Supporters of the second amendment have long pointed out that firearms are 14th century technology that can be replicated in any blacksmith shop around the world, and can be much more easily produced with the common tools that are inexpensively available to the garage workshop hobbyist.
Others have pointed out that it is much easier to make a submachine gun than it is to make a revolver or semi-automatic pistol. A ban on handguns was predicted to result in an increase in the number of illegal sub-machineguns on the black market.
The prediction has proven correct for Brazil. Brazil has one of the most oppressive set of gun laws and regulations on the planet. It is not surprising that it is one of the areas of the world where you find the most homemade submachine guns. The celebrated blog, Thefirearmsblog, has a stunning collection of pictures of homemade submachineguns from Brazil. Here is a snippet to whet your appetite:
Once again, the Link to thefirearmsblog article.
The hardest part of a sub-machine gun for an individual or small shop to make is a reliable magazine.
It was demonstrated a few months ago, that the most difficult parts of reliable magazines, the body and follower, can be easily printed on 3-D printers. After all, magazines bodies are just a box of reasonably precise dimensions, and the follower is just a small part of a certain shape. Plastic is an eminently suitable material to make these parts, and numerous commercially available magazine bodies and followers are made of plastic. Springs are widely available on the open market.
Everything else required for making a submachine gun is easily available. The steel used for submachine gun barrels is common, ordinary steel. Heat treating could be desirable, but not necessary. The barrels are short, so no special barrel making machinery is needed. A number of homemade submachine guns do not bother to rifle the barrels, but rifling increases range and accuracy.
I would not be surprised to see the proliferation of 3-D printed magazines in Brazil, as 3-D printers become common. Magazines are small parts, and the resolution required for reliable functioning is well within the capacity of inexpensive 3-D printers.
©2014 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
Link to Gun Watch
Another common variation:
- See more at: http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2014/01/22/common-illicitly-homemade-submachine-guns-brazil/#sthash.sCLQrWY3.dpuf
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