Self-propelled firearm. Making a homemade speargun for spearfishing. Which weapon is better to choose for defense?

Samopals are made in artisanal conditions, and this activity is almost always considered illegal. Samples of homemade weapons differ in different design schemes and production technologies. There are primitive firearms that are made from scrap materials, and barrels that are comparable in action to serial full-featured pistols.

The essence of do-it-yourself equipment

The quality of manufacturing of shooting weapons differs and depends on the tools available to the master, the experience of the specialist and his goal. Homemade designs are made in the form of knives, swords, crossbows and firearms. Typically, such equipment is produced of low quality and is characterized by inaccurate hits. Bullets have an unstable trajectory during flight, but this characteristic leads to an increase in the stopping effect of the projectile.

Crossbows, despite their simple design, are not so easy to make. More often, homemade products for shooting with arrows are made from bows, spring-action steel plates, and a metal cable is used as a bowstring. As a result, throwing devices are heavy, bulky and inaccurate.

Cold steel assumes the presence in the design of damaging elements that determine the purpose of the equipment. Fighting requires direct contact with the enemy and the use of muscular strength. The reliability of steel blades determines endurance and safety when using knives for self-defense.

Law on Application and Manufacturing

In our state, the situation may develop differently. If a person carries a homemade firearm, then his actions are assessed in accordance with Article 222 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Depending on the situation, the violator faces restriction of freedom, forced labor or a fine. The investigation can prove the fact of production of a firearm, then the punishment is imposed under Article 223, according to which the citizen is deprived of liberty for a period of 3-8 years.

The vast majority of products come from the hands of local craftsmen, which may cause harm to the health of the author himself. There are other categories of manufacturers that produce solid means of destruction. Such craftsmen often work with representatives of the criminal world and make various versions of crossbows, ranging from a shooting pen to rifles or submachine guns.

A tiny part of the manufacturers are artisanal enthusiasts who create original samples and do it with talent and taste. But such interesting products are also prohibited by law, so a master can only possess a unique self-propelled device alone. Otherwise, the craftsman becomes prey to law enforcement agencies and receives punishment.

This category includes the simplest firearms that are made independently. It is often made in the form of a butt, to which a metal pipe barrel is attached.

Samopals are made in the form of:

• homemade products for firing with unitary cartridges;
• devices on capsules;
• devices for smoothbore cartridges;
• workshop equipment;
• reconstructed mechanisms;
• pneumatic self-propelled guns.

Primitive arsonists or toy muzzle-fusing crossbows contain a plugged tube in the design in any way by filling with lead, rivets, or welding. Due to the imperfection of the end seal, sometimes such devices shoot directly into the eye of the owner of the device. In the breech area of ​​the weapon there is a refueling place for igniting the projectile.

The types of charge used are:

1. Black powder or black powder is an ancient explosive substance that is used to throw projectiles. The composition contains charcoal, saltpeter and sulfur.
2. Cast lead bullets are shellless charges, characterized by a long impact distance and a high degree of damage.
3. Hunting shot is a type of striking element with which cartridges are filled for use in smooth-bore equipment.
4. Blank cartridges - sold in the public domain, require modification, caliber available in 6.8 or 5.6.
5. Sports charges are unitary small-caliber cartridges for ignition.

Products for unitary cartridges

Production requires a metalworking tool; homemade products are made single or multi-charged. The second category is divided into devices with manual reloading, and samples of the first group are often made in the form of a design with a breakable muzzle.

Sometimes everyday objects serve as disguises, namely, handles, gearbox levers in a car, or umbrellas. The magazine is a container for arranging cartridges; sometimes a cylindrical drum is used. The chucks are manufactured individually; a standard design is not provided.

The simplest design is a tube that is attached to a stock made of wood or plastic. The bolt is driven by a spring, which is ground to a flat end and installed in front of the pipe. The charge is placed by pulling the latch and fixing it, then the latch is released using the thumb and the shot is fired.

The cartridge is distinguished by the thinness of the case walls and swells after firing, so that it is difficult to remove from the barrel. If you install a powerful firing pin, the thin bottom is torn from the impact and the shot is fired in the opposite direction.

Devices on capsules

Instead of construction cartridges, ZHEVELO or KV capsules are used; they differ from the previous type of charges in that they require a centrally mounted firing pin. Capsules can be purchased in a store if the applicant is already 18 years old, or from friends. Pneumatic weapons and MP-512 pistols, as well as IZH-53 and others, in which the piston moves horizontally, are converted to use such cartridges.

The cuff, which provides a seal, is removed from the piston, and a hole is made in the breech for the capsule. The bypass hole is sealed with a screw (plugged), then drilled out for the striker, for turning which an M4 threaded bolt is used. The spring weakens or remains at the same strength.

