#HomeMadeGuns

Underground Arms Watch returns from the dead with a look at some recently confiscated weapons and emerging trends.

Hello and welcome back to another edition of The Rimfire Report! This ongoing series is all about the rimfire world and its many different types of firearms, ammunition, shooting sports, and history! Last week we talked a bit about the new TacSol Owyhee Takedown in 22 Magnum. The Owyhee Takedown in 22 Magnum is something I’ve been waiting for for quite a long time. When it comes to survival rifles, a lot of emphasis is usually placed on making them compact, but not very powerful – at least in the rimfire world. Now we have access to a small rifle about the size of a Ruger 10/22 takedown, that can not only accept suppressors, but can also mount optics, and stow extra gear (yes even ammo but only loose rounds) in a convenient lightweight package that can still pack a punch. If you missed out on that review, you can check it out here. This week we’re getting back to one of our long-time readers Axel from Germany. You’ll remember Axel from our previous coverage of him and his neat Sci-Fi rifle design made from two Marlin Model 60 rifles. Well, this time he’s back at it again with another one of his passion projects but this one is just a bit closer to earth – it’s a 22LR Dragunov (SVD). Today we’ll take a look at what he’s done to accomplish this and hopefully, this will give some of you at-home gunsmiths the inspiration to tackle a project like this on your own.

Dusting off the Underground Arms Watch series after a dormant start to the year, we return with a look at some recent examples of ‘ghost guns’.

There are very few examples of ingenuity that both impress and terrify me at the same time. This DIY pistol that was featured on the Meskwaki Nation Police Department’s Facebook page is one such example of an item. Dubbed the “Smith and Meth-Son” by the department’s officers, this pistol was confiscated from a drug dealer who at the time of his arrest was in possession of meth, and had previously been convicted of distributing cocaine. Both of these incidents are felony offenses as far as I know and thus the perpetrator (a convicted felon) was already barred from possessing or purchasing firearms – so obviously he had to make his own.

Underground Arms Watch returns with another look at recently seized oddball weapons. Featured as the title picture is an improvised .22 firearm seized by police in Brazil from someone who “reported that he was shooting to scare off robbers who wanted to rob his residence.” It appears to be assembled from a number of items including a cut down barrel taken from an air rifle, part of a table leg or crutch and a piece of a bicycle perhaps. I’m not sure how the designer intended it to be held.

Welcome back to the Underground Arms Watch. The first week of June saw a number of seizures of the FGC-9, the widely reported on 3D printable 9mm carbine released by Deterrence Dispensed last year. The example below was one of two seized from a ‘factory’ operating in Tampere, Finland which was uncovered during raids on addresses connected to criminal groups making use of the compromised encrypted chat network known as AN0M.

I was recently bumming around on YouTube when I came across an interesting video from May 26th featuring a supposedly 100% original design of a semi-automatic .22LR pistol. Coming from the YouTube channel Humphrey Wittinsworth IV, the so-called “Mega Pistol” features a 40-round fixed rotary magazine that would only really be possible to the common man via 3D printing technology.

Underground Arms Watch returns with a brief glance at recently seized craft-produced arms by law enforcement around the globe.

Welcome back to Underground Arms Watch. Catching up into the new year, we continue our look at some of the black market bootleg weapons seized worldwide within the last few months.

Continuing our regular look into criminally made and modified firearms within our Underground Arms Watch series, we start with a seizure of a number of homemade firearms by Queensland Police on October 2:

Police in Sydney, Australia have seized a partially 3D printed Glock 19 pistol after a raid on a Newtown home, the gun believed to have also been assembled with illegally imported parts. As only the slide, barrel and trigger components need to be smuggled in through the postal service (which are unregulated and freely available online, at least in the US) such a route offers much less of a hurdle for those in places such as Australia where 3D printers, at least for now remain unregulated. A similar seizure occurred in Winnipeg, Canada last year.

Underground Arms Watch returns with August’s look into firearms manufactured for the black market which have appeared in recent weeks.

Since late 2017 a group of secessionists in Cameroon’s former British mandate located in the southwest have been fighting under the banner of a self-declared state named the Federal Republic of Ambazonia or Amber Land. Bordering Nigeria to the northwest and the majority French-speaking Cameroon Republic to the east, Ambazonia takes its name from Ambas Bay, the local name for the mouth of the Wouri River where in 1858 English was established as a permanent language. A peaceful movement for independence had been growing for decades which after widespread several strikes and protests culminated in the declaration of an independent Republic and armed struggle in November 2017. Ambazonia even have their own cryptocurrency, the AmberCoin.

Skipping ahead a month we resume the Underground Arms Watch series of articles, our regular dive into the world of criminal manufacture and use of off-the-books firearms showing up around the world.

Yesterday, Winnipeg Police released pictures of a number of firearms seized from a residence late last May. The lower receivers of two shown having been produced using a 3D printer, which was also seized.