Anybody have a homemade gun?

[Cannonball888]

16" cannons on battleships are excellent examples of guns.

I thought that too, but was strongly corrected, those are 16" rifles, boy

They are indeed guns due to their trajectory. They happen to be rifled guns, aka rifles.

 

[Ash]

I have a good friend who served in the US Navy in WWII, went on to become a dentist and retired with a bunch of money. He had friends in the Navy who, upon his retirement, presented him with two 16" projectiles. They are giant, of course, and very heavy. Sure, I've seen them before on the USS Alabama and other ships which fired that projectile, but I have not met a man who actually owned two of them. He originally explained the Naval Gun to me.

One can argue semantics, but a good way to look at it is this. Those big cannons are Naval Rifles - but are also guns.

A Naval Rifle (16") is by definition a Gun. It is not a howitzer nor a mortar but a gun. A gun is not necessarily a Naval Rifle but a Naval Rifle is a Gun. A Chevy Silvarado is by definition a truck, but a truck is not necessarily a Silvarado.

Ash

 

[biscuitninja]

I've built guns before... just read my signature! Unfortuantely unless you want to completely oblerate ANY backdrop you have, they are not quite tactical. Also they aren't exactly cheap or easy to make. I did draw up some plans on a tester .50 cal weapon to use with specialized guided projectles, but again, its not cheap or easy to produce.

Anyways why would you want to? Anything of decent quality isn't going to be cheap or easy to produce.

good uck
-bix

 

[Grizzly Adams]

I've built rifles from actions (M96s & 98s, Rem 788), barrels, and stocks. Took a Super Blackhawk 44 Mag. and built a 45LC with a Douglas premium air gauged barrel.

 

[renaissance]

Zip guns

This "fella" I knew when I was Young...... :O)
built "Zip" Guns.

No One I knew ever used one to do harm
but we all thought we were "Cool Dudes" to have them around.

I'm sure the statute of limitations mjust have run out.
This was in Boston in the 1940s

"He" was inspired by "The Amboy Dukes"
and really got quite inventive.

Went so far as to "Convert" a standard "Cap Gun" of the day.
The kind that used "rolls" of caps - and had a "Top Break"

Jammed a brass tube (with 22 cal shell casing internal diameter)
into the cap gun barrel and reinforced it with wrapped copper wire.
Cut a slit into the "ramp" the the coll of caps slid up
(It served as a "breech block)
Drilled a hole in the hammer and inserted a nail for a firing pin.

You could actually got it to light off by pulling the capgun trigger.
You loaded it the same way you would insert a roll of caps

One such unit was known to fire a half dozen 22 short rounds
and still hang together for more.

Anybody out there old enough to remember those simpler days.
For all the rough edges, the world was a safer place then than it is now.

renaissance

 

[dstark]

There is a homeless guy in our town that my friends and I used to bs with every once in awhile, last time I saw him he only had three fingers on his right hand. I found out later he tried to make a homemade gun using a 12ga shotgun shell.

 

[scalper]

Muzzleloading 20 Gauge Shotgun

I built a pretty nice muzzle loading 20 gauge shotgun that is a real beauty.

I really find this topic fascinating, but unfortunately it always seem to draw a ton of criticism and misinformation. As I read the topic from the top, I see very little contribution to discussion to what the thread author intended, that is, discussion of homemade firearms. Please remember that most of the folks on this board are fine people - that is safe and responsible. They are not 12 year olds attempting to do something foolish.

My two cents. In most states, there is nothing illegal about manufacturing a firearm for personal use, provided it is one that you could otherwise buy. It is perfectly safe to do, as long as you are careful and complete testing prior to handling.

