Home Made Mexican Shotguns

[Wally]

If you're a shotgun snob you might want to have the eye bleach ready. That said, this is a perfect example of people finding ways around BS government overreach.

The guy who built this is a friend and neighbour and he built it in a shop behind his house with very limited tools and training. The laws in Mexico are pretty bad a the moment when it comes to firearms thanks to Mexico's biggest piece of political $hit, AMLO. All politicians are bad but AMLO is a particularly tall pile of dung. People are hoping his party will get kicked out on it's a$$ next year but we'll see... and I digress.

Anyway, most of these people are very modest and don't make much money. They make do with what they have and they use these guns to shoot squirrels, rabbits, doves, pigeons and other small game. I believe the one in the photos is a .410 but he previously had a 36ga. I didn't even know 36ga existed. Some websites are saying .410 IS 36ga so maybe he said it was a 32ga and I'm miss-remembering. Anyway, enjoy the photos and know that if things continue devolving in Kanaderp you can resort to building things in your garage (that comment is a thought exercise only and is in no way a recommendation to break the law).

Just for fun here's a picture of a tarantula and a short hair pointer puppy. I think these dogs are my new favourite breed.

 

[Juster]

Nice job. Rough weld obviously, but a farmyard project to take pride in. Mexico has 17 time the murder rate of Canada, but that is a small price to pay for life-saving gun control.

 

[IvoB]

this will be our fate in Canada

 

[Wally]

Nice job. Rough weld obviously, but a farmyard project to take pride in. Mexico has 17 time the murder rate of Canada, but that is a small price to pay for life-saving gun control.

Ya, I was impressed. It has an extractor, you pull back on the trigger guard to open it and the hammer has the has relief from the neutral position to the firing pin so there's no pressure on the primer when not cocked. I'm sure it's a direct copy of another shotgun he took apart once upon a time.

We see the murder stuff in the news. Not much of it hits home personally. Avoid sketchy people, places and times. Bad luck can strike anywhere but for the most part it seems like personal safety is based on making good decisions. I think this applies anywhere.

this will be our fate in Canada

No, Kanada will be worse because they have the resources to impose their draconian laws.

 

[Falconflyer]

20 years ago I was going to Equator on a regular basis for work and most stores down there have an armed guard with a home made shotgun or revolver at the door. Arms made by well known manufacturers were so expensive they were unaffordable so folks do what they always do... they improvise!

 

[burns k31]

That's a big ugly spider there! Better load that shotgun.

 

[Grizzly Adams]

I'm thinking he had something to copy, looks almost factory in crude terms.

Grizz

 

[Dorian Gray]

That's an incredibly cute pupper right there.

 

[gallen270]

Great dog! Cool homemade gun!

Thanks wally, hope things are well

 

[MiG25]

I like it a lot better than the Turkish singles on the market.

 

[bertn]

When there is a will there's is a way !!

So Wally, what's the deal/law with getting ammo there? Is that also home build/reloaded or can they somehow be bought?

 

[calmex]

If you're a shotgun snob you might want to have the eye bleach ready. That said, this is a perfect example of people finding ways around BS government overreach.

The guy who built this is a friend and neighbour and he built it in a shop behind his house with very limited tools and training. The laws in Mexico are pretty bad a the moment when it comes to firearms thanks to Mexico's biggest piece of political $hit, AMLO. All politicians are bad but AMLO is a particularly tall pile of dung. People are hoping his party will get kicked out on it's a$$ next year but we'll see... and I digress.

Anyway, most of these people are very modest and don't make much money. They make do with what they have and they use these guns to shoot squirrels, rabbits, doves, pigeons and other small game. I believe the one in the photos is a .410 but he previously had a 36ga. I didn't even know 36ga existed. Some websites are saying .410 IS 36ga so maybe he said it was a 32ga and I'm miss-remembering. Anyway, enjoy the photos and know that if things continue devolving in Kanaderp you can resort to building things in your garage (that comment is a thought exercise only and is in no way a recommendation to break the law).

When there is a will there's is a way !!

So Wally, what's the deal/law with getting ammo there? Is that also home build/reloaded or can they somehow be bought?

