"Tom Gardner" wrote in message y.com...
I have an idea for a new kind of full-auto weapon that I have been seeing in
my head for a long time. I'm no where near ready to start machining stuff
yet but I am wondering how to do legal research and developing of the idea.
So, do I call the ATF and say: "Hey I want to build a machine gun."? At
what point does it become a problem? It looks like I'll only need a few
pounds of unobtainium and some disapearium. The idea eliminates one whole
operation and could increase cycle rate by as much as 30% while diminishing
recoil. It might do better if I could suspend some of the laws of physics.

First thing I'd do is a patent and literature search. This is a lot
easier to do now than previously, a lot of patents are online now.
Very little is new in the firearms field, a lot of very creative folks
have been there before you. Chinn's 5 volume "The Machinegun" set has
a whole lot on guns that actually made it to metal as do Nelson's
books, books by both should be available by inter-library loan if the
local library doesn't have them. If you actually do have a new idea,
you'll need to get some federal licensing before you can construct
firing versions. Don't cut metal before getting a license. AFAIK,
you can make all the wooden and plastic models you like, just as long
as they don't fire.

Newly-made machineguns can't be sold to civilians in the US, so that
market isn't there, the US military has their own suppliers and you'll
be competing with a lot of suppliers in the foreign markets, some
governmentally subsidized. It would have to be one doozie of a gun to
break into the military market. It CAN happen, Stoner did it.

Stan