Home Depot Shotgun Project

[Unistat]

As a thought exercise or game or what have you, what do you suppose is the "nicest" shotgun that can be made from parts procured solely from Home Depot (or Lowe's, I guess.)

This would be, of course, a fully LEGAL & SAFE shotgun. Not a booby-trap gun, zip-gun, potential pipe bomb or other such weapon.

By "nicest" I am referring to not only action, but also fit and finish. I would say a nicely finished break-action gets more points than a crude pump, despite the pump being more "advanced."

In keeping with the nature of the discussion, minimal modification of parts should be used, ie: disassembling a rat trap for a hammer spring would be ok, but out and out forging, cutting, or re-hammering parts from stock material is cheating a bit. Woodworking on lumber for furniture is ok.

Oh, and to keep the playing field even, only tools available at the Home Depot can be used as well.

 

[rcmodel]

A gas pipe slam-fire shotgun.
http://www.cowanauctions.com/auctions/item.aspx?ItemId=103918

But we don't discuss DIY gas pipe shotguns on THR as it borders on zip-gun, and we don't want to publish instructions on how to make zip-guns..

rc

 

[Sam1911]

I can't think of any item, material, or tool you can buy at a major hardware chain that would yield a safe pressure barrel.

You could make things that go "bang" but not things you're really WANT to shoot, or be willing to risk shooting very often.

 

[Unistat]

Really? Hmm, bummer.

I would have thought that some commercially available pipes would be up to the standards of a shotgun barrel.

Oh well.

Edit: Wow, I was off by a lot. Schedule 40 1" is rated at 226 PSI while SAAMI has 12 ga at 11,500 PSI!

 

[rcmodel]

Heavy wall 4140 steel aircraft tubing might be.

But home depot doesn't sell it.

Keep in mind that shotgun shells run 11,500 to 14,000 PSI pressure.

Gas & water pipes in your home carry 40 to 60 PSI.

3/4" galvanized iron pipe has a safe working strength of 1,080 PSI, and a bursting strength of 8,610 PSI.

rc

 

[rbernie]

To be shotgun safe, the pressure vessel (barrel) would need a peak pressure rating of at least 20k psi. I don't know if that isn't feasible, especially if the chamber area used banded or nested piping...

 

[backbencher]

The NRA Museum, @ one time, had in their collection a shotgun made from nested pipes, w/ a nail for a fixed firing pin. I do not know if they have it on display or if it still in the collection. I did not remember seeing it when I last visited @ the new location in 2009.

 

[GCBurner]

Getting a drill press, machinist's lathe and horizontal boring attachment, milling machine, and grinding and polishing machines or attachments, and an electric welding machine would give you the start of making the machines, fittings, and jigs necessary for actually making a home workshop firearm from scratch. A metal bending brake would be handy for making magazines from scratch, or bending a sheet metal receiver blank, and a temperature regulated electric kiln for making springs and hardening or tempering steel parts whould let you make just about everything from scratch. The small gunsmith shops in Afghanistan and Nepal have made do with similar setups for a couple of hundred years, duplicating everything from muzzle loading muskets to AK-47s.

 

[washambala]

Probably isnt what OP had in mind but, back in high school, my friend and I build pneumatic cannons with interchangeable barrels and a fair bit of power. used to be able to launch everything from AA batteries to 4 foot sections of 1" wooden dowel. There were a few occasions we poured a carton of 2000 airsoft pellets in on top of a paper towel. Not a conventional shotgun but it would definitely get a birds attention. We even chronographed a foam golfball at just under 700fps. I would like to make it clear that we never fired at anything more alive than soda cans and used stacked straw bales as an effective backstop.

 

[4v50 Gary]

What about to that slam fired single shot shotgun that was used in the Philippines during WW II? That had a fixed firing pin. Some US Navy ensign led the guerillas on one island and tried to introduce a commercial version here in America after the war? I think the more complicated Winchester M-12 or Browning A-5 kicked butt on the commercial grade guerilla gun.

 

[Unistat]

Getting a drill press, machinist's lathe and horizontal boring attachment, milling machine, and grinding and polishing machines or attachments, and an electric welding machine would give you the start of making the machines, fittings, and jigs necessary for actually making a home workshop firearm from scratch. A metal bending brake would be handy for making magazines from scratch, or bending a sheet metal receiver blank, and a temperature regulated electric kiln for making springs and hardening or tempering steel parts whould let you make just about everything from scratch. The small gunsmith shops in Afghanistan and Nepal have made do with similar setups for a couple of hundred years, duplicating everything from muzzle loading muskets to AK-47s.

Don't think I haven't drooled over the thought of doing that very thing. If I ever won the Publisher's Clearing House Sweepstakes, all of that would be the 7th thing I'd do with the money (I really have though a lot about it...)

 

[Jim K]

"What about to that slam fired single shot shotgun that was used in the Philippines during WW II?"

I think that was the one in the NRA museum. I forget whether it was an actual gun from the Philippines, or a copy, but it was interesting. After the war, a company made them in the U.S. A bit less crude, and made with better materials, but the same thing. They were advertised for a while, then dropped out of sight. Maybe someone can remember more details.

"Zip" guns have been made from various materials. A favorite at one time was a .22 made from a length of automobile radio antenna, with a screen door hook for a hammer. The easily frightened crowd became so frightened they persuaded the auto companies to make their antennas too small to take a .22 cartridge.

Jim

 

[rcmodel]

What about to that slam fired single shot shotgun that was used in the Philippines during WW II?

I think I posted a link to one in post #2.

rc

 

[GCBurner]

I think I posted a link to one in post #2.

rc

I think it was in the Firearms Research subforum here.

 

[shiftyer1]

I know I can go to home depot and build you a shotgun, I don't know if the term nicest would ever be used. I also don't think i'd shoot it very often, if ever.

 

[Deer_Freak]

The best thing you can find at home depot is Old English Scratch remover. I put it on my guns when they are new. Every time I notice scratches on my guns I give them another coat. I have beat down a lot of briers with the butt of my guns. The stocks on all of them look pristine. Otherwise there isn't much at home depot for a gun. I doubt there is a clerk in the store that knows the difference between a flat and a hollow ground screwdriver.