Armory Sponsor
Posted: 12/16/2012 9:02:33 PM EDT
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I have been thinking that it would be pretty cool to have a gun that I made completely from scratch. The thing is, I don't know anything about machining. The junior college has a couple of machining courses that I have been thinking about taking, but I have a couple of questions first.
What kind of tools would I be looking at? I figure a CNC mill would take care of the lower and upper, and most of the internals. Some kind of lathe for a barrel, I'd imagine. A 3d printer for handguards, stock and pistol grip. What else? Also, what would I be looking at for cost? If it's in the $5,000 range, I'd be a lot more willing to do it than if it's in the $50,000 range. How difficult is it to learn how to do this kind of stuff? Is it the type of skill I could learn in a couple semesters of junior college courses? |
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Define scratch built.
5k ain't going to do it with CNC and the other machines in your planning. That would barely cover a conventional mill, lathe, and tooling. If your dead set on a scratch built, start out with a simple tube gun. Like a Sten or Sterling. If you're a bit more cocky you could step up to a Lanchester/Mp28 or Ppsh41. The simple tube guns are going to require a much smaller investment in machines and tools. |
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Start with the basics, learn how a firearm functions, and use your imagination. Your goal is impossible until you lay the groundwork and learn how to walk before you fly supersonic.
There a links to all the active "home" gunsmithing forums in the tacked thread. You'll want to find a copy of Army TM 31-210 to help that imagination part of your training. Read everything you can find about gunsmithing in general on line and buy some books. Learn how to reload. Ditch the whole 3D printing stuff, that's unnecessary complication for this project and adds unnecessary cost. If you want to learn the basics as quickly as possible, enroll in the gunsmithing program at Trinidad State Junior College, and get to work. Pay attention and do the work and you'll be equipped to build a rifle or handgun from scratch. |
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Quoted:
Start with the basics, learn how a firearm functions, and use your imagination. Your goal is impossible until you lay the groundwork and learn how to walk before you fly supersonic. There a links to all the active "home" gunsmithing forums in the tacked thread. You'll want to find a copy of Army TM 31-210 to help that imagination part of your training. Read everything you can find about gunsmithing in general on line and buy some books. Learn how to reload. Ditch the whole 3D printing stuff, that's unnecessary complication for this project and adds unnecessary cost. If you want to learn the basics as quickly as possible, enroll in the gunsmithing program at Trinidad State Junior College, and get to work. Pay attention and do the work and you'll be equipped to build a rifle or handgun from scratch. Plus One. I made my first breech loader at about 8 yrs. of age. Already had a .410 but i wanted a pistol. Think, a 6" piece of 3/4" pipe with fuze hole and a pipe cap. Start with the basics. Or at least a black powder percussion |
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HAAH! I hadn't thought of that in years!
My first " Gun Build" was a school project for social studies. I wrote a paper on the futility of Gun control, and built a black powder pistol from a piece of half inch pipe, capped and drilled and tapped for a brake bleeder valve that I hand filed down to accept a musket cap.Cut out a stock from a piece 1 inch pine, clamped the pipe on with a hose clamp, and cut out a big triangle piece of scrap for a hammer, with a spring stretched to the hose clamp. I sawed off a 45 degree notch for the hammer to get it lined up on the cap, pulled and released with your thumb. Crude but functional, it demonstrated that any 12 year old could build a gun at home capable of killing someone. ( possibly himself!  ) IIRCC, my friend and I stuck ten grains of black powder and a .45 cal ball in it and shot it into a telephone book to demonstrate it's effectivness, then brought the whole works to school.
Probably wouldn't go oveer too well today....... 
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