Question about improvised firearms/guns (btw ive searched)

[Clinton]

OK lets say if you wanted to get something like the following:

- something which you hold in your hand similar to the way you hold a gun
- something you fire by pulling a trigger similar to a gun
- something which expels force causing permanent damage and destruction in its path similar to a gun

And let's say you could NOT for certain reasons buy ammunition/bullets for this weapon in a shop or even black market!

So how would you build a weapon like this i.e. a gun?

I have not found any information of this and the only information i found was this book "homemade guns and homemade ammo", which would suit perfectly as a shotgun type weapon would be prefered. However i have read percentages and things like that are wrong in this book and it could be dangerous.

So how would one learn how to make a gun? Any gun which shoots and is capable of killing an animal with a shot to the head area or possibly two.

[nbk2000]

Saying that 'ive searched' automatically means you didn't, otherwise you'd know why that was an automatic fail.

Consistant lack of capitalizing I when referring to yourself is an automatic fail.

A n00b making his first post a new topic to make a request is an automatic fail.

3 strikes = you're banned. :p

Left the post here because it is an interesting question.

[Red Beret]

It depends if you want a repeating arm or not. A single shot (or double barrel) shotgun is fairly easy as you dont need to worry about rifling.

You could make a 'four winds' type design, but you said you wanted something which could be held in a similar fashion to a gun, so, make yourself a stock/pistol grip, make the barrel from heavy plumbing pipe, and then work on the firing mechanism. For a single shot 12g the simplest would probably be a tensioned spring to push the firing pin (nail or similar), with simple release mecahnism.

But, looking back, you said you wanted a design assuming you could not obtain ammunition. So, you will need to make your own. This is not a simple matter, unless you want to go with a muzzle loading setup?

I have often thought of having a muzzle loading revolving rifle, the machining tolerances would have to be very tight though, the only thing you would have to buy on a regular basis would be the percussion caps. You could make your own, or reload them also. A multi barrelled muzzle loader would be nice, 12g perhaps?

[AZDesertRat]

I have often thought of having a muzzle loading revolving rifle, the machining tolerances would have to be very tight though, the only thing you would have to buy on a regular basis would be the percussion caps.

At the John Browning museum in Ogden Utah, there is a reproduction of his workshop. An interesting item there is a black powder rifle that has a bar in the breech holding six rounds, each with its own percussion cap. the rifle would be fired and then the bar would be advanced to the next shot. Sorry I don't have pics, but I moved from there about a month ago

[Jacks Complete]

There is a UK legal pistol that uses a similar system, a crossbar magazine, and it shoots .32 lead balls.

I'm not sure the OP was actually asking this question, though. Wasn't he asking how to make a "Not a gun in law" gun? i.e. not a firearm/airgun/missile launcher, etc. that you could have without a ticket or fear of arrest. And if that isn't what he was asking, it should have been!

[nbk2000]

Spring propelled dart or pellet? Like the spetsnaz knife, only not shooting a knife.

[FragmentedSanity]

A big bore air rifle would be a good solution to the requirements laid out in the original post.

Depending on just how much work you want to put into the project an air powered launching device can be made in various shapes, sizes and levels of refinement. But they can definatley be shaped like a gun, have a trigger like a gun - and they'll throw lead downrange.

As for the amunition side of things - airs free and just needs to be pumped in. Lead is easy to melt and cast.

For a couple of simpler examples google "marble shooting air rifle"

If you had the building skills here is something to draw inspiration from.

http://www.beemans.net/images/RA5--Austrian-Partisan-Airg.jpg
http://www.beemans.net/images/RA-6--Austrian-Partisan-Det.jpg

Made in the 1940s during WW2, this gun doesn't look like a Girandoni, but examination shows that it clearly was built by someone familiar with the Girandoni repeating airgun system. The story is that this gun was built in Austria by a partisan bicycle maker during the Nazi occupation in WW2 . The repeating magazine is spring fed and on the left side of the barrel, for the convenient use of a right handed shooter. The gun was charged with the accompanying bicycle type pump. Smoothbore, as would be expected, but firing a 11 3/4 mm lead ball (.463" caliber) (the very same caliber as the original Girandoni Austrian military repeating air rifles!), this would have been a fearsome weapon against sentries, drivers, military leaders, etc. at ranges up to perhaps 100 yards. To a freedom fighter, the lower discharge sound and the lack of flash or smoke would have been huge values. And it did not need powder, primers, or bullets - only easily cast lead or soft-metal balls! The builder surely drew his inspiration from an Austrian museum which displayed a Girandoni system airgun.

Note that this gun has a spring fed magazine, rather than the gravity fed magazine of the original Girandoni military air rifle. While a gravity feed mechanism might be simpler, and even more dependable, the spring fed magazine has great advantages for the purposes of this gun. It is more suited for operation from a vehicle or firing slot where it would be impractical to tip up the rifle for loading and it allows firing with minimal motion at the firing point - very important to a sniper.

Basic specs: A husky 12.2 lbs., 45" overall, glare-free, w/ almost camo anodized type finish.

Snipped from a huge article here:http://www.beemans.net/Austrian%20airguns.htm
The whole site is worth a look if your interested in the history of air guns.

If anyone else had example similar to those above I for one would like to see them.

While the above example might not be a "legal - non firearm" in some countries, it is still an example of something one could make if you couldnt get or make powder based fireams.

The spring powered dart idea reminded me of an old thread.
http://www.roguesci.org/theforum/improvised-weapons/584-ultra-power-spring-pistol-sac-1-3-tons.html
But I dont really like the idea of compressing a three ton spring every time I want to reload. A spring loaded tube would probably be more easily hidden than say a crossbow pistol; but it would be a lot harder to build and reload.