Mechanical Engineering Problems in Firearms Industry

[thebigcheese]

Hello everyone,

It's been awhile since I've been on the forums but have been busy as a student pursuing my B.S. degree in mechanical engineering. As part of this degree, during our senior year, we are required to complete a senior project known as our Capstone Project. This project is designed to introduce us to the real world and act as a way for us to apply the knowledge we've gained over the past few years. For the project, we must identify a problem, then create, design, build, and test a solution. My group is interested in firearms, more specifically in the military/defense industry, and are currently trying to come up with some problems that are being faced. One idea we have is building something along the lines of a blast forwarding device (muzzle blast control device, etc.) to divert pressure away from the shooter. There seems to be a number of these devices on the market already however.

So, I thought I would throw a post up to possibly see what some problems are that exist in the firearms world that you may currently be facing or know of. Some questions may be:

What technologies are missing in the firearms industry?
What could be improved on (insert firearm) to make it better, lighter, stronger, more effective, (insert any issue), etc.?
What are current issues that you have with firearms in general or (insert specific firearm) which could be improved?

Any thoughts or ideas of current problems which you think need a solution would be greatly appreciated! I think this could make for some interesting discussion and look forward to hearing what you all have to say.

Thanks!

 

[thebigcheese]

Just realized that this may be more appropriate in to be placed in the general discussion section. Mods, please feel free to move if desired. I apologize for any inconvenience.
Thanks!

 

[FURMAN]

Everyone has a different idea of perfect. If you have paid attention over the last 5 years the number of new action makers alone has increased dramatically. Everyone thinks they can build a better mouse trap. I personally prefer carbon barrels in a lightweight configuration. After using many different actions including most of the popular customs I think the Sako 85/Fierce actions are the best except I would like to see it fit in a remington stock. So basically the trigger, safety, bolt, three lug, DBM, etc only in a 700 footprint.

 

[FEENIX]

Hello everyone,

It's been awhile since I've been on the forums but have been busy as a student pursuing my B.S. degree in mechanical engineering. As part of this degree, during our senior year, we are required to complete a senior project known as our Capstone Project. This project is designed to introduce us to the real world and act as a way for us to apply the knowledge we've gained over the past few years. For the project, we must identify a problem, then create, design, build, and test a solution. My group is interested in firearms, more specifically in the military/defense industry, and are currently trying to come up with some problems that are being faced. One idea we have is building something along the lines of a blast forwarding device (muzzle blast control device, etc.) to divert pressure away from the shooter. There seems to be a number of these devices on the market already however.

So, I thought I would throw a post up to possibly see what some problems are that exist in the firearms world that you may currently be facing or know of. Some questions may be:

What technologies are missing in the firearms industry?
What could be improved on (insert firearm) to make it better, lighter, stronger, more effective, (insert any issue), etc.?
What are current issues that you have with firearms in general or (insert specific firearm) which could be improved?

Any thoughts or ideas of current problems which you think need a solution would be greatly appreciated! I think this could make for some interesting discussion and look forward to hearing what you all have to say.

Thanks!

Congrats! I am a life-long learner so I know exactly what you're going through. You are correct on your assessment about the abundance of muzzle devices out in the market today.

It may sound simple but one of the hardest thing in research is properly identifying the gap (the need for the research study) and problem statement, followed by your research question(s), methodology, narrowing down your topic to a manageable level (yours is too broad and too large), etc. If you do not narrow your topic, you will be inundated.

Good luck!

 

[adam32]

Extremely lightweight chassis system....sub 1.5 pounds.

 

[JJMoody]

It's college, fake a problem, use something already available write something up that sounds like a tv
infomercial, spray paint it a different color, get a c+ because Cs get degrees.... spend the rest of your time at the range or the "Library" with that cute little gal in your group.....any real leaps and bounds improvements should be saved for getting paid.

 

[Schnyd112]

It's college, fake a problem, use something already available write something up that sounds like a tv
infomercial, spray paint it a different color, get a c+ because Cs get degrees.... spend the rest of your time at the range or the "Library" with that cute little gal in your group.....

Sounds familiar. We had to design a biochem experiment. Bug traps. the school wouldn't buy us whiskey rum and vodka so we used soda. Wrote it, researched it, actually learned something (I know, weird) and starting spending a lot of time pretending to study with my now wife.

On a side note, expanding bubbles in differing conditions with bubble levels. I even think there are some solutions available for that already but I'm not gonna do the project for ya.

 

[MudRunner2005]

Hello everyone,

It's been awhile since I've been on the forums but have been busy as a student pursuing my B.S. degree in mechanical engineering. As part of this degree, during our senior year, we are required to complete a senior project known as our Capstone Project. This project is designed to introduce us to the real world and act as a way for us to apply the knowledge we've gained over the past few years. For the project, we must identify a problem, then create, design, build, and test a solution. My group is interested in firearms, more specifically in the military/defense industry, and are currently trying to come up with some problems that are being faced. One idea we have is building something along the lines of a blast forwarding device (muzzle blast control device, etc.) to divert pressure away from the shooter. There seems to be a number of these devices on the market already however.

