The Simplest Homemade Pistol? Mark Serbu Gives the World the GB-22 "Gun Buyback Special"
What is the simplest gun you can possibly make? When you hear this question, the kind of gun that comes to mind is probably a simple zip gun, like the one below, which has a forward-moving mass, a trigger, a barrel, and not much else:
Given modern ammunition, this is basically the simplest configuration that can be made, and is essentially equivalent to a simple blowback submachine gun without the additional complexity of a magazine. Mark Serbu took this basic idea to the next level, creating an interesting machine project that works the same way, but has a much higher degree of craftsmanship. He calls it the “GB-22”, “GB” standing for “gun buyback”:
Redeeming improvised firearms at gun buybacks is nothing new. Due to their “no judgement” policy, and the very low cost to make some firearms (in many cases below $20 a gun), some individuals have taken to turning in homemade firearms as a way to protest the efficacy of the programs, although it should be noted that such activity is potentially very illegal and I do not recommend our readers do this themselves. The GB-22 is an interested “buyback special”, as it is actually very well made; Serbu mills the guns carefully using a CNC milling machine, and while total man-hours per firearm are low, the end results are still – for what they are – very professional looking.
The video also contains a very interesting tutorial on how to make springs for firearms using music wire and a drill press.
Whether it’s the nice-looking GB-22, or a pipe-and-2×4 that is barely recognizable as a firearm, what’s very clear is that the gun genie is most certainly out of the bottle.
Nathaniel is a history enthusiast and firearms hobbyist whose primary interest lies in military small arms technological developments beginning with the smokeless powder era. He can be reached via email at nathaniel.f@staff.thefirearmblog.com.
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If you've got the cash to do it a better form of protesting buyback programs is to set up a booth near them offering more than they do. Usually what they're giving people is less than half the value of the gun, so if you're a licensed firearms dealer you can outbid them and then sell the guns you buy for a nice profit. Or, a variation on the same idea, get your gun club to pool their resources and divide up the guns you buy and you can all get new guns for way less than they'd cost to buy any other way (and, since it's a private sale, it's legal in most states so long as each member of the gun club is only buying one or two. Of course that assumes the law around private sales hasn't changed in the 10 years or so since I last had reason to check into it.)