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Posted: 12/30/2006 10:19:03 AM EDT
[#1]
John Moses Browning turned out fine weapons with a 19th century vertical toolroom mill, a drill press, a band saw, files, and a small forging furnace.
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Posted: 12/30/2006 10:20:02 AM EDT
[#2]
for a barrel youd need your own special machine for that.
For everything else, at least on an Ar-15, id say a good mill and lathe that can hold tolerances of +/- .001" would be perfectly capable. If you get a CNC mill the sky is the limit as long as you have the patience and creativity. They build AK's in 3rd world countries with sheet metal and hand tools, so its not too hard. Look at the machinery WW2 era guns used, and they're perfectly fine. |
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Posted: 12/30/2006 10:20:17 AM EDT
[#3]
What would you think would be necessary to turn out modern day type firearms. Albeit mag or belt fed? |
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Posted: 12/30/2006 10:21:02 AM EDT
[#4]
A file..
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Posted: 12/30/2006 10:21:10 AM EDT
[#5]
What would that machine be called? |
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Posted: 12/30/2006 10:22:57 AM EDT
[#6]
The name escapes me at the moment. It either has to be a hammer forging machine, which is VERY large and VERY noisy, or a button rifling machine that pulls the cutter through the barrel in a perfectly straight line, +/- .0001" or so. The exact terminology escapes me though. |
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Posted: 12/30/2006 10:25:26 AM EDT
[#7]
also a toothbrush, a pack of matches and nylon pantyhose. |
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Posted: 12/30/2006 10:25:27 AM EDT
[#8]
I'd like to see some of the crudest setups used in History.
I thought the Russians made subguns, and the Japanese made bolt guns, with a truly minimal set of tools. Perhaps they were just supplied with the barrel, and the rest was stamping? |
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Posted: 12/30/2006 10:26:37 AM EDT
[#9]
Another thing to consider, what kind of firearm are you talking about? Modern day Ar's have bolts that go through magnetic particle inspection, so if you intend to build on that sort of level youd need the equipment and knowledge for that. Youd also need the fixtures and cutting tools for creating the bolt and bolt carrier. You'd need the equipment for creating the springs and jigs for all the trigger equipment. You'd need the plastic molding machines to make the handguards and pistol grip, and the dies they're molded in. Not to mention the metal forging machines and dies for the base receiver forgings. To truely build a complete modern day rifle like an Ar-15 youd need ALOT of equipment and money to invest in the undertaking. However, if you're talking milling your own lower and building a gun with a parts kit, that simplifies things ALOT.
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Posted: 12/30/2006 10:27:06 AM EDT
[#10]
And a 2 liter of cola! |
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Posted: 12/30/2006 10:27:50 AM EDT
[#11]
For the crudest guns in history look at the Sten MK II designs, which used simple steel tubing and took very little to manufacture.
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Posted: 12/30/2006 10:28:44 AM EDT
[#12]
That's only for fullauto. 
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Posted: 12/30/2006 10:31:09 AM EDT
[#13]
and dont forget the mentos! |
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Posted: 12/30/2006 10:39:44 AM EDT
[#14]
That sounds like the plans for a WMD 
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Posted: 12/30/2006 10:47:04 AM EDT
[#15]
Damn, you beat me to it. I have seen some pictures of guns made in the Phillipenes during WWII. They were all made with simple hand tools. I wouldn't fire them, but they would work in a pinch. |
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Posted: 12/30/2006 10:49:16 AM EDT
[#16]
A Gun Drill 
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Posted: 12/30/2006 10:52:27 AM EDT
[#17]
Lol thank you!! That was going to bug me for days :) |
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Posted: 12/30/2006 11:01:03 AM EDT
[#18]
An AK?
 An AR?  
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Posted: 12/30/2006 11:11:45 AM EDT
[#19]
Don't forget the shoestring if you want to go the full-auto route. 
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Posted: 12/30/2006 11:16:46 AM EDT
[#20]
I found The Home Gunsmith while browsing a few months ago. Wondered if anyone had the tinkering time to try it out.
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Posted: 12/30/2006 12:11:20 PM EDT
[#21]
Actually a gun drill is only used to drill long deep holes fairly straight. After that you would need to use a draw thru broaching machine to rifle the barrel or use a multi-pass button rifling machine. - These are still in the realm of a fairly small shop. There is also a complete hammer forging method - but now your talking major factory because it would require a team of skilled operators to run such a machine. 