That said, I will post pictures of my beauty soon. It has been tested at double the normal charge prior to handling. It is a double-barreled, black powder muzzle loading shotgun that has two triggers which use an electrical ignition system (with 9 volt battery). I found this gave me a nice and light trigger pull and allowed me to implement some ideas I had been thinking about for some time. The stock is a bit "boxy" looking, owing to my lack of ability to shape the wood, but it does have a nice finish. With the barrels it uses, it is something between a 16 and 20 gauge, probably closer to the twenty. I had developed custom shells made for it as well. I hadn't thought about this topic for a while, but when I saw it, I figured I needed to chime in and let those with interest know that it is legal, and can be safe and fun. That said, just test the gun a good five times at a charge of twice the norm. Then inspect the weapon for signs of any damage. If it looks good, you are good to go.

Again, I will most likely induce a flame here nor do I mean any disrespect, but please remember what the author of the thread intended, a discussion of homemade firearms. If you find the thread ridiculous, repulsive, or uninteresting, please seek a thread more to your liking.

 

[gym]

I seen to remember about 50 years ago, zip guns were frequentlly made using a car antenna a piece of wood and a nail with a hinge and a rubber band. since most cars don't have antenna's and kids can usually get a real gun easy enough the demand has gone away.

 

[230RN]

I agree about the business of stifling possible arms and ammunition developments by civilians -- I have in mind "Carbine WIlliams," a convicted felon.

From:

http://faceprint.com/~walpd/gen/moore/carbine_williams.htm

Williams, David Marshall (Carbine), 1900-1975

Carbine Williams was born in Cumberland County, eldest of seven children. As a young boy, he worked on his family's farm. He dropped out of school after eighth grade and began work in a blacksmith shop, enjoyed a short stint in Navy, but was discharged because he was underage. After returning from the Navy, he spent one semester at Blackstone Military Academy before being expelled.

In 1918, he married Margaret Cook and they later had one child, David Marshall, Jr. Williams worked for Atlantic Coast Line railroad, but on the side he had an illegal distillery near Godwin, North Carolina. During a raid on this still in 1921, the Deputy Sheriff was shot to death, and Williams was charged with first degree murder. The trial ended in a hung jury, but Williams decided to plead guilty to a lesser charge of second degree murder. He was given a 20-30 year sentence.

While serving time at Caledonia State Prison in Halifax County, the superintendent began to observe in him a certain genius. As a child he had shown a talent for fashioning objects with his hands and as an adolescent had a special interest in guns.

In prison, he would save paper and pencils and stay up late at night drawing plans for various firearms. He was assigned to the prison's machine shop where he repaired the weapons for the guards. His extraordinary skills in the machine shop permitted him to stay ahead of his assignments and allowed him time for his own hobby. He began building lathes and other tools, and then parts for guns. His mother sent him technical data on guns and also provided him with contacts with patent attorneys. While in prison, he invented the short-stroke piston and the floating chamber principles that eventually revolutionized small-arms manufacture.

The family started a campaign to commute his sentence and they were joined by the sheriff to whom he had surrendered and the widow of the man he was accused of killing. Governor McLean reduced the sentence and in 1929 Williams left prison.

Back in Cumberland County, he set to work perfecting his inventions. After two years, he went to Washington, DC to show his work to the War Department. He got his first contract to modify the .30 caliber Brownings to fire .22 caliber smokeless ammunition.

It was the use of his short-stroke piston in the M-1 Carbine manufactured by Winchester and others, that brought his greatest fame and his nickname "Carbine Williams." General Douglas MacArthur called his light rapid-fire carbine "one of the strongest contributing factors in our victory in the Pacific."

In 1952 Jimmy Steward portrayed Carbine Williams in a movie of the same name. He spent his last years in Godwin after some time in Connecticut. He died in Godwin, North Carolina in 1975.

1999 ncstuff.com

If I am not mistaken, the Colt "Ace" .22 conversion unit for the 1911 (and similar .22 systems) are all derived from his floating chamber principle.

Can you imagine a felon being able to develop these systems today?

 

[.cheese.]

what about a zip gun? That would be classified as AOW though wouldn't it and therefore NFA?

