Converting an Airsoft Rifle into a Real Machine Gun?

[packinnova]

I do give ATF much credit. They are the poor step children of our government now under the jurisdiction of the US Justice Department. They serve a purpose and are good People to work with if you are not a Bad Guy. They do not investigate air guns. It is not their job.

Yeah well, that depends on who you label as "Bad Guy" now doesn't it. I'd be perfectly happy if the earth opened up and swallowed every last one of them right where-ever they were standing...as long as they aren't standing next to me. The BATFE has absolutely no legitimate reason to exist and it's sole purpose is to encroach on freedom.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[rocky]

There are already several plastic AR lowers on the market that work quite well.

Looking at the airsoft lower in post #4, it would be very simple to make one work with standard full auto fire control components.

All one would have to do is drill out the holes that are already spotted. That one even has the hole above the selector for the auto sear.
If the internal configuration is even close, I guarantee you it could work and you'd have a full auto weapon for cheap.

Right on. Consider that the pressure is contained in the upper of a AR during firing , this could well be converted to fire with a real upper if sizes match.

[Davensquirt]

Its just DEA being dumb.

The good airsoft guns are full metal uppers and lowers and disassemble pretty much just like the real AR's.Some of them are full scale replica's. I could see why they would think something is up with them. But it is just the agents not knowing anything about the airsoft weapons.

I have a airsoft glock 17 replica that fools people all day long,I'll even lock the slide back and everything and they think its real untill I shoot it and even then they ask where i got the 22 cal glock.lol

I figured it wouldn't be long before they started fussing about the airsofts.I really hope they don't start banning these as I think they are awesome for training purposes. But in the wrong hands I guess they could be bad. I own a few and even I probably wouldn't know the difference if someone pulled one of the good ones on me.

Its the ATF not the DEA and They sholud have conformed with our import rules, just doing their job.

[Rob P.]

We all like to bash the BATFE because they have lived up to their nickname of "jack-booted-thugs" too many time.

However, I tend to agree with Hotguns here.

First: There's a lot not being said in the story we've been told. We don't KNOW that the airsoft guns won't accept M-16 internals. We just ASSUME that they won't. Does any here know if the airsoft guns that were seized have the controllers & motors in the lower? Or is that stuff housed in the upper?

Secondly: We don't KNOW that the uppers can't be removed and a "real" M4 upper attached. IF the lower will accept a "real" upper then the whole issue that an airsoft upper won't fire real ammo is a non-starter.

So, it looks to me like IT IS POSSIBLE that someone wanted to import "fake weapons" that could easily be made full-auto by attaching a new upper and dropping in a lower parts group. Since we don't know the whole story, I'm going to go out on the limb here and say that maybe BATFE knew/knows something we don't and acted properly.

[razor02097]

So, it looks to me like IT IS POSSIBLE that someone wanted to import "fake weapons" that could easily be made full-auto by attaching a new upper and dropping in a lower parts group. Since we don't know the whole story, I'm going to go out on the limb here and say that maybe BATFE knew/knows something we don't and acted properly.

tell that to the poor shop owner that lost 12 grand cause the ATF thought the airsoft guns looked like they could be converted.

I don't know about the exact specific ones the ATF took but I do know that some M4/16 style airsoft I have seen house the motor assembly in the lower and it doesn't just come apart with 2 pins like an M16. Cheap ones don't even come apart at all.

[SpentBrass]

Alex Jones covered this last week on his radio show and interviewed the plaintiff against the BATF.

[natticarry]

It seems like a ton of work for a lower receiver. I actually think it would be easier to find a student somewhere learning to use a CNC machine. They would have access to the perfect tool to make an exact specification lower receiver. When I was going to school I knew some kids who had access to them without being supervised so they could make whatever they wanted.