The disadvantages are that not all craftsmen can drill a hole along the entire length of the barrel with a diameter of 5.6 mm, and the size of 4.5 mm is not suitable, since the bullet can burst from the pressure of the barrel. Sometimes the projectile breaks off the rifling, and the flight follows an unpredictable trajectory. A swollen primer is difficult to knock out of the barrel after use, even with the help of a cleaning rod.

Device for smoothbore cartridges

Shot and cartridges are freely sold, so when using gunpowder, a warhead is collected. ¾-inch water pipes will fit a 12-gauge cartridge perfectly and are held in place by a flange. A threaded section is easily made on the pipe, which allows you to securely fix the plug to prevent a shot in the opposite direction.

Significant disadvantages include the high power of the cartridge, and in the absence of experience, the owner may overdo it with the mounting device. This will cause the seamless water pipe to rupture; its large diameter can cause serious injury. Experienced craftsmen reinforce the pipe with wire, make a casing, or use sleeves of a smaller caliber.

They are full-fledged weapons for destruction, but often their appearance leaves much to be desired due to the semi-handicraft method of release. It is made in workshops or production shops with machine tools in their free time; some craftsmen use standard drawings. For the sample, serial samples of equipment are used, from the structural elements of which decent copies are made.

Vintage designs are used with a professional approach, up to obtaining smooth interaction of the barrel-cartridge complex. These types of homemade weapons are not used by hooligans, but by gangster groups.

These samples of homemade weapons made at home reproduce the appearance and technical characteristics of an arquebus - a wick smoothbore gun with a muzzle-loading fuse. The issue of legalizing this species and using it in recreational shooting events is currently being considered. The catch is that the appearance of the fake does not quite match the replica of the antique weapon.

Craftsmen use rifling on the barrel to turn weapons into devices for lethal shooting. The basic version, which is produced by most innovators, uses rubber bullets, and a gunpowder is used to weigh the gunpowder. Such guns do not harm targets during role-playing games or mass competitions.

The weapon is made of pneumatics, and any type is suitable. The gas-cylinder type is ideal, in which there is a thread on the barrel for a simulated muffler. A barrel chambered for a central firing cartridge is screwed onto this area. When firing, a gas cylinder is lowered to reduce power, a bullet hits the primer, and a shot sounds.

The positive aspects include the simplicity of the mechanism; in order to fire, you don’t need to set anything on fire, you just pull the trigger. Such a weapon with a twisted barrel can be carried with you, since the equipment belongs to the category of approved pneumatics. The disadvantages include the unreliable connection of the removable barrel, the need for disassembly to install the subsequent charge, and only one shot.

Accessories and hunting cartridges are sold freely; in accordance with the law, all components of the future charge are stored separately and assembled immediately before use. The situation with weapons is complicated - illegal guns, if discovered, attract serious punishment. The simplest homemade device for shooting in disassembled form consists of 2 tubes that do not attract attention.

You will need 2 pieces of water pipe to make a gun with your own hands:

• 30 cm piece measuring 1 inch;
• part 50 cm long, ¾ inch in diameter.

One end of the inch pipe is sealed in a high-quality manner; a self-tapping screw is left in the center of the plug, which acts as a striker. A pipe of this size is a firing device. The second segment represents the improvised weapon itself, namely its barrel. A 12 gauge hunting cartridge fits perfectly into it, and its end rests against the cut.

To fire a shot, a small tube is placed in a large one, and a sharp movement is made to pierce the cartridge primer.

Advantages and disadvantages

Homemade weapons are always associated with a certain risk. Before you make a homemade gun at home, you need to weigh all the positive and negative sides, look on the Internet and books about cases of harm to health.

The good qualities of a homemade device include:

• the risk of the weapon bursting in the hands is reduced, because double protection from the pipes is obtained;
• divided segments are not perceived as weapons;
• the production of high-quality cartridges leads to increased accuracy and stability of the trajectory;
• if necessary, parts of the pipe can be used for self-defense as an impact weapon.

But shooting from the device does not always go smoothly. Homemade weapons are considered as a device with which it is possible to repel an aggressor, hunt game, or send a signal to law enforcement officers or rescuers.

The disadvantages of the design include aspects:

• sometimes the sleeve gets jammed, after such trouble it is pulled out with the help of a sharp object;
• low rate of fire of the device, but quite suitable for this type of weapon;
• small range of destruction, and only a strong person can hold the device in his hands;
• the power of the shot increases with increasing wad and charge, but endless work in this direction leads to a decrease in force several times;
• There is no sight on the shooting device, which makes it difficult to use for its intended purpose.

Times are changing, and advanced technologies are coming to the aid of gunsmiths. Modern specialists have learned to create devices that instill fear in a random enemy, for example, super-powerful stun guns or Gauss guns. In everyday life, portable pointers are used using a laser beam, which, with its power, can cause irreparable harm to a person.