I you have a shotgun registered, and show your permit, you can buy ammo. If you have a friend (a pal) who has a shotgun registered, and is willing to buy you a box of shells, then you can say you got a box of shells by using your pal. Or, if you have the means and equipment and can smuggle in the components, you reload. I should point out that "smuggling in the components" requires a fairly decent set-up, or you have to take unreasonable personal risks. One of the things I had to do to be able to set up Combat Mexico was figure out how to get enough components and reloading gear into Mexico to actually set the damned thing up, considering we started with about 30 shooters and grew from there. If I ever write my memoirs, that will be a chapter that will be tough to write about without revealing a great many secrets that even to this day have never been figured out (and I know this because the process continues without a hiccup). As one of our CGN members suggested to me, I suppose I could just make something up about how we did that. But there it is.

I do not recognize which single-shot shotgun model that is based upon: it's not a Winchester Model 37 (which was manufactured in a couple of different places including Mexico City in a firearms manufacturing plant owned and operated by the CIA and which also produced many of the clandestine weapons for the Vietnam Special Forces experience, something I make mention of in the "Penultimate Pre Postwar Magnum is in Mexico", a rather long article which you can find by Google). It's not the old Remington Single Shot, nor the H&R nor the Savage/Stevens. I don't know what it's a copy of, but it certainly looks like it would work.

I never saw a "home made" in Mexico that looked like that, most of the ones I saw were "chispas", black-powder single-shot shotguns that used a percussion cap to fire. (They sell black-powder in one-liter generic plastic containers at El Volcan Ferreteria in San Miguel. I don't know how good it is compared to Goex, but any I fired out of our old 1851 Navy that we had down there certainly worked well enough).

I miss Mexico dearly everyday that I'm away from her. Canada simply isn't playing handball against the wall of the gymnasium.

My wife shooting El Volcan black powder out of our Pietta Navy in a field outside of San Miguel that later became the new San Miguel gun range. Sort of like "checking out the field" before we go through the trouble of making it all legal. Something Canada would be quite anal about but Mexico just doesn't -- and didn't -- care.

 

[Butcherbill]

this will be our fate in Canada

I’ll totally build a Mexicooey when we hit that stage here lol.

 

[Wally]

That's a big ugly spider there! Better load that shotgun.

It's actually a bit of camera trickery. That one was maybe about 2" in dia but I got really close to it. It'll grow though... they easily get to about 10" in dia. I'll get some photos of bigger ones this summer. It's snake and spider season now!

I'm thinking he had something to copy, looks almost factory in crude terms.

Grizz

Oh for sure. There are lots of mexican made shotguns down here so it's probably a copy of a copy. I've seen lots of factory guns with no markings on them too aside from the calibre/gauge.

That's an incredibly cute pupper right there.

Yep, super soft, super smart, super quiet but they know to bark at stuff when necessary. I'll be getting a pair for my ranch when the time comes.

Great dog! Cool homemade gun!

Thanks wally, hope things are well

Thanks Gallen. All is well down here. How are you doing up north?

I like it a lot better than the Turkish singles on the market.

I'd certainly buy mexican over chinese. He sells them for about $350.

When there is a will there's is a way !!

So Wally, what's the deal/law with getting ammo there? Is that also home build/reloaded or can they somehow be bought?

As Cal posts below, you need to have papers for a gun to but ammo.... at least in theory... so far I've been buying whatever I want and I can just say "oh ya, the papers are at home". They ask but the money is more important than the papers.... and you can see why. I just paid $100CAD for a box of 50 .38spl. I paid a little over $100CAD for 500rnds of .22lr last time. They are more than doubling the price over the army store where they buy the shells so there's a huge financial incentive to skirt the law.

I you have a shotgun registered, and show your permit, you can buy ammo. If you have a friend (a pal) who has a shotgun registered, and is willing to buy you a box of shells, then you can say you got a box of shells by using your pal. Or, if you have the means and equipment and can smuggle in the components, you reload. I should point out that "smuggling in the components" requires a fairly decent set-up, or you have to take unreasonable personal risks. One of the things I had to do to be able to set up Combat Mexico was figure out how to get enough components and reloading gear into Mexico to actually set the damned thing up, considering we started with about 30 shooters and grew from there. If I ever write my memoirs, that will be a chapter that will be tough to write about without revealing a great many secrets that even to this day have never been figured out (and I know this because the process continues without a hiccup). As one of our CGN members suggested to me, I suppose I could just make something up about how we did that. But there it is.

