Locally made ‘Sterling’ Submachine guns seized in India

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A number of ‘Sterling’ type submachine gun copies have surfaced in recent arms seizures by Indian authorities. The British 9mm Sterling is still used by the Indian army and police so no doubt familiar to the country’s many underground gun makers.

Above: Locally made firearms (Left-to-right): Craft-made ‘Sterling’ type SMG, two .32 automatic pistols and two 30 bore ‘katta’ pistols.

Jamaican-made Street Sweeper

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: Police seized a sub-machine gun, a homemade firearm and 5 shotgun cartridges in Lilliput, St. James. More details soon. – Jamaica Constabulary

Two craft-made submachine guns (northern Israel)

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Two craft-made submachine guns colloquially referred to as ‘carlo’ or ‘Carl Gustaf’ pistols which were seized in northern Israel earlier this year. Along with the widely seized ‘standard’ model, present is a slightly more compact variation which has more recently appeared.

Improvised firearm / zip gun made from pipe fittings

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A quick and dirty improvised firearm assembled using pipe fittings available at any hardware store. Ammunition in this case has been improvised using nail gun charges with the crimp removed and a lead projectile inserted. The weapon functions by pulling back the ball end of the spring loaded striker bar and releasing to fire.

Homemade submachine gun seized in Birmingham, UK

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Improvised submachine gun seized by West Midlands police

As long as metal pipes and hacksaws exist, there will be guns, as this story from the UK demonstrates:

“Chief Superintendent Pete Henrick, commander at Birmingham East police, said: “Experts examined and test fired the handmade gun. It was found to be a viable firearm and therefore a lethal weapon in the wrong hands.”

Locally made pistols seized by Indian Army Eastern Command

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Pictured are various locally craft-produced pistols recently seized by the Eastern Command of the Indian Army. Some are widely seized indigenous models while others may possibly originate from Pakistan or China.

Above: An example shown alongside improvised .22 rimfire ammunition, a trait more typical of pistols produced by illicit gunsmiths in China.

Above: A widely seized design of semi-automatic pistol produced by gunsmiths mainly in Uttar Pradesh. Along with very bad attempted Beretta markings the laminate flooring company’s logo is still visible on the grip panel.

Above: Note the serial number stamped below the grip panel which judging from the low number could possibly be for the maker’s own reference rather than inflated.

Above: Telltale brazing marks on the slide and frame suggest multi-part construction of main components.

Improvised revolvers:

EasternCommand_IA

Two homebuilt revolvers

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Here are photos sent in of a pair of homemade revolvers built from the Professor Parabellum DIY .22 Revolver plans.

The version below is chambered in .22lr. A flip down side loading gate was added to the design as an improvement.

Main components shown before final fit & finish:

.22lr cylinder (left) and percussion cylinder (right).

The second gun is a ‘cap & ball’ version of the first which is chambered in .25. It was built as an exercise in demonstrating that a viable firearm can be produced without relying on any firearm components. Staying with the makeshift theme, plastic toy caps are used in place of regular percussion caps in combination with homemade gunpowder. Apparently this version shot accurately despite being smoothbore.