Probably, in any male company, if she happened to indulge in memories of her childhood, the topic of arson came up. Guys, who did it? A? Well, if not all, then many. They beat us up for them, took us away, shamed us, took us to the children's room of the police - but what's the point?

You can’t drag a minor to court, so to a certain extent law enforcement agencies turned a blind eye to such entertainment: kids, they’ll play enough and quit. For some, the passion for explosions and shooting went away during puberty, but for some it took on more serious forms.

It must be said that in different countries of the world, the attitude of the state towards home-made/handicraft shooting devices varies greatly: from the ferocious “turm to sit” to the completely indifferent “do what you want, just without self-harm.”

Remember this classic picture?

Finland is a country with very liberal gun laws, but they treat homemade guns strictly. Example: a local inventor built a submachine gun from an electric drill, got spoiled and law-abidingly went to hand over the product to the authorities. At the police station he was greeted with white hands and sentenced to several years in prison.

The opposite story is in the USA. Also liberal weapons legislation (in the vast majority of states). American blogger Zimirken 3D printed a pepperbox revolver - and also brought it to register with the police (Michigan). Registered. All.

And, say, in the Philippines (and in some other countries of Southeast Asia), products of local craftsmen are purchased not so much by representatives of the criminal world, but by ordinary citizens - for self-defense. And the local police, who are not entitled to official guns, do not disdain homemade pistols.

Blank handicraft copy of Colt M1911A1. All that's left is to work with the file a little...

In our country the situation is as follows. If a citizen is caught carrying a firearm, Article 222 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, popularly known as the “three geese,” comes into force. And if the investigation manages to prove the fact of manufacture, then Article 223 comes into effect, which is also not sugar (compulsory labor, fine, imprisonment from 3 to 8 years, depending on the composition). You can find out more, Google knows.

True, the fact of voluntary surrender of firing devices exempts from criminal liability. Moreover, they can even pay a little money, there is such a practice.

But they continue to do it. Moreover, in the overwhelming majority of cases, such monsters come out of the mischievous hands of folk craftsmen that you are simply amazed - well, when I was a child, I made fires that were much more accurate and reliable! What did this author, if I may say so, want? To end up on free government grub in places not so remote - or to have his arms, growing directly from the aphedronal part of the body, simply torn off?

Hey, Universe!

Everything should be perfect in a weapon of revenge...

Of course, there is another category of manufacturers. These, as a rule, work with more or less serious crime, which is why their products look much more respectable - be it a simple “shooting pen” or a homemade submachine gun. Guys earn money

Gunsmiths from Brazilian favelas do not work on little things - the production of submachine guns, revolvers chambered for small-caliber cartridges and smooth-bore 12-gauge cartridges has been put on stream.

Finally, there is a very tiny part - gunsmith enthusiasts, lone artisans with a fiery engine, bright heads and golden hands. Their fate is traditionally sad. They are the ones who have been creating unique original pieces for years, which are really nice to look at. But it is unbearable to own such beauty alone; the authors are drawn to at least someone to show the fruits of their labors, to hear praise, etc.

Homemade pistol with a tubular magazine chambered for .22LR

Then old Müller’s saying comes into force: “If two know, a pig knows.” Rumors about a careless creator reach either law enforcement officials or criminals. The first ones immediately come with a search, the second ones take them tightly under suffocating guardianship, forcing them to rivet shooting crafts in small-scale quantities. Both options end in places not so remote.

By the way, there are quite ideological comrades. Let's say, there lived and lived in distant Great Britain a certain Philip Luthi, a passionate lover of weapons, who also had a hostile position towards British weapons legislation (very strict).

Philip A. Luti outside his workshop

Philip sincerely believed that the state did not dare restrict the right of citizens to own firearms. And if a weapon cannot be legally purchased in a store, then you need to make it yourself. Luti devoted a significant part of his life to creating and developing designs that could be made from parts and materials purchased at the nearest hardware or auto store. He wrote several books and created an interesting website.

It must be said that he lived in the suburbs, assembled his guns in his home workshop, tested them right away - and did not particularly hide, declaring his position quite openly in magazine and newspaper publications. The police, of course, did not like such tricks; confrontation with the authorities led to a prison sentence (I note that Philip’s like-minded people, not unreasonably, consider him not a criminal, but a political prisoner). An interesting touch to the portrait: Luthi was also a campaigner for the welfare of pets... Philip died of cancer in April 2011, but his cause lives on.

Modern technologies allow people who are completely far from plumbing to create homemade shooting devices. Therefore, in the last few years, homemade products printed on 3D printers have gained a certain popularity abroad. Of course, they are still far from full-fledged weapons made using traditional methods, but they have occupied their niche. However, we will talk about them another time. It remains to be stated that homemade weapons were, are and will remain forever - and, it seems, nothing can be done about it...

