Counters

Homemade weapons for self-defense. Homemade pistols

Thanks to the great power of cinema, even a person who has never held a firearm in his life has a clear understanding of what shooting from a pistol or machine gun is like a, machine gun and grenade launcher, how all these weapons work and what can be done with it.

But in reality everything turns out completely differently. It’s a pity that this simple truth is revealed only to those who have forced themselves to go to the shooting range at least once to check whether they can shoot as smartly as the heroes militants

Shooting sport is one of the oldest. It all started with the bow and crossbow, and in 1896 rifle and pistol shooting competitions were included in the program of the first Olympic Games. However, ideas about bullet shooting are full of illusions. Let's try to debunk at least some of them.

1. Only lazy people engage in shooting

This is what some mothers think, who unsuccessfully tried to instill in their child a love of hockey, volleyball, and football, but for some reason he became better at shooting. Actually, to each his own. And laziness has nothing to do with it.

Classic shooting creates a very heavy static load on the musculoskeletal system, so it is better for the frail and weak to first strengthen their muscles, and only then sign up for James Bond. By the way, this is why it is not recommended to engage in this sport until the age of 12–13.

2. Shooting will miraculously turn a hyperactive child into a calm yogi, so it is useful for fidgets

It is interesting that coaches and experts advise calm and balanced children to engage in this sport, while shooting statics that are too active will seem like a difficult challenge.

Shooting teaches you to control emotions, helps you become more attentive, balanced, and develops self-control. Some athletes, they say, can, like yogis, lower their heart rate so that it does not interfere with shooting. Really?

3. This is one of the easiest sports in which physical effort is kept to a minimum.

Some people imagine it this way: know, pull the trigger - only accuracy is needed. In reality, everything looks different: for 5-6 hours in a row, the shooter repeatedly lifts a rifle that weighs about 8 kg. An athlete loses 2–3 kg in one outing! Who there wanted to lose weight?

4. Is this a sport?

Shooting classes also include general physical training. The guys run, do pull-ups, and do push-ups. Shooting will not harm only a strong body. Remember the shooter's stance? The arch of the back is quite strong. Imagine the load on the spine if the position does not change for an hour and a half. Exercises from other sports, swimming, and yoga will help you stay healthy. So the activities are not limited to the shooting range, and the athlete develops harmoniously.

5. No need to think: bang-bang - and you’re done.

But abroad, shooting is classified as a psychological sport. Much depends on the athlete’s internal state, on self-control. A shooter with a weapon is the finest system. Just like in chess, thinking ahead is very important. This programs attention directed both to one’s internal state (muscle tone, stability of the stance, state of readiness) and to an external goal (position of the front sight relative to the aiming point).

The theoretical foundations are easy to understand; it is difficult to work on yourself. It’s also easy to aim accurately, but it’s incredibly difficult to sort out your thoughts. The point is not to hit the bull's eye, but to repeat this result forty times in a row, and for this you need to control the smallest movement of the body and everything that happens in the head.

6. Anyone can do it if they want to.

However, like any other sport, bullet shooting has contraindications. These are diseases of the nervous, muscular and endocrine systems, mental illnesses, epilepsy, deformation of bones and joints, heart defects and hypertension, blood diseases and some vision defects.

7. Bullet shooting is the most dangerous sport

Although the weapon itself is very dangerous, accidents are practically excluded due to the trainer's continuous work on safety precautions. For example, here are some rules: always treat the weapon as if it were loaded and do not point it where you are not going to shoot, do not put your finger on the trigger until you are ready to shoot. Compliance with them allows you to compare shooting with chess in terms of safety.

8. There will always be enough cartridges

Almost all famous action films are guilty of this - endless cartridges. Sometimes the main character can fire a pistol without reloading for 2-3 minutes. For information, the most “voluminous” pistol magazine can hold up to 33 rounds of cartridges, at an average rate of fire this will be enough for 30 seconds.

