Resistance and locally manufactured weapons

[James Langham]

A few odd weapons to drop into campaigns.

Before people ask the Wojo Arms illustration is a Northern Ireland loyalist paramilitary one, the other two are real weapons.

Suggestions for further examples more than welcome.

[Tombot]

Cool, James!

I used some NPCs having some selfmade zipguns lately, but i missed something in the "middle" between those, and prewar-weapons. Especially in the area of Krakow, which would come up for sure, after a while.
And "Wojo" would produce for sure.

Sweet!

[WallShadow]

IIRC, the Israeli Irgun were making homemade SMGs out of old Turkish rifle barrels, with only a dentist's drill as the sole power tool.

And I remember a scene from a documentary about the Northwestern Provinces of Pakistan, in which firearms were hand-made using hand-tools only. They looked pretty good, but I'm sure they would develop problems as the strain of firing worked upon their mechanisms.

It's amazing what a little ingenuity can produce out of "junk"--I also recall a scene from another documentary set in an Afghan town where the camera showed a device constructed out of what appeared to be flattened Glade air freshener cans--a satellite dish constructed in can metal (advertising still on) using a flower-petal overlap pattern. I guess if you can focus enough signal, you don't necessarily need a smooth collecting surface on the dish.

Thanks McGyver!

[dragoon500ly]

Nice! Very nice indeed!

[ArmySGT.]

Dara Adam Khel is a small village in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) on the road that leads south from Peshawar to Kohat. The village is located in a rugged, mountainous area which has long resisted control by Pakistan's central government. For centuries, outlaws from Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan found refuge here, beyond the reach of law enforcement.

The people of Dara Adam Khel are predominantly Pashtuns of the Afridi tribe, and are respected for their toughness and courage. Village gunsmiths are highly proficient in the manufacture of popular firearms, including the Kalashnikov assault rifle. Arms, ammunition, and opium are readily available in local bazars.The most famous malaks (leaders) of Dara Adam Khel Malik Dr. Nasim, Malik Baz Gul, Malik Khana Gul, but they left to peshawar after milatry operation in Dara Adam Khel. There are Five Qoom (Sub trib) in Dara Adam Khel, 1. Toor Chappar (in left high mountains near to Kohat) The Famous persons from Toor Chappar are Late Lal Shah Baba and Late Toor Kamal Baba. 2. Sharakee (just after the Tunnal from Kohat) 3. Zarghon Khel The Famaous people are (Dr. Nasim, Khana Gul) 4. Akhorwal (Akhorwal is the last Qoom (Trib) connect the suburb Area of Peshawar) 5. Qasam Khel and there are some other sub sub tribes too.

There is one College in Akhorwal, High school for boy and High School for girls in Akhorwal. High School Fairozi Maila, High School Sharakee, High School Sani Khel.


Al Qaeda and Taliban insurgents are known to operate in the area.

[ArmySGT.]

Most any semi auto can be made with files and patience. A hand powered rifling machine can be made and rifling buttons are normally made of tungsten.

Easiest to make with a file would be rolling blocks or falling blocks. Strong enough for actions from .22 to .45-120 and .577/450 British.

I have seen the prototypes on display at the J.M. Browning museum in Ogden, Utah. You can see how the 1901, 1911, A-5, 1918, and 1919 were shaped with files.

Tools and High carbon steels might be the shortest resource.

[Brother in Arms]

Any blowback SMG type of firearm could be turned out in a simple workshop.
rifling isn't really important if its just a spray and pray sort of firearm. I have seen several primitive ones that worked just fine. Of course both 9x18mm and 7.62x25 would be fairly common in Krakow. Probably more of the later. Also 9x19mm from the ww2 era.

Also consider some primitive shotguns, they are quite easy to produce as well and fairly low pressure so they arent soo likely to explode. Steam pipe makes good barrels for shotguns.

Small concealable zip guns for assasination purposes would be fairly easy to make and prevalent in small calibers like .22LR, .25ACP,.32ACP

There would probably be quite a bit of Junk laying around from ww2 like polish and german Mauser rifles in 7.92/8mm Also Polish M44 in 7.62x54R.
It wouldn't suprise me if you turned up 9mm WZ35 RADOM Pistols german lugers, MP-44's even. Here is a link to polish ww2 stuff.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:World_War_II_Polish_infantry_weapons

I think you should consider using an old Grantnik 36 light mortar. That would be an interesting one to use for Anipersonel stuff or armored cars and the likes.

If you want any more ideas or got other questions let me know I am a gunsmith.

Brother in Arms

[HorseSoldier]

Given the relative ease in designing and producing submachineguns with even basic limited resources of the sort found in a modest machine shop or even a high school shop class I would venture to guess that just about every organized government and would be government would producing some sort of SMG.

One thing that might be popular would be adopting styling gives the resulting weapons some degree of visual resemblance to standard issue weapons -- CivGov and MilGov, for instance, might opt for something that sports an M16 lookalike carry handle. (If either government has an arsenal facility with spare AR parts laying around they might find it simply useful to use parts like pistol grips, stocks, hand grips and such for convenience's sake.)

[Brother in Arms]

Imatation being the sincerest form of flattery. Or in this case impersonation to make it look like you have a more deadly weapon.

[headquarters]

homemade - diy

http://thebigbookofwar.50megs.com/DOX/Guns/zip%20guns,homemade%20or%20primitive%20guns/

a motley collection ( what the charavters in my party always fear they will end up being armed with if they dont behave)

[natehale1971]

During the last year of WW2 the Germans had been developing weapons (and aircraft) that could be produced in personal home garages using tools that any civilian pocessed. I can see things like this becoming rediscovered during the post-nuclear exchanges.

[copeab]

Let's not forget the .45 Liberator pistol of WWII, produced by a company that normally made automotive headlights. Possibly the only reusable gun in history that was faster to build than to reload.

[dragoon500ly]

And its not just firearms, Ian Hogg's Infantry Weapons of World War II had some "home made" grenades...

The British No.74 Grenade, Hand. AKA the "Sticky Bomb", a simple glass flask filled with 20 ounces of nitroglycerin, the glass covered with a stockinette material that was soaked in bird lime. Just throw and hope for the best!

The No.76 Grenade, Hand or the "Self-Igniting Phosphorus" grenade, filled with a 1 pound mix of phosphorus, benzine, water and a strip of rubber. Just throw, the bottle breaks and flame on!

And don't forget the German "Nipolit" grenades. Nipolit is an explosive that can be machined, i.e. cut, milled, threaded or bored just like plastic. It was waterproof and strong enough to withstand normal wear and tear. The grenade is really just a block of explosive with a fuse (and a throwing handle) attached. Another fine product brought to you be those fun guys at Westfalische Anhaltische Sprengstoff AG!

[James Langham]

Expanded version

[pmulcahy11b]

I have a book ---damn, I'll have to find it in that book room-cum-junk room next door -- that has some examples of makeshift weapons made by the IRA during The Troubles. Think the authors would mind if I scanned a few pages from that book and posted them on my site for download Would that be considered fair use