Improvised Firearm - Construction

Construction

The essential part of any improvised firearm is the barrel and chamber. For small, low pressure cartridges, like the common .22 caliber (5.5 mm) rimfire cartridges, even very thin walled tubing will suffice. Author Harlan Ellison describes the zip guns used by gangs in 1950s New York City as being made from tubing used in coffee percolators or automobile radio antennas, strapped to a block of wood to serve as a handle. A rubber band provides the power for the firing pin, which is pulled back and released to fire. The use of such weak tubing results in a firearm that can be more dangerous to the shooter than the target; the poorly fitting smoothbore barrel provides little accuracy and is liable to burst upon firing.

Read more about this topic:  Improvised Firearm

Famous quotes containing the word construction:

    The construction of life is at present in the power of facts far more than convictions.
    Walter Benjamin (1892–1940)

    There is, I think, no point in the philosophy of progressive education which is sounder than its emphasis upon the importance of the participation of the learner in the formation of the purposes which direct his activities in the learning process, just as there is no defect in traditional education greater than its failure to secure the active cooperation of the pupil in construction of the purposes involved in his studying.
    John Dewey (1859–1952)

    There’s no art
    To find the mind’s construction in the face.
    William Shakespeare (1564–1616)