In addition, “sniper” shooting, when one shot - one corpse, is nothing more than an unattainable ideal. The cartridges will fly away much faster than you would like. And if you remember that in some countries, by law, a pistol cannot be loaded with more than 10 rounds, then it becomes not at all interesting. Until you acquire the useful habit of carrying a couple of spare magazines with you and technically changing them. But you will have to learn this too. And keep in mind that you will have to act in very extreme conditions.

By the way, it’s better not to carry more than three stores with you - it’s useless. If you haven’t laid down an aggressor during all this time, then you have problems with your hands. And if there are too many of them, then the problems are already from a different category of complexity, in which a gun can only prolong the agony.

9. Shooting a pistol at limbs

As movies teach us, a bullet in the knee will reliably calm the enemy. You just need to hit this knee. Shooting a pistol in a stressful situation is difficult in itself. Multiply it by the difficulty of shooting at a moving target, and then increase it by another 10 times, since you need to hit a fairly small point. This is really difficult, although it is possible. But even specialists study this for quite a long time, but it’s still not a fact that they can then apply it in real combat conditions. So, alas, shooting at the limbs is not a solution to all problems.

10. Pistols with a polymer body are not scanned by security scanners

What can I say, “polymer weapons” are really worse visible on X-rays than weapons with a metal body. But you can still see them! The outline of the pistol (characteristic, to put it mildly) is still visible.

In addition, even polymer pistols have metal parts: drum, bolt, trigger mechanism. So how can you not detect them? So what if they have lightweight polymer bodies. The contours and metal parts are here to stay.

Talks about the features of shooting as a sportDARIA ZAKHAROVA (analytical chemist, 23 years old):

“I came to this sport quite recently: I’ve only been doing it for two months. I got there by accident. We were walking with a friend, she suggested that we “go shoot” at a competition. I performed and got good results. The coach advised me to go to the section. I was excited - it was very interesting to try. And here I am.

Only with total self-control. So I took aim and inhaled at the wrong time - and that’s it, the result was not the same. Or she didn’t pull the trigger straight, but slightly to the right. Or she moved her jaw a little - but the rifle was pressed to her cheek. And before the shot itself it starts to twitch. The shooter needs to keep all these moments under control and work with his nervous system.

Muscles must be developed to be obedient. And a static pose, when you do not have the right to even the slightest movement... Not everyone can stand this. It is no coincidence that the Olympic shooting champions swam, ran, and did pull-ups - their physical fitness was the strongest.

After training, the shooter must analyze what went wrong and why the result was lower than expected. Without this, you will not be able to improve your performance. An amazing sport."

On forums Experienced shooters share their insights the advantages of this particular sport.

There is no age limit. A seventy-year-old shooter won the gold medal at a competition a hundred years ago. A lot here is determined by endurance and patience, and teenagers often lack these qualities. When learning to shoot, it doesn't matter whether a person learns quickly, it all depends on the ability to concentrate.
This olympic sport, you can conquer Olympus - there is something to strive for.
Shooting teaches you to control emotions, helps you become more attentive, balanced, and develops self-control. Some athletes, they say, can, like yogis, lower their heart rate so that it does not interfere with shooting. Really?
Like any other sport, shooting develops character, strengthens willpower, endurance, disciplines. Teaches responsibility: lack of composure can cost the life of another person.
Working with weapons develops the eye, A makes your hand hard.
Shooting lessons give experience that may be in demand, if not in an emergency (we hope this doesn’t happen), then for fun, for example while hunting.
This interesting hobby with an aura of detective romance. It’s especially cool if a girl does the shooting.

It seems like the fun in shooting happens on the inside, not on the outside. This mental training creates the most accurate mechanism out of the athlete, producing the most accurate shot at any time, anywhere, in any condition. You can't say more precisely.

The other day, law enforcement officials discovered an arsenal of weapons from the Great Patriotic War era in the possession of a 66-year-old resident of the city of Dedovsk (Istra district, Moscow region). The pensioner kept a variety of rarities - from a Walther P38 pistol to two machine guns, and, according to the owner, they were bought in ordinary markets. Illegal arsenals of this size are rarely encountered by police; more often they come across all sorts of homemade weapons, which modern “Kulibins” with a passion for firearms assemble from improvised means. I present to your attention the most unusual handicraft “trunks” seized by the security forces.
Homemade pistols and shotguns

In March 2014, police from the Krutikhinsky district of the Altai Territory visited a 43-year-old local resident who had previously been convicted and was unemployed. The man who abused alcohol turned out to be very inquisitive: he studied old books and magazines and made weapons from them. Law enforcement officers seized an arsenal of three pistols and a shotgun from the self-taught gunsmith, and opened a criminal case upon the discovery of handicraft guns.

Atypical smoothbore firearms chambered for 5.6 millimeter caliber cartridges

In October 2015, during a search of a 37-year-old man at the Kochkovatskaya station (Omsk region), police discovered a mysterious homemade device on him. The examination showed that the homemade product is suitable for firing 5.6 millimeter caliber (“small”) cartridges. The owner of the unusual find explained that he found it seven years ago in his brother’s house. For many years, the crossbow lay idle, until finally its owner went to the forest to pick mushrooms, deciding at the same time to shoot from an unusual device. He came with him to the station, but did not wait for the train because he was detained by the police.

Homemade pistol chambered for 9 mm caliber cartridges

In May 2015, in the village of Novy Rogachik (Volgograd Region), criminal investigation officers detained a 24-year-old local resident, from whom they confiscated a 9 mm caliber pistol. As it turned out, an unemployed young man made it himself. The only cartridge for the seized pistol also turned out to be homemade.

Homemade shooting device in the form of a pen

In January 2014, law enforcement agencies in Voronezh detained four men aged from 40 to 65 years old who were involved in the manufacture and sale of weapons, ammunition and explosives. During searches in their apartment, law enforcement officers found 3,400 rounds of ammunition, about 400 grams of gunpowder, a sawn-off shotgun and three foreign revolvers. But the most exotic find was a homemade shooting device in the form of a pen.

Homemade multi-shot revolver chambered for 5.6 mm caliber cartridges

In November 2016, law enforcement officers seized a homemade revolver chambered for a 5.6 mm caliber cartridge from a 55-year-old resident of the village of Arkhangelskoye (Stavropol Territory). The owner of the homemade product was taken into custody, and the police opened a criminal case upon the discovery of the revolver.

Homemade submachine gun

In September 2012, police discovered a pensioner from the village of Udobnaya (Krasnodar Territory) with an entire arsenal of weapons: 171 cartridges for a pistol, machine gun, carbine and machine gun, two packs of gunpowder, a homemade revolver and even a homemade submachine gun. Upon discovery of the arsenal, a criminal case was opened under Part 1 of Article 222 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Illegal acquisition, transfer, sale, storage, transportation or carrying of weapons, their main parts, ammunition.”

Homemade pistol with a rifled barrel chambered for a small-caliber 5.6 mm cartridge

In July 2013, two 50-year-old residents of the city of Zima (Irkutsk region) were fishing on the banks of the Igna River and found a package that contained a 16-caliber smoothbore gun and a homemade pistol with a rifled barrel chambered for a small-caliber 5.6 mm cartridge. The fishermen took the found weapons to the police and received a cash reward.

Homemade firearms

In April 2013, Irkutsk police reported the destruction of more than 1,800 weapons in the steel smelting furnace of the local Kuibyshev plant. Among these trunks were those seized, voluntarily surrendered, found, and used as evidence in criminal cases. Very interesting samples of homemade firearms also went into the oven. The photo shows one of them.

One of the handicraft “trunks” destroyed in Irkutsk.