So, I thought I would throw a post up to possibly see what some problems are that exist in the firearms world that you may currently be facing or know of. Some questions may be:

What technologies are missing in the firearms industry?
What could be improved on (insert firearm) to make it better, lighter, stronger, more effective, (insert any issue), etc.?
What are current issues that you have with firearms in general or (insert specific firearm) which could be improved?

Any thoughts or ideas of current problems which you think need a solution would be greatly appreciated! I think this could make for some interesting discussion and look forward to hearing what you all have to say.

Thanks!

What tech is missing from the large-scale manufacturing rifle and firearms industries? 5R rifling, factory lapped barrels, triggers that lawyers can't dictate how they operate, sub-MOA guarantees, more precision milling and lathe work on factory actions, better chambers in factory barrels, more efficient ways to implement these facets into the company at a way to reduce the overall cost of a rifle, or as to not raise the already inflated cost of factory rifles.

Most importantly, the one thing that needs revamping and is completely missing in today's large-scale weapons manufacturing is PRIDE! Pride for your company and pride in the products you sell. Pride goes away when you let a board of directors dictate a companies every move, because all they give a crap about is profits. And they're too stupid and stubborn to see that if they upgrade their equipment and processes, they will sell more guns from putting a superiors product than they were before staying stagnant and pushing crap out the door. You might be wondering how I know this is an issue... Well, this can be seen in how poor most of these companies are doing on their quality control standards, and the garbage they're letting slip out the door everyday. The American gun industry, like most all of our industries, have been sold out to lazy greedy people who only care about money, instead of taking pride in their products, and respect for the people who choose to spend their hard-earned money on them.

 

[Aoudad shooter1975]

Extremely lightweight chassis system....sub 1.5 pounds.

This^^^^^ and it look good....

 

[Bravo 4]

We need another cartridge to fill a gap that doesn't exist, or maybe a synthetic bullet tip that doesn't disintegrate in flight.

I agree, create a problem that nobody knows we have and then invent a solution that we "need". Then make the product proprietary and then when putting out said product make it inferior so that users have to purchase more of it.

Just kidding of course fellas!

 

[WildRose]

Hello everyone,

It's been awhile since I've been on the forums but have been busy as a student pursuing my B.S. degree in mechanical engineering. As part of this degree, during our senior year, we are required to complete a senior project known as our Capstone Project. This project is designed to introduce us to the real world and act as a way for us to apply the knowledge we've gained over the past few years. For the project, we must identify a problem, then create, design, build, and test a solution. My group is interested in firearms, more specifically in the military/defense industry, and are currently trying to come up with some problems that are being faced. One idea we have is building something along the lines of a blast forwarding device (muzzle blast control device, etc.) to divert pressure away from the shooter. There seems to be a number of these devices on the market already however.

So, I thought I would throw a post up to possibly see what some problems are that exist in the firearms world that you may currently be facing or know of. Some questions may be:

What technologies are missing in the firearms industry?
What could be improved on (insert firearm) to make it better, lighter, stronger, more effective, (insert any issue), etc.?
What are current issues that you have with firearms in general or (insert specific firearm) which could be improved?

Any thoughts or ideas of current problems which you think need a solution would be greatly appreciated! I think this could make for some interesting discussion and look forward to hearing what you all have to say.

Thanks!

You will find that with any muzzle device if you are angling the ports forward more than 5% you will be increasing rather than reducing the felt recoil.

If there's something out there that really needs addressing it's in suppressors for military applications. The most effective out there are pretty complicated internally which makes them difficult to maintain in the field and of course the more individual parts the more likely a failure becomes so you might want to look there.

 

[Gord0]

You will find that with any muzzle device if you are angling the ports forward more than 5% you will be increasing rather than reducing the felt recoil.

If there's something out there that really needs addressing it's in suppressors for military applications. The most effective out there are pretty complicated internally which makes them difficult to maintain in the field and of course the more individual parts the more likely a failure becomes so you might want to look there.

They could design a suppressor, they just couldn't cut a single baffle for one without a FFL 07 SOT. Or having a trust with a stamp in hand for a home made suppressor. I checked into making my own a while ago.

 

[WildRose]

They could design a suppressor, they just couldn't cut a single baffle for one without a FFL 07 SOT. Or having a trust with a stamp in hand for a home made suppressor. I checked into making my own a while ago.

Actually you can make all of the components and possess them lawfully right up to the point of threading it for mounting. Once you cross that threshold you could get yourself into trouble. If it cannot be attached to a firearm it isn't a suppressor.

I'd have to double check to be sure but I believe you can also use a form 1 registration as long as you are not making it for sale or transfer to another person.

The best advice if he wants to do something like that of course would be to call ATF directly for guidance.

 

[Gord0]

Actually you can make all of the components and possess them lawfully right up to the point of threading it for mounting. Once you cross that threshold you could get yourself into trouble. If it cannot be attached to a firearm it isn't a suppressor.

I'd have to double check to be sure but I believe you can also use a form 1 registration as long as you are not making it for sale or transfer to another person.

The best advice if he wants to do something like that of course would be to call ATF directly for guidance.

It's been a while, but I know when I looked at making one it was the baffles that were the problem part. You had to state how many baffles were in the suppressor and you could only have that many laying around the shop. Otherwise you got into the whole constructive intent thing.