So, You Want a Machine Gun?

[Lord Long Rod]

So you want a machine-gun?

You’ve been watching action movies for like forever, and you have some spare cash. It’s time to cowboy up and buy…wait for it…a machinegun! Except you can’t. You sort of can, but not really. But I don’t want a...

www.americanthinker.com

Years ago I decided to do all the permitting jazz and buy a pre-1983 machine gun. I was blown away by the prices. Back then you could buy an Ingram M10 for like $3-4k, and an Uzi for $5-6k. I decided against it, opting to stick with my FULLY semi-automatic rifles.

Time passed and I got the bug again. Sure, I do not like the government looking into my business, but my record is spotless and I intend for it to remain so. At first I bought a couple of pieces with binary triggers. They were fun to shoot and better than the bump stick gimmickry. But they were no substitution for the real thing.

I said F- it. I can afford one, so I am going to get one. By this time these weapons had gone through the roof price wise. Nothing worth having was below $20k. I get it. There is a finite supply of these weapons, so prices will naturally rise with time. But I am still a prudent person and this kind of money for a rifle exceeded my willingness to buy one. I was wanting a fully automatic Russian AK.

Are there any other options? Well, you CAN get some parts from a full auto, a drill, and then modify a semi so that it become fully automatic. But without the FFL, manufacture license and tax thing, if authorities catch you with it they will absolutely bury you for life. So that’s out.

Perhaps one can get an FFL and maintain it by buying and selling a few guns each year in order to satisfy the ATF you are a legitimate dealer? You can certainly legally purchase some of these pieces then. Yes, you can do this. But if you do not keep meticulous records they will bury you for life. You are subject to annual audits by the ATF. I suspect that you also go on a variety of government lists that I would prefer to stay off of. If one of the guns you sell is used in a crime, they MAY bury you for life. If not, they will merely make your life a living hell.

The federal government, notwithstanding the Second Amendment, has made ownership of automatic weapons nearly impossible for the private citizen. If you get all the licensing and maintain a small buy/sell operation, you can get hold of some of the modern automatic weapons at a price far below what you have to pay for the pre-1983 inventory. But you have to go through a lot to do this. You can get “dealer models” you can conceivably use to demonstrate for potential purchasers, like law enforcement. Frankly, it is a lot more involved than I am personally willing to commit to.

One must wonder if such regulation infringes upon what was intended by the authors of the Second Amendment. It is probably the case for most of us that we do not want to see a pipeline that pumps these weapons into the ghettos. Of course, these weapons have certain military uses which do not always include accuracy. The ghetto gangs are already not known for their shooting accuracy, so maybe giving them automatic weapons will actually save lives? Who knows.

Clearly, the vast majority of American gun owners are law abiding and would not use their automatic weapons to arm his or her drug gangs. Why can’t we have these weapons? If the purpose of the Second Amendment is to protect oneself and the republic from tyranny and foreign invasion, then surely it encompasses ownership and possession of automatic weapons.

Burdening 99.9% of the population to prevent 0.1% of the population from doing something can reasonably be said to be unconstitutional in that a particular regulation must have a rational relationship to the matter it seeks to remedy. Perhaps the better regulation is to put people who commit violent gun crimes away forever. The death penalty should also be applied. This will deter criminals without having to burden 99.99% of the population. Of course, this will depend on prosecutors and judges who are true to their oath of office to enforce and apply the laws enacted by the legislatures. Unfortunately, this cannot be counted on today. So we should restrict these weapons? No. We should restrict who we select to hold public offices.

 

[JGalt]

NFA Class III is for rich folks. I used to be able to bump-fire my AK with a 75-round magazine. But it was an ammunition-waster, so I got rid of the magazine. I have also bump-fired my Glock 19 using a 50-round magazine and a 10" piece of dowel rod through the trigger guard, but those weren't made to shoot that hard.

 

[1srelluc]

Before '86 you could buy a Brit Sten gun (various marks) for around $200.00 plus $200.00 for Uncle Sugar.

Today.....18K.

