GUNSMITHING THREAD

>>34138580
Hi.

Depends what you're thinking of when you say "gunsmithing".

If you want to design guns, become a mechanical engineer.
If you want to manufacture guns, become a machinist.
If you want to recrown barrels, install scope mounts and occasionally bed a stock, then take a gunsmithing class.

>>34138601
mostly along the lines of design and build, mainly building though

>>34138619
Then it's going to be mechanical engineering and machining. I'd suggest going to a vocational school first. That way you can gets your feet wet without having to deal with a bunch of humanities and stuff right off the bat and the machining knowledge will make you a much better Engineer.

>>34138580
I have a relevant question:

Why has no gun manufacturer made a US legal gatling gun? I bet people would buy it by the thousands.

Basically just an exact copy of the civil war era gatling gun action, hand-crank operated so it's US legal, but in a modern caliber.

I see no reason why it couldn't be done, and I know people would love to buy it, so why hasn't it been done?

>>34141251
The heaviest and most expensive component of a firearm is the barrel. Having multiple makes the price and weight shoot up very quickly.
The more that you have to do by turning the crank, the stiffer the crank is going to be. Between just turning all that mass, extracting spent casings, stripping new rounds out of a magazine and all that, you're not going to be making very accurate fire. You might as well just take a semi-automatic firearm and give it a slide-fire stock or one of those Gatling trigger accessories.

>>34138601
What if i want to me a Holland and Holland tier super snob on part fitment and wood smiting?

>>34141251
It has been done. But you wont like the price of entry.

http://www.colt.com/Catalog/Special-Editions/1877-Bulldog-Gatling-Gun

https://www.budsgunshop.com/catalog/product_info.php/products_id/719004362/Firearms/Rifles/Colt/Colt+Firearms+1877+Bulldog+Gatling+Gun+Brass+.45-70+Governme

>>34141678
Your best bet would be to study gunsmithing and then take a looooong apprenticeship at a company that still does that kind of shit. Good luck. Tough road.

>>34141702
That works but it's made to be a replica for history buffs. I'm talking about something marketed as a practical weapon, to be the next best thing for people who'd rather buy full retard if they could. Something in a cheap and plentiful caliber, maybe 5.56. No one's blowing through that much .45-70.

Maybe even sell mounting brackets for the roll bars on a Jeep Wrangler, to make a legal DIY technical.

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>>34138580
>gunsmithing

Perfect place to ask this: I've been wanting to get an HK33 made via a parts kit. What would I need to put it together, aside from a receiver flat and barrel?

On the flip side, would it be easier and/or cheaper to get it done by a gunsmith?

>>34141998
>What would I need to put it together, aside from a receiver flat and barrel?
Semi LPK
Semi Shelf
Couple other small pieces

Unless you are a master welder you are going to hate life
>On the flip side, would it be easier and/or cheaper to get it done by a gunsmith?
Yes

>>34141739
Could you explain why you recommend MechE as a way to getting into firearm design?

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>>34142024
And here I was hoping that all it took was getting the flat bent into shape.

Entertain me, how much would a decent gunsmith cost to get the gun assembled? 7-800 dollars?

y'all know how hunting rifles have ebony tipping on stocks?
where the fuck do I get a block of ebony

>>34142082
$800-$2000 depending who is building it

You will have to
>bend flat
>weld flat
>weld cocking tube
>populate barrel
>weld semi shelf
>install converted lpk

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>>34142126

>$800-$2000
>mfw

Painful but doable. You sound rather knowledgeable on the subject, You a gunsmith or hired one before?

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>>34142232
>You sound rather knowledgeable on the subject, You a gunsmith or hired one before?
I just talk to HK smiths a good bit and enjoy them.

Your best bet for the HK93 solution is to buy a c93 and worst case you have to rebuild it down the line but its basically $600 for all of the parts you need. Also look up mag costs before you decide on this shit

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>>34138580

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>>34138580
4

>>34142082
you would probably have to heat treat the flat too, unless the originals didn't include it.

Uzi receivers aren't heat treated for the most part, aside from some US made copies.

AK receivers absolutely are.

>>34142028
Because you won't know what you're doing otherwise and your only option will be to horrendously overbuild shit to prevent it from going kaboom and if you want to actually get hired by someone else you'll need at least a Baccalauréat.

Building a sten mk3 right now
My advice? Go for a mk2.

>>34142028
Designing firearms is essentially the same venture as designing other mechanical devices. Its basic principles and considerations are governed by the same laws of physics. There's idiosyncrasies specific to firearms, but that's the case with any field of design. You're going to be better off making novel designs if you're an engineer, with materials and manufacturing knowledge, who is a firearms enthusiast than if you're a gunsmith.

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>>34138580

>>34142366
>I need to make locking lugs for this rifle... Just eyeball it!
vs
>I need to make locking lugs for this rifle... It has to withstand this much pressure without plastic deformation and proof loads are X% stronger...

Something being a few thou off is enough to make something that would normally function flawlessly instead blow up in your face.

>>34138580


As popular guns are, they're kinda a niche market.

Most of the popular guns now are modular and owners can do their own work on it. Look up how many gunsmiths are where you live. Where I live in a city of a population of over 1 million there's probably just one actual legit full time gunsmithing business. He mainly works on fud guns for the guys that still hunt. The vast majority of gunsmiths you find working in gun shops are just self taught guys that probably have to look up online if they get something like swapping the barrel of a bolt action. Basically it's a service they added to increase revenue and not really a problem since 90% of what they get are things like AR builds, swapping sights on someones glock, or doing more advanced troubleshooting on a gun before sending it back to the manufacturer.


If you're starting out and you want to make good money then you should specialize in something. Specialists get their name thrown around on all the gun forums and gun rags. Everyone in the country sends them their guns. Wheel gun trigger jobs, slide fitting and milling, stippling jobs...it doesn't matter. You can charge more. You can focus on a narrower set of tools. It's easier to guarantee the customer a higher quality service.

>>34141613
I want a Gatling 22 using stock 10/22 barrels

Pls send me an SKS / SVT kit or parts ;_;
>Norwayfag where nothing is allowed

all I want in life is SVD blueprints, a lathe and a mill ;-;

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How should I go about making this rear sight functional?

>>34143782
What's wrong with it?

>>34138580
Tried to buy M1 Garand en-blocs at a local gun show, but they had nothing.

.45ACP AND .30-06 rim diameters are fairly similar. How many rounds of .45 ACP would fit in the en-bloc?

Also, is there a way to headspace an M2 Browning without the tool?

Guys, I just got that 80% glock 17 kit from Brownells on sale for $60 S&H inc.

I've built turbocharged racing engines before, so I got a bit of machining skill, you think I'll have a fun time doing it up?

>>34146034
Yeah, I havent done the older models but the newer ones are literally dremel tier.

iirc the older ones require that you do some material removal in a slot, they actually suggest using a drill as a mill which is sort of a dumb idea but you get the point. Just take everything slow and ensure that your pin holes are all perfectly straight through and through.

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I know someone here did this a few years back but im going to try shoving a 10/22 into a airsoft VSS chassis. Anyone here done anything similar? Any tips?

>>34146073
IIRC there are several guides on how to do it with a P90 around the net, so those guides may provide some insight into the process.

>>34142957
10/22 barrel mounting is fucking dumb, IMO.

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fuckin solidworks

>>34149716
WTF? LOL
Did you accidentally leave the hammer constrained in such a way that it can't rotate up? It only needs to be like that in one frame for the entire thing to shit itself.

>>34142112
A quick search led to this: http://www.bellforestproducts.com/gaboon-ebony/wood-blanks/

There were other results, too.

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I get what anons are saying here about needing a degree to design guns, but JMB is one of the most famous exceptions to that rule. Surely enough time in a good machine shop (like where he spent much of his early life) would teach you almost all you need.

>>34151539
Being the next Browning is an extremely high bar to set for yourself and trying to replicate his success by replicating his background in the modern age is setting yourself up for failure.

>>34151539
Colt didn't have any formal training either. There's a few others who didn't have mech engineering experience but I can't remember off the top of my head.

The guy who designed the M1 carbine and invented the short stroke piston system was literally a bootlegging cop murdering degenerate and taught himself gunsmithing in a prison machine shop.

>>34152250
this

>>34138580
Quick question guys, just how safe is it to use Schedule 40 black pipe for a homebuilt shotgun? Would a breech sleeve improve the safety much?

>>34152250
>>34152856
Good point, good point.

Alright, I'm in my second year of college and I'm looking for a fun range plinker. I'm already carrying a 9mm CCW (based Kansas), and I would like ammo commonality. My plan right now is to build a STEN nest it into a full-sized wooden stock, and basically create a carbine with zero recoil for target shooting. How dumb is this idea, on a scale of /b/ to /sci/?

Note that cost is a very definite concern.

>>34152687
His actual contributions to the M1 Carbine are vastly overstated.

>>34153030
well you have a 50/50 chance that it will work or it will have some kind of failure ranging from irritating to possibly lethal depending on how you build the damn thing so i cant tell you if its a good idea or not just understand that shit can go very wrong if you dont know what your doing