By the way, there is a good way to scare the kid away from the blabbering disgrace. You just need to take them to a regular shooting range with a competent instructor and let them shoot with good, solid, normal weapons. This happened to me at the age of five - my father took me to a shooting range, where I was given several shots from a Margolin MCM pistol. After this wonderful machine, all our yard “shooters” seemed to me to be terrible lopsided monsters that were disgusting to even pick up.

On the other hand, modern boys don’t seem to know what arson is. Only computers and smartphones are on my mind...

All the products shown below were confiscated by the police/police from representatives of local crime, or directly from craftsmen, for 20 years.

I already wrote about homemade products in a previous article, it’s time to move on from general words to pictures. The filming was not carried out under the best conditions, I apologize for the quality.

1. Classic arson: a piece of wood, a pipe and a little tin. And a piece of wire so that the structure does not fall apart when fired:

2. Also arson, but on a completely different level. A very high-quality barrel, a cleaning rod included (special brass holders are installed under it), a neat stock... The esthete made:

3. Probably the most popular format of homemade small-sized weapons is a design with a movable barrel. The firing pin is rigidly fixed in the rear part of the body. The spring-loaded barrel is pulled forward, a cartridge is inserted into it, when the trigger is pressed, the barrel moves back, the rim of the cartridge with the initiating composition comes into contact with the firing pin - a shot is fired. Cheap and cheerful:

4. Also small, but this time the trunk is motionless. Before firing, the locking block is tilted to the side, the cartridge is inserted into the barrel, and the block is put in place. Pull back the shutter, press the trigger - fire:

5. Interesting shape of the stock, isn't it? And instead of the usual trigger, there is a semicircular bracket on the left side of the body. The rest of the design is quite ordinary. But there is a muffler and an extractor spoke is included:

6. The work was rough, but the idea was interesting—everything was like a shotgun. Adjusted for the size of the small-caliber cartridge and the author’s curvature:

7. No, this is not a self-loading pistol. But it's very similar:

8. And this is an honest self-loading, built around a magazine from an MCM pistol:

9. Despite the respectable size of the revolver, it is also small:

Homemade people often want the weapon to be multi-shot, but to make a normal semi-automatic pistol requires brains, and they are not often found. So it happened here: the trigger is a single action (that is, a shot is possible only after preliminary cocking of the hammer), the drum is rotated manually, the grooves on the drum serve to center it opposite the false barrel. It would be possible to do without it - it performs purely decorative functions.

10. And here is a mixed form: the back part is from an old single-barrel gun, and a pin is already welded to it, onto which the barrel block is put. Rotate the block manually, single action trigger. Of course, little fellow:

11. The author was a great original - a set of interchangeable barrels and drums for different calibers, a muffler, inscriptions... Alas, in essence - a primitive: still the same single-action trigger and turning the drum manually. But in a branded box:

12. But this revolver is made quite well - shooting is possible both by self-cocking and with pre-cocking of the hammer, the drum is normal, folding - and the barrel is rifled, not smooth:

13. A complete revolver carbine. The design may be simple, but the issue of ammunition supply is solved ingeniously. Loading is separate: a blank construction cartridge is inserted into the rear part of the drum chamber, and lead buckshot is inserted into the front (slightly larger in diameter). Both are sold freely:

14. But this is already serious. A submachine gun chambered for 9×18 mm PM cartridge, seized from very real bandits. Silencer, folding stock:

15. Also serious. Caliber 7.62×25 mm TT, magazine for 20 rounds, silencer, stamps, numbers, adjustable sights, dovetail strap for mounting a sight:

Actually, this is no longer a homemade product, it is an artisanal small-scale production. For 20 years, we have not been able to accurately identify this sample, no matter how much we searched. Something very similar was produced in the 90s in Transnistria, where active military operations were taking place...

Reference

The simplest classification of homemade firearms (IFA) is based on the type of ammunition used. I will list the most common options:

* The so-called “arsons”. The charge (gunpowder or match nitrate) is ignited using a match. There are more complex devices - with electric ignition, but they are much less common.

* Firing devices chambered for a small-caliber cartridge - it is cheap, often found, and its low power allows you to get by with the simplest materials when creating a COO.

* Weapons for homemade (or semi-homemade) ammunition. For example, a construction cartridge with the top of the cartridge case cut off and a homemade lead bullet/buckshot pressed into it. Or a metal tube of a suitable diameter, into the back of which a standard “gevelo” type capsule is pressed.

* Firing devices for standard ammunition. More often they are made for hunting "smoothbore" ammunition, less often - for a unitary cartridge for rifled weapons. The latter, as a rule, are distinguished by quite decent workmanship.