Homemade muzzle-loading firearm

On January 24, 2017, police from the Atyashevsky district of the Republic of Mordovia detained an unemployed local resident, who, during a personal search, was found to have a suspicious device. The man explained that he made it to scare away stray dogs. True, the examination showed that this was a homemade muzzle-loading firearm, and therefore a criminal case was opened against the unlucky gunsmith under Article 222 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Illegal acquisition, transfer, sale, storage, transportation or carrying of weapons, their main parts, ammunition.”

Shooting device

In November 2015, police from the Belogorsky district of Crimea, by court order, conducted a search in the home of a 55-year-old man. Law enforcement officers seized a homemade weapon from the owner of the home, which he had made from a tree branch that looked like a pistol handle and a metal tube. This miracle of engineering fired shells with a diameter of up to 7.7 millimeters. The man explained that he needed the weapon to hunt nutria. Based on the discovery, law enforcement officers opened a criminal case under Article 222 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Illegal acquisition, transfer, sale, storage, transportation or carrying of weapons, their main parts, ammunition”).

Single-barreled ramrod-loading pistol with a barrel diameter of 5.6 mm

In June 2015, in the city of Zlatoust (Chelyabinsk region), police, as part of operational search activities, inspected the home of a 19-year-old local resident who had been repeatedly convicted. In his closet, law enforcement officers came across a mysterious object, which, as an examination showed, is a homemade single-barreled ramrod-loading pistol with a barrel diameter of 5.6 millimeters, firing homemade bullets. The owner of the unusual “trunk” claimed that he kept it for self-defense, which did not prevent the police from opening a criminal case against “Kulibin”.

As you already understand, we will be talking about homemade self-defense weapons. If you are interested in DIY self-defense weapons, then you have come to the right place. These kinds of items may be needed in many cases and for completely different people - from a small defenseless girl to a strong man weighing a hundred pounds. Much depends on combat training, on a person’s physical and psychological indicators, and if all this is at a low level, then it will be very difficult for him to defend himself without means of self-defense. But also, a lot depends on how many people are attacking you, and what kind of training they are. Weapons for self-defense will help you protect yourself from an attacker if you are not sufficiently prepared, or if there are many such attackers.

Weapons for self-defense

So, let's look at weapons that you can make with your own hands.

Flail
Club
Nunchakus
Sling
Brass knuckles
Yawara
Slingshot
Samopal
Other

Each self-defense weapon has its own characteristics, and not all weapons on the list are legal. For example, self-propelled guns and brass knuckles can be punished to the fullest extent of the law.

Flail

Roughly speaking, a flail is a weight on a rope, a shock-crushing weapon that can quickly subdue an attacker. You can use anything as a load - nuts, a stone, a hammer, a lead block, or, in principle, any heavy object. We will also need a rope with a loop at the end, which will be put on the hand so that the rope does not fall off. The rope does not need to be put on your hand, but tied to a handle of a convenient length made of wood or other material. The length of the rope from the load can be different, but the optimal one is 40-50 cm. We tie the rope to the load, make a loop at the end and that’s it, we have a serious weapon ready. The weight of the cargo should be 150 grams or more. Of course, such a weapon can easily harm an attacker, but when using any of the listed items, the main thing is not to become a criminal yourself. The weapon works on a swing and the working part of the weapon is the load that needs to hit a certain part of the body. The brush can be carried with you everywhere, as it is compact. You can put it in your purse or pocket, and it will help you out at the right time.

Club

The baton is the simplest and most well-known item of self-defense. There are many types of batons that can help you get out of a difficult situation. You can use the simplest straight baton, a baton with two handles, which has a wider range of actions. You can use two short clubs for self-defense, with the help of which you can defend yourself very effectively. As a last resort, any stick that is not very long and fits well in the palm will do. We can also use bits, which are also quite effective. Unfortunately, we cannot carry a baton in our purse. At best, it can fit in a backpack.

