Improvised firearmFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
An
improvised firearm (sometimes called a zip gun) is a firearm manufactured other than by a firearms manufacturer or a gunsmith, and is typically constructed by adapting existing materials to the purpose. They range in quality from crude weapons that are as much a danger to the user as the target to high-quality arms produced by cottage industries using salvaged and repurposed materials.[1][2][3]
Improvised firearms are commonly used as tools by criminals and insurgents and are often associated with such groups;[4][5] other uses include self-defense in lawless areas and hunting game in poor rural areas.[6]
Construction
The essential part of any improvised firearm is the barrel and chamber. For small, low-pressure cartridges, like the common .22 caliber (5.5 mm) rimfire cartridges,
even very thin-walled tubing works. Author Harlan Ellison describes the zip guns gangs used in 1950s New York City as being made from
tubing used in coffee percolators or automobile radio antennas, strapped to a block of wood for a handle. A rubber band powered the firing pin, which the shooter pulls back and releases to fire. Such weak tubing results in a firearm that can be as dangerous to the shooter as the target; the poorly fitting smoothbore barrel provides little accuracy and is liable to burst upon firing.[1]
Improvisation with other items
More advanced improvised guns can use parts from other gun-like products. One example is the cap gun. A cap gun can be disassembled, and a barrel added, turning the toy gun into a real one. A firing pin can then be added to the hammer, to concentrate the force onto the primer of the cartridge. If the cap gun has a strong enough hammer spring, the existing trigger mechanism can be used as-is; otherwise, rubber bands may be added to increase the power of the hammer.[7]
Air guns have also been modified to convert them to firearms. The Brocock Air Cartridge System, for example, uses a self-contained "cartridge" roughly the size of a .38 Special cartridge, which contains an air reservoir, valve, and a .22 caliber (5.5 mm) pellet. Examples of BACS airguns converted to firearms, either by drilling the barrel out to fire a .38 Special cartridge or by altering the cylinder to accept .22 caliber cartridges, have been used in a number of crimes. Blank-firing guns can also be converted by adding a barrel, although the low-quality alloys used for cheaper blank-firing guns may break with the pressures and stresses of a real bullet being fired.[8]
Cryptic firearms
Some more complex improvised firearms are not only well-built, but also use mimicry as camouflage, taking the appearance of other items. Improvised firearms in the form of flashlights, cellular telephones, pens, and large bolts, have all been seized by law enforcement officials.[citation needed] Most of these are .22 caliber rimfires, but flashlight guns have been found ranging from small models firing .22 Long Rifle to larger ones chambered for .410 bore shotgun shells.[9][10]
Repeating and automatic designs
While most improvised firearms are single-shot, multiple-shot versions are also encountered. The simplest multi-shot zip guns are derringer-like, and consist of a number of single-shot zip guns attached together. The Pepper-box design is also used in home made guns because it is relatively easy to make out of a bundle of pipes or a steel cylinder. In late 2000, British police encountered a four-shot .22 LR zip gun disguised as a mobile phone, where different keys on the keypad fire different barrels. Because of this discovery, mobile phones are now X-rayed by airport screeners worldwide. Authorities believe they were manufactured in Croatia, and they still turned up in Europe as late as 2004, according to a report by Time magazine.[11][12]
Improvised submachine guns are often made by copying existing designs, or by adapting simple, open-bolt actions and
leveraging commonly available hardware store parts.[2][13]
Shotguns
A homemade shotgun or tumbera (Argentina), bakakuk[14] (Malaysia), or sumpak[15] (Philippines) is a firearm made of improvised materials like
nails, steel pipes, wooden pieces, bits of string, etc.Repurposed firearms
In cases where some firearms are available, they can be improvised into different types. One such improvised, repurposed firearm is described by Che Guevara in his book Guerrilla Warfare. Called the "M-16", it consists of a 16-gauge sawed-off shotgun provided with a bipod to hold the barrel at a 45-degree angle. This was loaded with a blank cartridge (formed by removing the shot from a standard shotshell), followed by a wooden rod with a Molotov cocktail attached to the front. This formed an improvised mortar capable of firing the incendiary device accurately out to a range of 100 meters.[16]
Flare guns have also been converted to firearms. This may be accomplished by replacing the (often plastic) barrel of the flare gun with a metal pipe strong enough to chamber a shotgun shell, or by inserting a smaller-bore barrel into the existing barrel (such as with a caliber conversion sleeve) to chamber a firearm cartridge, such as a .22 Long Rifle.[17][18]
3D printers
Main article: 3D printed firearms
In 2013, several operable weapons were made with
3D printers, including ones made of plastic on inexpensive 3D printers,[19] and ones made of more durable metal, using industrial 3d printers.[20]
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Improvised_firearm