Building a Semi-Auto Rifle at Home Paperback – January 22, 2025

The author, better known on YouTube as “Garage Guy .30-06”, has designed and built dozens of elegant homemade firearms from his garage. This book covers his journey building this semi-automatic, magazine fed, simple blowback rifle. Using a metal lathe and a benchtop end mill he created this unique “Tommy gun” inspired rifle from raw steel, a barrel blank and a few commercial parts. The closed bolt design is covered in detail along with the tools, techniques and mathematics that go with this 380 ACP rifle. This should be an entertaining and informative book for any firearm enthusiast, hobbyist, aficionado or shooter.This book includes a dedicated chapter on how to calculate the necessary bolt mass and determine spring forces and bolt speeds. Also included, is a chapter covering the detailed component dimensions of the blowback action rifle. A separate chapter also includes a description of the methods, materials and tricks used to build this rifle along with another on testing and finishing the rifle. Also included are several lessons learned and potential improvements for this design. This semi-automatic, 380 ACP Tommy gun inspired rifle can be built in a home garage using a metal lathe, a benchtop end mill and a few other simple tools. Read more