Nunchakus

The weapon is effective, interesting, but not as simple as it might seem. You need to learn how to use it, and when you pick it up for the first time, the main thing is not to break your forehead, because almost every person who picks up nunchucks for the first time hits themselves on the head with them. Be careful with this weapon, and before using it in a real-life situation, learn how to use it - believe me, it's worth it. Nunchakus became popular to a large extent thanks to the legendary martial artist Bruce Lee. After watching films with Bruce Lee, you will be able to appreciate such weapons as nunchucks. They consist of two pieces of wood, or pieces of any other strong material. At home, we can simply connect two pieces of wood with a rope. We make holes at the ends of the segments in the middle, about 2-3 cm, and holes through the entire diameter, which passes through the central hole. In the middle we get a drilled letter “T”. We take a rope, stick one end in on one side and take it out from the center, and the other end on the other side, and take it out from the center in the same way, and for convenience you can use wire. It turns out that from the center, we will have two ends of the rope peeking out. Next, we insert the ropes into the center of another segment, take them out on the sides and tie them at the top. Nunchucks can be small and can be carried in a purse, backpack, or in the belt of your pants.

Sling

It’s quite a good self-defense weapon, but in order to use it, you need to first prepare it, load it, and only after that you will be able to stop the attacker. A sling looks like this: a rope with a “pocket” in the middle, like a slingshot, into which a stone is placed. At one end there is a loop that fits over the finger and onto the second knot. We put a stone in our pocket and, with simple movements, send the stone to the target. That’s the whole principle, but the point is that you need to know how to use this weapon, and here too at first - the main thing is not to harm yourself. To make a sling, you need rope and a thick piece of material for the “pocket” - leather is ideal. It doesn’t take much intelligence to attach cut leather to a rope, so we won’t consider this.

Brass knuckles

It's time to look at the brass knuckles. This is a rather ancient weapon, the existence of which many people know. Brass knuckles are a weapon with shock-crushing action. To use brass knuckles, they put it on the fingers, clench a fist and strike with the fist in which the brass knuckles are clamped. Due to the fact that an object is clamped in the palm, the blow is intensified, and the blow is also many times more powerful due to the weight of the brass knuckles, and due to its outer part, which is the working part. The sides of the brass knuckles can also be the working parts. If when striking with a fist, the main points of contact are the knuckles of the thumbs, which do not have such a large area, then when striking with brass knuckles, the point of contact is the entire striking part of the brass knuckles, which allows you to influence a wider area. There are different brass knuckles, but they have the same principle. Brass knuckles can be made at home from lead or wood. Made of lead: make a mold and pour molten lead into it. Made of wood: we cut it out, but the weight will be significantly less.

Brass knuckles can also include fighting rings, and the simplest fighting ring can be made at home from a large nut that can be put on your finger. On the machine, we sharpen the nut to fit the finger and sharpen the top as needed.

I want to replace that mastery of brass knuckles or a fighting ring is practically impossible without practicing striking techniques. First, learn how to do it, and only then think about using brass knuckles.

This is such a simple weapon for self-defense. But that is not all. Let's continue.

Yawara

Yavara is also an ancient weapon of self-defense, but to use it, you also need a little, or maybe a lot of training. Yawara is a wooden stick that is longer than the width of your palm. She can be stabbed at various points on the body, and these blows will be quite painful if you have the preparation. Yavara can be made from an ordinary stick by sharpening it on a machine or with a knife.

A similar weapon is the Kubotan. Yawara and Kubotan have different histories, but, nevertheless, they are similar in principle of action. The main difference between the kubotan is that there is a hole on the edge for a ring on which you can hang anything—keys are the most convenient.

Yawara and kubotan can be carried both in your pocket and in your purse. The main condition is the ability to use it.

Slingshot

The slingshot, despite its innocent appearance, is a rather dangerous weapon. If the slingshot has a powerful, good rubber band, then the slingshot projectile can fly long and fast, which will allow it, if it hits the body, to cause pain and leave a bruise, and if it hits the head, it can simply cause pain, and there may be more serious consequences - it all depends on the rubber band and the projectile. A slingshot can be purchased, and the most suitable slingshot is one that has a forearm support. You can make a slingshot yourself from wood or reinforcement. But the main thing here is to find a good elastic band and shells.

