Indiana Grenade Launcher Laws

[CountryBoy19]

Originally Posted by Scutter01

"Beehive"

Everyday, No Days Off - Gun Blog » Archive for destructive device

Thanks for the link.... man the wheels are spinning.

One question though, in the article it mentions that a 37 mm launcher is NOT considered a DD. Is that true?

If so, you can do the same thing (beehive etc.)?

I would be down with that. And $595 for that beehive thing? That is a rip off. All you would need is a pencil thin rifle barrel (I'm thinking the steel liner used to make carbon fiber barrels) to cut into sections, and then chamber each of those and press them into the housing. The hardest part would be making the striker part. Maybe drilling the holes that deep and straight would be a little challenge, but AL is soft, and a good bit in a good machine would make it pretty easy. I really don't even see any part that a CNC would be "required" for. Their design would need one, but that could easily be redesigned so no CNC would be required.

[VUPDblue]

If you take any kind of ordnance round and modify it to be used in the 37mm launchers, you must register the 37mm as a DD. They are not classified as such right off the bat because there are no "munition" rounds available for them. One popular practice is to buy one of the 40mm beehives and machine it down to fit into a 37mm launcher. To do this, you would have to register the 37mm launcher as a DD. The 40mms are all DDs because of the variety of rounds available...

[CountryBoy19]

Originally Posted by VUPDblue

If you take any kind of ordnance round and modify it to be used in the 37mm launchers, you must register the 37mm as a DD. They are not classified as such right off the bat because there are no "munition" rounds available for them. One popular practice is to buy one of the 40mm beehives and machine it down to fit into a 37mm launcher. To do this, you would have to register the 37mm launcher as a DD. The 40mms are all DDs because of the variety of rounds available...

Ah, I see.

So now the ATF is classifying firearms not by the type that they are, but by what type of ammunition is available to be used in it. This just crazy. Pretty soon they're going to get caught in all this ... and ... well... I'll stop there before I get carried away (just finished reading Unintended Consequences the other day and its all fresh in my mind).

[sp3worker]

Originally Posted by CountryBoy19

Thanks for the link.... man the wheels are spinning.

One question though, in the article it mentions that a 37 mm launcher is NOT considered a DD. Is that true?

If so, you can do the same thing (beehive etc.)?

I would be down with that. And $595 for that beehive thing? That is a rip off. All you would need is a pencil thin rifle barrel (I'm thinking the steel liner used to make carbon fiber barrels) to cut into sections, and then chamber each of those and press them into the housing. The hardest part would be making the striker part. Maybe drilling the holes that deep and straight would be a little challenge, but AL is soft, and a good bit in a good machine would make it pretty easy. I really don't even see any part that a CNC would be "required" for. Their design would need one, but that could easily be redesigned so no CNC would be required.

I wonder if you really even need the liners. Accuracy is not really an issue with this type thing. You can put a hardcoat anodizing on aluminum to get it up to around 65rc, that's harder than the steel your AR barrels are made of.

Here's a link to Randy Shivaks site, his beehives are much cheaper and hold more bullets.
SHIVAK MACHINING - PRODUCTS

[in812]

well how is it that you can own a reg. 37 or 40mm launcher and use a 12ga adapter on an ar15 but you cant put a AOW under a ar15 beacuse it makes the AOW a SBS ?

[VUPDblue]

Originally Posted by in812

well how is it that you can own a reg. 37 or 40mm launcher and use a 12ga adapter on an ar15 but you cant put a AOW under a ar15 beacuse it makes the AOW a SBS ?

By definition, an AOW cant have a stock. Mount one on an AR and it then has a stock. DDs can gave stocks. The fact that it is firing a 12ga shell is irrelevant because it is not a shotgun by definition.

[steif]

Just make a adapter for a 37mm that will shoot 36 caliber black powder bullets, like 8 or 10 chambers with one cap... talk about some weird looks after shooting a black powder round in a launcher...lol..

[nighthawk80]

Tag, for interesting info!

[CountryBoy19]

Originally Posted by sp3worker

I wonder if you really even need the liners. Accuracy is not really an issue with this type thing. You can put a hardcoat anodizing on aluminum to get it up to around 65rc, that's harder than the steel your AR barrels are made of.

Here's a link to Randy Shivaks site, his beehives are much cheaper and hold more bullets.
SHIVAK MACHINING - PRODUCTS

I did some more checking, they're offered both in smoothbore (I'll assume just as you mentioned) or in rifled (likely with liners pressed into the "round"). It seems that you can "fit" more rounds in a beehive if you go smoothbore, but I just can't imagine the rounds would fly so well, so it would be a very close-range weapon. I think I would be more willing to sacrifice a few extra rounds of ammo to get a more accurate, long-range beehive. I've looked at the available options out there and it seems that I can get a 25" .22lr barrel liner for about $35 and a .22lr reamer for $40. So you could make a beehive with 10 rifled barrels 5" long for a little over $100 in material. Man if I only had the money to register and make a DD right now. It sucks being out in the real world and having bills to pay.

[techres]

I find it ironic that the acceptable beehive device here is seemingly named after the outlawed/discontinued "beehive" round that even the military stopped producing. Every time the term gets used I think of the old 105mm warheads with the dial rings on the warhead and what they would do to a target:

Beehive (ammunition) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia