WTTCaNK
Introduction
1
CHAPTER 1
Gaining Experience
3
CHAPTER 2
Tools and Equipment
13
CHAPTER 3
Materials
19
CHAPTER 4
What to Design
23
CHAPTER 5
Design Theory
29
CHAPTER 12
Trigger Assemblies
81
CHAPTER 13
Magazines
93
CHAPTER 14
Stocks
101
CHAPTER 15
Sights
113
CHAPTER 16
Building a Gun
123
CHAPTER 17
Ornamentation
137
CHAPTER 6
Helpful Hints
35
CHAPTER 7
Actions
41
CHAPTER 8
Action Fabrication
55
CHAPTER 9
Barrels
61
CHAPTER 10
Recoil
69
CHAPTER 11
Muzzle Brakes
73
CHAPTER 18
Fitting and Assembly
149
CHAPTER 19
Firing and Adjusting
155
CHAPTER 20
Heat Treatment
161
CHAPTER 21
Metal Finishing
165
CHAPTER 22
Marketing Your Design
171
APPENDIX
Useful Information
177 #ii
iliany indication, there is widespread
interest in designing and building fire-
arms in one’s own home or workshop. Unfor-
tunately, far too many of these would-be gun
builders lack a little something when it comes to
designing a workable firearm, and even more
when it comes to building it.
A prime example of this comes from a letter I
received from a would-be gun builder who
resides in a northwestern state, describing an
automatic rifle which he said he intended to
build. According to his letter, it would be a full-
automatic rifle, chambered for the .50-caliber
machine gun cartridge, made entirely from
“CRS.” (which I assume meant cold-rolled
steel), and “straight blowback.” He went on to
say that the rifle would have a fiberglass stock
and 20-round magazine and weigh 15 pounds,
complete with telescopic sight.
Now this all sounds pretty good to the
average person, However if put into practice, his
plan would contain a number of design flaws. In
I the mail I get pertaining to the subject is,
the first place, “cold-rolled steel” is a common
nickname for a low-carbon steel known as 1018.
If this is the material my correspondent had in
mind, it would be about as poor a choice there is
to fabricate a firearm from. The reason for this is
that 1018 simply will not heat-treat to the
hardness required to prevent battering or
upsetting and would wear rapidly. Also, this
material does not have sufficient tensile strength
or the ductility required to withstand the shocks
and stresses imparted by heavy caliber firearms,
or light calibers either for that matter. We will
discuss this further in the chapter on materials.
Also, it should be noted that “straight
blowback” is practical only in firearms cham-
bered for low- or medium-pressure cartridges,
mostly pistol cartridges of low to medium
power, The reason for this is that the breech of
such a gun is not locked at the moment of firing.
Only the weight of the breechblock, or bolt,
usually combined with forward pressure from
one or more recoil springs, keeps the action
closed at the instant of firing. Also, since the
1