I do not recognize which single-shot shotgun model that is based upon: it's not a Winchester Model 37 (which was manufactured in a couple of different places including Mexico City in a firearms manufacturing plant owned and operated by the CIA and which also produced many of the clandestine weapons for the Vietnam Special Forces experience, something I make mention of in the "Penultimate Pre Postwar Magnum is in Mexico", a rather long article which you can find by Google). It's not the old Remington Single Shot, nor the H&R nor the Savage/Stevens. I don't know what it's a copy of, but it certainly looks like it would work.

I never saw a "home made" in Mexico that looked like that, most of the ones I saw were "chispas", black-powder single-shot shotguns that used a percussion cap to fire. (They sell black-powder in one-liter generic plastic containers at El Volcan Ferreteria in San Miguel. I don't know how good it is compared to Goex, but any I fired out of our old 1851 Navy that we had down there certainly worked well enough).

I miss Mexico dearly everyday that I'm away from her. Canada simply isn't playing handball against the wall of the gymnasium.

My wife shooting El Volcan black powder out of our Pietta Navy in a field outside of San Miguel that later became the new San Miguel gun range. Sort of like "checking out the field" before we go through the trouble of making it all legal. Something Canada would be quite anal about but Mexico just doesn't -- and didn't -- care.

You definitely need to write those memoirs.

Like I said, there are guys in my area reloading too so obviously they are getting components. I need to get myself into that circle.

I didn't even think to look for black powder in the hardware stores. Are black powder guns uncontrolled here? I still need to read the Ley De Armas.

 

[calmex]

Like I said, there are guys in my area reloading too so obviously they are getting components. I need to get myself into that circle.

I didn't even think to look for black powder in the hardware stores. Are black powder guns uncontrolled here? I still need to read the Ley De Armas.

Black Powder guns cannot be registered. There is a "workaround" on that when talking about pistols, because you could get a conversion unit for 38 Special for say an 1851 Navy .36 and register it as a .38 Special and then shoot BP cap-and-ball out of it to your heart's content. But that doesn't matter, Mexico is full of homemade BP guns, whether pistols, rifles or shotguns. If the hardware store sells BP, they probably will not sell it to you. In San Miguel, they would not sell it to me either until I got a couple of "trusted" Mexican members of the Club to go with me to El Volcan and vouch for me to the owner. Then, after that, I could go and purchase BP as long as the owner was there. Because, you see, they are not allowed to sell BP. They just do. And so they are careful. And I'm sure that in your community, they will be careful as well.

If people are reloading where you are (and of course they will be) they are either smuggling the components down themselves -- which is risky but there are ways to do it that really lower those risks dramatically which I will not put into print because then the authorites would suddenly realize the absolute brilliance of some of the methods and then they'd know what to look for. Or they will be using a smuggler. Perhaps even the local Cartel -- which is dangerous in and of itself.

Understand this: if you are in Law Enforcement and your brilliant idea is to restrict the access to reloading components for the everyday, normally law-abiding citizen while letting the Cartels run wild because the Cartels would kill you and your family if you tried to interfere with them -- then you are not in the "need to know" group. And you never will be. But don't feel bad, because neither is just about everybody else. I originally set the damned thing up and right now, after 7 years away, most of the who, when and how has been changed. And I'm good with that. I find it ridiculous that "authorities" try to limit the right to be armed to themselves and their goons while ignoring the Cartels and criminal elements because going after them is too dangerous and thus instead really only restrict the access to proper defensive weaponry for the common tax-payer. Thus, in Mexico, those common tax-payers employ workarounds to cut the "authorities" out to the greatest degree possible.

I liked your comment, Wally, that Mexico did not have the resources to do much about that. Canada does, however, and undoubtedly will become even more anal about rules and regulations unless the administration changes shortly in both content and focus.

Also remember that once you know how to cast your own bullets, that lead wheelweights abound in Mexico. A 4-pound keg of Bullseye or Titegroup will load 8,000 .38 Special rounds. Throw in a pound of 2400 to load those Elmer Keith .38 Heavy Duty loads (that are more powerful than most .357 Magnum loadings available today except for those from Buffalo Bore) and you're in for some fun shootin'. It's just the transport of that 4-pound keg and one-pound cannister of 2400 with two 5,000 round sleeves of primers that makes one sit up at night thinking of the "how". Well, I certainly won't write much about that here. We'll talk when we can, and in the meantime, try to make local contacts on the ground. And watch yourself, you'll be running into some shady people.