lot better than that . The real issue is that a PPSH from blue prints is illegal in about four ways

TCB

I'd have to find the right tubing, and would still need to cut and flatten portions of it. Some of the side extends further than the tubing would allow, and generally square tubing doesn't have a radius on the corners like that.
And, yes, I would need to alter the trigger assembly, bolt, and would probably extend the shroud far enough for a legal barrel length. Or put on a fake suppressor or something so it isn't just sticking out.

Drawings are just a starting point. After that, it's all about being creative with the materials and techniques at your disposal.