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Posted: 12/30/2006 12:16:59 PM EDT
[#22]
Ask Kenny Jarret. He rolls his own...
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Posted: 12/30/2006 12:21:02 PM EDT
[#23]
You could also rig a rifling cutter ala old time gunsmiths. |
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Posted: 12/30/2006 12:21:43 PM EDT
[#24]
Barrels are not the rocket science some of you think they are.
A good quality deep hole drill, followed by a reamer, and then a rifling tool (button or broach...broach for cut rifling) are all simple tools. As a simple experiment, many years ago I fabricated a crude rifling button from a high speed steel milling cutter tool shank. I simply cut grooves in it using a grinder, and ground a taper on the nose of it and polished it, then lubed the "barrel" (just a piece of 4140 with a suitably sized hole in it, bored and reamed) with moly grease and rammed the rifling button through the barrel with the aid of a machinist's bench press. (3 ton class) The result was rifling that would get the job done but it wasn't the finest rifling you've ever seen. But the point was made. Rifling isn't such a mystery. The button's own rifling grooves ensured that it twisted itself through the barrel at the rate of the rifling. The rifling appeared to have a consistent twist to it as intended. Of course, this was a pistol length "barrel". A rifle length barrel would be a bit more of a challenge. But I wouldn't hesitate to attempt the same thing with a rifle barrel blank if I needed to do so. CJ |
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Posted: 12/30/2006 12:27:25 PM EDT
[#25]
+1 on what cmjohnson said about barrels
In reference to the quality of the machines used to produce WWII firearms and the like, the manual mills and lathes from that era were and still are among the best ever made. Many machines from that era are still in use. We have 2 lathes from 1942 and they are some of the best manual lathes i've run. Basically just a good manual lathe and mill capable of +/- 0.001" (which most are) and a good drill press is all the big equipment you need. Every thing else is in speciallized tooling. Willis |
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Posted: 12/30/2006 12:28:52 PM EDT
[#26]
A decent CNC Mill, a good 12"x50" lathe, drill press, bandsaw, and a bunch of knowledge and experience.
Buy your barrels in pre-made blanks. Turn it on your lathe. For ARs, you can sub out the EDM of the mag well. Mill the rest using fixtures on the CNC. For my particular product, I made casting molds for the upper and lower. I had them cast at a professional foundry from aircraft grade alu alloy, then proper heat treat. I was smart enough to have the barrel subbed out to a guy who's made AR barrels for years. Just a few changes. I have an older 1981 Series I Bridgeport CNC, but updated with a PC Windows-based driver.  And, liability insurance for firearms manufacturers run approximately $25,000 per year. |
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Posted: 12/30/2006 1:00:42 PM EDT
[#27]
Are you using Mach3 on your BOSS?
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Posted: 12/30/2006 1:16:12 PM EDT
[#28]
Though some of the set-ups would be a bit of a bitch, one can make just about any modern personal (not crew served, etc.) firearm with nothing more than a good Engine Lathe. One which is at least a 12x36. A 14x40 might be better. You will need some tooling and the abiltiy to make fixtures and additional tooling.
Even rifleing can be done on a lathe, it's just a matter of making a device which will rotate the barrel as the cutter is drawn out. Much faster than the lead-screw is capable of doing. But, given a good Horizontal Mill or Vertical Mill and a good Engine Lathe, plus a pedistal grinder and a lot of time, it is not too difficult to make firearm parts. Time and ingenuity will be your greatest constraints. BTW a complete manual shop (no CNC stuff) will run you about $ 20,000 for good used equipment. Cheaper than that, I would suspect that you would be un-able to produce quality parts, as the machines would not be good enough. If you want to make barrels, it would best if you obtained a rifling machine. These are expensive, however. Dave. |
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Posted: 12/30/2006 1:17:31 PM EDT
[#29]
I expect that once you have the skills to make a firearm on any machine, you'd know which ones you need.
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Posted: 12/31/2006 11:33:22 AM EDT
[#30]
Six packs of chewing gum, one combination Rooskie phrasebook and Bible......
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