• Sickos [they/them, it/its]
    ·
    2 days ago

    Yeah. In this case, it's the same thing as milling out an 80% frame. You're making a hunk of plastic (that the government considers "a gun" and tracks/requires serialization) and inserting a bunch of easily purchased and not-tracked metal parts to make a functional firearm.

      • Sickos [they/them, it/its]
        ·
        2 days ago

        Yep. Purchased or made. Barrel blanks are unregulated lumps of metal. Drills are just tools. Traditional button rifling requires (I think) a slightly specialized lathe, but huge advances have been made fairly recently (past decade): one can etch rifling into a barrel blank with a 3d printed plug, flowing saltwater, and an electric current. Chamber cutters/reamers are also just tools.

        • dingdongitsabear@lemmy.ml
          ·
          2 days ago

          oh ok, that's practically fabricating the barrel. what I assumed was the factory made barrel was available for purchase which blew my mind.

          • Sickos [they/them, it/its]
            ·
            edit-2
            2 days ago

            Oh, no, it totally is.

            $40 for the cheapest brand, $100-$150 for Glock OEM barrels, $300 for very very fancy ones. No regulations, background checks, or shipping restrictions.

            • dingdongitsabear@lemmy.ml
              ·
              2 days ago

              this is fucking insane, that's practically unregulated. what local crime figures do and did is carry their legal weapon with an illegal barrel in it, so in case of use they can dump it and replace with the real thing, but they're still exposed to random checks as both barrel and body are stamped with same s/n. disclaimer for legal reasons: no idea how I know that, maybe dreamt it, idk.