Craft production of firearms in Nigeria

Small Arms Survey have released a new paper documenting the widespread illegal production of improvised / craft-made firearms across Nigeria. The study found that these weapons account for around 32 per cent of firearms-related crime in Adamawa state to a staggering 69 per cent in Plateau state. Along with exploding crime rates, the demand for firearms to equip community defense groups increased drastically following the Boko Haram insurgency with many having to resort to equipping themselves with locally produced weapons such as ‘dane guns’ (Locally hand-made muzzleloading percussion-lock long-guns) and break barrel shotgun copies long used by traditional hunting and tribal groups. More recently illicit gunsmiths have progressed to producing more sophisticated weapons including submachine guns and self-loading pistols utilizing simple sheet metal fabrication methods. Like swords and bows & arrows, firearms are simple devices dating back 800 years which can be produced by anyone and aren’t going to ever go away.

New Small Arms Survey Briefing Paper: Craft weapons used in significant proportions of firearm-related crime in four Nigerian states

ISIS made anti-materiel rifle

A homemade anti-materiel rifle manufactured by ISIS militants which was captured in Mosul. Likely chambered for the 12.7 x 108mm cartridge.

Poacher’s silenced takedown gun

Post for TFB:  Here’s a very neat little takedown gun seized by police in Italy which is entirely handmade, fits in a backpack and is chambered for either .22lr or .22 hornet. Intended varmint may or may not have included local magistrates.

Handbuilt 20x102mm cannon prototype

Josh, the inventor of this fine piece of garage engineering writes:

Good evening all, and a happy early Thanksgiving.

I just wanted to share my abomination that I will attempt to test-fire tomorrow. This firearm is a rudimentary single-shot 20x102mm (20mm Vulcan) Destructive Device I built myself on an ATF Form 1. Every single part on here (minus the barrel (but including rear threading & muzzle brake), tripod, pintle, and traverse/elevation mechanism) I built myself, by hand. No CNC parts, nothing off-she-shelf except for a few bolts from the hardware store. The gun is not yet finished, but far enough along for it’s first prototype test-fire. I plan to do this tomorrow, at a family gathering out on the girlfriend’s property.

Test fire videos:

Improvised percussion lock musket (Russia)

An improvised percussion lock firearm which uses toy caps placed over the touch hole to ignite a matchhead or blackpowder charge.

Drug cartel DIY open-bolt automatic rifles

Full article: Drug cartel DIY open-bolt automatic rifles

A development in improvised weaponry spearheaded by South America’s drug cartel armorers has been the blow-back operated open-bolt automatic rifle. The simple solution to the usual intricacies of a typical assault rifle’s locking, delay or gas operation is to essentially make a scaled-up submachine-gun with a very heavy bolt capable of operating at much higher pressures. Using a fixed firing pin and firing from the open-bolt position allows for relatively simple construction with minimal components. Police helicopters are rumored to be some of the intended targets.