Weapons in the Philippines

In the Philippines, this place is called the “city of weapons.” For more than a century, Danaoans have made their living by manufacturing weapons. These people know how to assemble pistols, revolvers and machine guns by hand. The authorities created a cooperative in order to legalize the production of weapons. But instead of making money through legal means, most collaborate with the local mafia.

Jose takes the gun in his hands and looks into the sight. He thinks for a moment, and then puts the form into a vice, which at the moment is nothing more than a semblance of a future pistol, a piece of metal. José Arnescar will have to spend many days at work before this form finds its firepower. This muscular 33-year-old worker puts all his strength into working on the bolt. “This is the hardest part,” he says breathlessly. “It will take at least a week to complete the work.” This is the most important part of the weapon, so Jose will only use a file in his work.

We are located in the world's largest gun manufacturing cooperative, located in Danao on Cebu Island in the heart of the Philippines. This organization is unique in its essence; it is here that 38 and 45 caliber weapons, pump-action shotguns and even some models of machine guns are produced. 90% of the total production volume is produced manually.

In this huge old room there are only a few machines, its roof is leaky and does not protect from rain, which is why fabric is hung on top to protect the electrical wiring. There is such noise in the dimly lit room that you feel like you are in a mountain tunnel.

About 30 workers can work and modify their weapons on 2 main machines. Using a drill, each item is engraved with “WORLD” and a serial number. There is another large machine, which is considered the most important in the work; it produces drums. “This is the most important machine,” says June, watching his colleague finish his part of the job. “Thanks to it, we can do work that would be very difficult to do by hand.” “We don’t have many tools,” the worker says with regret in his voice.

In this production, each worker independently creates a weapon from start to finish, and after the sale receives almost the full cost in hand. Mostly 38 and 45 caliber weapons are produced here, as well as pump-action shotguns. It takes a week to make a 38 caliber pistol that can be sold for 30 euros; a 45 caliber pistol takes twice as long to produce, but its price also increases. The workers of this cooperative earn an average of 70 euros per month, which is the minimum wage in the Philippines. Nearly 100 guns come out of these workshops every month, most of them ordered by police and soldiers who are not issued weapons on the job and for whom this is the cheapest way to get one. This weapon is also in demand among store and bank security guards.

Weapon making is considered an old tradition in Danao. They say that even under the Spaniards, arquebuses were made here. But the main production was formed at the beginning of the 20th century, when the Philippines was an American colony. During World War II, the Americans used the skills of the Danaans to convert captured Japanese weapons to their own caliber. It is from those times that hand-made weapons have been produced here.

As a result, in 1996, the authorities organized a legal cooperative for the production of weapons. But, despite all the efforts of the authorities, the majority of workers produce weapons illegally, not obeying the cooperative.

Finding such illegal production is not difficult. In the city center you can find the small house of Renato Gonzalez. Its entire production consists of a simple vice and a set of tools. In his workshop you can see the mold for the KG-9, a lightweight machine gun similar to the Israeli-made UZI. It took Renato 2 weeks to produce it, and he received 100 euros for the work. The 52-year-old worker learned his skills from his grandfather and father, who were also involved in the production of weapons. “I was 8 years old when I started helping them,” recalls Renato. - I was returning from school and learning to work with a file. I'm doing this now so my kids can go to college."

According to Nestor Sabaiton, who led the cooperative until 2007, at least 5,000 people produce weapons illegally in Danao.

Naturally, there must be a person who would supervise these illegal workers. In Danao, this man is called "Rio Shark", he is one of the most experienced weapons manufacturers. In his workshop you can see the finished AR-15 automatic rifle, which is very similar to the American M-16 rifle. This weapon, worth 500 euros, was ordered by the mayor of a large neighboring city. “This is the second time I have received an order to make something like this,” says Rio. His son adds: “We had a lot of orders just before the election. A lot of politicians wanted pistols or rifles like this.”

Local elections in the Philippines have a bad reputation. For example, in 2007, 114 candidates and party members were killed during the election campaign. In addition, bank robberies are often accompanied by murders. In May 2008, there was a high-profile robbery during which the perpetrator shot and killed 10 people. There are believed to be more than a million firearms in circulation in the Philippines, with a third unlicensed.

Despite the similar situation in the country, everything is calm in the Danao police stations. In 2007, only 2 people were detained for illegal production and 18 for illegal possession of weapons. “We know that there are several illegal gun manufacturers in the city,” says Lt. Lacson Dehino, “but when we find them, we try to encourage them to join the cooperative, and if they refuse, they will be arrested.”

The illegal arms business does not seem to disturb the tranquility of Danao, where 120,000 residents lead a normal life. So a resident of Danao says with humor: “If you hear shots on the streets of Danao, it’s okay, it’s just one of the masters testing his new weapon in action.”

