AboutGCH Expertise I CAN answer questions related to defensive use of firearms, tactics, prudent modifications of firearms, utility of certain types of firearms. My greatest knowledge is in the area of handguns.
PLEASE READ BEFORE SENDING QUESTIONS:
I CAN NOT identify antique guns or those that are old and out-of-production. I CAN NOT tell you the value of your firearms. I CAN NOT tell you the history of your guns. I CAN NOT supply information about cheap, inherently unsafe firearms (e.g. Jimenez, Jennings, Lorcin).
Experience Primary Instructor, F2v (armed and unarmed self-defense); NRA Certified Instructor; NRA Distinguished Expert, Handgun; International Defensive Pistol Association certified Safety Officer; IDPA classified Expert, Stock Service Pistol Division; Multiple graduate, Practical Firearms Training, Tactical Carbine and Advanced Defensive Handgun; Blackwater Training Center, Advanced Skills Handgun; Insights Training Center, Defensive Folding Knife; Integrated Defensive Fighting Systems, Unarmed Defense and Fixed Blade Knife; Range qualified with local police department, handgun and shotgun; Kukkiwon Ildan Black Belt, ETS certified Self-Defense Instructor
Organizations National Rifle Association, International Defensive Pistol Association, Virginia Citizens' Defense League; Integrated Defensive Fighting Systems; Personal Defense Group
Publications Tactical Journal
Education/Credentials Bachelor's and Master's degrees; Graduate Practical Firearms Training, Handgun levels 1, 2, and 3, and Tactical Carbine; Kukiwan certified Ildan black belt.
Awards and Honors Multiple trophies from various tactical pistol competitions.
Firstly let me thank you in advance for taking the time to answer my question.
I live in Europe where due to strict gun control laws, there are many weapons available illegally which are replicas converted to fire live rounds.
I have been reading the news recently, and there have been many cases where the replica has exploded in the users hand. Why is this? I thought that if the gun is capable of firing blank rounds, then surely with a little bit or work it should also be able to fire live ammo or am I totally wrong about this?
Also, I think maybe that the reason they explode is because of the pressures building up behind the bullet. What if a silencer is used, that would reduce the pressure behind, thereby making it safer?
I am quite intrigued about this, and any information you may provide would be greatful.
Many thanks
Kate
ANSWER: Kate,
Guns designed to fire only blanks may be substantially weaker than actual firearms as regards their metallurgy. A gun that fires a blank is not pushing anything but powder out of the barrel and therefore does not build up pressure equivalent to the pressure generated by pushing a tight-fitting projectile through the rifling and out the end of the barrel.
A suppressor or "silencer" as you refer to it attaches to the end of the barrel. The same pressure is needed to get the bullet to that point and into the "can" where, through various means, the sound is suppressed.
From the type of questions you are asking, am I correct in assuming that you are a news reporter researching a story? If so, good luck with it.
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Hi again, :)
Many many thanks for the very fast answer you gave me!
You are indeed correct in assuming that I am a news reporter researching a story. You may have heard about a 'factory' here in the UK producing illegal guns which were converted from blank firing replicas. My story now is how these criminals manage to convert these replicas, and how to stop them from acquiring the tools needed.
I just wanted to ask you also, is there anyway of reducing the pressure in the barrel? what I mean is, is there anything the criminals can do to the gun to reduce the pressure in the barrel? And if there is, would you know of any procudures to the gun which would make it difficult for them to do this?
Also, say a converted replica has been loaded and fired, upon which it explodes, would the projectile (bullet) still exit and hit the intended target?
And lastly, is there anyway of telling whether the metal is strong enough to fire live rounds?
I thank you greatly for the time and effort you have put in once again.
Kind Regards,
Kate
Answer No, that particular story has not hit the shores of the U.S. The big story from over there is how much the crime rate has spiked since the UK made it illegal for citizens to have guns for self-protection. Pity, that.
The problem is, the components of actual firearms go through a number of metallurgical tests to make sure they can stand up to the pressures, not only in the barrel, but in the slide and frame, locking block, rails, etc. (assuming a self-loader and not a revolver). Most blank-firing guns are metallurgically inadequate to deal with the pressure in the barrel, but the rest of the gun can't handle the pressure generated from the slide velocities, etc. A blank gun that was converted to a "real gun" would not last long. And, as what you've told me would seem to indicate, in most case such a converted gun will be a one-use tool. Someone who shoots one of these has got to be desperate.
But to your questions:
Most blank firing guns are 8mm. The NATO cartridge is 9mm, so the barrel would have to be reamed or bored out. If it was bored a bit over-sized (my guess is the converted barrels are not rifled), this would reduce pressures, but there is a trade-off. The outside diameter (OD) of an 8mm barrel is smaller than the OD of a 9mm barrel. If you ream the bore, you are left with a very thin barrel wall. By dispensing with rifling and having a loose bore you reduce pressure, but you also thereby limit the range and terminal effectiveness of the projectile, so you end up with a gun that has more "bark" than "bite," and still will not last long.
Pressure is what makes the gun both accurate and effective. As you decrease pressure, you decrease effectiveness. Consider what happens if there are NO confines on the projectile to create pressure, such as what would happen if you threw cartridges into a fire. Do you know what happens? Nothing. The powder eventually ignites, but the brass of the case has less mass than the projectile, so, as Sir Isaac Newton would have predicted, the projectile stays put and the casing "poofs" off, moving only inches away from the bullet (projectile). Reduce pressures significantly and you reduce bullet velocity, ergo terminal effectiveness and accuracy (accuracy is a function of pressure plus spiral stabilization imparted by the spin from the rifling).
If upon firing, the gun underwent a catastrophic failure (probably a more accurate description than "exploding"), would the projectile still hit the target? Although there are variables, in all likelihood the answer would be "yes" if the gun was capable of hitting the target before.
Regarding whether you can tell if the metal is strong enough: Steel for guns has to have a surface hardness (usually measured on the Rockwell scale) and an internal ductility. If the metal is very hard all the way through it will shatter. I think it is safe to say that no gun designed as a toy would "hit upon" the proper specifications. Making a gun of the proper harness is a sophisticated metallurgical operation. parts that were not designed to hold such pressures cannot do so consistently. So to answer your question, it would take someone who knew what he was doing to test the integrity of the steel, but unless it were designed for the purpose of being a firearm, no replica would every accidentally "hit upon" the NATO or SAAMI spec. for the steel.
Regarding stopping people from doing these conversions, good luck. Though I have absolutely no desire to do it, if circumstances called for it, I could construct a "zip gun" from common steel gas pipe. Unless someone thinks it would be a good idea to set up a regulatory bureaucracy akin to what one would need to regulate radiological material for common metal-working tools and plumbing materials, there's no way to stem this activity.
Though you didn't ask this, I'll recommend that you get hold of a book by Dr. John Lott entitled "More Guns, Less Crime." The fact is that wherever guns are restricted, the only people it hurts are people who obey the law, and violent crime escalates. When criminals face the very real possibility of walking into a pride of lions when they thought they were just going to strangle a litter of kittens, violent crime goes down. That's why I do what I do.
If you are ever going to be in the Washington DC area, drop me a line and I'll teach you the fundamentals of shooting.
