Making an AR15 from soda cans

[TGS]

"Receivers are easy, barrels and bolts not so much."

Hobby machinist here, who has made a couple of guns.

Pics or it didn't happen.

But if you're talking clandestine manufacture by crooks, a 10 inch barrel 9MM open bolt full auto subgun - that's not really hard at all.

Totally; for an open-bolt SMG you don't need any machining skill or equipment at all.

[whomever]

"Pics or it didn't happen."

Fair enough. They're not very exciting, alas. Here are 1911 before and after pics (note oopsie where the safety goes ...not enough coffee that day):




Here is a raw AR lower forging getting the buffer tube threads (I'm too cheap to buy a tap):



Here's an upper forging getting drilled prior to boring:


The uppers are harder than the lowers, IMHO.

[whomever]

Whoops, should have included this:



Doing a 'just like factory' magwell is the hardest part of an AR lower (you can't mill square corners). Doing one that works is easier, because the place where precision matters is the top; the bottom of the magwell can be pretty rough as long as the mag fits in, so you can mill the top and finish the bottom end however (files, for example). Ray Brandes has a great writeup for any budding machinist wanting to try an AR lower:

http://arlower.ray-vin.com/ar15/ray%...15%20build.pdf

Chapter 9 is his method of doing magwells w/o a shaper or broach.

[OlongJohnson]

If there was ever an environment where commercial manufacture of guns was outlawed, but crooks still wanted them, what I would expect is that black market manufacturers would emerge. Consider, perhaps, the owner of a small machine shop that's hard up - he's falling behind on the lease payments for his machinery, or he's snorting the profits, or whatever. He comes in on a Sunday with a thumb drive holding the CNC programs for gun parts. A few hours later he leaves with finished gun parts. The only evidence at that point is the chips waiting to be recycled. That's going to be really hard to stop.

Australia's gun ban has met with exactly this result. The country has gone so far down the rabbit hole that merely having a set of prints or design data is forbidden. My understanding is that the way the law is written, if you happen to be an administrator who has a login credential on a server where someone else stores design data for a firearm and travel to Australia (OK, you'd have to be able to log in from Australia), then you are guilty of a serious crime. It's truly a panic gone wrong.

[olstyn]

Australia's gun ban has met with exactly this result. The country has gone so far down the rabbit hole that merely having a set of prints or design data is forbidden. My understanding is that the way the law is written, if you happen to be an administrator who has a login credential on a server where someone else stores design data for a firearm and travel to Australia (OK, you'd have to be able to log in from Australia), then you are guilty of a serious crime. It's truly a panic gone wrong.

Seems like somebody ought to send those 3D printer plans for AR lowers that were making the rounds a while back to every phone # and email address in Australia. That law would immediately become unenforceable, at least from a practical standpoint.

[jellydonut]

Australia's gun ban has met with exactly this result. The country has gone so far down the rabbit hole that merely having a set of prints or design data is forbidden. My understanding is that the way the law is written, if you happen to be an administrator who has a login credential on a server where someone else stores design data for a firearm and travel to Australia (OK, you'd have to be able to log in from Australia), then you are guilty of a serious crime. It's truly a panic gone wrong.

In this case they're going to have to shut off the internet considering the amount of plans available freely and openly.

[hufnagel]

Seems like somebody ought to send those 3D printer plans for AR lowers that were making the rounds a while back to every phone # and email address in Australia. That law would immediately become unenforceable, at least from a practical standpoint.

That sorta feels like Robin Hood, but using spam for good.

[OlongJohnson]

In this case they're going to have to shut off the internet considering the amount of plans available freely and openly.

No first-hand experience, but my understanding is that child porn is available relatively freely if someone is into that. It's still a serious crime that can make a person go away for a long time.

The point isn't preventing guns as much as it is war on the people who wish to possess them, and their collective culture.

[That Guy]

If there was ever an environment where commercial manufacture of guns was outlawed, but crooks still wanted them, what I would expect is that black market manufacturers would emerge.

Why are you speaking in the conditional form? There is already evidence of several different outlaw firearms manufacturers.

From the blog you linked to: Photos of illegal TEC-9 submachine gun factory operating in Montreal

Forgotten Weapons has written about a subgun found in the Netherlands that appears to be factory made but has fake markings, and no-one really knows where these guns are made: The “R9 Arms” Machine Pistol

I'm sure other examples can be found. (And then there are of course the bazillion crudely made firearms used around the globe.)

It's truly a panic gone wrong.

What would a panic that has gone right look like?