Pistol with least amount of parts

[SniperStraz]

What is the pistol with the least amount of parts.
I'm curious to know which pistol would be the "easiest" to replicate.
Thanks!

 

[isc]

I single shot Thompson contender.

 

[chris in va]

I can see it now, people will suggest the Glock. Problem is, the rails are molded into the plastic, not easy to 'replicate' like they do in Pakistan.

 

[REAPER4206969]

Liberator.

 

[easyg]

Flint-lock pistol?

 

[memphisjim]

makarov beats the glock

 

[9mmepiphany]

Easiest to replicate and fewest number of parts aren't the same thing.

A polymer frame wouldn't be easy to replicate unless you were doing it in metal

Of the pistols I detail stripped in the last 30+ years. The easiest to replicate the parts of have been H&K P7. Most of the parts were stampings and there isn't an intricate locking mechanism...as a matter of fact there isn't a locking mechanism at all.

 

[bigfatdave]

I imagine that a single-shot hammer-fired design would be fairly easy to whomp up in a basement workshop.

Moving up to a repeater, pepperbox, probably,

 

[MCgunner]

I'd go with a matchlock muzzle loader.

 

[Sam1911]

Unfortunately (I guess) the simplest, easiest to replicate cartridge-firing handgun would probably be an open-bolt automatic. Of course, even a semi-automatic open bolt gun is considered a machine gun by the BATFE, but it would technically be the simplest as it only needs a receiver tube, barrel, magazine, bolt (with firing "pin" nub machined into the breech face), recoil spring, and a trigger mechanism basic enough to hold the bolt back when released but to simply drop out of the way when pulled.

So, something like an M3 "grease gun" or a Sten.

 

[CWL]

Liberator is assembled from 26 parts, but it would probably be the easiest & cheapest to manufacture.

 

[harmon rabb]

fewest parts for a semi-auto is a makarov. not sure how hard they are to replicate though.

 

[moonpie]

a zip gun _ a rubber band , a nail , and some pipe

 

[Gik-tal]

+1 for makarov easiest pistol to strip down and work on, If I remember right it only has a total of 25 parts including the frame, barrel and grips.

 

[mgmorden]

fewest parts for a semi-auto is a makarov. not sure how hard they are to replicate though

That was going to be my suggestion. Given the forum we're in, I'd assume he's talking about semi-auto designs, in which case the Makarov is the lowest I'm aware of.

Glock has 35 parts.
The Makarov has 27.

 

[Shear_stress]

The easiest to replicate the parts of have been H&K P7. Most of the parts were stampings and there isn't an intricate locking mechanism...as a matter of fact there isn't a locking mechanism at all.

Not sure I totally buy that. Precision sheetmetal stampings are actually quite hard to make and require very expensive tooling. This is one reason why US-made SIGs use a milled slide and why some cheap aftermarket magazines tend not to function well.

Stens aside, I'd argue that any pistol than can be made largely on a lathe and mill would be the easiest to replicate. But even then you still have the issues of magazine construction and rifling the barrel . . .

 

[Storm]

The HK VP70Z has to be right up there for fewest parts. I do know that it only has four moving parts. Being a simple blowback design and DAO striker fired with a fixed barrel, simple takedown and a polymer frame there can't be too much going on there.

 

[mgmorden]

The HK VP70Z has to be right up there for fewest parts. I do know that it only has four moving parts. Being a simple blowback design and DAO striker fired with a fixed barrel, simple takedown and a polymer frame there can't be too much going on there.

Plenty of room in a parts count for things that don't move though . From what I've been able to dig up the H&K VP70Z has a total of 53 parts.

 

[Storm]

Quote:
The HK VP70Z has to be right up there for fewest parts. I do know that it only has four moving parts. Being a simple blowback design and DAO striker fired with a fixed barrel, simple takedown and a polymer frame there can't be too much going on there.

Plenty of room in a parts count for things that don't move though . From what I've been able to dig up the H&K VP70Z has a total of 53 parts.

Leave it to the Germans to over-engineer...

 

[Onmilo]

This is about as simple as it gets.
Using modern steels and proportioning correctly, you could make a gun up to ,44 magnum caliber that would last for many hundreds of shots.

I would buy and use a modern made barrel from a top name source as this would be the hardest thing to make by yourself, rifle, keep straight, and heat treat correctly.

If you have any machining experience at all, this gun could be made by you with lathe and mill and a heat treat furnace.

 

[mgmorden]

Yowsa - I was looking into some other polymer pistols to compare to Glock's 35 part count and I happened to pull up the Ruger SR9 (which I have fired and like - had no issues with it), but looking through it's parts list I'm counting 65 parts. I know that part count isn't necessarily a great metric, but that definately was higher than I thought. They're pushing nearly twice the number of parts as most similar designs.

 

[GLOOB]

Hi Point?

 

[blindhari]

Question is
Pistol:
1 Least amount of moving parts
2 Easiest to replicate

Pistol is from Pistole meaning originally a handheld fire arm, earliest pistols appear to be small handheld cannons.

Least amount of moving parts, 1 Posit a tube with a touch hole, muzzle loading and fired through a touch hole

easiest to replicate, Round steel stock bored to .177 diameter, drilled for touch hole, and firing a bb

Since this would be a handheld pistol I would not want to fire it, but it is the best match I can think of. It would also be historicly correct and probably unique, maybe illegal

blindhari

 

[Strykervet]

Liberator HAS to be it. That is WHY they made it in the first place. But I think it was a piece of junk. I know it looks like a piece of junk.

The MAC10 design also looks simple.

I think "easiest" is relative though. To a lot. Stampings would be easier if you have a press, but milling would be preferred if you didn't. If you can mold polymers, then the Glock would have to be it hands down (but folks underestimate the engineering that went into that pistol design --I bet it would be hard to make a functioning replica as good as the original).

 

[khegglie]

Onmilo; what is that?