 

[akodo]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkDf-mkZ4uk&feature=related

that is the techniue used in this weapon
http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=8458&d=1037641578

and the above gun just needs to be made with a long enough barrel and stock to not be a SBS or AOW

this is why gun control will never work

 

[.cheese.]

oh ok. For some reason I thought the lack of a stock or grip would make it an AOW. I need to reread the law obviously.

 

[gym]

I always wanted a walking stick, similar to that homemade shotgun in the utube shown. It would be a handy weapon, in certain situations. Perhaps with a swival on the handle so as to reload quicklly.

 

[EShell]

Some of you guys oughta be locked up just for being so crazy paranoid - with an attitude like that, I just KNOW you've gotta be up to something, LOL.

Bad enough to have to comply with the fourteen gazillion un-Constitutional laws out there, and their arbitrary enforcement, let alone invent your own imaginary constraints. :banghead:

I have built several of my own firearms (gasp!):
http://www.mdshooters.com/showthread.php?t=4197

 

[jackstinson]

Someday I'd love to meet the genius that figured out a car radio antenna is a perfect barrel for a .22.

Oil line from a 1955 BSA motorcycle works quite well also.
I built quite a few cartridge firearms (and black powder guns) from scratch many years ago. Just to see what I could make. I have no need to these days, but perhaps in the future? At least I know I can if the need arises. Basic firearms take very little by way of tools to make. And the standard guerrilla warfare pipe shotgun can be slapped together quicker than you can say "insurrection".

 

[crushbup]

Everyone here should be aware that you can sell guns you make for yourself. There are two requirements, however:
1) The gun must not have been made for sale, but for personal use
2) It has a serial number and other markings the ATF requires.

Basically, if you made a gun today and ten years from now you don't want it anymore, you can sell it as long as it is marked properly.

 

[learn2shoot]

Can you imagine a felon being able to develop these systems today?

...while IN prison!!

 

[bogie]

Well, I have three rifles where I know EVERYONE who had a hand in producing the components which went into their construction.

I could build one myself - just probably not as nice.

 

[MD_Willington]

When I was younger, and in a foreign country, we built all kinds of things.

 

[Dravur]

I built...

a working bazooka in high school. The rockets worked.... not terribly accurate, nor powerful, but tons of fun.

 

[bnkrazy]

I know someone that builds AK pistols. I'd like to get into it but lack the equipment to make it easy and have a decent final product.

 

[230RN]

I was interested in producing ammo from scratch and reloading brass and primers using commonly available materials (e.g., strike-anywhere matcheads.)

Worked, but poorly, and the cartridges stunk like heck.

I also made .243 bullets from .22Mag cases.

I've also made .357 bullets out of .30 Carbine cases.

 

[SDC]

The simplest "home-made" (actually PRISON-made) gun I've ever seen was made with:
a Coke can
a bag of Lays potato chips
a pack of matches
a scrap of wire about 3" long
a scrap of steel wool the size of your pinkie nail
and 2 AA batteries
When put together, this thing would blow a hole the size of your thumb through corrugated tin siding.

 

[rickomatic]

Everyone here should be aware that you can sell guns you make for yourself. There are two requirements, however:
1) The gun must not have been made for sale, but for personal use
2) It has a serial number and other markings the ATF requires.

Basically, if you made a gun today and ten years from now you don't want it anymore, you can sell it as long as it is marked properly.

Threads of this type come and go from time to time.
I am NOT a lawyer, and this is only my educated opinion. But my understanding is that the "serial number" and "marked properly" requirements apply to LICENSED MANUFACTURES only. It is SUGGESTED that you mark a homemade firearm should you decide to sell it, but is is not a requirement.
If I am mistaken then please show me chapter and verse in any Federal Law, or BATF edict or letter to the contrary, and I will stand corrected
The problem is that there are so many firearms laws, and they are all so confusing, that these kinds of misunderstandings are bound to happen.

 

[1776 Rebel]

I believe I read at some point that the courts found you could build a firearm for yourself but you can not transport across state lines without getting the ATF involved. If it stays in the state of manufacture its fine. But do check with a lawyer first, then the ATF.