Do you want to make a homemade pistol? But you don’t have the appropriate equipment and materials for this? No problem, I wanted it and did it. Now I'll tell you how. But first, let's solve a couple of auxiliary questions. As you know, all wishes, if you really want them, will definitely come true. But usually it’s not the way we would like it to be. Everything is correct. Only specific desires are fulfilled; all secondary and secretly implied desires are considered separate desires and are fulfilled secondarily. It's the same with your desire. Making a pistol yourself is one thing, but owning, carrying and shooting from this pistol are already second-order desires. Go to the nearest police department and there: “By the pike’s command, by the pike’s will...”, that is, I wanted to say, with their permission, those same secondary wishes of yours with official wearing, storage and shooting will be fulfilled.
Let's get back to making homemade pistols and revolvers. Why waste time on trifles? There are no problems with the manufacture of shotguns, rifles, machine guns, grenade launchers... Do you need a mortar or a cannon? Easily. But in accordance with local laws. And according to the law of the Russian Federation, you can only make a working model of the weapon you need. In this model, everything can be exactly the same as in a real weapon, but the model should not fire. That's all the conditions.
Let's change the materials in some components or the manufacturing technology of these components and the whole problem will be immediately solved. For example, let's change the way the barrel is attached to the wick fusée. Screwing the fastening bolts directly into the side wall of the barrel. In the figure, item 1. It is clear that the ends of the bolts protruding inside the barrel bore will make the fusee completely unsuitable for shooting. Neither load nor shoot. Although all other components of this ancient weapon will function one hundred percent.
Second example: A full-size model of a “cast iron” cannon from the time of the French invasion of Moscow (Pos. 2.) The carriage with wheels can be from a real cannon, and the cannon barrel will be cast into a disposable paper mold made of sand-sawdust-cement concrete. We can’t shoot from this gun, but it will look beautiful and similar. We'll open the trunk with Kuzbaslak. It is indistinguishable from a real gun. Is one barrel not enough? You can make a reusable mold and cast “gun barrels” in any quantity.
The same goes for pistols, revolvers and other weapons. We will change the material of the barrel and bolt (or drum), and do everything else as on a real pistol (or revolver). More precisely, we will do it approximately like on a real pistol or revolver, because we (by convention) do not have special equipment. This means that we ourselves will come up with technologies for the production of this or that part, relying on our real capabilities.
By the way, it’s even more interesting. But in the end, the current model will probably cost more than the standard original and will also be no less interesting. Another plus is that over time you will master a number of related professions at a high professional level. In addition, if you don’t openly hack and copy for the rest of your life a randomly obtained, single model, you will feel the taste of creativity and the joy of true mastery. But you only have to miss a small mistake once during the production of the next product, and in the end the product will turn out to be lopsided and wretched. Have you seen the products of underground gunsmiths? They are often shown on TV and on the Internet. Clumsy handles, tin can nails, pieces of wire and electrical tape tighten the cracks. Crooked and crumpled tubes instead of barrels, seed holes that were not drilled accurately, but not sawed off the first time in the form of a gap... What can be said about such “masters”? Underground, that's for sure, but they were unlikely to know the gunsmiths. In my opinion, learning a new skill and at the same time making money from it is not the worst idea.
Now for specific tips on home technologies. Imagine that you have sets of tubes of any diameter and with any wall thickness, and you also have plates of any thickness and size. To do this, you don’t need to have a warehouse of any materials in your apartment. Any tube for specific purposes can be wound from newsprint or an old rag with glue, for example, epoxy. Homemade textolite plates of the required thickness are produced in approximately the same way. It is much easier to work with such homemade plastic than with metal. Although the use of metal is not excluded, in other places metal will be simply irreplaceable. All kinds of axes, springs, rods, pushers... Based on this available material and your capabilities, you must come up with a technology for manufacturing one or another model of a weapon, or some component in this weapon.
As always, when making the first sample, the main thing is not to lose faith in yourself and achieve the desired results. Therefore, everything is permitted, up to changing the type of weapon model being manufactured. By the way, aircraft modelers, when designing flying copies of real aircraft, deliberately make amendments to their copies, otherwise their copy simply will not be able to fly. The aerodynamic features of real planes and their greatly reduced copies are (slightly) different. So the wings on the models are a little wider or longer, the fuselage is a little narrower or shorter, the engines are more powerful relative to their weight, etc. and so on. And your equipment includes a broken-down workbench, an old vice and bald files. Therefore, amendments and minor changes (for the first time) DO take place! If you want to become a real master, then the second time everything should be fair and without mistakes. Don't stoop to the level of the aforementioned underground gunsmiths. Do everything well at once, it turns out bad on its own.
First, let's look at making a (highly) simplified model of the English Webley revolver. Pos. 3 shows the barrel set of the revolver. In pos. 5, the barrel group together with the drum assembly. The places where the fasteners are wound are shown in red. The body and handle of the revolver are made from a set of plates. This makes it easier to make all kinds of cutouts for trigger parts.
Pos. 4 shows the process of making a drum from plastic tubes. Winding can be limited to parts of the drum, then there is no need to make special cutouts for the drum stopper. I don’t recommend drilling drum chambers in a solid piece; you won’t be able to get by with a regular drilling machine. Assembling a drum from tubes is much easier.
Position 7 shows a close-up of the drum ratchet, and position 6 shows the ratchet manufacturing technology. The ratchet blank is fixed in a kind of drum made of tubes; a mandrel is put on the blank with a very hardened plate glued to it, one plane passing through the center of the axis and a small recess for easy filing of the grooves. At the bottom of the mandrel there is a protrusion that alternately fits into the next hole “like a drum”.
I would like to warn you. When winding fastening material, such as thread, do not be too zealous. Fastening by winding turns out to be very strong, its strength is many times stronger than soldering with other hard solders. I don’t remember soldering with soft, lead-tin solders, which are used to attach the barrels of hunting rifles. And the pressure developed when winding with ordinary threads can exceed many tons per square centimeter. By the way, it is by winding wire on a special mandrel that the necessary pressure is developed in devices for producing artificial diamonds. More powerful and at the same time miniature presses or options for achieving such pressures have not yet been invented. You need to be careful not to crush the plastic blanks.
For a more detailed story about the general structure of revolvers, see my article “The Most Unknown Weapons.” And for making models of pistols, I recommend little-known mechanical pistols of the late 19th century (for example, “Volcanic”) or, on the contrary, well-known ones like “Mauser”, “Parabellum”, small-caliber “Rugera”... It would be a good idea to store finished models in carved boxes with velvet upholstery, along with cleaning kits, bullet guns and other accessories. Any product must be shown from its best side.