Samopal

Samopal is the most serious weapon for self-defense among those listed. You can charge a self-propelled gun with anything - bent nails, salt, pellets. The self-propelled gun consists of a handle and a pipe. The handle is for convenience, and so as not to get burned, and we fill the pipe with gunpowder (sulfur) and charge. A hole is made on top of the pipe so that the sulfur in the middle can be set on fire. The pipe must have thick walls so that it does not burst, and be well riveted at the end so that it does not swell. This is a very dangerous weapon for self-defense, which I suggest not using at all.

Other

For other weapons, I can suggest the following:

opener. The most ordinary can opener can become a real weapon in the right hands.

Screwdriver. As a specialized item it does not pose any threat, but if it is used as a weapon, it becomes very dangerous.

Scissors. Regular nail scissors, which can serve as a piercing weapon, or heavy household scissors, which can be used as an impact weapon, are perfect for self-defense.

Fork. An ordinary fork can also become a stabbing weapon.

“You can achieve more with a kind word and a gun than with a kind word.”

Al Capone

The legendary gangster had every reason to say so. After all, owning a weapon immediately makes its bearer more confident, decisive and, unfortunately, bolder. And if conditions have been created in the country that the chance of running into a similar carrier of a firearm is high, then you inevitably begin to limit yourself and not bury yourself. But if weapons are owned either by the privileged strata, or by those who don’t give a damn about laws and rules, then everything becomes much sadder. But I really want there to be a real opportunity to repay the aggressor in the same coin... Unfortunately, there are still many home-grown “Kulibins” on Russian soil who, using shit, sticks and pipes, construct something that by some miracle can shoot. This is a very unsightly, single-shot, often low-power weapon, from which you can only shoot yourself. And in order to cause real harm to the enemy, you need to try very hard. But this does not stop the people, so the police annually seize a huge amount homemade pistols, have been in action or not yet. Not far behind them are correctional officers, who are periodically shot at with such homemade weapons in order to escape. Therefore it is homemade pistols and this is what our photo selection today will be dedicated to.

The other day, law enforcement officials discovered an arsenal of weapons from the Great Patriotic War era in the possession of a 66-year-old resident of the city of Dedovsk (Istra district, Moscow region). The pensioner kept a variety of rarities - from a Walther P38 pistol to two machine guns, and, according to the owner, they were bought in ordinary markets.
Illegal arsenals of this size are rarely encountered by police; more often they come across all sorts of homemade weapons, which modern “Kulibins” with a passion for firearms assemble from improvised means. The Lenta.ru collection contains the most unusual handicraft “trunks” seized by security forces.

Homemade pistol
In March 2014, police from the Krutikhinsky district of the Altai Territory visited a 43-year-old local resident who had previously been convicted and was unemployed. The man who abused alcohol turned out to be very inquisitive: he studied old books and magazines and made weapons from them. Law enforcement officers seized an arsenal of three pistols and a shotgun from the self-taught gunsmith, and opened a criminal case upon the discovery of handicraft guns.

Homemade pistol

Homemade gun
Weapons seized from a resident of the Krutikhinsky district of the Altai Territory.

Atypical smoothbore firearms chambered for 5.6 millimeter caliber cartridges
In October 2015, during a search of a 37-year-old man at the Kochkovatskaya station (Omsk region), police discovered a mysterious homemade device on him. The examination showed that the homemade product is suitable for firing 5.6 millimeter caliber (“small”) cartridges. The owner of the unusual find explained that he found it seven years ago in his brother’s house. For many years, the crossbow lay idle, until finally its owner went to the forest to pick mushrooms, deciding at the same time to shoot from an unusual device. He came with him to the station, but did not wait for the train because he was detained by the police.

