As a gunsmith I sometimes find myself squinting at poorly scanned schematics of rare guns. Stumped halfway through a project, I scratch my head trying to figure out how the doohickey is held in place by the whatsit and what the doohickey’s function actually is in there. That’s probably why I think the free Gun Disassembly 2 app from Noble Empire is so cool. Available for iPhone, Android, Macs and PCs, the program is a wealth of knowledge about what is inside your favorite gun and how it actually works.

I downloaded the PC version and had it up and running in a minute or two. There were a couple of patches that needed auto-updating, and one of them failed; it was only newer sound effects and the program runs fine regardless. The main screen gives us 3d computer representations of dozens of fireams and a couple of other oddities such as the RPG-7 and a Russian field artillery piece. Ten of the most popular guns can be viewed for free, but you’ve gotta pay for access to the others. Judging by the free samples, the developers have put a ton of work into accurately representing the internal parts and their fitment. You can disassemble, assemble, view demonstrations, and “fire” each gun in slow motion to see how the parts move as the firearm operates, all in 3d and from any angle. Zoom out to see everything or zoom in to see how just a few parts interact with each other.

Here is the lockwork on a Smith & Wesson Model 53. You can cock, decock, fire and reload the gun virtually and see how everything moves. An “X-Ray Vision” mode just shows the parts I want highlighted at the moment while outlining everything else in a ghostly green.

A “game” mode has you racing against the clock to click on parts in the correct order to disassemble and reassemble the gun in the fastest time possible. While it won’t compete with World of Tanks for my gaming time, it is a handy way to truly learn the design of the firearm. Toggling labels on helps your brain make the transition from “Doohickey” to “Spring Torsion Pin”. The 3d models are incredibly complex and truly faithful to the actual firearms. Here is a fully disassembled Sig “Commando” with labels turned on.

Gun Disassembly 2 is more than a fun free program to mess around with. It can unlock in our minds a better understanding of the engineering behind some very interesting firearms. I recommend trying it on your Mac or PC because the complexity of the firearms is best viewed on the largest screen available, but if you are stuck somewhere with just your phone, this program will be a great time-eater for gun enthusiasts like us. And if you can’t get your Ruger Mk II back together for some reason (hey, we’ve all been there), Gun Disassembly 2 is way better than squinting at that old 2d schematic!

We asked the makers of  Gun Disassembly 2 if they were willing to give us promo codes for our readers to unlock  some of the paid guns. They have given us four lifetime account promo codes which unlock every gun currently featured in the app and all future additions, 10 promo codes that unlock the Minigun, AK 47, M16, Steyr AUG,  Browning M1919 A4, M1 Garand, Thompson, Desert Eagle .44, Remington 870 and Barrett M107, and 15 promo codes to unlock the Colt SAA, Maxim, RPG -7, HK G36e and FAMAS F1. The first 29 readers to ask for a promo codes in the comments will be emailed a code. The codes only work on the Windows PC and Android version of the app (blame Apple). UPDATE: Codes all gone. Took just 20 minutes before they all went. We will email the lucky readers with their codes within the next 24 – 48 hours.

[Thanks to jdun1911 for the tip!]