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[Flash]

NFA Class III is for rich folks. I used to be able to bump-fire my AK with a 75-round magazine. But it was an ammunition-waster, so I got rid of the magazine. I have also bump-fired my Glock 19 using a 50-round magazine and a 10" piece of dowel rod through the trigger guard, but those weren't made to shoot that hard.

In 1978 I bought a Colt M-16. It cost $25 more than an AR at the time. It took me about four months to get the NFA stamp. I had to get the County Sheriff to sign the paperwork.

My wife bitched back then that I spent $350 of our family money for the rifle. However, now the firearm is worth $30K so she doesn't bitch too much.

I have removed all the original parts and stored them away and only use the stripped lower with newer parts now. Over the years I have gone through a half dozen uppers and two M-16 lower parts kits.

When ammo was cheap I would shoot several thousand rounds a year at the range. Nowadays I only shoot it F-A a couple or three times a year.

A few years ago I had it transferred to a family trust so that my sons can legally have possession.

It is a fun range toy. However, if SHTF I would rather use one of my ARs because the M-16 eats too much ammo.

 

[Oddball]

Make mine a BAR, thankyouverymuch.

 

[JGalt]

Make mine a BAR, thankyouverymuch.

There's a VFW hall over in the next county that has a glass display case full of Springfield 03A3 rifles they use for the honor guard. Also in the case is a de-milled WW2 era BAR and a Thompson.

There's also an American Legion hall in another county that has a de-milled Japanese Type 92 heavy machine gun on display, similar to this one...

It seems like every VFW or Legion hall in Wisconsin has some piece of military hardware on display, inside or outside. One of these days I'd like to see how many towns I can visit and take pictures of them. They sure brought a lot of stuff back from WWI and WW2.

 

[deannalw]

I really want to try one of these.

But I want someone else to buy the ammo needed.

 

[JGalt]

I really want to try one of these.

But I want someone else to buy the ammo needed.

I counted 71 seconds of fire in that video. With a rate of fire for that gun being 2,000-6,000 rounds per minute, let's say and average of 4,000 rounds per minute. That would be 66.66 rounds per second, times 71 seconds, which would be 4,732 rounds of 7.62.51mm (.308 caliber) expended during that video.

Ammoseek.com is showing the price of 7.62x51mm NATO ammunition to be between 66 cents and $1.15 per round, so let's use an average 90 cents per round.

At 90 cents per round, a total of $4,258 dollars of ammunition would have been expended during those 71 seconds of fire.

Like I said, full-auto is for rich folks. The only thing we poor folks can afford is math.

 

[Oddball]

I really want to try one of these.

But I want someone else to buy the ammo needed.

Target practice gets a tad spendy.

 

[sparky]

I'm a farmer, all i need are scater guns....~S~

 

[deannalw]

Target practice gets a tad spendy.

No shit- I'd of had to start saving for that experience when I was a month old.

 

[Vastator]

Always wondered how GunTubers get their modern full autos...

 

[Flash]

I counted 71 seconds of fire in that video. With a rate of fire for that gun being 2,000-6,000 rounds per minute, let's say and average of 4,000 rounds per minute. That would be 66.66 rounds per second, times 71 seconds, which would be 4,732 rounds of 7.62.51mm (.308 caliber) expended during that video.

Ammoseek.com is showing the price of 7.62x51mm NATO ammunition to be between 66 cents and $1.15 per round, so let's use an average 90 cents per round.

At 90 cents per round, a total of $4,258 dollars of ammunition would have been expended during those 71 seconds of fire.

Like I said, full-auto is for rich folks. The only thing we poor folks can afford is math.

Back in the 1990s you could get .233 for about 8-10 cents a round if you didn't mind shooting the cheap surplus stuff or even Wolf.

Back then I could take my M-16 out and shoot 10 30 rd mags for $25-30. Not too expensive for some fun range time.

Now it is over $130+ to shoot the same amount of ammo.

When I take my M-16 out now I usually only shoot four or five mags.

I have plenty of ammo stored up but I don't want to waste it by shooting thousands of rounds out of my M-16.

