It's in the 2-20 edition of Atlantic magazine.
Think improvised weapons, with all the manufacturing facilities of a modern society at hand to make them, and thousands of laid-off, retired or just plain super-skilled machinists, welders and fitters.
Look over the photos, and note expecially the simplest, in photo #25. H/T to the Coyote Kid for the linkage.
Strategically, the ability to project explosive projectiles by any means in short-range urban warfare means that it's difficult to hold ground for long. The short-range capabilities of this improvised artillery also means that modern projectile-tracking systems are less effective against it. BTW, those projectile-tracking systems require the holding of ground in the city in combat, see above.
All moral references aside, this is a classic David vs. Goliath story in Syria. A rag-tag but dedicated force with improvised weapons (including slingshots!) against a modern army with modern weapons AND air supremacy. Note that Goliath is losing the war.
There's an "elephant in the room" for the gun-banners, who are, after all, merely another brigade in Obama's army of wannabe sturmtruppen for the wannabe Reich. It's simply this: while the gun-banners are making their desperate push to stop semi-auto rifles and pistols, there are new welders and fitters being trained every day, and thousands of retired/laid off ones whose hands haven't forgotten how to work and join metal.
The smart militia organizer* thinks beyond who has an AR or AK or a truckload of ammo. He thinks of welders and fitters. Yes he does.
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*Obama gets all the headlines as the "Capo Regime" of Community Organizing, but in fact, there are others doing this work for the other side.
Paw Paw beat me to it. Firearms are not complex machines and can be fabricated in any half decent home shop. I have a small lathe, a small vertical mill, a drill press and much tooling. A first gun would be somewhat time consuming, but the second and those coming later would be knocked out more and more quickly. I'd stick to .22's and 9mm's as tooling for those is easily come by or fabricated and drilling the barrels is within my capabilities. For short range (25-50) yards and short barrels (10" or so), I see small need for rifling. Also, self loaders and full auto arms are often simpler than manually operated ones. If memory serves, the UZI was originally designed to be built mostly on a drill press. The only thing I'd have trouble with is making magazines. I know sheet metal guys who wouldn't give it a second thought, though.
I would guess, as you did, that there are hundreds of thousands of guys like me who are ignorant of our incapabilities, so can and do make things that our lords and masters think impossible without cadres of Kollitch Edumacated engineers and large factories.
Posted by: Gerry N. | February 24, 2013 at 18:38
If you can't build an M3A1 in any decent machine shop (and a number of well-equipped home garages), you've got no business calling yourself a fabricator.
Posted by: PawPaw | February 23, 2013 at 17:38