Building a gun from scratch

[Stuballz]

Hi everyone.
I have a knack for building thing especially small fiddly things, I want to try my hand at making my own gun from scratch, I want a gun that will be unique and no one else will have and that will make all my airsoft buddies jealous lol.
But I haven't got the foggiest of where to start, I was wondering if there is anyone out there that can help me build my own gun tell me what I need to get and if there are any guides out there that can help me with doing this.

Thanks in advance

[Caldymoose]

Re: Building a gun from scratch

Building a gun from scratch, assuming your not going to be custom making parts, means buying off the shelf parts. Which isn't an issue, can be easily done. However, it does mean that you won't end up with something that 'nobody else has'. Airsoft has a finite amount of parts to buy, so while the gun you end up could well be rare, it's unlikely to be a one of a kind thing.

As for where to start, heart of a airsoft gun is a gearbox. So you have a choice of, really, Version 2, 3, 6, or 7. Version 1, 4 and 5 do exist, but are limited to very specific models, and thus greatly limits your choice of parts.

Each of those gearboxes is designed to go into a certain body/style/type of weapon. Version 2s (generally) go into an AR15 style platform, or an MP5 (there are more). Version 3 is (agin, generally) G36's or AK's. So right away, if you choose either of those gearboxes (which are the most popular) your automatically limited to the corresponding body.

So, say you choose a Version 2 gearbox. Well, good news. You have a huge range of gearbox parts to choose from. Bad news. Your limited to AR15, MP5 and some G3 bodies. None of which, in the ******* *****, could be called 'rare' or 'unique', which is a kick in the teeth to your request for a unique gun.

Lets choose a Version 3 instead then. Again, lots of gearbox parts to choose from. Bad news...your limited to a G36 or AK style body (for the most part). Again, nothing at all unique about those base guns. Heck, the majority of site rentals are G36's or AK's.

See where this is going?

I am not saying you cannot make a unique version of any of these guns, far from it, but given the massive range of parts out there and the popularity of these rifles, the build you end up with will, in some way, look like Dave's build in the corner over there.

Start with choosing the style/body of the gun you want to build. Then build the gearbox for that gun. Then decide on the final external bits, rails, hand guards, optics etc.

[LukeCDC]

Re: Building a gun from scratch

or he could grab a length of ali and make a one of a kind rifle of which no-one has seen before with a random gearbox at the centre:eek:

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[Rich83]

Re: Building a gun from scratch

I reckon using an existing gearbox and hop/barrel would be the best way to go for ease and then make the rest out of what ever you have at hand

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[dadio]

Re: Building a gun from scratch

first pick an era , then look into the gun's of that era , see what's already made and choose one that is not , take a look at the relative positions of the hand grip, trigger and receiver , then choose the style of gearbox ,hop and magazine that best fits in with those dimension's . be realistic about what you have in you'r skill set and tooling and decide on materials you plan on using .ak hops are good as they are screw fixed in place but remember you will probably need to replace the nozzle in the gearbox if you don't use a version 3 gearbox , for a first project i'd recommend a gearbox with a screw on motor mount as it greatly simplify's thing's .if it's you'r first attempt then don't set the bar too high ,just getting a scratch built gun to work at all is far more difficult than most people imagine , my first attempt was a mk2 sten and the first one i made was not too pretty .in terms of the chosen gun then try and focus on what makes that gun iconic and get those bit's right , there will always be compromises but the trick is to compromise thing's that are less noticeable .another last tip is to always think about how you can take it apart to service it , never assume that "that bit" wont break.