Zip Guns - AR15.COM

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Zip Guns

Posted: 1/26/2002 6:37:33 PM EDT

What exactly are they and are they Legal, If not why not?

Posted: 1/26/2002 7:24:54 PM EDT

[#1]

Zip guns are basically bullets in a tub and you use device in the back to strike the primer . For the most part as far as I know they are illegal, and not very effective unless at real close range. It’s more of a survival weapon to get someone else’s weapon. At least that’s what I learned from my dad.

oups, forgot to add why they are not legal

Because these weapons have no other practical purpose than to kill someone that has a gun and take it, they decided to make owning a zip gun illegal. Not to mention you could probably hurt you self-using one of these things too.

Posted: 1/26/2002 7:28:53 PM EDT

[#2]

A "zip gun" is basically an improvised gun, such as a section of car antenna that fires .22LR, or a gun disguised to be something else, like a pen or a flashlight (these are "upper end" zip guns). In all cases, they are NFA items and you must have a tax stamp to own one, and there are other restrictions. It's more or less the same process as buying a silencer or machinegun.

-Troy

Posted: 1/27/2002 8:48:20 AM EDT

[#3]

Please check North Carolina law.

Californistan has its own definition of Zip gun in Caliban Penal Code Section 12020. Even a perfectly good copy of a known-good firearm design can get you into illegal Zip gun territory if you sell homemade guns. Home firearm builders have to be careful not to run afoul of that one.

Posted: 1/27/2002 10:47:55 AM EDT

[#4]

Kid is correct. Building one of those 80% receivers into an AR in California could, that's [b]could[/b] be considered making a zip gun under the current law here.

Posted: 1/27/2002 10:50:12 AM EDT

[#5]

Ewwww. Sounds like NJ.

Posted: 1/27/2002 3:08:40 PM EDT

[#6]

Quoted:...Building one of those 80% receivers into an AR in California could, that's [b]could[/b] be considered making a zip gun under the current law here.

View Quote

Sorry about the topic drift, but some people are of the opinion that ANY homemade firearm in Californistan constitutes a Zip gun regardless of its design. One of the provisions of the Caliban definition of Zip gun is that there was no [b]federal[/b] excise tax paid on the item (and it is not exempt from that tax). I don't agree with that interpretation because the federal excise tax on a gun that never gets sold is zero.

Building an 80%er into anything that accepts a detachable magazine in Californistan could get you into illegal "assault weapon" territory.

I'd definitely check with someone who is familiar with North Carolina law before manufacturing any kind of firearm there.

Posted: 1/27/2002 7:43:02 PM EDT

[#7]

I believe a zip gun was something people made back in the day in which you would use something like a piece of pipe... put the shell in it and have another tube or whatever that slides back with something elastic like surgical hose or slingshot band. pull it back and release it, bam, it strikes the primer.

Posted: 1/28/2002 11:18:33 AM EDT

[#8]

Yeah thee12nv, that’s what I though a Zip gun was too... I bet that’s what it was suposto be but the DOJ’s definition is so vague that it can be interpreted in many ways. I remember asking my dad about zip guns, he told me that in the army they thought him to make guns that comprised of a pipe and a bullet. He told me that these things were good only for killing an armed solder and taking what he had. Maybe he confused it with something else…

Posted: 1/28/2002 1:21:52 PM EDT

[#9]

The traditional zip gun from my youth was often made from the bottom end of a car antenna, which happened to be the right size to chamber a 22 rimfire cartridge. Details of loading and firing mechanisms vary.

We're talking about two different things here - Common usage (i.e. dictionary definition - [b]any improvised firearm[/b] - or what most of us would call "reality") vs. the bizarre, illogical, self-contradictory world of Caliban law.

Or North Carolina law as the case may be.

Posted: 1/30/2002 6:56:57 AM EDT

[#10]

How does the BATF regulate zip pens? As AOWs?

Posted: 1/30/2002 11:46:05 AM EDT

[#11]

Quoted:
How does the BATF regulate zip pens? As AOWs?

View Quote

yeah it would be a AOW

in fact im pretty damn sure any zip gun is a AOW since its not easly reginized as a firearm

Posted: 1/30/2002 3:45:49 PM EDT

[#12]

Actually, if it has a pistol grip and rifling, it is no longer an AOW. So, if you were to build a Zip Gun and Rifle the barrel with a screw or whatever and install a chunk of wood as a pistol grip. Then, it is not an AOW. It would be a handgun.

The confusing part is that real firearms barrels are super thick. But, a car antenna is really thin. So, shouldn't firing a bullet from an antenna cause a KB big time. The other isssue is to control the ejection of the spent round. If you are going for single shot, then you need some kind of locking mechanism to keep it from blowing the spent round through you.

Posted: 1/30/2002 8:20:23 PM EDT

[#13]

cc48510: Even with a pistol grip and a rifled bore, it would be classified as an AOW if it's been made to NOT look like a firearm.

Traditionally, AOW has been used for 'gadget guns', but it also includes concealment devices (like the mp5k briefcases and wallet holsters), and any weapon which doesn't fit under any of the other traditional firearms type definitions.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Zip Guns

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