Children of the 90s generation did not have newfangled toys and computer games, but they had a wild imagination that allowed them to come up with incredible ways of entertainment. The favorites had something you could shoot with or set on fire. Although these entertainments were considered favorites among children during perestroika, many of them could be harmful to health and even lead to death.

Slingshots

Who remembers homemade slingshots? They were of two types - classic and keyed. The classic ones were cut from a thick hazel branch with a fork, a wide gray rope was bought at the pharmacy, a piece of leather was obtained (you could secretly cut houses from a travel bag and dump it on your sister) and everything was fastened with copper wire or blue electrical tape.

Such a slingshot was loaded with smooth pebbles, which were often brought into courtyards along with sand or unripe berries, such as rowan, plum or cherry, which grew in abundance behind the house. The power of the stone shot was sometimes enough to shatter a champagne bottle from 3 meters away. Such a slingshot was valued because not everyone had the skills and funds to create it. It could be exchanged for other valuables such as inserts from Turbo, CinCin and Final90.

While walking and having nothing to do, it was possible to make a simpler slingshot - a keyed one. To do this, in a landfill it was necessary to find a thick aluminum wire in a braid and find a flagellum. As a rule, there were no problems with the latter - it was easily obtained from the elastic band of panties. The newer the panties, the better the flagellum. From all this, something like this was assembled (pictured on the left). Such a slingshot fired with dowels - pieces of copper or aluminum wire bent into a horseshoe.

Crossbows

A heavier version of the slingshot was the crossbow. A wooden clothespin was attached to the board, and an elastic band was attached to the other end in such a way as to create a “loop”, the saddle of which falls just on the clothespin. With the necessary stretching, of course. A “bullet” was placed in the elastic loop, the elastic was stretched and clamped into a clothespin. When the clothespin was pressed, a shot was fired. They shot with the same rowan berries, peas, peppercorns or pellets.

Samopal

The most advanced version was called self-propelled guns. This is closer to a real firearm. A thick-walled metal tube was sealed at one end (flattened and topped with lead), and a 1mm hole was drilled near the blind end. The pipe was attached to a wooden stock, usually in the shape of a pistol (again, sometimes the same chair leg was used). “Sulphur” from matches, a wad and a homemade sub-caliber lead bullet were driven into the tube using a ramrod. The shot was fired when a special striking frame, released by the trigger, struck the head of a nail inserted into a small hole. The bullet had a very serious destructive force - 15 match heads in a 4mm barrel drove the bullet 5 centimeters into the tree. It would have been better not to end up with the police with a crossbow...

Match shooter

Another lightweight weapon was the match shooter. It was made from wooden clothespins. Do you feel the usefulness of this Soviet device? He shot with ordinary or burning matches at a distance of 10 meters. To make it, a wooden clothespin was dismantled, a place for a spring (from the same clothespin) was sharpened with a file, a “barrel” was sharpened, a spring was put on one of the halves, the halves were connected by their reverse sides and rewound with electrical tape. The spring played the role of both the trigger and the pusher at the same time. Sometimes a piece of “chirkash” from a matchbox was attached to the “trunk” so that the match would light itself at the moment of the shot. More often they simply passed the box over it and immediately shot.