 

[JGalt]

I hear you. I had about 4,000 rounds of 7.62x39 back in 2026, when I was still shooting SKS rifles. But when Hillary ran I broke down and bought a new AK with Magpul furniture. The only guns I do shoot anymore are calibers I still have primers, powder, and bullets for: 9mm, .38 and .357, 44 magnum, 30-06, and British 303. I also cast bullets for all those and am sitting on a couple hundred pounds of wheel weights, lead, tin, roll solder, and linotype. Cast bullets are economical, you just can't push them as fast as jacketed bullets.

 

[Flash]

I hear you. I had about 4,000 rounds of 7.62x39 back in 2026, when I was still shooting SKS rifles. But when Hillary ran I broke down and bought a new AK with Magpul furniture. The only guns I do shoot anymore are calibers I still have primers, powder, and bullets for: 9mm, .38 and .357, 44 magnum, 30-06, and British 303. I also cast bullets for all those and am sitting on a couple hundred pounds of wheel weights, lead, tin, roll solder, and linotype. Cast bullets are economical, you just can't push them as fast as jacketed bullets.

Ammo is almost like cash nowadays. A very liquid commodity. Reloading components are worth their weight in gold nowadays.

Fortunately I have enough ammo to last me the rest of my life shooting at the range each week and a good SHTF stash left over.

I'm giving away my reloading equipment to family members because I have no intentions of doing anymore reloading. With reloading components being so hard to get now the market for reloading equipment is almost non existent.

 

[Resnic]

If I could have a full auto it would be something just for like a mp5. But honestly I have no desire for one.

Even in the rangers it was semi all the way. Less waste and more accuracy.

Until you shoot a full auto you have no idea how quickly ammo runs out and you can only carry so much.

 

[Flash]

If I could have a full auto it would be something just for like a mp5. But honestly I have no desire for one.

Even in the rangers it was semi all the way. Less waste and more accuracy.

Until you shoot a full auto you have no idea how quickly ammo runs out and you can only carry so much.

My son was a Cav Scout in Iraq.

He said they never used the three burst function on their M-4s. It was always semi.

We used the F-A on our M-16-A1s in Vietnam. Of course it was "spray and pray" because it was always hard to see the little bastards.

Those 20 round mags went really fast on F-A. I wonder why it took them almost ten years to develop 30 rd mags.

I learned to shoot the M-14 in Basic training in 1966. We had one training day where we fired the weapon on full auto. Quite a bit of lead landed on the moon I suspect.

When I got to Vietnam we were issued M-16s but there were still some of the M-14s in service. The guys that carried the M-14s never used the full auto function because they could not control it.

 

[westwall]

Always wondered how GunTubers get their modern full autos...

They are Class III dealers. Some are even Title II Manufacturers.

 

[JGalt]

My son was a Cav Scout in Iraq.

He said they never used the three burst function on their M-4s. It was always semi.

We used the F-A on our M-16-A1s in Vietnam. Of course it was "spray and pray" because it was always hard to see the little bastards.

Those 20 round mags went really fast on F-A. I wonder why it took them almost ten years to develop 30 rd mags.

I learned to shoot the M-14 in Basic training in 1966. We had one training day where we fired the weapon on full auto. Quite a bit of lead landed on the moon I suspect.

When I got to Vietnam we were issued M-16s but there were still some of the M-14s in service. The guys that carried the M-14s never used the full auto function because they could not control it.

7.62 NATO on full auto is bad enough, but think about those WW2 grunts having to manage a BAR with 30 caliber M2 ball? I can't even imagine trying to shoot 30-06 in full-auto, that had to hurt.

 

[westwall]

7.62 NATO on full auto is bad enough, but think about those WW2 grunts having to manage a BAR with 30 caliber M2 ball? I can't even imagine trying to shoot 30-06 in full-auto, that had to hurt.

Actually, it isn't too bad. I own a M1918A2 and on slow rate they are very controllable. On fast rate they bounce around pretty good though. I only shoot fast rate on the bench with the bipod.

I'm too old to go prone anymore. Takes too much time to get up!