Homemade pistol chambered for 9 mm caliber cartridges
In May 2015, in the village of Novy Rogachik (Volgograd Region), criminal investigation officers detained a 24-year-old local resident, from whom they confiscated a 9 mm caliber pistol. As it turned out, an unemployed young man made it himself. The only cartridge for the seized pistol also turned out to be homemade.

Homemade shooting device in the form of a pen
In January 2014, law enforcement agencies in Voronezh detained four men aged from 40 to 65 years old who were involved in the manufacture and sale of weapons, ammunition and explosives. During searches in their apartment, law enforcement officers found 3,400 rounds of ammunition, about 400 grams of gunpowder, a sawn-off shotgun and three foreign revolvers. But the most exotic find was a homemade shooting device in the form of a pen.

Homemade multi-shot revolver chambered for 5.6 mm caliber cartridges
In November 2016, law enforcement officers seized a homemade revolver chambered for a 5.6 mm caliber cartridge from a 55-year-old resident of the village of Arkhangelskoye (Stavropol Territory). The owner of the homemade product was taken into custody, and the police opened a criminal case upon the discovery of the revolver.

Homemade submachine gun
In September 2012, police discovered a pensioner from the village of Udobnaya (Krasnodar Territory) with an entire arsenal of weapons: 171 cartridges for a pistol, machine gun, carbine and machine gun, two packs of gunpowder, a homemade revolver and even a homemade submachine gun. Upon discovery of the arsenal, a criminal case was opened under Part 1 of Article 222 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Illegal acquisition, transfer, sale, storage, transportation or carrying of weapons, their main parts, ammunition.”

Homemade pistol with a rifled barrel chambered for a small-caliber 5.6 mm cartridge
In July 2013, two 50-year-old residents of the city of Zima (Irkutsk region) were fishing on the banks of the Igna River and found a package that contained a 16-caliber smoothbore gun and a homemade pistol with a rifled barrel chambered for a small-caliber 5.6 mm cartridge. The fishermen took the found weapons to the police and received a cash reward.

In April 2013, Irkutsk police reported the destruction of more than 1,800 weapons in the steel smelting furnace of the local Kuibyshev plant. Among these trunks were those seized, voluntarily surrendered, found, and used as evidence in criminal cases. Very interesting samples of homemade firearms also went into the oven. The photo shows one of them.

Homemade firearms
One of the handicraft “trunks” destroyed in Irkutsk.

Homemade muzzle-loading firearm
On January 24, 2017, police from the Atyashevsky district of the Republic of Mordovia detained an unemployed local resident, who, during a personal search, was found to have a suspicious device. The man explained that he made it to scare away stray dogs. True, the examination showed that this was a homemade muzzle-loading firearm, and therefore a criminal case was opened against the unlucky gunsmith under Article 222 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Illegal acquisition, transfer, sale, storage, transportation or carrying of weapons, their main parts, ammunition.”

Shooting device
In November 2015, police from the Belogorsky district of Crimea, by court order, conducted a search in the home of a 55-year-old man. Law enforcement officers seized a homemade weapon from the owner of the home, which he had made from a tree branch that looked like a pistol handle and a metal tube. This miracle of engineering fired shells with a diameter of up to 7.7 millimeters. The man explained that he needed the weapon to hunt nutria. Based on the discovery, law enforcement officers opened a criminal case under Article 222 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Illegal acquisition, transfer, sale, storage, transportation or carrying of weapons, their main parts, ammunition”).

Single-barreled ramrod-loading pistol with a barrel diameter of 5.6 mm
In June 2015, in the city of Zlatoust (Chelyabinsk region), police, as part of operational search activities, inspected the home of a 19-year-old local resident who had been repeatedly convicted. In his closet, law enforcement officers came across a mysterious object, which, as an examination showed, is a homemade single-barreled ramrod-loading pistol with a barrel diameter of 5.6 millimeters, firing homemade bullets. The owner of the unusual “trunk” claimed that he kept it for self-defense, which did not prevent the police from opening a criminal case against “Kulibin”.