Dart

Probably only the lazy didn’t play the game of darts; we also loved throwing darts as children. But they weren’t sold or they cost a lot of money. Therefore, almost any boy in our yard could make it himself. In terms of its flight and insertion qualities, the dart turned out to be no worse than the factory one. A piece of paper, 4 matches, a needle, office glue and thread. They hung a homemade target from a notebook sheet on the wall carpet and played.

Pistons

Who had such a revolver that fired such caps? But it was more interesting to poke something sharp at the brown spots and watch them ignite. Or it’s even more interesting to roll up a roll from a strip of piston and hit it with a hammer. Ringing in the ears for 10 minutes was guaranteed!

Who sees the connection?

Scarecrow made of bolts

And here?

I think our generation will easily explain the connection between these objects. They hammered the dowel into the asphalt with a brick, took it out, crushed matches into the hole, inserted the dowel and threw a brick on top... Bang! and the piece of asphalt was gone... :) Matches cost 1 kopeck per box and were freely bought in the store.

And these are already “rockets”

Slate in the fire

I think you can easily remember what happens to slate in a fire :) That's right, nothing good - it shoots a lot. In pieces.

Lamps and picture tubes

It was a sin not to break a fluorescent lamp thrown into the trash. They broke with a loud bang if you threw the lamp end-on onto the asphalt. They didn't think about the environment back then...

But this find in the trash heap was extremely rare and always brought great joy to the boys. They cast lots to see who would be the first to throw a brick at the top lamp (the ray gun of the kinescope). She was the most vulnerable point of the kinescope. When the lamp broke, the picture tube, due to the internal vacuum, collapsed inward with a very dull bang that echoed in the courtyards. Neighborhood boys immediately came running to see this action. But more often we found picture tubes with a broken lamp...

Siphon cans

Used cans for carbonation machines (siphon) were also sometimes used. They were filled with sulfur from matches and the hole was closed with a bolt. Then the infernal device was thrown into the fire... I must say that this thing was the most dangerous invention of the yard boys. Personally, I have never made such a balloon. And I categorically do not recommend it to others.

Magnesium

We mixed magnesium, crushed into powder by a file, in a certain proportion with potassium permanganate, which cost a penny at the pharmacy, and wrapped it in a tight paper bag, also wrapping it with adhesive tape. They made a hole and screwed a match to it, so that the head of sulfur was exactly in the hole. They struck a match on the box and abruptly threw it aside. The package exploded with a deafening noise and a bright flash.

Knives

In my opinion, every boy had a folding knife as a child, which was a source of pride. With its help they played “country land” and “tanks”. Each game had many types of rules. For example, “countryman”: they drew a circle and divided it equally by the number of participants. Everyone stood in their own area. Then, while standing, they stuck a knife into the enemy’s area and cut off a piece of his land. “I got wounded” (didn’t stick it in) - the move passed to someone else. And according to one rule, you had to stand on your land all the time as long as you can. According to others, you could stand outside, but in the event of a catastrophic reduction in your area, the enemy offered you to stand on it for 3 seconds. If you can't resist, you're out. You could even stand on tiptoes of one leg - the main thing was to hold out for 3 seconds.

Carbide

Who remembers the magic stones with a specific smell that bubble in water? Carbide is a joy for the finder, for the whole day! When combined with water, it reacted and released the wonderful gas acetylene. It is remarkable because it burns well. Carbide was used in whatever form. And they simply threw it into a puddle, setting it on fire. And they warmed their hands, squeezing the carbide in their palm, immersed in a puddle. And they put it in bottles of water, plugging it with a stopper...

But the most effective use of carbide was in the hand cannon. They took an empty deodorant or Dichlorvos bottle, cut off the neck, made a hole at the bottom, put carbide inside, spat on it liberally, plugged all the holes, shook for a minute, opened it and brought a burning match to the small hole... VOLLET! !! :)

Dymovukha

The absolute truth is that only our generation knows what the connection is between a child’s tumbler or a tennis ball....

But we know what will happen if pieces of this special, magical plastic are wrapped in foil or newspaper, set on fire and extinguished... How much nerve did the guys spend in their garages when such a miracle flew to them from the roof...

Lead

How much in this word merged for a child’s heart... And merged in the literal sense of the word. Remember how you scoured garages and searched car dumps in search of old batteries?

They split them and extracted pure lead. They beat out the dried electrolyte and crushed the soft metal into a tin can or bowl.They made a fire and waited for the liquid metal to sparkle in the jar.

And then they did whatever their heart desired!