Homebrew Technical Ideas, by Don Shift

So I’ve been writing part of a hopefully upcoming novel where one of the characters, a former Navy SEAL and Hollywood armorer, builds a technical (if you don’t know what that is, think of a Toyota in Africa with a gun in the bed). Okay well, he’s asked to mount a machine gun to a small pickup truck. Easy enough; the guy can weld and has a bunch of gun parts lying around. The problem is that there is no proper machine gun to use.
On Twitter, I saw a discussion about a desire for technicals. While welding weapon mounts and bed rails so the gunner doesn’t go flying out isn’t hard, pieces of specialty machinery will be harder to come by in say a fictional world where an EMP just detonated like in one of my novels. Like my character and the average Twitter user, there are a few common problems.

Where are you going to find a machine gun?
Pintle and platform mounts, along with proper tripods or vehicle mounts/sockets are hard to fabricate. Guys who can assemble and weld might not be able to use, or have access to, machine tools.
You’ll need additional accessories.
You can’t count on looting everything. It’s a lot easier to detach and run off with a captured machine gun than it is to remove a pedestal and bracket from the vehicle. Plus a lot of modern military patrol vehicles are getting high-tech turrets like CROWS. This isn’t 1946 where a million surplus Jeeps have a pipe with a socket and pintle welded on it for a M1919.

I have some terrible half-baked ideas that might solve those problems.
First, buy what you can. Order that M60 gooseneck pintle or a MK 64 cradle mount. KNS sells a Picatinny rail adapter that can attach to quad rails or whatever. Are you going to make one yourself out of some steel and ball joints? Better order those carefully machined parts now while you can still go to specialty hardware stores or order online. If you are a fictional character who may have a future need for a machine gun mount, there is no harm in laying it by early. A vintage tripod might be a good collectable for the corner.
Next, buy the gun accessories. Are you adapting an AR-15 because everyone has like 12? Buy a spade grip adaptor, which seems uncomplicated enough to fabricate in a garage. Need taller sights to shoot when standing up? Buy those. Note that AR-15s are terrible sustained fire weapons. You’ll blow the gas tube after about 300 rounds of sustained fire, so you’ll need a quick change barrel adaptor, or like three, which will get expensive. Or an extreme duty gas tube. A heavy barrel is less of a concern than an exploding gas tube that will turn your rifle into a straight-pull single shot.
How is it going to fire fully automatically? Well, in my novel a 3D printed lightning link is used. The AR-style open bolt conversions, as used in the M231 firing port weapon, have a tendency to batter and walk out pins, I am told. Yes, in fiction I could have my character just fit a full-auto parts kit in as he did to some rifles, but like in reality, he didn’t have that many to begin with. You’ll probably have zero.
If you think you may capture a weapon, have your own ammo supply. There is no harm in buying linked 7.62mm or 5.56mm ammo to feed that ex-government M240 or whatever. You can always unlink it and shoot it or reuse the links. Buy tracers while you still can. If you’re shooting a machine gun, especially one from a vehicle, you’ll want it. Beta Mags and Magpul D60s could get banned too.
Here are some pictures of cool weapon shields. Note the attached pieces of pipe to route the empty cases into an ammo can. Anyhow, some fun ideas. Stay tuned for the what hope is another novel in my EMP series.

By NC ScoutPublished On: September 28, 2022Categories: Don Shift, Vehicles6 Comments

About the Author: NC Scout

NC Scout is the nom de guerre of a former Infantry Scout and Sergeant in one of the Army’s best Reconnaissance Units. He has combat tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan. He teaches a series of courses focusing on small unit skills rarely if ever taught anywhere else in the prepping and survival field, including his RTO Course which focuses on small unit communications. In his free time he is an avid hunter, bushcrafter, writer, long range shooter, prepper, amateur radio operator and Libertarian activist. He can be contacted at [email protected] or via his blog at brushbeater.wordpress.com .

6 Comments

Reader September 28, 2022 at 18:05

Why not attach a BOG Deathgrip to a mount for easy swap of guns / gunner?
odd job September 28, 2022 at 21:17

If you’re building a technical, why not go the Gatling route and mount 3-6 ar’s on a rotating central axis, mag wells out, have a setup with an electric drill to spin them and a cam to pull the trigger when they pass. They’ll have more airflow and cooling time between shots, and you won’t have to worry about outrunning the bolt. It wouldn’t be that hard to fabricate a frame, slingshot man on YouTube built something similar out of plywood. It’s downsides would be bulk and the time to reload 3-6 separate rifles.
LP September 28, 2022 at 22:54

A possible alternative quick change barrel adapter could be the Cry Havoc barrel adapter. Still expensive but I believe you would get the weapon up and running faster.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBU5i1IIZOQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LD0m_i8VNQ
https://cryhavoctac.com/index.html
Mike VonSteuben September 28, 2022 at 23:09

If I may throw in my two bits.
– The strength of technicals is mobile firepower. They’re especially useful for moving heavy weapons around to places where they could not be easily carried. Think medium-heavy machineguns, recoilless rifles, etc.
– The weakness of technicals is that they are big, unarmored targets (unless you can Marvin Heemeyer something together).

There are scenarios for which technicals are well suited, such as convoy operations, where you want to have firepower on the move without shooting through windows. However, once the truck is stopped, you don’t gain a whole lot by bolting your AR-15 onto the roof when you could be shooting from cover. Having a quick-detach option is probably best.
Peter September 29, 2022 at 05:36

Many key armaments/gear have their place in the right situation & are often praised afterwards as piece de resistance. Unfortunately I live in literally a no gun land, but keep in touch with reality. I have contacted movers & shakers & some of the vets are working their arses off, prepping some serious SHTF action. Hidden out there are some real surprises for the foe. Time is running out badly, very bloody badly indeed in order to get ready. Great & timely article.
DakotaRumble September 29, 2022 at 14:28

Man! I have a lot of little pieces of Ideas that could contribute to this from all my years as a metal fabricator, restoring classic cars, structural repair and interest in the older trucks/SUV vehicles like the CUCV K5 Blazers and 70’s Ramchargers with removable tops (1980 Last year for the removable top). Things like this ring mount pop up as well on Farsebook Marketplace:https://www.facebook.com/commerce/listing/597176865437415/?ref=share_attachment. With the way we’re seeing a lot of random shootings into vehicles as people drive by, some of that has driven a few of the armored plate ideas as well as the research into tempering steel for knives and swords on a larger scale. (Last time I drove to Florida, there was a section in Ohio I think, where someone was up on the bridge shooting into people’s vehicles about an hour after I passed through in 2016 or 17) Keeping it light but functional. Those older vehicles have nice fairly flat windows and wide door channels as well, if anyone has ever played with acrylics and lamination. There also comes some decent experience with building Turbocharger systems and custom supercharged setups to help push that extra weight around. Custom Beadlocks to keep the tires from getting knocked off the wheels in an event you need to GTFO of a situation. Probably would not be a great idea to post all that stuff here, but on the forum. Especially considering the way they’re trying to criminalize anything people do to try and make themselves more safe from those types of threats like outlawing body armor here in NY state.